The Habiru
Fr. Rand York
It seems their name is spelled in as many different ways as there are scholars who study them: Habiru, Habpiru, Hapiru, Apiru, Apuriu, or even Urbi.[i] These “rootless people without place in established society”[ii] seem to show up across the lands and across the ages, and they are referenced in more than 200 West Semitic inscriptions.[iii] Indeed, they are not perhaps unlike an Ancient Near East (“ANE”) equivalent of Roma/Gypsies. Some scholars reject out of hand any connection between the Habiru and the Israelite Hebrews[iv], while others accept it to one degree or another.[v] While no connection can be proven, John Bright finds the terms Habiru and Hebrew to be “seductively similar,”[vi] and Henry Flanders finds a definite etymological relationship between the two.[vii] Flanders defines the term this way: “HABIRU. A nondescript group of persons of varied ethnic backgrounds who ranged across the ancient Near East in the third and second millennia B.C.E. Although the term is cognate with Hebrew, it seems to have a wider application both temporally and geographically.”[viii] The Habiru should be seen not in ethnic terms so much as belonging to a societal stratum,[ix] and a low social status at that.[x] The name Habiru was derogatory, carrying with it a connotation of foreigners who were not “just visiting,” but rather held somewhat of a refugee status, and might therefore be feared as outlaws.[xi] These were people whom it was best to keep an eye on – two eyes whenever possible.
As a class, the Habiru were more like Pirates of the Caribbean than like peaceful shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night. They had a reputation for opportunism and violence, and for selling their military services to the highest bidder. Bright sees in Jephthah just such a, “Gileadite freebooter, an ‘Apiru, who exhibited charismatic qualities…”[xii] This may explain, then, his willingness to engage in human sacrifice, giving his own daughter as a burnt offering to the Lord.[xiii] Jephthah was an Israelite judge who remained close to his Habiru roots. He was a savage, but he won battles for Israel. It is these sorts of Bible stories that call into question just what kind of God Israel understood Yahweh to be. But then Bright also sees David in a similar light as he, “pursued a precarious existence as a bandit chief (an ‘Apiru), playing both ends against the middle…supporting himself by exacting ‘protection’ from wealthy citizens who could afford it…”[xiv]
The name “Hebrew” is likely drawn from their ancestor Eber (Ever),[xv] but the word itself is descriptive, meaning “beyond the river,” in this case the Euphrates.[xvi] These are people who are not native to the hill country of Canaan and the Jordan River valley, but originated in ancient Mesopotamia. While the Habiru comprised various groupings at various places and points in time in ANE history, the Hebrews appear to be a far more specific subset of these people. And for those who accept a connection between the two, it would not be over-simplistic to say that, much like the relationship between squares and rectangles, all Hebrews are Habiru, but not all Habiru are Hebrews. It seems that some, but not all, Habiru became Hebrews.[xvii] And so it is that many, but not all, of the Habiru people enslaved by Pharaoh became the Hebrews who, with an additional “mixed rabble,” left with Moses in the Exodus.[xviii] In like manner, while these “Hebrews” eventually became the nation of Israel, and hence Israelites, not all Hebrews were there at the Exodus, as we shall see. And so, Israelites would perhaps appear also to be a subset of the Hebrews.
Like Habiru, the term Hebrew was not self-descriptive, being used by others in reference to these people.[xix] That the Hebrews are connected with the Habiru, who were migrants with a presence throughout Mesopotamia and Canaan in the ANE, provides good support for the Biblical story of Abraham leaving Haran to go to Canaan.[xx] God asked Abraham to do some incredibly difficult things,[xxi] but pulling up stakes (literally) and moving to Canaan might not have been as challenging or frightening as might appear at first glance. There may well have been other Habiru on the road in search of new and greener pastures. Abraham’s contingent was likely one of many on this ANE version of the Oregon Trail. In any event, once in the vicinity of Canaan, “Abram the Hebrew” was commonly known among the locals.[xxii]
Presence in Egypt and the Silent Centuries
The presence in Egypt of the Habiru in general and the Hebrews in particular can be attributed to a variety of times and reasons.[xxiii] Migration in the ANE was always happening, and Hebrews came to Egypt in good times and in bad. They came to trade, and they came to escape drought and famine. They came as conquerors[xxiv], and they came as prisoners of war.[xxv] And by the 19th Dynasty, they became, “forced labor in the building projects of Sethos I and Ramesses II.”[xxvi]
Doubtless in the course of the four silent centuries of Israelite sojourn in Egypt (biblically silent, that is), many of these Israelites (Habiru who were also “sons of Jacob”) would likely have taken advantage of their freedom of movement to make their way back to Canaan, especially in the early years of their Egyptian stay when they were still in Pharaoh’s favor. Still, in spite of the departure of these Israelites, four hundred years is easily adequate time to populate the remaining group to the size accounted for in the Exodus account.[xxvii] These Israelites, however, were not yet matured into a structured people. “We should, indeed, not speak of tribes in Egypt, for there was no tribal system there – only a conglomeration of slaves of various tribal backgrounds…the classical tribal system had not yet arisen.”[xxviii]
Naturally, over time, those earlier Hebrew returnees to Canaan would themselves have become a meaningful contingent of the established population of this land “flowing with milk and honey.” Still others might never have left Canaan to begin with. It is the presence in Canaan of these last two groups that would surely have facilitated Joshua’s conquest to the point that it might almost be considered an “inside job.”[xxix] After Joshua’s victories, after the time of the Judges, and into the time of the kingdom, there still seemed to be a difference between Israelites and Hebrews.[xxx] When King Saul, for example, led Israel to victory over the Philistines, “Those Hebrews who had previously been with the Philistines and had gone up with them to their camp went over to the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan.”[xxxi]
“Thus the entity ‘Israel’ emerged from the mass of kindred ‘Apiru who had for centuries been entering Canaan. The people of Yahweh had a common religious tie…”[xxxii]
Shechem & the Letter of Abdu-heba
We see the Habiru mentioned in a letter from Abdu-heba of Jerusalem to Amenophis IV[xxxiii]. We see from this letter that the governor Milkilu is at least friendly to, and possibly in league with, the leaders of a rebellion, who are “the sons of Lab’ayu and the sons of Arzayu.” It appears that Lab’ayu, “gave the land of Shechem to the Habiru…”[xxxiv], providing a potential extra-biblical confirmation of the Hebrew connection to that city that is storied in Genesis 34. Might “sons of Lab’ayu” be the sons of Laban (that is, the sons of his daughters)? That would fit well indeed with the Genesis 34 narrative. In any event, Lab’ayu himself appears to be a Habiru mercenary leader who conquered Shechem and became its ruler, though he seems to have assigned other Habiru to keep it safe. In exchange for providing security, he taxed the city of Shechem.[xxxv] In other words, Lab’ayu was a gang leader / warlord who conquered cities and then demanded protection money. This is very much in line with Habiru reputation. They were semi-nomadic people who lived on the fringes of society and tended to be much better fighters than they were farmers. Their appearance in Shechem is quite possibly their “foot in the door” towards a long-term presence in Canaan.[xxxvi]
Their background is uncertain as it recedes into the mists of time. The Habiru were ever on the fringes and on the move. “At Sumer they were plunderers from the desert; at Mari, dangerous armed bands. Among the Hittites they formed a corps of mercenaries.”[xxxvii] They were always a threat to Canaanite city-states, especially so when foreign protection was unavailable.[xxxviii] Yet some of these Habiru began to worship a single God, becoming a religious grouping under Moses and a political grouping under Joshua.[xxxix] These are the Habiru whom we know as Hebrews, and although the term Hebrews is often used interchangeably with Israelites[xl], it also predates Israel, being used to describe Abram when he rescued his nephew Lot.[xli]
Conclusion
Did the Hebrews emerge from the Habiru as the Iroquois emerged from the American Indians?[xlii] And was Israel to be found among the Hebrews as the Mohawk were among the Iroquois? It is not only possible, but quite probable that God took people who were rootless and suspect, with a reputation for banditry and unreliability, and made them his own. They had no reason to be proud of their heritage, but every reason to be proud of their God. They became unique in their monotheism and in their story, and they changed the history of the world.
©2012 Rand York
Bibliography
Bright, John. A History of Israel. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000.
Castel, Francois. The History of Israel and Judah. New York: Paulist Press, 1985.
Cornill, Carl Heinrich. History of the People of Israel. Chicago: Open Court Publishing Company, 1905.
Flanders, Henry J. Jr., Robert W. Crapps, and David A. Smith. People of the Covenant: An Introduction to the Hebrew Bible. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
MacDonald, Burton & Randall W. Younker. Ancient Ammon. Boston: Brill, 1999.
NaAman, Nadav. “Habiru-like Bands in the Assyrian Empire and Bands in Biblical Historiography” Journal of the American Oriental Society; Oct-Dec2000, Vol. 120 Issue 4: 621-624. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed November 30, 2010).
Quigley, Carroll. The Evolution of Civilizations. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1979.
Shanks, Hershel (ed.). Ancient Israel. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999.
Endnotes
[i] This paper will use the spelling Habiru, except when employing a quote in which the term is spelled differently.
[ii] John Bright. (A History of Israel. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000) 139.
[iii] Hershel Shanks (ed.). (Ancient Israel. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999) 43.
[iv] See for example Carl Heinrich Cornill. (History of the People of Israel. Chicago: Open Court Publishing Company, 1905) 40.
[v] See for example John Bright. Op. Cit. 139; Henry J. Flanders Jr., Robert W. Crapps, and David A. Smith. (People of the Covenant: An Introduction to the Hebrew Bible. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996) 138; and Hershel Shanks. Op. Cit. 43.
[vi] John Bright. Op. Cit. 94.
[vii] Henry Flanders, et al. Op. Cit. 138.
[viii] Henry Flanders, et al. Op. Cit. 516.
[ix] John Bright. Op. Cit. 95.
[x] Hershel Shanks. Op. Cit. 43.
[xi] Henry Flanders, et al. Op. Cit. 138.
[xii] John Bright. Op. Cit. 181.
[xiii] See Judges 11:30-40.
[xiv] John Bright. Op. Cit. 193.
[xv] See Genesis 11:14-17.
[xvi] Francois Castel. (The History of Israel and Judah. New York: Paulist Press, 1985) 41.
[xvii] Hershel Shanks. Op. Cit. 43.
[xviii] John Bright, Op. Cit. 95, 140. See also Exodus 12:38.
[xix] John Bright. Op. Cit. 94. Hershel Shanks. Op. Cit. 43.
[xx] See Genesis 12:5.
[xxi] E.g. Sacrificing his son Isaac (Genesis 22:2).
[xxii] See Genesis 14:13.
[xxiii] Francois Castel. (The History of Israel and Judah. New York: Paulist Press, 1985) 42.
[xxiv] As with the Hyksos.
[xxv] As in the reigns of Thut-mose III, Amen-hotep II, Sethos I, and Ramesses II.
[xxvi] John Bright. Op. Cit. 140.
[xxvii] Approximately 600,000 not counting women and children (Exodus 12:37; Numbers 11:21).
[xxviii] John Bright. Op. Cit. 140.
[xxx] Nadav NaAman. “Habiru-like Bands in the Assyrian Empire and Bands in Biblical Historiography” Journal of the American Oriental Society; Oct-Dec2000, Vol. 120 Issue 4: 621-624. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed November 30, 2010) 623.
[xxxi] I Samuel 14:21. All scripture references, unless otherwise noted, are from the English Standard Version (ESV).
[xxxii] Henry Flanders, et al. Op. Cit. 245.
[xxxiii] Born Amenhotep IV, changing his name to Akhenaten.
[xxxiv] Francois Castel. Op. Cit. 39.
[xxxv] Francois Castel. Op. Cit. 41.
[xxxvi] Henry Flanders, et al. Op. Cit. 229.
[xxxvii] Francois Castel. Op. Cit. 41.
[xxxviii] See Burton MacDonald & Randall W. Younker. (Ancient Ammon. Boston: Brill, 1999) 203.
[xxxix] Carroll Quigley. (The Evolution of Civilizations. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1979) 246.
[xl] Referring to the descendents of Jacob, or Israel.
[xli] Genesis 14:13 – “Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew…”
[xlii] Call me old-fashioned, but without a compelling reason to change, I tend to retain traditional usage of terms instead of rushing to embrace the latest politically correct terminology.
