Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Jim:

The problem with your theory is that it is fraught with so many unknowns.

Where was Ur of the Chaldeans? What is pretty certain is that it is not the
same as Ur of the Sumarians. What language was spoken in Ur of the
Chaldeans? If the findings at Ebla are any indication, probably a language
similar to West Semitic, if not a West Semitic language. 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.

As far as Ugarit, when was its literature written that has survived? From
findings of Ramasid artifacts in the ruins, probably at the same time as the
Ramasid pharaohs. When did the Ramasid pharaohs live? Dates I’ve seen range
from ca. 1200 BC to about 600 BC. So the language of Ugarit could have
changed substantially from when Terach lived ca. 2200–2000 BC, making it
possible that Terach had a far different meaning than that found at Ugarit.
This is such a big difference in time that the only honest scholarly
position to take is that we don’t know. Anyone who argues differently makes
up stories.

Karl W. Randolph.