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Was Abraham the first Jew?

The Name of Abraham
A Single Holy Letter
Abraham started his life as an idol worshipper in Mesopotamia, but was called by the Lord to become a follower of the one God. As a symbol of this dramatic shift, his original name Abram, meaning “mighty father” in Hebrew, needed to be changed. The Hebrew letter H (ה), which appears twice in the name of the Lord YHWH (יהוה), is a divine seal which was added to Abram (אברם), forming the name Abraham (אברהם).

The Father of Many Nations
In the original Hebrew, the name Avraham denotes the phrase Av Hamon Goyim (אב המון גויים) which means “father of a multitude” (Gen. 17:5). This new name is appropriate because with this new convent comes the divine promise that Abraham’s wife will finally give birth to a child. Similarly, we see the addition of a single divine letter in God’s revising of the names Sarah - שרה (Gen. 17:15) and Joshua - יהושע (Num. 13:16).

Given The Power of God
Something much more dramatic happened to the name of Jacob (יעקב), meaning “heel” (עקב,ܥܩܒ akev). God changed his name to Yisrael, meaning “struggled with God”, after he wrestled with an angel of the Lord. From this point on, God’s chosen people were known as the Children of Israel. Once you understand the holy language of the bible, there are no more veils, and not a single letter is lost in translation.

The real meaning of Hebrew
Abraham is truly the founder of the people of Israel. Interestingly, the Bible doesn’t refer to him as an “Israelite” or “Jew”. These terms only existed after the time of Abraham. Instead a much earlier name is used: “Abram the Hebrew” (Gen. 14:13). In the original text of the Bible, the word for Hebrew ܥܒܪܝܐ is ivri עִבְרִי, from the rootܥܒܪ ἉBR’ meaning “to cross over”. Why would the Bible apply such an odd name to such a distinguished protagonist?

Cross over the breach today
Abraham was truly a “crosser-over”. At one level, Abraham “crossed over” the mighty Euphrates River and started his life anew in the Land of Israel. At a deeper level, he “crossed over” from his idol-worshipping past, to become the world’s first believer in one God.

The Bible’s first Israelite
The first twelve chapters of the Bible tell the foundational stories of God’s creation of the universe, the Garden of Eden, Noah’s flood and the Tower of Babel. These are universal stories, applicable to all peoples. All this changes dramatically in Genesis chapter 12 with the introduction of a specifically Israelite individual: Abraham. He is the first person to have a personal relationship with God and to willingly move his life to the Land of Canaan.