אוּר

From the study of Genesis 11:31

Range of meaning

ʾÛr is a place-name, almost certainly the Sumerian city Urim/Ur. Kaśdîm is the Hebrew name for the Chaldeans, a people who moved into southern Mesopotamia (Babylonia) and dominated it in the first millennium BC. In later books the word comes to stand for Babylonians in general (Jeremiah, Ezekiel), and in Daniel for a class of learned diviners.

Against the English

KJV's 'Ur of the Chaldees' and modern 'Ur of the Chaldeans' both carry the label over faithfully. What English does not show is that the label is later than the setting. The Chaldeans are not known from records until around the 9th century BC, long after any likely date for Abram.

How it drifted

English readers often take 'Ur of the Chaldees' as the city's ancient name, or think of the Chaldean astrologers in Daniel. In the Genesis narrator's world it was a helpful note telling hearers which Ur was meant and where it lay, in the terms of their own day.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ur (Tell el-Muqayyar, southern Iraq) was excavated by Leonard Woolley in 1922–34. It was a great Sumerian centre with a ziggurat (stepped temple tower) of the moon-god Nanna/Sin, and the capital of the Ur III dynasty around 2100–2000 BC. Assyrian and Babylonian records name the Chaldeans (Kaldu) from the 9th century BC. The same phrase appears at Gen 11:28, 15:7 and Neh 9:7. The Septuagint renders it 'the land (chōra) of the Chaldeans'. Jubilees 11–12 and later rabbinic tradition (Genesis Rabbah 38) read ʾûr as 'fire' and told of Abram being rescued from a furnace in Ur.

From the study of Genesis 15:7

Range of meaning

Ur is the name of a city. Kasdim are the Chaldeans: the Kaldu tribes of southern Babylonia, and later the dynasty of Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar (626–539 BCE). In books like Daniel, the word also comes to mean a class of Babylonian scholars and diviners. As an ordinary Hebrew noun, the letters ’ur also mean "fire, flame" (Isa 31:9; 44:16; 50:11).

Against the English

KJV/WEB/YLT "Ur of the Chaldees" and modern "Ur of the Chaldeans" are equivalent. Modern readers may picture the Chaldean astrologers of Daniel or the modern Chaldean Catholic community. The verse means a city in the region the Chaldean people were later known to inhabit.

How it drifted

The label itself is later than Abram's era. The Chaldeans first appear in Assyrian records in the 9th century BCE, long after the second-millennium setting of the patriarchal stories. The phrase identifies the city for later readers, much as one might say "Byzantium, in Turkey."

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 11:28, 31; 15:7; Nehemiah 9:7. Southern Ur (Tell el-Muqayyar, Iraq) was excavated by Leonard Woolley (1922–34): a great Sumerian city devoted to the moon-god Nanna/Sin. Harran, where Abram's family settled next, was also a major center of moon worship. The Septuagint renders it "the land (chōra) of the Chaldeans." Later Jewish tradition read ’ur as "fire" and told how Abram was rescued from a Chaldean furnace for rejecting idols (Targum Pseudo-Jonathan and Targum Neofiti on this verse; Genesis Rabbah 38:13; compare Jubilees 12; Pseudo-Philo, Biblical Antiquities 6).

From the study of Genesis 11:28

Range of meaning

As a proper name, Ur is a city. Spelled the same way, ʾûr is also an ordinary noun meaning 'flame, fire, light' (Isaiah 31:9; 44:16; 47:14; 50:11), related to ʾôr, 'light'.

Against the English

English 'Ur' carries only the place name. Hebrew hearers could also hear 'fire' in it, and later interpreters exploited that.

Used elsewhere in the period

Southern Ur (Tell el-Muqayyar in modern Iraq) was a major Sumerian and Babylonian city. Its patron was the moon god Nanna/Sin. It was excavated by Leonard Woolley in the 1920s–30s and rebuilt by the Neo-Babylonian king Nabonidus in the 6th century BC. Harran, where the family moves next (11:31), was also a main centre of the moon god's worship. Joshua 24:2 remembers that Terah 'served other gods' beyond the River.

The Hebrew double meaning produced a well-known legend (Genesis Rabbah 38:13; Targum Pseudo-Jonathan; Jerome, Hebrew Questions on Genesis). In it, 'Ur of the Chaldeans' means 'the fire of the Chaldeans'. Abram is thrown into Nimrod's furnace and survives. Haran, who sided with whichever brother won, is then thrown in and burned. Jubilees 12:12–14 has a different version: Abram sets fire to the house of idols, and Haran dies running in to save them.