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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: kwrandolph AT gmail.com, b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Terakh
  • Date: Thu, 3 Jun 2010 10:02:15 EDT


Karl:

1. You wrote: “Where was Ur of the Chaldeans?”

The text says Kasdim/K%DYM, not Chaldeans. [The Chaldeans are 1st
millennium BCE people who lived long after the Patriarchal Age.] That’s Ur
of the
Kassites. Though Ur in that time period was no longer the capital of
southern Mesopotamia, it was still (i) the best place in the world to take a
caravan/)RX to buy lapis lazuli at wholesale, and (ii) along with Harran was
the
most prominent center of moon god/YRX worship. The name TRX recalls
caravan/)RX and moon god/YRX, strengthening the view that this is indeed the
world-famous Ur of the Kassites in southern Mesopotamia.

2. You wrote: “What is pretty certain is that it is not the same as Ur of
the Sumarians.”

It’s the same physical place, but in a later time period.

3. You wrote: “What language was spoken in Ur of the Chaldeans?”

Ur of the Kasdim is Ur of the Kassites. The language spoken there at that
time was Kassite, a non-Semitic language.

4. You wrote: “The territory of Mesopotamia stretches as far north and
west as to include parts of what is now south eastern Turkey, so it is
possible that Abram grew up speaking a west Semitic language spoken in
Mesopotamia.”

(a) The language spoken in northwest Mesopotamia (for example at Harran)
at the time was the non-Semitic language of Hurrian.

(b) Abraham, however, grew up in Canaan, speaking a virgin pure west
Semitic language that could be called pre-Hebrew or early Hebrew. One reason
we
know that is because his name at birth, before he met YHWH, is )BRM, which
is a virgin pure west Semitic name if there ever was one. HRN and TRX are
also west Semitic names. [On the other hand, the name NXWR is based on
Hurrian words, which lets us know that Nahor “went native” after moving to
Harran
in the Hurrian land of NHRYM. Nahor in effect got into bed with the
Hurrian goddesses, as it were, with N-XW in Hurrian meaning “bed (of the
Hurrian
goddesses)”. TRX, by contrast, remained loyal to the old Canaanite gods,
including the moon god YRX that is prominent at Ugarit.] If we focus on the
names, we will see that the Patriarchal narratives are historically accurate
in portraying the Hebrews as being indigenous to west Semitic-speaking Canaan.


5. You wrote: “As far as Ugarit, when was its literature written that has
survived?”

There are several Amarna Letters from Ugarit, so the time period is the
Late Bronze Age, including the mid-14th century BCE. TRX is a verb in
Ugaritic
which can mean “to pay the brideprice”. That is the key role played by
Terakh/TRX in the Patriarchal narratives. Terakh/TRX “pays the brideprice”
for Sarah in a unique way (which we can explore in a subsequent post) that
requires that only Sarah’s son(s) can be Abraham’s heirs (unlike Jacob’s many
sons by four different wives). The key clue in this regard is precisely
the name of Abraham’s father, TRX, which in Ugaritic can mean “pay the
brideprice”. If we pay close attention to the names, we can discern the
amazing
historical accuracy of the ancient Patriarchal narratives.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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