Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Walter Mattfeld" <mattfeld AT mail.pjsnet.com>]

Dr. Jonathan D. Safren in a reply to Ian Hutchesson (01 June 2000,
b-hebrew), made the following statement:

"...there is absolutely no evidence, biblical or extra-biblical, for a
southern identification of Ur."

From my understandings of various articles from the Anchor Bible Dictionary,
appended below, it is very obvious that not all scholars share Dr. Safren's
above stated conviction.

Unless I am misunderstanding the appended artcicles, I draw the following
conclusions:

First, that Kasdim (Old Babylonian "kasdu"), referred originally to the
Babylonians *before* the Chaldeans took control of Babylon in the 8th
century BCE. It was only after Babylon became a Chaldean city, that the
older term Kasdim was transferred to the Chaldeans themselves.

Secondly, there is indeed "extra-biblical evidence" suggesting a Jewish
understanding from as early as the Hasmonean period (late 2nd century BCE),
that the Israelite forefathers were indeed originally of  Babylonia, and
*only later* of Harran. This important relic is found preserved in Judith
5:5-9, as noted by Dr. Hess in the below appended articles.

Here is the account from Judith (believed by some scholars to date from the
late 2nd century BCE):

"Then Achior, the leader of all the Ammonites, said to him, "Let my lord now
hear a word from the mouth of your servant, and I will tell you the truth
about this people that dwells in the nearby mountain district. No falsehood
shall come from your servant's mouth. THIS PEOPLE IS DESCENDED FROM THE
CHALDEANS. At one time they lived in Mesopotamia because they would not
follow the the gods OF THEIR FATHERS WHO WERE IN CHALDEA. For they had left
the ways of their ancestors, and they worshipped the God of Heaven, the God
they had come to know; hence they drove them out from the presence of their
gods; and they fled to Mesopotamia, and lived there a long time. Then their
God commanded them to leave the place were they were living and go to the
land of Canaan. There they settled, and prospered..."
(May & Metzger, Eds., The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha
(RSV), 1977)

T.G. Pinches noted that some Jews of the Talmudic era had identified Uruk
(south of Babylon) as being Ur of the Chaldees:

"The tradition in the Talmud and in certain early Arabian writers, that Ur
of the Chaldees is Warka, the `Orecha of the Greeks and the `Orech of the
Septuagint, need not detain us, as this site is certainly the Erech of Gen
10:10, and is excluded by that circumstance."
(p.193, "Abraham," Theophilus G. Pinches, The Old Testament In the Light of
the Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia, London: Society
for Promoting Christian Knowledge, [1903], revised edition of 1908)

Excerpts from appended articles follow, below:

Joel C. Slayton (ABD, "Chesed," 1992) :

" CHESED (PERSON) [Heb kesed]. The fourth son of Nahor and Milcah (Gen
22:22). Although it occurs only once in the Bible, this name has been
associated with the people known in the Bible as the Chaldeans. Chesed is
orthographically and phonologically related to the Kasdim (Heb kasdim), and
this group is identified throughout the Bible with the Chaldeans (e.g. Gen
11:28; Job 1:17; and elsewhere). The Old Babylonian term kasdu, which became
kaldû in Assyrian documents, is the equivalent of this term, which the LXX
translates chaldioµn. A connection could be drawn between the clan of Chesed
and these Mesopotamian "Chaldeans," but to do so based on the similarity of
terms only is unadvisable."

Richard S. Hess (ABD, "Chaldea," 1992) :

A. The Form of the Name and Its Appearance in Genesis
The distinction between the Heb kasdém (cf. also Aram) and the Gk chaldaioi
(cf. also Akk kaldu) may be explained linguistically either as the "sibilant
+ d" being assimilated to ld in Akkadian (Millard 1977: 70-71), or as an
original Arabic(?) consonant "d\" lying behind both forms (Edzard RLA 5:
296). The LXX follows the Akkadian rather than the Hebrew/Aramaic spelling.
The Chaldeans are associated with Ur, where Haran, brother of Abram, died,
and whence Terah, Abram, and their family set forth for Harran and Canaan
(Gen 11:28, 31; 15:7; Acts 7:4). To Nahor, Abram's other brother, was born
Kemuel, father of Aram, and Chesed (Gen 22:22; cf. however Saggs 1960:
208-09). The Hebrew consonants of Chesed and kasdém are identical.

B. Other Biblical References
The Chaldeans were a people with whom Judah sought an alliance which the
prophets condemned using images of lust and harlotry (Ezek 16:29; 23:14-16).
The Chaldeans were understood to have been brought against the people of God
as a judgment (Job 1:17; Ezek 23:23; Hab 1:6). The term is applied to the
Neo-Babylonian army which brought to an end the kingdom of Judah (2 Kgs
24:2; 25: 4, 5, 10, 13; 2 Chr 36:17; Jer 21:4; 22:25; 32:4-5, 24-25, 28-29;
33:5, 43; 37:5, 8-11, 13-14; 38:18-19, 23; 39:8; 43:3; 52:7, 17) and who
supervised the land afterward (2 Kgs 25:24-26; Jer 40:9-10; 41:3, 18)...the
Deuterocanonical narrative of Judith, the Chaldeans are a polytheistic
people from whom Israel is descended (Jdt 5:6-7).

In conclusion, then, I would suggest that the term Kasdim (if derived from
Old Babylonian "kasdu") doesn't have to apply only to the Chaldean era
(8th-6th centuries BCE), it could apply to the pre-Chaldean period, giving
the Abraham narratives a pre-8th century basis, and making them not
neccessarily "a late tradition". But the notion that there is *no
extra-biblical evidence* suggesting Ur of the Chaldees is not
Babylonia/Chaldea, is not supported by some Jewish traditions as early as
the 2nd century BCE.

All the best,

Walter

Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld
Walldorf by Heidelberg
Baden-Wurttemburg
Germany