NOTES.
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.