Abraham's Homeland

54 BI Spring 2005 BY T. VAN MCCLAIN HOME ABRAHAM’S LAND ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/ BOB SCHATZ (25/12/20) Ab Wh 1500 B.C. P placesmaterial thepatriarchs in prefer to simplystate thatthebiblical h orhya fSolomon’s reign. year of the fourth B dates support Abraham’s to 2166 birth y bly spentthefirst30to 60 Canaan. y do make itclear that Abraham was75 TheScriptures Canaan in2091B.C. clude that Abraham leftHaran for and length-of-stays andcon-births c date and the966B.C. with ars begin somebiblicalschol- them, with agree hisfather. ership of he wasstillunderthepatriarchal lead- andwhile Sarah after hehadmarried but itwas from Ur to Haran isunclear, T Ab In 150 milesfrom thePersian Gulf. presently about the Euphrates River, w which theChaldees,” being “Ur of ful to identify Abraham’s homelandas hr yat fU.His reign was Ur. third of dynasty whoestablishedthe was Ur-Nammu, Ur of themostfamous kings One of The LegacyofUr Ha havemight closeto beenacity have suggested thatUr Some means“city.” itself theword Akkadian, U Wh The LocationofUr re Pe been where theEuphrates entered the Ho h iepoeta twstect fUr. the site prove of thatitwasthecity foundat that Babylonian inscriptions and somearchaeologists have stated Ur, locationof isthe traditional city alestine sometimebetween 2100and ount backthrough age-at-sons’- aso hislifeinUr. ears of ears oldwhenhesetoutfor C,asmn aeo 6 ..for 966B.C. assumingadate of .C., ould have near beenaSumeriancity r? In and Sumerian ce r sa uf ihteGl having theGulf with rsian Gulf, r en didhelive there? When was r we aham born? SomeBible scholarsaham born? ere was the city of ere wasthecity aham’s may lifetimethe city have e ic httm.ThisSumerian ded since thattime. n innorthwest Mesopotamia. an, h aeo Abraham’s departure The date of ve oead Where didhelive? homeland. Abraham’s fromarise astudy of HREE MAINQUESTIONS 4 r, the biblical writers werethe biblicalwriters care- 1 Ab oee,stro However, r aham possi- 3 Though notall Though Ur ng biblical 2

COREL PHOTO5 ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/DAVID ROGERS/BRITISH MUSEUM (7/22/4) holds that Arabic tradition Turkey.eastern site inSanliurfa, Pool, areligious Left: Abraham’s fthetimesinwhich Abraham lived. of Ur te N Ur- Even if dominated Mesopotamia. Ur Ur-Nammu’sDuring kingship, lical law code respects. incertain law a code similarto thebib- law code, N Ur-N or Abraham may have leftUr before Ur-Nammu’s reign— of latter portion Likely Abraham lived inUr the during sometime between 2150and2050B.C. w Theentire home housed thefamily. whiletheupperlevelguest quarters lower and level madeup the servant The about 4thousandsquare feet. of foratotal 2levels, feet andconsisted of The average homeinUr was40by 52 Life inUr ould have between 10and20rooms. ammu and Abraham were notcon- ammu isprobably forhis bestknown mporaries, what history teaches of whathistory mporaries, -Nammu’s reign gives aclearpicture Education was very extensiveEducation wasvery at mubgnt eg.Ur- ammu beganto reign. h ieo Abraham. the timeof Clay tabletsfrom Ur Haran, including present-day of Above: View inSanliurfa. born Abraham was Mes-kalam-du. Ur’s King nial helmetof the goldceremo- trotype replica of Left: Anelec- co ntain reading,

ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/DAVID ROGERS/UNIVERSITY MUSEUM/UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA (298/6) 6 commemorates Ur. Thisstele Third Dynastyof first kingofthe Ur-Nammu, the Above: Steleof ground, which huts intheback- Beehive shaped in foreground. medieval fortress ruins ofa B:Genesis12:1-20 FBS: LESSON REFERENCE Abraham’s time. ancient as that maybeas building model today, preserve a are stillinuse consort. and Ningal,his the moongod, ple ofNannar, founding atem- Ur-Nammu’s 55 BI Spring 2005 56 BI Spring 2005

ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/DAVID ROGERS/BRITISH MUSEUM (7/22/1) ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/DAVID ROGERS/BRITISH MUSEUM (7/17/12) ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/DAVID ROGERS/BRITISH MUSEUM (7/17/4) Re the kingorqueenintheafterlife.serve to perhaps would enter thetomb, carts, oxen with to harnessed attendants, royal Aprocession of ed to royalty. The human sacrifices were always relat- to any, if but itsexact relationship, in Ur, craftsmanship atUr.craftsmanship givebut they testimony to theartisans’ theseitems may have come from anearlierperiod, Someof gaming board. andaninlaid a goldandmosaicharp, wo v gold aboat, including asilver modelof facts from ancientMesopotamia, themostbeautifularti- ered someof andeven taxrecords. Excavations court attheroyal tombs uncov- credit, cases, letters of invoices, ing, lad- Explorers have uncovered billsof ancient world converged inUr. the routes trade of theimportant of thePentateuch.later usedinwriting records written ed down that Moses wr likely hecould read and upper class, S wr when itwasfinallycompleted. B.C.,Babylon inthesixthcentury tion work doneby King Nabonidus of to N and atthetop level wasatemple for N Ur-Nammu inhonorof began agreat ziggurat fertility. was agodof Nanna himself was themoon-goddess. who hadaconsort namedNingal who asSin), (alsoknown Nanna, thecity, of deity ly Abraham worshiped thechief Most like- (NASB). othergods’” served andthey Nahor, and thefatherof namely y ‘From ancienttimes Israel, God of the says “Thus theLord, Israel, ple of 24:2 records Joshua saying to thepeo- Joshua Abraham wasanidolater. God, Before hewascalledto thetrue serve Religion inUr our fatherslived beyond theRiver, sesfretn rdikn,a essels foreatingordrinking, neArhmwsamme fthe ince Abraham wasamemberof

anna. The structure hadthree Thestructure levels, anna. anna. day, due in part to thereconstruc- dueinpart day, an fover 70attendants were in mains of h osi fNanna isunclear. the worship of t.Abraham could have easilyhand- ite. tn,andmathematicalexercises. iting, a’ edrs,agolddagger, man’s headdress, Ev Ur w Ur dneo human exists sacrifice idence of ,T 9 rh h ahro Abraham thefatherof erah, sacne fcmec.All commerce. as acenter of The ziggurat stillstands The ziggurat 8 10 7 NASB te “l w to travel to alandGod powerful city, aprosperous and histime, cities of W W. 1992), 46-47. and expandedbyHoward F. Vos (GrandRapids:Zondervan, 104-6. Ancient NearEast (New York: Doubleday, 1992),766-767. Anchor BibleDictionary, 21:5. Press, 2003),113. Biblical HistoryofIsrael gold bowlwith Ur, aboat-shaped r Queen Pu-abiin the tombof tom left:From Lower andbot- tree branches. feet resting on with itsfront on itshindlegs he-goat standing Ur, figure ofa r Left: From the people deifiedthekings. indicates since thatthe evidence earth, agodon or atleasttherepresentative of fice likely theirkingwasagod thought ly. then otherslaidouttheirbodiesneat- and poison, of fice sometype drank Likely thosemakingthesacri- inflicted. wounds thatothers orof struggle we evidently Sacrifices one massgrave. T. to I mand to Abraham to sacrificehisson, atCmu,Shncay New York. Schenectady, east Campus, North- Seminary, Baptist Theological T part inhuman sacrifice. part oyal cemeteryat oyal cemeteryat ac may nothave seemedsostrange saac, orld saetadHbe,Mid-America estament andHebrew, ould show Him—but he was really ooking for the city . . . whose archi- whose . . . ooking forthecity 9. Free, 46-47;LaMoineF. DaVries, 12. Ibid.,145-46,53-54. 11. Woolley, 58-60. 10. DaVries, 41. 8. C.Leonard Woolley, 7. JosephP. Free, 6. BillT. ArnoldandBryanE.Beyer, 5. Jean-Cl.Margueron (trans.,StephenRosoff), “Ur”in SeealsoProvan, Long,andLongman,113. 4. Genesis12:4. 3. Genesis11:31. 2. 1Kings6:1-2;Exodus12:40-41;Genesis47:9;25:26; 1. IainProvan, V. PhilipsLong,andTremper Longman III, tadbidri o”(e.11:10, (Heb. ct andbuilderisGod”

Norton &Company, Inc.,1965),33-89.

11 re V Ab (Peabody, MA:HendricksonPublishers,Inc.,1997),40. Ab nMCani poesro Old an McClain isprofessor of vlnay since of there isnosign voluntary, Those makingthisultimate sacri- r ). aham since hishomelandtook r hmlf n fthegreatest aham leftoneof (Grand Rapids:BakerBookHouse,2002), Archaeology andBibleHistory, (Louisville: Westminster JohnKnox ed. DavidNoelFreedman, vol.6 Ur oftheChaldees Hebron. Machpelah in Abraham at the tombof identifies as that tradition over thecave memorial built Right: AMuslim sounding box. from aharp of abull’s head dle andareplica ed goldwire han- its originaltwist- 12 Cities oftheBiblical Readings from the God’s com- (New York: W. r evised i A

ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/DAVID ROGERS (4/11/4) 57 BI Spring 2005