=1. Hebrews.=--Shem is called "the father of all the children of
Eber," as Ham is called father of Canaan. The Hebrews and
Canaanites were often brought into contact, and exhibited the
respective characteristics of the Shemites and the Hamites. The
term "Hebrews" thus is derived from "Eber" (Gen. x, 21; comp.
Numb, xxiv, 24).--_Bible Cyclopedia_, by Fausset.
The writer of the article "Hebrew" in Cassell's Bible Dictionary
questions the evidence on which the derivation of "Hebrew" from
"Eber" or "Heber" is asserted, and says: "All that can be
confidently affirmed is that the term is employed of Abraham, and
of the descendants of Jacob in general. The interest attaching to
the word, coupled with its obscure origin, suffices to account
for the many speculations in regard to it. It may be added that
some scholars have found the name 'Hebrews,' a little changed, on
the monuments of Egypt. If this interpretation is verified, it
will be of value, as showing that when the Egyptians called
Joseph a Hebrew, they employed the designation which was accepted
among them."
=2. Jews.=--The term properly signifies "a man of Judah," or a
descendant of Judah, but the word came to be applied to all those
who were otherwise designated 'Hebrews.' It does not appear to
have come into use until long after the revolt of Jeroboam and
the ten tribes, and so long as the kingdom stood, it was
naturally employed of the citizens of the kingdom of Judah (II
Kings xvi, 6; xxv, 25); but it rarely occurs in this sense. After
the exile it took the extension of meaning which it has to the
present day. It was adopted by the remnants of all the tribes,
and was the one name by which the descendants of Jacob were known
throughout the ancient world; certainly it was far more common
than 'Hebrew.' It occurs in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther,
Daniel, etc., is found in the Apocrypha; and is common in
Josephus, and in the New Testament."--_Cassell's Bible
Dictionary_.
"Under the theocracy they were known as Hebrews, under the
monarchy as Israelites, and during foreign domination as Jews.
The modern representatives of this stock call themselves Hebrews
in race and language, and Israelites in religion, but Jews in
both senses."--_Standard Dictionary_.
=3. Zenos.=--"A Hebrew prophet, often quoted by the Nephite
servants of God. All we are told of his personal history is that
he was slain because he testified boldly of what God revealed to
him. That he was a man greatly blessed of the Lord with the
spirit of prophecy is shown by that wonderful and almost
incomparable parable of the Vineyard, given at length by Jacob
(Jacob, chap. v). His prophecies are also quoted by Nephi (I
Nephi xix, 10, 12, 16), Alma (Alma xxxiii, 3, 13, 15), Amulek,
Alma (xxxiv, 7), Samuel the Lamanite (Helaman xv, 11), and Mormon
(III Nephi x, 16)."--_Dictionary of the Book of Mormon_, by Elder
George Reynolds.
=4. The Journeyings of the Lost Tribes.=--Esdras, whose books, as
stated in the text, are classed among the apocrypha, describes a
vision, in the course of which the Ten Tribes are noticed in this
way:--"Those are the tribes which were carried away captives out
of their own land in the time of Oseas [Hosea] the king, whom
Shalmanezer, the king of the Assyrians, took captive, and crossed
them beyond the river; so were they brought into another land.
But they took counsel to themselves, that they would leave the
multitude of the heathen, and go forth unto a further country
where never man dwelt, that they there might keep their statutes,
which they never kept in their own land. And they entered in at
the narrow passage of the river Euphrates. For the Most High then
showed them signs, and stayed the springs of the flood till they
were passed over. For through the country there was a great
journey, even of a year and a half, and the same region is called
Arsareth (or Ararah). Then dwelt they there until the latter
time, and when they come forth again, the Most High shall hold
still the springs of the river again, that they may go
through."--II Esdras xiii.
Concerning the journeyings of the Ten Tribes toward the north,
Elder George Reynolds, in his little work _Are We of Israel?_
says:--"They determined to go to a country 'where never man
dwelt,' that they might be free from all contaminating
influences. That country could only be found in the north.
Southern Asia was already the seat of a comparatively ancient
civilization; Egypt flourished in northern Africa; and southern
Europe was rapidly filling with the future rulers of the world.
They had therefore no choice but to turn their faces northward.
The first portion of their journey was not however north;
according to the account of Esdras, they appear to have at first
moved in the direction of their old home; and it is possible that
they originally started with the intention of returning thereto;
or probably, in order to deceive the Assyrians, they started as
if to return to Canaan, and when they crossed the Euphrates and
were out of danger from the hosts of Medes and Persians, then
they turned their journeying feet toward the polar star. Esdras
states that they entered in at the narrow passage of the river
Euphrates, the Lord staying the springs of the flood until they
were passed over. The point on the river Euphrates at which they
crossed would necessarily be in its upper portion, as lower down
would be too far south for their purpose. The upper course of the
Euphrates lies among lofty mountains; near the village of Pastash
it plunges through a gorge formed by precipices more than a
thousand feet in height, and so narrow that it is bridged at the
top; it shortly afterward enters the plain of Mesopotamia. How
accurately this portion of the river answers to the description
of Esdras of the 'Narrows' where the Israelites crossed!"
"The tribes shall come; they are not lost unto the Lord; they
shall be brought forth as hath been predicted; and I say unto you
there are those now living--aye, some here present--who shall
live to read the records of the Lost Tribes of Israel, which
shall be made one with the record of the Jews, or the Holy Bible,
and the record of the Nephites, or the Book of Mormon, even as
the Lord hath predicted; and those records, which the tribes lost
to man but yet to be found again shall bring, shall tell of the
visit of the resurrected Christ to them, after He had manifested
Himself to the Nephites upon this continent." From address by the
author October 8, 1916, see Proceedings of 87th Semi-annual
Conference of the Church.