EBER

(Eʹber).

In addition to being the personal name of five different men in the Bible, “Eber” is used at Numbers 24:24 as either indicating the Hebrew race or else as referring to a region. The Septuagint, the Syriac Peshitta Version and the Vulgate here render “Eber” as “the Hebrews.” However, “Eber” may in this case mean “the land (or, people) on the other side,” thus referring to the land or people on the other side of the Euphrates (in addition to Assyria, mentioned in the same verse). The expression “the region on the other side of the river” (Heb., ʽEʹver han-na·harʹ) is used at 1 Kings 4:24 to refer to the “region west of the Euphrates” (RS), and the same phrase was used by the Assyrians and Persians to designate generally the region of Syria and Palestine.—Compare Ezra 4:10, 11, 16, 17, 20; 5:3, 6; 6:6, 13.

1. A forefather of Abraham; the son of Shelah and the father of Peleg and Joktan as well as other children. In the days of his son Peleg, whom Eber outlived by about 191 years, “the earth was divided.” This may have reference to Jehovah’s confusing the language of those who were building Babel and its tower under the direction of Nimrod.—Gen. 10:25; 11:14-19, 26.

Genesis 10:21 refers to “Shem, the forefather of all the sons of Eber [ancestor of all the Hebrews, AT, Mo], the brother of Japheth the oldest.” Evidently Eber is here listed in close relation to Shem due to the Biblical importance attached to Eber’s descendants, particularly from Abraham forward. The text, therefore, does not restrict Shem’s descendants to just the Hebrews, as the succeeding verses make clear. Eber’s descendants through Joktan appear to have settled in Arabia, while those through Peleg are associated with Mesopotamia and the region of Haran.

2. A Gadite listed along with other “heads of the house of their forefathers.”—1 Chron. 5:13, 15.

3. A Benjamite identified as a son of Elpaal.—1 Chron. 8:12, 28.

4. A Benjamite headman listed among the sons of Shashak.—1 Chron. 8:22-25.

5. A Levite priest; the head of the paternal house of Amok. Evidently Eber was a contemporary of High Priest Joiakim, Governor Nehemiah, and Ezra the priest and scribe.—Neh. 12:12, 20, 26.

EBEZ

(Eʹbez).

A town in Issachar’s territory. (Josh. 19:17, 20) Its location is not known.

EBIASAPH

See ABIASAPH.

EBONY

[Heb., hov·nimʹ].

The name of this wood comes from a Hebrew root word meaning to “be hard,” and the term is believed to apply to the wood from the Diospyros ebenum or similar types of this genus of trees. The tree grows tall, with simple leaves and bell-shaped flowers. The outer wood is soft and white, but the inner heartwood, which reaches a maximum diameter of about two feet (.6 meter), is very hard, close grained, durable and black or dark brown in color. It takes a very high polish. These qualities make it very desirable for fine furniture, ornamental articles and for inlay work with ivory. It was also used by the pagans for making idols for worship.

Ebony is mentioned but once in the Bible, at Ezekiel 27:15, where it is presented as an item of commerce. It is suggested that the ebony and ivory there mentioned were brought out of India or Ceylon, perhaps across the Arabian Sea and up the Red Sea and then overland, or else from Nubia in NE Africa. It was highly appreciated by the ancient Egyptians, and products of it have been found in Egyptian tombs.

EBRON

(Eʹbron).

The name of a boundary city apportioned to Asher. (Josh. 19:24, 28) Since many Hebrew manuscripts here read “Abdon,” most scholars generally consider “Ebron” to be an erroneous spelling of that name.—See ABDON No. 5.

ECBATANA

(Ec·batʹa·na) [perhaps, place of gathering].

The capital city of ancient Media, from about 700 B.C.E. Persian King Cyrus II took it from Median King Astyages in 550 B.C.E., after which the Medes and Persians joined forces under Cyrus. Ecbatana is Scripturally identified as a place that was in the jurisdictional district of Media in the days of Persian King Darius I (Hystaspis).—Ezra 6:1, 2.

“Ecbatana” is the English rendering of this city’s name at Ezra 6:2 according to the Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, whereas the Masoretic text and the Syriac Peshitta Version give it as “Achmetha.” The Old Persian form Hagmatana may mean “place of gathering” or “the meeting place of many roads,” and the ultimate derivation of “Ecbatana” appears to be from an Akkadian word meaning “gathering.” Early Greek writers seem to have applied the name “Ecbatana” to several places. However, there is general agreement among scholars today that the Ecbatana captured by Cyrus (and thus that mentioned at Ezra 6:2) is the modern city of Hamadan, an important commercial center of Iran situated at the foot of Mount Elvend approximately 180 miles (c. 290 kilometers) W-SW of Tehran. Just as ancient Ecbatana was a significant city along the chief route leading from Mesopotamia to points farther E, so modern Hamadan is traversed by various roads, such as that running from Baghdad to Tehran.

Ecbatana served as the summer capital of kings of Media and Persia. Cyrus, for instance, appears to have spent the summer months there, although he wintered in Babylon. So, it could be expected that records of his rule might be found in both cities. With its elevation of some 6,280 feet (1,914 meters) Ecbatana was probably more desirable than Babylon in summer because of Ecbatana’s cooler climate.

When certain Persian-appointed officials questioned the legality of the Jews’ temple-rebuilding work in Zerubbabel’s day, these opposers sent a letter to King Darius I of Persia requesting confirmation of Cyrus’ decree authorizing the reconstruction. (Ezra 5:1-17) Since the Jews resumed their temple-rebuilding activities (after a halt of some years) around September 25, 520 B.C.E., the letter was likely sent to Ecbatana, the summer capital. Darius had an investigation made and Cyrus’ decree was found in Ecbatana, thus establishing the legality of the temple-rebuilding work. In fact, Darius put through an order so that the Jews’ work might go on without hindrance and their opposers were even ordered to provide them with needed materials, which “they did promptly.” The temple was finally completed “by the third day of the lunar month Adar, that is, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king,” or near the spring of 515 B.C.E.—Ezra 6:6-15.

Herodotus ascribes the founding of Ecbatana to the Median king Deioces, but Assyrian King Tiglath-pileser I, of an earlier time, seems to refer to it in one of his inscriptions. The Greek writer Ctesias said Ecbatana and Babylon were both founded by Semiramis. According to Herodotus (I, 98), Ecbatana was built on a hill and had seven concentric walls (so constructed that the battlements of one stood just above the next wall out), with the king’s palace and the treasury within the innermost wall. Herodotus wrote: “The battlements of the first circle are white, of the second black, of the third purple, of the fourth blue, of the fifth bright red. Thus the battlements of all the circles are painted with different colors; but the two last have their battlements plaited [plated], the one with silver, the other with gold.”

It was once suggested that the Ecbatana of Herodotus was to be identified with Takht-i-Suleiman, NW of Hamadan. But this does not seem likely, The Encyclopœdia Britannica (11th ed., Vol. VIII, p. 846) stating: “Sir H. Rawlinson attempted to prove that there was a second and older Ecbatana in Media Atropatene, on the site of the modern Takht-i-Suleiman, midway between Hamadan and Tabriz . . .