God ’s eternal election of Abram led him on a journey from Haran to “the land that I will show you” Gen 12:1. Abram at that time was exceedingly wealthy and comfortable. But, without knowing where God was leading him, he put God‘s will above his own.
Abraham crossed, on a journey to interior holiness, from doing his own will to doing God’s will. They called him ha’ivri, the Hebrew, Gen 14:13. This is what it means to be a Hebrew, one who does God’s will in the Torah and the Oral Law, not his own will. “Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” Lk 22:42. Abraham, ha’ivri, had an authentic connection in salvation history between the eternal election and God’s people Israel in whose blood Alice von Hildebrand sees it to this very day.
Some observers say that Hebrew comes from Eber Gen 10:21, arguing that Abraham descended from Shem through Eber and was thus an Eber-ew or Hebrew. Eber was an ancestor six generations before Abraham Lk 3:35. Second Exodus sees no connection in salvation history between Eber and God‘s people Israel. Terah, the father of Abraham, five generations after Eber, still worshiped idols Josh 24:2.