[b-hebrew] Nahar

JimStinehart at aol.com JimStinehart at aol.com
Thu Jun 4 09:31:36 EDT 2009


Mark Spitsbergen:
 
Ur is east of the Euphrates River.  The Euphrates River is often referred 
to as NHR.
 
Genesis 11: 31 strongly implies that Harran is a long distance from Ur.  
That supports the view that Biblical Ur is historical Ur, in southeastern 
Mesopotamia, and Biblical Harran is historical Harran, in northwestern 
Mesopotamia.
 
In chapter 11 of Genesis, Terakh’s family goes from Ur to Harran.  In 
chapter 31 of Genesis, in connection with Jacob leaving Harran and going back 
home to Canaan, the text specifically tells us at Genesis 31: 21 that Jacob 
crosses “the NHR/river”, which in context must be the Euphrates River.
 
But nothing in the Patriarchal narratives says that Ur is Abraham’s “
hometown”:
 
(1)     When Abraham tells his trusted servant to go to the place of Abraham
’s MWLDT at Genesis 24: 4, the servant goes to Harran, not Ur, to find 
Rebekah as Isaac’s ideal bride.
 
(2)     I go with the view of many scholars that MWLDT in Biblical Hebrew 
means “kindred”, not “birth” or “birth place”, an issue that we discussed 
at some length on another thread last week.  On that view, Genesis 11: 28 
says that Abraham’s brother Haran died in the presence of his father and at 
the place where his MWLDT were at the time (namely Ur), with MWLDT meaning 
Abraham, Nahor and Lot, as descendants of Terakh.  Genesis 24: 4 says that Isaac
’s bride is to be found at the place where Abraham’s MWLDT are, that is at 
Harran, where the descendants of Abraham’s brother Nahor were living.  
Genesis 31: 3 says that Jacob is to go back to the place where Jacob’s MWLDT 
are, that is Canaan, where Jacob’s siblings (other than Esau) and Jacob’s 
half-siblings, together with their many descendants, are living.
 
Most historians see the Hebrews as being indigenous to Canaan, rather than 
being from Mesopotamia.  In my controversial view, that’s what the 
Patriarchal narratives have been accurately telling us for 3,500 years now.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois

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