Abraham’s Ur—Is the Pope Going to the Wrong Place?

1.

Cyrus H. Gordon, “Abraham and the Merchants of Ura,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 17 (1958), p. 28; “Abraham of Ur” in Hebrew and Semitic Studies (the G. R. Driver festschrift) (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963), pp. 77–84; and “Where Is Abraham’s Ur?” BAR 03:02.

2.

H. W. F. Saggs, although one of Gordon’s critics, agrees on this point. According to Saggs prior to the decipherment of cuneiform, “the traditional and commonly accepted identification” of Abrahamic Ur was the northern site of Urfa; Saggs, “Ur of the Chaldees: A Problem of Identification,” Iraq 22 (1960), p. 200. Nevertheless, there was, Saggs notes, “a divergent tradition, of equal antiquity, taking the city of Abraham as being in South Babylonia,” citing T.G. Pinches, “Ur of the Chaldees,” in A Dictionary of the Bible, ed. by James Hastings (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1902). But Pinches acknowledges that “much uncertainty exists as to [Abrahamic Ur’s] identification” and Pinches even acknowledges his own doubts: “Notwithstanding the inherent probability of the identity of the ancient Babylonian Uru (Mugheir [the southern Ur]) with the biblical Ur of the Chaldees, the name is not so near as might be wished.”

3.

Claus Westermann, Genesis 12–36: A Commentary (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1985), pp. 139–140.

4.

Westermann, Genesis 12–36, p. 139. But cf. Roland de Vaux, The Early History of Israel (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1978), p. 191, who finds names in the patriarchal narratives that occur in Lower Mesopotamia from the end of the third and beginning of the second millennium B.C.

5.

See, for example, the search for Cilician Ur: Richard H. Beal, “The Location of Cilician Ura,” Anatolian Studies 42 (1992), p. 65.

6.

One of Terah’s sons (Abram’s brother) was named Haran. Lot was Haran’s son (and Abraham’s nephew). But in Hebrew the name of the person Haran is spelled differently from the place Haran. The initial letter of the person is heh; of the place, het.

7.

See Seton Lloyd and William Brice, “Harran,” Anatolian Studies 1 (1955), pp. 77–111.

8.

In general, see P. Kyle McCarter, “The Patriarchal Age: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,” rev. by Ronald S. Hendel, in Hershel Shanks, ed., Ancient Israel, rev. ed. (Washington, DC: Biblical Archaeology Society, 1999).

9.

Westermann, Genesis 12–36, p. 139.

10.

Saggs, “Ur of the Chaldees,” p. 201.

11.

One answer to this argument is that “land of my birth” in Genesis 24:24 may more properly be translated “land of my kindred,” which makes the place less explicit. The Hebrew word is moladti. There is no agreement among scholars as to this issue. The New Jewish Publication Society translation has “land of my birth.” Others translate “my kindred.” According to Saggs, “There is thus no objection to taking the phrase ‘eres moladti in Gen. xxiv. 7 as denoting not ‘the land where I was born’ but ‘the land where my kindred are currently to be found’” (Saggs, “Ur of the Chaldees,” p. 201).

12.

See, for example, “Aram-Naharaim” and “Paddan-Aram” in the Anchor Bible Dictionary. The entry for Paddan-aram in HarperCollins Bible Dictionary (1996) states that “Haran and perhaps Ur were located in Paddan-aram.”

13.

This is the view of the majority of source critics. See Westermann, Genesis 12–36, p. 134.

14.

So Westermann, Genesis 12–36, p. 139.

15.

Westermann, Genesis 12–36, p. 140.

16.

de Vaux, Early History of Israel, p. 187.

17.

In the ancient literature, it is also more commonly called Edessa.

18.

See T.G. Pinches, “Ur of the Chaldees.”

19.

So Pinches, “Ur of the Chaldees.”

20.

Westermann, Genesis 12–36, p. 136.

21.

Westermann, Genesis 12–36, p. 139.

22.

J. Alberto Soggin, An Introduction to the History of Israel and Judah, 2nd ed. (Valley Forge, Pa.: Trinity Press, 1993), p. 100.

23.

I am deeply indebted to Peter Machinist for his help in pursuing the research reflected in this article. His assistance does not necessarily mean that he agrees with all my reasoning.