What is the origin of the names Israelite Hebrew and Jew?

Answer 1

"Hebrews" (Ivrim) actually means descendants of Eber (Ever). Ever was an ancestor of Abraham (Genesis ch.10-11) and the earliest Hebrews were Abraham's uncles and cousins for several generations back. They were among the Western Semites and lived in northern Mesopotamia, near the confluence of the Balikh and the Euphrates.

Abraham himself was called a Hebrew (Genesis ch.14) because of his wider family. Poetically, however, Abraham is called Ivri because the name also translates to "other side." Abraham was figuratively on "the other side" since he was the only monotheist (Midrash Bereshit Rabbah 42:8) until his teachings took root. His ancestors and cousins had slipped into idolatry well before his time, as is evident from Genesis 31:30, 31:53, and Joshua 24:2.

However, "Hebrews" is often used to mean Abraham and his Israelite descendants, instead of his wider family. In this sense it can refer to the Jewish people.

The word Hebrews can continue to refer to Abraham's descendants until the lifetime of Jacob. After that, we prefer "Israelite," since Jacob was given that name by God (Genesis ch.35), and it is considered a national title; one of honor. "Israelite" refers to the people (Jacob's descendants) down to about the time of the destruction of the First Temple some 2500 years ago.

"Jews" refers to the people from Second Temple times, up to this day, because after the Assyrian conquest the remaining Israelites were (and are) mostly from the Israelite tribe of Judah. But all the above terms are occasionally interchanged.

In modern usage, we prefer to use the term Hebrew only to refer to the language.