{"id":28643,"date":"2011-08-29T21:08:00","date_gmt":"2011-08-30T02:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=28643"},"modified":"2020-12-15T21:12:54","modified_gmt":"2020-12-16T03:12:54","slug":"what-is-the-difference-between-hebrew-israel-jew-canaan-etc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-difference-between-hebrew-israel-jew-canaan-etc\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the difference between Hebrew, Israel, Jew, Canaan, etc.?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>God promised to bring the people of Israel to the promised land, and the Jews went to the promised land, but wasn&#8217;t there more people in Israel than just the Jews?<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>I&#8217;m having trouble with your question because I think there are some problems with definitions.<\/p>\n<dl>\n<dt>\n<h3>Hebrew<\/h3>\n<\/dt>\n<dd>This was the term to refer to the descendants of Eber. Abraham is the first recorded as being called a Hebrew (Genesis 14:13). All his descendants are also technically Hebrews, though the name typically is reserved for those who are Israelites. Hebrew is also the name of the language spoken by the descendants of Abraham.<\/dd>\n<dt>\n<h3>Israel<\/h3>\n<\/dt>\n<dd>Israel was the name God gave to Jacob when he wrestled with an angel to get a blessing (Genesis 32:28). The name means &#8220;Wrestles with God.&#8221;<\/dd>\n<dd>Jacob&#8217;s descendants also called themselves the children of Israel (Exodus 1:7) or just plain Israel (Exodus 4:22). When the children of Israel conquered the land of Canaan, that land was renamed Israel, though this is not common usage. Typically you see &#8220;the territory of Israel&#8221; or &#8220;the land of Israel.&#8221; After King Solomon, a civil war divided the nation of Israel into two kingdoms. The northern section, containing most of the tribes, continued to be called Israel, though sometimes it was called Ephraim because its capital was in that tribe&#8217;s territory. The southern section was called Judah because it was mostly composed of that tribe.<\/dd>\n<dt>\n<h3>Jews<\/h3>\n<\/dt>\n<dd>The northern kingdom was eventually destroyed by Assyria, leaving only Judah. It too was conquered, though by the Babylonians, and sometime after their return from captivity, people began calling them Jews, which is a short form of Judah.<\/dd>\n<dt>\n<h3>Canaan<\/h3>\n<\/dt>\n<dd>These are the descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham. It is actually a collection of independent tribes or city-states. The land of Canaan was the territory these city-states occupied. It was renamed Israel after the Canaanites were conquered by Israel. Since God had promised this land to Abraham, it was also known as the promised land.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: God promised to bring the people of Israel to the promised land, and the Jews went to the promised land, but wasn&#8217;t there more people in Israel than just the Jews? Answer: I&#8217;m having trouble with your question because I think there are some problems with definitions. Hebrew This was the term to refer&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[275,274,76],"class_list":["post-28643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-israelites","tag-jews","tag-terminology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":32758,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-esau-and-ishmaels-descendants-considered-gentiles\/","url_meta":{"origin":28643,"position":0},"title":"Were Esau and Ishmael&#8217;s descendants considered Gentiles?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We are studying Genesis 36 and the generations of Esau.\u00a0 Several questions arose that have generated some good discussion, but we are needing some help. The questions asked \"Were Esau and Ishmael's families considered Gentiles? Or were they Jews?\u00a0 We are a little confused about when the Jewish nation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22325,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-the-hebrew-lineage-ever-determined-through-the-females-in-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":28643,"position":1},"title":"Was the Hebrew lineage ever determined through the females in history?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Regarding biblical lineage:\u00a0Was there ever a time in the course of history when Hebrew lineage was recorded through the female? Answer: Lineage was traced through the males throughout the Bible. The only exception is in the case of Jesus because his father was God. You can see this in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88008,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-god-take-so-long-to-bring-israel-into-the-promised-land\/","url_meta":{"origin":28643,"position":2},"title":"Why did God take so long to bring Israel into the promised land?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 22, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Jeffrey, I have a question and would like to seek your wisdom. This pertains to God's purpose in the various journeys involving the children of Israel. What does the scriptures say or infer about God's purpose? God asked Abraham to pack up and move to the land of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63299,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-promises-to-abraham\/","url_meta":{"origin":28643,"position":3},"title":"The Promises to Abraham","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 13, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Genesis 12:1-3 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Once in while I run across people who ask when God is going to fulfill the promises he made to Abraham. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Here is a typical quote, \u201cSo if we are to believe God and his word, then all his promises, and all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sermon&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8418,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-gentiles-also-descendants-of-abraham\/","url_meta":{"origin":28643,"position":4},"title":"Are Gentiles also descendants of Abraham?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 11, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If we Gentiles are also descendants of Abraham, then from whose mother: Hagar, Sarah or Keturah? Is it from Keturah to whom she bore Abraham six legitimate sons after Abraham married her after Sarah died? Am I correct to say that Muslims are descendants of Ishmael who later intermarry\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19428,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-you-know-about-the-black-hebrew-israelites\/","url_meta":{"origin":28643,"position":5},"title":"What do you know about the Black Hebrew Israelites?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 10, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi. I hope all is well with you. Getting straight to the point, I want to get some information on a particular group of Christians who look at themselves as being black Hebrew Israelites. I'm not sure if they actually call themselves that but I've seen others refer to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28643\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}