ijbert, Jacob, an eminent Hebrew scholar, was born at Sprottau in 1549. He was professor of He- brew and theology at the university then in Frankfort on the Oder, now in Berlin, and at one time its rector magnificus. So versed was he in Hebrew that he could write in that language. He died in 1C14. His works are, Historia Juramentorum (Frankfort on the Oder, 1588, 8vo) : — Tnstitutlo intelledus cum eJegantia (ibid. 1597) : — Electa Hehrma 750 a llhro Rahbinico Mib- char Hnpiuminim (1630, 12mo): — Tetrasticha Hebrma in fextus evangelicos, etc. — Hoefer, Nouv. Bioy. Genlrale, XV, 609 sq. (J. H. W.)
Ebsrt, Theodor, son of Jacob Ebert (q. v.), suc- ceeded his father as professor of Hel)rew at the univers- it}' in Frankfort on the Oder. He shared also the hon- or of being rector with his father. Et)ert died in 1630. Among his principal works are, 17<a Ckristi, ti'ibus de curiis rhjithmorum quadralorum liebraicornm (Frankf. on the Oder, 1615, 4to): — Animadv.psalticaruni Centuria (1019, 4to) : — Manuductiones aphoristicce ad discursum artium. sectiones xvi (1620, 4to) : — Chro7iolo(/ia 2)ra'cipu- 07-um Linr/um Sanctw Doctorum, ah 0. C. ad suam usque mtafem (1()20, 4to) : — Eulogia jurisconsultorum et politi- contm qui linr/uam hebraicam et reliquas orieniales ,ex- cohierunt (1628): — Puetica Hebraica (1638, 8vo), in which the Hebrew metres are more extensively exem- plified than in an}' other work. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Gen. XV, 610 ; Etheridge, Intr. to Jleb. Literature, p. 374.
Ebi'asaph (Heb. Elynsaph' , SG"^::*!;, prob. a con- traction for rDX"'3!S!, Abiasaph; Sept. 'Ajiiaadrp and 'A^'ii(ja(p,\u\g. Abiasaph), the son ofElkanah and fa- ther of Assir, in the genealog}' of the Kohathite Le- vites (1 Chron. vi, 23). B.C. cir. 1660. In ver. 37 he is called the son of Korah, from a comparison of which circumstance with Exod. vi, 24, most interpreters have identified him with the Abiasaph (q. v.) of the latter passage ; but (unless we there understand not three sons of Korah to be meant, but only three in regular descent), the pedigrees of the two cannot be made to tally without violence. See Assir. From 1 Chron. ix, 19, it appears that he had a son named Kore. In 1 Chron. xxvi, 1, his name is abbreviated to Asaph.
Ebionites, a sect of Judaizing Christians who re- ceived the doctrines of the Gospel very partially, and denied the divine nature of Christ. They do not ap- pear to have been at any time numerous, and it is doubtful whether thej' ever obtained such consistency as to have a definite creed.
1. The Name.~The name is derived from the He- brew "i"'2X, poor. This term was anciently applied in derision to Christians in general (Epiphanius, adv. Haer. xxix, 1), and came later to designate Jewish Christians (Origen, cmt. Celsum, ii, 1). Fiirst {Lexi- con, s. V.) makes the derivation refer to Matt, v, 3, making " Ebionites" equivalent to "opp-essod pious exiles" (Isa. xxv, 4). Eusebius (Hifst. Eccles. iii, 27) fancifully derives the name from "the povert}' and meanness of the Eliionite doctrine concerning Christ." Tertullian {De Prrrscrip. Ilceret. c. xxxiii) derives it from a founder, Ebion, who maintained the authority
EBIONITES
of the Jewish law, and rejected the miraculous concep- tion and divine nature of spirit. The derivation first above given is now generally adopted.
2. History. — Dorner (Person of Christ, Edinb. transl. i, 189 sq.) traces the Ebionitish tendency as far back as the Epistle to the Hebrews. "From that zeal for the law Avith which Paul had to contend, the Judaiz- ing spirit was led not at first to impeach the Christol- og3', but rather the Soteriology, or the work of Christ. But the consequence of the legal stand-point soon showed itself. The party which the Epistle to the Hebrews had in view must have over-estimated the law of the 0. T. regarding holj' times, places, acts, and persons alike, and have been wanting in the Christian knowledge which knows how to secure to the O. T. its abiding significancy, which it has as a divine institute without imperilling the newness and conclusive com- pleteness of Christianit}'." Epiphanius traces the or- igin of Ebionitism to the Christians who fled to Pella after the destruction of Jerusalem, A.D. 66 (adv. Il(tr. xxix, 1). According to Hegesippus (Hist. Eccles. iv, 22), one Thebutis, at Jerusalem, about the beginning of the second century, " began to corrupt the Church secretly on account of his not being made a bishop." "We find the sect of the Ebionites in Palestine and the surrounding regions, on the island of Cyprus, in Asia Minor, and even in Ptome. Though it consisted mostly of Jews, Gentile Christians also sometimes at- tached themselves to it. It continued into the fourth century, but at the time of Theodoret was entireh' ex- tinct. It used a Hebrew Gospel, now lost, which was probablj' a corruption of the Gospel of Matthew" (SchaflT, Church History, i, § 68, p. 214).
3. Doctrines. — Dr. Schaff sharplj' distinguishes Ebi- onism from Gnosticism as follows: "Eliionism is a Judaizing, pseudo-Petrine Christianity, or a Christian- izing Judaism ; Gnosticism is a paganizing or pseudo- Pauline Christianity, or a pseudo-Christian heathen- ism. The former is a particularistic contraction of the Christian religion ; the latter a vague expansion of it" (Church Histon/, i, § 67). According to the same writer, "the characteristic marks of Ebionism in all its forms are, degradation of Christianity to the level of Judaism, the principle of the universal and perpet- ual validity of the Mosaic law, and enmity to the apos- tle Paul. But, as there were different sects in Juda- ism itself, wo have also to distinguish at least two branches of Ebionism, related to each other, as Phari- saism and Essenism, or, to use a modern illustration, as the older deistic and the speculative pantheistic ra- tionalism in Germany, or tiie two schools of Unitarian- ism in England and America. (1.) The common Ebi- onites, who were by ftir the more numerous, embodied the Pharisaic legal spirit, and were the proper success- ors of the Judaizers opposed in the epistle to the Gala- tians. Their doctrine may be reduc3d to the follow- ing propositions : (a.) Jesus is, indeed, the promised Messiah, the son of David, and the supreme lawgiver, yet a mere man, like Moses and David, sprung by nat- ural generation from Joseph and Mary. The sense of his Messianic calling first arose in him at his baptism l)y John, when a higher spirit joined itself to him. Hence Origen compared this sect to the blind man in the Gospel who called to the Lord without seeing him, 'Thou son of David, have mercy on me!' (6.) Cir- cumcision and the observance of the whole ritual law of Moses are necessary to salvation for all men. (c.) Paul is an apostate and heretic, and all his epistles are to be discarded. The sect considered him a native heathen, who came over to Judaism in later life from impure motives, (d.) Christ is soon to come again to introduce the glorious millennial reign of the j\Ies- siah, with the earthlv Jerusalem for its seat. (2.) The second class of Ebionites, starting with Essenic notions, gave their Judaism a speculative or theosophic stamp, like the errorists of the Epistle to the Colos- sians. They form the stepping-stone to Gnosticism.