Archæology and the BibleBarton, George A. (George Aaron)
Religion
Archæology and the Bible
Barton, George A. (George Aaron)
Bible -- Antiquities; Egypt -- Antiquities; Middle East -- Antiquities
The name Abamrama (Abraham) occurs in two other documents published in the
same volume (no. 101, and no. 102), where, in defining the boundaries of
other fields of Sin-idinam, they are said to be bounded on one side by the
field of Abamrama. As these documents mention the name of Abamrama only
incidentally, they are not translated here.
=4. Who Was This Abraham?=
These documents, which relate to the business of a Babylonian Abraham,
come from Dilbat, about eight miles south of Borsippa, which was just
across the Euphrates from Babylon. It is clear that this Abraham was a
small farmer, who hired a tract of land from a larger land-owner. He also
hired an ox wherewith to work his land, and paid the rent of the land and
the hire of the ox as a good citizen should. This Abraham was not the
Biblical patriarch. The patriarch’s father was Terah and his brother
Nahor; the father of this Babylonian Abraham was Awel-Ishtar, and his
brother Iddatum (_ibid._, no. 101, 9). The Abraham of the Bible was a
monotheist according to Genesis; the ancestors of the Babylonian Abraham
worshiped the goddess Ishtar, who corresponded to the Canaanitish
Ashtoreth. The Bible connects the patriarch with Ur and Haran; this
Abraham lived about half-way between these two cities.
Up to the present time this Babylonian Abraham is the only person known to
us other than the Biblical patriarch, who, in that period of history, bore
the name. He is the only one known to us outside the Biblical record.[418]
The only other occurrence of the name outside the Bible is in the name of
a place in Palestine, probably near Hebron, which Sheshonk I, the Biblical
Shishak, calls “The Field of Abram.”[419] As Shishak lived much later
(945-924 B. C.), being a contemporary of Rehoboam the son of Solomon, this
Egyptian place name is not so significant. The Babylonian Abraham
mentioned in the documents just translated is welcome proof that Abraham
was a personal name in Babylonia near the time in which the Bible places
the patriarch. With these documents Gen. 11:27-25:10 should be compared.
Another Babylonian contract is of interest in connection with the
migration of Abraham.
=5. Travel between Babylonia and Palestine.=
1. A wagon[420]
2. from Mannum-balum-Shamash,
3. son of Shelibia,
4. Khabilkinum,
5. son of Appani[bi],
6. on a lease
7. for 1 year
8. has hired.
9. As a yearly rental
10. ⅔ of a shekel of silver
11. he will pay.
12. As the first of the rent
13. ⅙ of a shekel of silver
14. he has received.
15. Unto the land of Kittim
16. he shall not drive it.
17. In the presence of Ibku-Adad,
18. son of Abiatum;
19. in the presence of Ilukasha,
20. son of Arad-ilishu;
21. in the presence of Ilishu ..........
22. Month Ululu, day 25,
23. the year the king Erech from the flood
24. of the river as a friend protected.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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