Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Peter Kirk"<peter_kirk AT sil.org>]

Jonathan, you don't need to use that tone. You have failed to deal 
with Ian's point (which he may have got from me) that Genesis 11:31 
indicates that Haran is a long way from Ur Kasdim, not just that both 
are a long way from Canaan.

As for names that look like Nahor, if there are three in upper 
Mesopotamia, how many were there further south? And how many whose 
names have now been lost? There are no doubt plenty of them wherever 
there are rivers all over the Middle East including in southern 
Mesopotamia, as the root N-H-R means "river" in Arabic as well as 
Hebrew. Now I know the name Nahor is spelt with a het. Are your 
alleged identifications spelt with a het or its equivalent?

Peter Kirk

PS This list is not the place for virus alerts. Although this one may 
be genuine, many are hoaxes, and much bandwidth is wasted by 
unnecessary copying of such alerts. Please keep to the subject on this 
list.


______________________________ Reply Separator 
_________________________________
Subject: Re: SV: Gilgamesh (Jonathan)
Author:  <yonsaf AT beitberl.beitberl.ac.il> at Internet 
Date:    19/01/2000 19:50


Ian Hutchesson wrote:
I don't think this theory is actually dealing with the text, Jonathan. We

> are told that Abraham was to set off from Ur of the Chaldeans and go to the 
> land of Canaan, but when he came to Haran, they settled there. The
> narrative is written ot indicate that Ur was a long way from Haran, which 
> is in line with the Ur that we all know and not some northern Ur which may
> have been known to the writer. The first part of the chapter (11) is set in 
> southern Mesopotamia.

   You are most definitely right that the text is written to indicate that Ur 
-
and
Harran - are a long way off from Canaan.
   But remember, they didn't fly in jet planes in those days. Upper 
mesopotamia,
 for
the writer's purposes, was the same as Southern Mesopotamia - a long, long 
way o
ff.
   And the fact that the first part of the chapter is set in Southern 
Mesopotami
a
doesn't mean a thing. The last part of the chapter mentions  Serug = Serugi 
near
 the
Balih Valley; 2 Nahors=Nahur on the Upper Habur or Til Nahiri on the Balih or 
Ni
hriya,
also in Upper Mesopotamia; and Terah = Til Turahi, in the Balih River Valley. 
No, Ian, you can't get around it, you'll have to leave off that old-fashioned 
th
eory
identifying Ur Kasdim with Sumerian Ur, which has nothing to support it but 
the 
similarity of the names - and THERE WERE OTHER CITIES NAMED UR!!! (Which is 
why 
the
author affixes the denominative Kasdim).
  I think I've marshalled enough evidence, both on this list and on the ANE 
list
, both
from the Bible and from the ANE, in favor of a northern location, so please 
let'
s stop
wasting bandwidth and boring people with unnecessary rehashing. Let's simply 
agr
ee to
disagree, as is done in scholarly and other circles.
And if you really think it necessary, I can always repost those letters. 
Prof. L
emche
agrees.
Sincerely,--
Jonathan D. Safren
Dept. of Biblical Studies
Beit Berl College
44905 Beit Berl Post Office
Israel