. . . one bit of inscriptional evidence
creates a possible scenario for understanding Abraham’s journeys. Two
inscriptions, from just before Abraham and contemporary to him, attest to an “Ulishem”
west of Ebla, somewhat north of Coastal Byblos. (“Inscription of Naram-Sin, the
Campaign Against Armanu and Ebla,” in Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical
World, ed. William Hallo and K. Lawson Younger Jr., The context of
Scripture [Boston: Brill, 2003], 2:245. The line reads, “From the Bank of the
Euphrates until Ulisum”) . . . Byblos experienced heavy Egyptian influence, while
Ebla felt a lighter amount.
Towns that were geographically in
between these two cities, such as Ulaza, also found themselves in between them
in regard to their amount of contact with Egypt (see James P. Allen, “The
Historical Inscription of Khnumhotep at Dashur: Preliminary Report,” Bulletin
of the American Schools of Oriental Research 352 [2008]: 29-39). While most
people think of Ur as a city in southern Mesopotamia, the Book of Abraham may
cast some more light on this issue (see the discussion in Stephen O. Smoot, “’In
the Land of the Chaldeans’: The Search for Abraham’s Homeland Revisited,” BYU
Studies Quarterly 56, no. 3 [2017]: 7-37, esp. 33-34). While we cannot tell
whether UR is indeed in southern Mesopotamia, a possible and tentative scenario
could arise from comparing the text of the Book of Abraham and some recent
archaeological finds. A group of archaeologists have been excavating an area
they think may be Ulishem. If this purported site for Ulishem—which is
being excavated in Turkey just west of Ebla—is the “Olishem” of Abraham 1:10,
where Abraham was nearly sacrificed (See J.R. Kupper, “Uršu,” Revue d’assyriologie
43 [1949]: 80-82), it would be in a place that was experiencing just the
kind of influence described in the Book of Abraham. As Abraham sought to flee
from such life-threatening semi-Egyptianized culture, it would make sense for
him to travel east to Haran, where the Egyptians had little or no presence. Then,
as the Egyptian presence in Canaan lessened, a phenomenon demonstrated by John
Gee, Abraham would have been freer to move to Canaan. While this itinerary is
only speculation, it is an interesting possibility. (Kerry Muhlestein, “Israel,
Egypt, and Canaan,” in From Creation to Sinai: The Old Testament Through the
Lens of the Restoration, eds., Daniel L. Belnap and Aaron P. Schade [Provo,
Utah: Religious Studies Center; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2021], 201-2)
IN UR OF THE CHALDEES
Bot the Bible and the Book of
Abraham begin his story with him living in Ur of the Chaldees (Genesis
11:27-31; Abraham 1:1, 20). The Hebrew here uses the word kasdîm rather
than Chaldeans, which may not be the same thing as the later tribe, the kaldu,
which we now equate with the Chaldeans (see also the Targum Jonathan Genesis
11:28, which does not use the term Chaldeans). Based on the Akkadian cognate,
we would expect the kasdîm to mean “the conquerors” (The Assyrian
Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Volume 8: K,
162). While the tendency has been to put Ur in the south of Mesopotamia, near
the Persian Gulf (H.W.F. Saggs, “Ur of the Chaldees: A Problem of
Identification,” Iraq 22 [1960]: 200-209), a number of scholars have
argued for a northern location [13]. . . . The Book of Abraham suggests
that Ur was not the city Olishem itself but instead associates Ur with a
smaller location in the surrounding plain (Engin and Helwing, “The EBA-MBA
Transition in the Kilis Plain,” 99-100), distinguished by a “hill called
Potiphar’s Hill” that was located “at the head of the plain of Olishem”
(Abraham 1:10). Since the “head” of a river refers to its source (Genesis 1:10)
(1the usage of the “head” of a valley in Isaiah 28;1, 4 is, unfortunately, unclear.
The “head of Lebanon” in Jeremiah 22:6 appears to refer to the highlands), the
head of the plain of Olishem probably also refers to the headwaters. Thus, Ur
was likely at the northern edge of the plain given the hills, the association
with Olishem rather than Aleppo, and the general pattern of drainage. (John
Gee, “The Wanderings of Abraham,” in Ibid., 255, 256-57)
[13] See Douglas Frayne, “In Abraham’s
Footsteps,” in The World of the Aramaeans I: Biblical Studies in Honour of
Paul-Eugène Dion, ed. P.M. Michèle Daviau, John W. Weve, and Michael Weigl
(Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001), 216: “A brief examination of
connections between the proper names appearing in the patriarchal Abraham
narrative in Genesis11 with ancient northwestern Syrian toponyms suggests a
close connection of the homeland of Abraham and his relatives with the city and
countryside of Harran.” See also Daniel F. Fleming, “Mari and the Possibilities
of Biblical Memory,” Revue d’Assyriologie et d’archéologie orientale 92,
no. 1 (1998): 67: “The Genesis tradition of a north Syrian origin for Abraham
and his family is both central to the narrative and difficult to explain in
terms of peoples and regional political relations during the lives of the
Israelite states, the exiles, or early Judaism.” Finally, Mark W. Chavalas, “Syria
and Northern Mesopotamia to the End of the Third Millennium BCE,” in Mesopotamia
and the Bible, ed. Mark W. Chavalas and K. Lawson Younger Jr. (Sheffield, UK:
Sheffield Academic Press, 2002), 126: “The writers of the Bible claimed that
their ancestors originated in this area from Harran in the Upper Euphrates
region.” (Gee, Ibid., 255-56 n. 13)
Further Reading
Stephen O. Smoot, Framing the Book of Abraham: Presumptions and Paradigms (see the section "Olishem")
