1343. The fact that Eber was a nation, called the Hebrew nation after its forefather, and that it symbolizes this second ancient church's worship in general, can be seen from the Word's narrative parts, which mention the Hebrew nation in many places. ¹ Since a new form of worship began with that nation, everyone who worshiped in a similar way was called Hebrew. Their worship was like the type of worship later restored among Jacob's descendants. Its leading characteristic was its practice of referring to its God as Jehovah and offering sacrifices.

With one heart the earliest church acknowledged the Lord and called him Jehovah, as can be seen from the early chapters of Genesis and other places in the Word. ² The ancient church (the church that followed the Flood) — and especially the individuals in it whose worship had depth and who were called Shem's children — also acknowledged the Lord and called him Jehovah. The rest, who engaged in shallow worship, acknowledged and worshiped Jehovah as well. But that church's inward worship eventually turned shallow and, even worse, idolatrous, and each nation began to have its own god that it worshiped. Then the Hebrew nation kept the name of Jehovah and used that name for their God, which distinguished them from the other nations.

[2] Jacob's descendants in Egypt lost not only their outward form of worship but also the knowledge that their God was called Jehovah. Even Moses himself did. So first of all they were informed that Jehovah was the God of the Hebrews, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as the following words in Moses show:

Jehovah said to Moses, "You shall go in — you and the elders of Israel — to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘Jehovah, God of the Hebrews, has come to meet us; and now let us go, please, on a journey of three days into the wilderness and sacrifice to Jehovah our God.'" (Exodus 3:18)

In the same author:

Pharaoh said, "Who is Jehovah that I should listen to his voice, to send Israel away? I do not know Jehovah and will not send Israel away, either." And they said, "The God of the Hebrews has come to meet us. Please let us go a journey of three days into the wilderness, and let us sacrifice to Jehovah our God." (Exodus 5:2-3)

[3] The following words in Moses show that along with losing their form of worship, Jacob's descendants in Egypt also lost the knowledge of Jehovah's name:

Moses said to God, "But when I come to the children of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, ‘What is his name?' — what should I tell them?" And God said to Moses, "I Am Who I Am." And he said, "This is what you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘I Am has sent me to you.'" And God said further to Moses, "This is what you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘Jehovah, the God of your ancestors — the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob — has sent me to you.' This is my name forever." (Exodus 3:13-14, 15)

[4] This makes it clear that Moses too did not know, and that Jacob's descendants were distinguished from all others by use of the name Jehovah, God of the Hebrews. That is why Jehovah is called God of the Hebrews in other places as well:

"You shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Jehovah, God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you.'" (Exodus 7:16)

"Go in to Pharaoh and speak to him: ‘This is what Jehovah, God of the Hebrews, has said.'" (Exodus 9:1, 13)

Moses went in — as did Aaron — to Pharaoh, and they said to him, "This is what Jehovah, God of the Hebrews, has said." (Exodus 10:3)

In Jonah:

I am a Hebrew, and I fear Jehovah, God of the heavens. (Jonah 1:9)

In Samuel as well:

The Philistines heard the sound of shouting. They said, "What is the sound of this great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews?" And they realized that the ark of Jehovah had come to the camp. The Philistines said, "Alas for us! Who will free us from the hand of these majestic gods? These are the gods that struck the Egyptians with every plague in the wilderness. Turn into men, Philistines, or you will be slaves to the Hebrews." (1 Samuel 4:6, 8-9)

Here too it is evident that the nations were identified by their gods, whom they would name, and that the Hebrew nation was identified with Jehovah.

[5] The fact that sacrifices constituted the other essential feature of worship in the Hebrew nation is evident in the passages quoted above — Exodus 3:18 and 5:2-3. Consider too that the Egyptians abhorred the Hebrew nation on account of this ritual, as can be seen from the following in Moses:

Moses said, "It is not right to do so, because we would be sacrificing what the Egyptians abhor to Jehovah our God. Look, were we to sacrifice what the Egyptians find abhorrent in their eyes, wouldn't they stone us?" (Exodus 8:26)

So the Egyptians loathed the Hebrew nation, and loathed it so much that they also refused to eat bread with Hebrews (Genesis 43:32). This too shows that Jacob's descendants included not only the Hebrew nation but all nations that practiced this type of worship. That is also why the land of Canaan was called the land of the Hebrews in Joseph's time:

Joseph said, "I was stolen from the land of the Hebrews." (Genesis 40:15)

[6] Much evidence indicates that sacrifice existed among idolaters in the land of Canaan, since people there sacrificed to their own gods — baals and others. In addition, consider Balaam, who was from Syria, where Eber lived, or in other words, where the Hebrew nation came from before Jacob's descendants entered into the land of Canaan. Balaam not only offered sacrifices but also called his God Jehovah. (Numbers 23:7 shows that Balaam was from Syria, where the Hebrew nation originated. ³ Numbers 22:39-40 and 23:1-2, 3, 14, 29 show that he offered sacrifices. Numbers 22, verse 18 and other verses there show that he called his God Jehovah.)

Genesis 8:20 says that Noah offered burnt offerings to Jehovah, yet this is not a true but rather a made-up story, because burnt offerings symbolized the holiness of worship; see the sections where that verse is discussed [§§919-923].

These remarks now demonstrate what Eber — that is, the Hebrew nation — symbolizes.

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