Eber

Eber was an important person in ancient stories. According to the Book of Genesis and the Books of Chronicles, Eber was an ancestor of many groups of people, including the Ishmaelites and the Israelites. His name appears in special family histories called the Generations of Noah.

In different languages, Eber's name looks and sounds a little different. In Hebrew, it is written עֵבֶר and said as ʿĒḇer. In Biblical Greek, it is Ἔβερ and said as Éber. In Arabic, it is عؘابِر and said as ʿĀbir. These names show how stories about Eber were shared among many cultures and languages.

Lineage

Eber was a great-grandson of Noah’s son Shem and the father of Peleg and Joktan. He was born when his father, Shelah, was 34 years old. Eber himself had many children and lived to be 464 years old, according to the Hebrew Bible.

In another ancient text called the Septuagint, Eber’s name is written as Heber, and his father is named Sala. Heber also had a son named Phaleg, born when he was 34 years old, along with other sons and daughters. Heber also lived to be 464 years old.

Name

The name Eber comes from a root meaning "crossing over" and "the beyond." Some old writers thought that the name "Hebrew" came from Eber. Others believed it meant "those who cross," referring to people who moved from Ur of the Chaldees to Canaan with Abram.

In some parts of the New Testament, Eber is called Heber or Eber. He is listed as the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Heber, and the son of Selah. He is different from another person named Ḥeber, who was the grandson of Asher and is mentioned in Genesis 46 and Numbers 26.

Hebrew

See also: Adamic language

A long time ago, a man named Eber, who was a great-grandson of Shem, decided not to help build a very tall tower called the Tower of Babel. Because of this choice, when people stopped building the tower, only Eber and his family kept speaking the same original language. This language was called Hebrew, named after Eber.

In Islam

See also: Hud (prophet)

In Islam, Ābir ibn Shālakh (Arabic: عابر بن شالخ) is sometimes called the "father" of the early, original Arabs who lived in the Arabian Peninsula after the Deluge. Some early Muslim writers thought that ʿEber might be the same person as the Muslim prophet Hud, who has a surah named after him in the Quran. Other sources say that Hud was ʿEber's son.