The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and BabyloniaPinches, Theophilus G. (Theophilus Goldridge)
Religion
The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia
Pinches, Theophilus G. (Theophilus Goldridge)
Bible. Old Testament -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.
With regard to Nahor and his son Terah the Jews had other traditions, and
they speak thus concerning them—
“Terah, son of Nahor, was the chief officer of king Nimrod, and a great
favourite with his royal master. And when his wife Amtheta, the daughter
of Kar-Nebo, bare him a son, she called his name Abram, meaning ‘great
father.’ And Terah was seventy years old when his son Abram was born.”
Here we have, in Amtheta, a doubtful Babylonian name, in Kar-Nebo a
possible Babylonian name, and in the meaning of Abram a signification that
does not militate against the indications given by the tablets of
Babylonia and Assyria. This being the case, it would seem that there were
trustworthy data to go upon for certain facts connected with Abraham’s
ancestors, and that these facts were known to the Jews of earlier ages.
The Talmudic account of the wonders seen at the birth of Abram, however,
are not sufficiently worthy of credence to allow of repetition here,
notwithstanding their reference to Terah and Abraham’s youth.
Eusebius quotes the following from Eupolemus concerning Abraham—
“He saith, moreover, that in the tenth generation in a city of Babylonia,
called Camarina (which, by some, is called the city of Urie, and which
signifyeth a city of the Chaldeans), there lived, the thirteenth in
descent, (a man named) Abraham, a man of a noble race, and superior to all
others in wisdom.
“Of him they relate that he was the inventor of astrology and the Chaldean
magic, and that on account of his eminent piety he was esteemed by God. It
is further said that under the directions of God he removed and lived in
Phœnicia, and there taught the Phœnicians the motions of the sun and moon,
and all other things; for which reason he was held in great reverence by
their king” (_Praep. Evan._ 9).
Nicolas of Damascus, apparently wishing to glorify his own city, states
that Abram was king of Damascus, and went there, with an army, from that
part of the country which is situated above Babylon of the Chaldeans,
afterwards transferring his dwelling to the land which was at that time
called Canaan, but is now called Judea. Justin also states that Abraham
lived at Damascus, from which city he traces the origin of the Jews.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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