Biblical Hebrew Forum

[John Ronning <ronning AT nis.za>]

Ian wrote:
> 
> >Note also both a KE&ED (with a SIN, like kasdim) and 'ARAM
> >listed among Nahor's descendants (Gen 22:21-22).
> 
> Naturally, this is an interesting indication of another tradition. Gen.10
> tells us that Aram was the brother of Arpachshad. Thanks for pointing it 
> out.
> 
That it's "another tradition" presumes there was only one
man ever named Aram.


> The writer of Nehemiah referred to Ur of the Chaldeans in  9:7.
> 
> Do you think that he referred to anything but a city in the Chaldean
> territory as understood at the time?
> 

He merely referred verbatim to the city he read about in
Genesis (assuming that Ur-Kasdim represents the original
pointing).  Being more than 1500 years after the fact, he
may have misinterpreted Kasdim as "from the land of the
Chaldeans[=neo-Babylonians]" but that is irrelevant to the
question of where the internal evidence of Genesis places
Abraham's homeland - ALL of which points to a location near
Haran, in northern Mesopotamia.

Gen 24:4 go to *my country* and to my relatives, and take a
wife for my son Isaac.

24:5 The servant asked him, "What if the woman is unwilling
to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your
son back to *the country you came from*?"

6 "Make sure that you do not take my son back there,"
Abraham said.

7 "The Lord, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my
father's household and *my native land* ... He will send his
angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son *from
there*.

24:10  He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the
town of Nahor.[where he meets Laban, among others]

27:43 Now then, my son [Jacob], do what I say: Flee at once
to my brother Laban in Haran.

28:5 Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddan
Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean.

28:10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.

29:4 Jacob asked the shepherds, "My brothers, where are you
from?" "We're from Haran," they replied. He said to them,
"Do you know Laban, Nahor's grandson? "Yes we know him."

A reasonable person would conclude that Genesis placed
Abraham's homeland ("my country" "the country I came from")
near Haran.  Further, it might occur to a reasonable person
that an author making stuff up after the rise of the
neo-Babylonians would not do such a thing.  What would an
unreasonable person conclude?  Well, we don't have to
speculate about that!

Cheers,

John