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 . . . but the cuneiform texts imply that there was only one city of the name, and Takht-i-Suleiman is the Gazaca of classical geography.”

The story about Ecbatana’s seven concentric walls told by the Greek historian Herodotus (of the fifth century B.C.E.) may be at least somewhat imaginative, for the later Greek historian Polybius (who lived possibly between 205 and 125 B.C.E.) said that the Ecbatana of his time was unwalled though its acropolis or citadel was very well fortified. At one time Cyrus’ citadel stood in a section of modern Hamadan called Sar Qalʽa (meaning “cliff castle”), where portions of foundations and walls of ancient palace towers have been unearthed by excavators, these finds dating back to the days of Median and Persian (Achaemenian) rulers. Various ancient items have been discovered in Hamadan, among them silver and gold tablets bearing inscriptions of Persian King Darius I. Though magnificent palaces and temples once stood in Ecbatana, unearthing their remains would require the removal of many present-day buildings, and such major archaeological work has not been done in Hamadan.

Alexander the Great took Ecbatana from the Persians in 330 B.C.E. It thereafter came into the control of the Seleucidae, Antiochus the Great and the Parthians, whose rulers again used it as a summer capital. Ecbatana’s subsequent history included control by the Sassanians (who used it as their capital) and by Islamic conquerors, as well as the city’s survival of the Mongol conquest of the thirteenth century C.E.

ECCLESIASTES

[Heb., Qo·heʹleth, congregator, convener, assembler].

The Hebrew name fittingly describes the role of the king in a theocratic government such as Israel enjoyed. (Eccl. 1:1, 12) It was the responsibility of the ruler to hold the dedicated people of God together in faithfulness to their true King and God. (1 Ki. 8:1-5, 41-43, 66) For that reason, whether a king was good or bad for the nation was determined by whether he led the nation in the worship of Jehovah or not. (2 Ki. 16:1-4; 18:1-6) The congregator, who was Solomon, had already done much congregating of Israel and their companions, the temporary residents, to the temple. In this book he sought to congregate God’s people away from the vain and fruitless works of this world to the works worthy of the God to whom they as a nation were dedicated. The name used in our English Bibles is taken from the wrong translation of Qo·heʹleth in the Greek Septuagint, namely, Ek·kle·si·a·stesʹ (Ecclesiastes), meaning “one who sits or speaks in an ecclesia; a member thereof.”

WRITER

There was only one “son of David,” namely, Solomon, who was “king over Israel in Jerusalem” (Eccl. 1:1, 12), for kings after Solomon did not reign over all Israel. Solomon was the king so well known for his surpassing wisdom. (Eccl. 1:16; 1 Ki. 4:29-34) He was a builder. (Eccl. 2:4-6; 1 Ki. 6:1; 7:1-8) He was a composer of proverbs. (Eccl. 12:9; 1 Ki. 4:32) Solomon was renowned for his wealth. (Eccl. 2:4-9; 1 Ki. 9:17-19; 10:4-10, 14-29) Qo·heʹleth is in the feminine gender for the reason that Solomon, because of his God-given wisdom, was used as a symbol of wisdom as if he were wisdom personified; and the Hebrew word for “wisdom” is feminine. Therefore, Solomon applies the term to himself. Since the book mentions the building program of Solomon, it must have been written after that time but before he “began to do what was bad in the eyes of Jehovah.” (1 Ki. 11:6) The book was therefore written before 1000 B.C.E., in Jerusalem. That Solomon would be one of the best qualified men to write the book is supported by the fact that he was not only the richest but probably one of the best informed kings of his day, his sailors and tradesmen as well as visiting dignitaries bringing news and knowledge of people of other lands.—1 Ki. 9:26-28; 10:23-25, 28, 29.

AUTHENTICITY

Qo·heʹleth, or Ecclesiastes, is accepted as canonical by both the Jewish and the Christian churches. It is in agreement with other portions of the Bible that treat the same subjects. For example, it agrees with Genesis on man’s being made up of a body composed of the dust of the ground and having the spirit or life force and the breath that sustains it from God. (Eccl. 3:20, 21; 12:7; Gen. 2:7; 7:22; Isa. 42:5) It affirms the Bible teaching that man was created upright but willfully chose to disobey God. (Eccl. 7:29; Gen. 1:31; 3:17; Deut. 32:4, 5) It acknowledges God as the Creator. (Eccl. 12:1; Gen. 1:1) It concurs with the rest of the Bible as to the state of the dead. (Eccl. 9:5, 10; Gen. 3:19; Ps. 6:5; 115:17; John 11:11-14; Rom. 6:23) It strongly advocates the worship and the fear of God. It uses the expression ha-ʼElo·himʹ, “the true God,” more than thirty times. The equivalent for the name Jehovah is found in the Syriac Version and Jewish Targum of the book at Ecclesiastes 2:24. While some claim that the book contradicts itself, this is only because they do not see that the book many times sets forth the common view as opposed to the view that reflects divine wisdom. (Compare Ecclesiastes 1:18; 7:11, 12.) So one must read with a view to getting the sense, and keep in mind the theme of the book.

CONTENTS

From its contents, the book could be called “The Congregator on Works Vain and Worth While.” In the first chapter Solomon describes the stability and continuity of the cycles of the universe, things man relies on for steadiness, balance and meaning to life, and for life itself, as compared with the transitoriness of man. With such endless repetition of natural processes and man’s short life, the appearance from a natural man’s standpoint is that all is vanity. In his search Solomon saw that mankind is engaged in a calamitous occupation and that things crooked in this system of things cannot be made straight, and many are the things that are wanting. Solomon’s increase in knowledge of things merely increased his vexation and pain.—Eccl. chap. 1.

Solomon then turned to the pursuit of joy and cheerfulness by enjoying material things of which he had an abundance—possessing houses, vineyards, gardens and pools, having servants of all kinds, along with much silver and gold. He employed singers and tried out everything that his heart desired that would bring rejoicing. But then he saw that the same thing that happened to the stupid one would happen to him with all his wisdom. With this viewpoint he hated life and the work of a materialistic nature that he was doing, not the works he had done in temple building and in promoting worship of God. It turned out to be a saddening experiment, “to lay hold on folly until I could see what good there was to the sons of mankind in what they did.” It hurt him to realize that he would leave behind all his possessions to an heir who might be foolish in the use of them. Solomon had enjoyed the best of everything, but he found that the thing God has given to man is for him to enjoy living and the fruits of his work, not the course Solomon tried, the work of pleasure seeking through materialism. On the other hand, he found that there is a reward for the one who is good before God, the one doing worthwhile works, in that he eventually receives the very things that the sinner has gathered together.—Eccl. chap. 2.

Solomon sees that there is a time schedule for every affair under the heavens, and that in the meantime God has given to mankind work with which to be occupied. God’s own works are good and everything has its time. Man can never completely fathom God’s wisdom and purposes. Therefore, the thing for a man to do is to accept the gift of God, to rejoice and to do good and to see good for the hard work he has done. (Compare 1 Corinthians 15:58;