Watch Abraham the Hebrew

The Bible refers to Abraham as Abraham the "Ibri" or "Hebrew". But who are the Hebrews and what role does the this tribe play in the socio-political world of the time? Dr. David Neiman paints a detailed portrait of the world in which Abraham's story takes place. Abraham and his people lived under the legal system of Hammurabi of the old Babylonian empire. Their fates were effected by the shifting political winds as the Kushi invade and overthrow the Babylonian Empire leaving large areas with no central control. With no central authority, Abraham and his nephew Lot are able to settle where they choose.

Dr. David Neiman (1921-2004) was professor of Jewish theology at Boston College and specialized in a broad range of fields, including archaeology, Biblical studies, Jewish history and Catholic-Jewish relations. He also organized Boston College's Institute of Biblical Archeology and participated in nearly a dozen archaeological excavations in Israel. He was the author of Domestic Relations in Antiquity (Little Acorns Press, 1994) as well as a commentary and selected translation of the Book of Job (Massada, 1972). He also wrote several important articles for the Encyclopedia Judaica. His lectures on the Book of Genesis were delivered in 2000 at the University of Judaism in Bel Air, CA.

Abraham the Hebrew is a 2016 documentary with a runtime of 40 minutes.