Abraham’s Birthplace and Siblings

Abrám/Abraham is one of the most renowned characters in our Bible.  Much has been written about the faith of Abraham.  The apostle Paul wrote of Abraham as the prototype of faithful believers (Ro.4:16).  Also, Abraham’s obedience to the Lord was exemplary.  Ge.26:5 “Abraham obeyed Me, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”  (All that, without having a codified Law of Moses, so-called!  see the topic “Abraham Obeyed Which Commandments?”.)

However, this topic isn’t about Abraham’s faith or obedience.  Rather, it’s about the disputed place of his birth and his siblings.  We’ll look at the pertinent Old Testament (OT) verses, with the traditional (supposed) Book of Jasher.  For Abram’s first 75 years, ref Jash.7 – 13.  He lived circa (c) 2117–1942 BC.  Moses wrote or compiled the book of Genesis 500 years after Abraham lived.  (also see the topics “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus” and Chronology: Septuagint versus Masoretic Text”.)

Abraham’s ancestor Noah & family survived the Flood (Ge.7:11-13, 8:13).  Ge.9:18-19 “The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Jápheth; and Ham was the father of Canáan.”  Then Ge.10:22 “The sons of Shem were Elám, Ásshur [Assyria], Arphaxad, Lud and Arám [Syria].”

Ge.10:24 “Arphaxad begot Shélah [Septúagint/LXX, ISV, NHEB “Kaínan”]; Shelah begot Éber.”  The Hebrew people were named after Eber.  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 1:6:4 “Eber, from whom they originally called the Jews, Hebrews.”  Eber/Heber was the great-grandson (or grandson) of Arphaxad.

Eber was Abram’s great-great-great-great-grandfather.  Josephus Antiquities 1:6:5 “Abraham was born in the 292^nd year after the Deluge. Térah begat Abram in his 70^th year [Ge.11:26]. Abram had two [older] brothers, Nahór [2] and Harán [Hawráwn Strongs h2039, Hebrew]. Haran left a son, Lot; also Sarai and Milcáh his daughters, and died. These married their nieces. Nahor married Milcah and Abram married Sarai.”  1:7:1 “Abram adopted Lot, his brother Haran’s son & his wife Sarai’s brother.”

Jash.7:51 “Terah was 70 years old when he begat him, and Terah called the name of the son that was born to him Abram.”  Jash.9:4 “Haran was 42 years old when he begat Sarai, in the 10^th year [Ge.17:17] of the life of Abram.”  So Haran was 32 years older than Abram, according to Jasher.  Haran & Nahor 2 were twins?  Jash.7:22, 12:16, 9, 27, 24:27 Nahor 2 died at age 172 when Isaac was 40, Abraham 140.  Both Nahor 2 & Haran were born when Terah was age 38, 32 years before Abram’s birth.

Jash.12:44-45 “Nahor and Abram [age 50] took wives, the daughters of their brother Haran. The wife of Nahor was Milcah and Abram’s wife was Sarai [Sarah].”  Targum Jonathán Ge.22:20 “Sarah arose and cried out….And it was told Abraham, ‘Behold, Milcah also has borne; she has enlargement through the righteousness of her sister [Sarah], to bring forth sons unto Nahor your brother.”

Ge.11:29 “Abram’s wife was Sarai; Nahor’s wife was Milcah the daughter of Haran; the father of Milcah and Iscáh.”  Was Iscah, Sarah?  Wikipedia: Iscah “Rabbinical scholars [Talmudic]… claim that Iscah was an alternate name for Sarah.”  JFB Commentary Ge.11:31 “Sarai…the same as Iscah.”  Targum Jonathan, Jasher, Josephus, Talmudists indicate that Abraham’s niece Sarah (Lot’s sister) became his wife.  If Terah adopted Sarai when his son Haran died, then Abram married his legal sister.  Decades later in Ge.20:2, Abraham said of Sarah his wife to king Abimélech, “She is my sister”.

Núzi in N. Iraq ‘tablets of sistership’ were contracts written in Akkadian cúneiform (1400 BC); a man’s wife could legally be his sister.  Dr. Scott Stripling The Nuzi Tablets “The city of Nuzi, E of ancient Asshur and [9 miles] W of Árrapha in S Kurdistan. ‘Sister’ and ‘wife’ could be used interchangeably in documents. Thus, Abraham and Isaac [Ge.26:9] were being deceptive in calling their wives their sisters, but not strictly dishonest. In ancient Egyptian love poetry, brides are frequently referred to as ‘my sister.”  Ge.12:17-19 Pharaoh asked Abram regarding Sarai, “Why did you say, ‘She is my sister”?

BAS: The Patriarchs’ Wives As Sisters “Harran and Nuzi were of the same ethnic and cultural milieu, both centers of Hurrian society.”  Leon Mauldin Nuzi Tablets and the Patriarchs “In the society of the Hurrians, a wife enjoyed greater protection and a superior position when she also had the legal status of a sister [2 separate documents].”  Earlier, Abram moved to Harrán [Kawráwn h2771] in far S Turkey.

Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered: 4Q252, col.2 “Terah was 140 years old when he left Ur of the Cháldees and came to Harran. Abram was 70.”  (Terah was age 70 when he’d fathered Abram.)

“Ur of the Chaldees” was Abram’s birthplace or area of residence during his early decades.  Ge.11:28 it was also the place of brother Haran’s ‘nativity’ (moléhdeth h4138, or ‘kindred’).  Ne.9:7 “You are the Lord God who chose Abram and brought him out from Ur of the Chaldees, and gave him the name Abraham.”  Where was Ur of the Chaldees located…in northern Mesopotamia, or in southern?

In the OT, the term Ur (h218) occurs in Ge.11:28, 31, 15:7, Ne.9:7.  Ur meant ‘flame’, according to the BDB Hebrew-English Lexicon.  Flame or fire.  Could “Ur” and “fire” be switchable?

Douay-Rheims 2Esdras 9:7/Ne.9:7 “You chose Abram and brought him forth out of the fire of the Chaldeans.”  Jash.12:1-43 traditionally, king Nimrod cast Abram into a flaming furnace in Casdim, v.21-23.  God saved Abram (age 50) from the furnace, but his brother Haran died at age 82 in that “fire of Casdim”, 12:37.  Jash.13:1-6 “The Lord appeared to Abram, ‘I am the Lord who delivered you from Ur Casdim.”  Abraham et al left Ur/fire Casdim for Harran; later he settled in the land Canaan (13:26).

‘Ur’ doesn’t occur in the Greek OT (today our Septuagint/LXX) or New Testament (NT).  In the 4 OT verses above, the LXX reads “land of the Chaldéans” (not ‘Ur’).  The term rendered “land” is chórah g5561.  Ac.7:4 Luke used the Greek term “ge” g1093 for “land of the Chaldeans”; NHEB has “land of the Kasdím”.  Ne.9:7 LXX “You did choose Abram and brought him out of the land of the Chaldeans.”

Chaldeans/Chaldees (Kasdíy h3778, Kasdim plural, ‘clod-breakers’) occurs 80 times in the OT; 3 times in Genesis (11:28, 31, 15:7).  Ge.11:28 “Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his nativity, Ur of the Chaldees [Kasdim].”  (Da.2:5 “Chaldeans” in Aramaic is Kasdáy h3779.  For ancient linguistic background relative to Abraham’s time, see “Patriarchs’ Bronze Age Languages”.)

Cambridge Bible Ac.7:4 “The extent of the country signified by the ‘land of the Chaldeans’ must have varied at different periods.”  Southern Mesopotamia would become known as Cháldea in the future.

Mic.5:6 Assyria is called the “land of Nimrod”.  Pulpit Commentary Mi.5:6 “The term [‘land of Nimrod’] is better explained as a synonym for Assyria.”  Ge.10:6-11 Nimrod’s kingdom included Assyria, where “Asshur” (LXX, KJV, Josephus; others read “Nimrod”) had built Nineveh.  Descendants of Shem’s son Asshur lived in Assyria, but that land became ruled by Ham’s descendant Nimrod.

Wikipedia: Chaldea “The ancient Chaldeans were…West Semitic Levant [Syria] semi-nomadic tribes who seem to have migrated between 940–860 BC into the SE corner of Mesopotamia, at the head of the Persian Gulf. The first written attestation of Chaldeans occurs in 852 BC, in the annals of the Assyrian king Shalmeneser III, who mentions…the SE extremes of Babylonia, and subjugating the overall leader of the Kaldu [Akkadian language] tribes.”  Over the centuries, the Chaldean peoples migrated into various land areas.

Gen.11:27-31 Did Moses have in mind the area Chaldeans occupied 500 years earlier at Abram’s birth, or the area Chaldeans occupied at the time Moses wrote, or does our Genesis reflect the Babylonian area Chaldeans occupied when scribes (Ezra?) centuries later updated Gen. with current place names?

Britannica: Ur “Important city of ancient southern Mesopotamia (Sumer) situated about 140 miles SE of Babylon and 10 miles west of the present bed of the Euphrates River. Modern Tell Muqayyar, Iraq.”

Some Bible historians think Abram’s nativity was in southern Mesopotamia, at that famous Sumerian Ur.  Abram’s time corresponds to that of the Ur III Dynasty (c 2112–2004 BC) Neo-Sumerian empire of SW Mesopotamia.  But is southern Mesopotamia the most likely place of his birth?

Wikipedia: Ur of the Chaldees “In 1862, Henry Rawlinson [Assyriologist] identified Ur Kasdim with Tell Muqayyar. In 1927 Leonard Woolley [archaeologist] identified Ur Kasdim with the Sumerian city of Ur (founded c 3800 BC), in south Mesopotamia, where the Chaldeans settled much later (around the 9th century BC); Ur lay on the boundary of the region later called Kaldu (Chaldea, corresponding to Hebrew Kasdim [?]) in the first millennium BCE. Woolley’s identification was challenged with the discovery of the city of Harran in north Mesopotamia, near the present-day Altmbasak in Turkey (archaeological excavations at Harran began in the 1950s). The Chaldean dynasty didn’t rule Babylonia (and thus become the rulers of Ur) until the late 7^th century BC.”  Not in Abraham’s time.

Josh.24:2-3 LXX “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Your fathers at first dwelled beyond the River [Euphrates], Terah the father of Abram and Nahor, and they served other gods. And I took your father Abram from beyond the River and guided him in all the land [of Canaan].”  Initially they lived east of the Euphrates.  Ge.24:10 the city of Nahor was in Arám Naharáyim, Syria in northern Mesopotamia.

But the southern Ur of Sumer was located on the west bank of the Euphrates, not “beyond the River”!

Christopher Eames Has Abraham’s Father, Terah, Been Discovered? “Which of the northern, ‘beyond the River’ Ur options is the best fit? Urartu wasn’t established until a millennium after Abraham. Urfa is a possibility. But Urkesh is also a good fit—and even more so in name. ‘Ur of the Chaldees’ isn’t a transliteration of the original Hebrew. The Hebrew title is Ur Kasdim (‘im’ is a Hebrew plural ending). Thus, a parallel between Urkesh – more properly titled in inscriptions Urkeš.Ki, and the biblical Ur Kasd[im].”  Urfa and Urkesh are both in north Mesopotamia, “beyond the River”, east of Euphrates.

Perhaps the epicenter of the Flood was within the broad area of the Mediterranean toward the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, Lake Van in Turkey, including the upper Euphrates & Balikh Rivers.  Ge.8:4, 9:18-20 Noah’s Ark rested in the Ararat mountains of old Armenia, and he planted vineyards in the valleys.

Descendants of Noah’s son Shem migrated south, to what would become known as Urartu (cognate with Ararat) in the region of: Lake Van, Lake Urmia in NW Iran, Urkesh in far NE Syria, Urfa (today Sanliurfa) 10 miles N of the Turkey-Syria border and 70 miles east of the Euphrates.  Wikitravel.org: Urfa “Urfa (also Sanliurfa, formerly Edessa).”  Abraham migrated from an Ur, likely heading south, to Harran (where he intermittently spent a total of 8 years [?], Jash.13:1-26); then SW to Canaan land.

Josephus Antiquities 1:6:4 (93 AD) “Arphaxad named the Arphaxadites, now called Chaldeans.”  Gill Exposition Ge.10:22 “Arphaxad, from him part of Assyria, which lay northward next to Armenia, was called Arphaxitis. Josephus says, he gave name to the Arphaxadaeans, whom he ruled over, now called Chaldeans. Indeed the name of the Chaldeans may well be derived from the latter part of Arphaxad’s name, ‘Chashad’…the Chaldeans were called Chasdim before Chesed [Abraham’s nephew, Ge.22:20-22] was born, and were a nation when Abraham came out of Ur, before Chesed could be old enough to build towns and found a nation; see Ge.11:31.”  So its likely Kasdim didn’t relate to Chesed the son of Abraham’s brother Nahor 2, since Chesed was younger than Abraham.  Instead, Ur-Ka/esh?

Pulpit Commentary Ge.10:22 “Arphaxad. A region in the north of Assyria; the Arrhapacitis of Ptolemy (Rosenmüller, Keil, Kalisch).”  Barnes Notes Ge.10:22 “Gesenius renders it [Arphaxad’s country] border or stronghold of the Kasdim [?].”  Wikipedia: Arrapha “(Akkadian) An ancient city in NE Iraq, at [today’s] Kirkuk. A part of Sargon’s Akkadian empire [2300 BC].”

In the Jewish traditional (150 BC) Book of Jubilees 8:1-6, an earlier Kesed was Shelah’s uncle; Kesed & Kainan (Shelah’s father, LXX) were brothers, Arphaxad’s sons.  Jub.11:3 “Ur, the son of Kesed, built the city of ‘Ara of the Chaldees’, and called its name after his own name and the name of his father.”  Ur Kesed = Ur Kasdim?  Wikipedia: Arpachshad “Some ancient Jewish sources point to Arpachshad as the immediate progenitor of Ura and Kesed, who allegedly founded the city of Ur Kasdim (Ur of the Chaldees).”  Wikipedia: Ora, Daughter of Ur “The Book of Jubilees implies that Arphaxad is the grandfather of Ur, son of Kesed.”  Jub.9:4 “For Arpachshad came forth the third portion, all the land from the region of the Chaldees to the east of the Euphrates…all the land of Lebanon and Sanir [De.3:9 LXX, Mt Hermon] and Amana [SSol.4:8 LXX, a river by Damascus] to the border of the Euphrates.”

Job.1:17 CEV “Three gangs of Chaldeans [LXX “horsemen”] attacked and stole your camels.”  It is thought that Job (c 1800–1600 BC) lived in Bashan NE toward Syria.  (see “Job and the Land of Uz”.)  Barnes Notes Job.1:17 “The Chaldees or Casdim were a warlike people who originally inhabited the Carduchian mountains, north of Assyria, and the northern part of Mesopotamia.”  Keil and Delitzsch Ge.11:28 “Ur of the Chaldees is either in the Ur between Hatra and Nisibis [N Iraq and far S Turkey], near Arrapachitis, or in Armenian Urrhai, the old name for Edessa, modern Urfa [Sanliurfa].”  Urfa (Urha in Armenian) was 7 miles SW of the ancient Gobékli Tepe site of the oldest known temple.

TimesofIsrael.com Urkesh: Abraham’s Ur of the Chaldees? “The Hurrians came to be the dominant group in S Anatolia, N Mesopotamia, and NE Syria. Their capital and largest city was Urkesh at the base of the Taurus mountains. Nearby, in the heart of Hurrian territory was Harran. Could Urkesh be Ur of the Chaldees? In Hebrew it is called Ur Kasdim, with Hebrew consonants U-R-K-E-S. Josephus, Maimonides, and other early Jewish sages claim that Abraham’s birthplace was in north Mesopotamia.”

It is said that the general area of Abraham’s ancestors is witnessed by the names of ancient sites below Armenia in south Turkey.  ref the names in Gen.11:21-32.  Bet Yeshurun: Who Was Abraham? “Dr. Douglas L. Esse, Assoc. Director of the Harran Expedition of the Oriental Institute in Chicago wrote, ‘The biblical account clearly made a strong association between the patriarchs, the city, and the surroundings of Harran in N Syria (today SE Turkey). Abraham’s father, Terah, was named after the town of Til Turahi; Abraham’s grandfather Nahor [1], was named after Nahuru or Til Nahiri; Abraham’s great grandfather Serug, was named after Sarugi (modern Suruc); Abraham’s brother Nahor [2], was named after Nahuru or Til Nahiri; Abraham’s brother Haran, received the name of the Haran (also spelled Harran [?]) district, but was born and died in Ur of Chaldees. These were all place-names in the ancient Balikh Valley area of Aram. Harran, in SE Turkey…is east of the great northern bend of the Euphrates (just north of Syria). It is known by three names in the Bible (Gen 25:20, 28:2-7, 48:7; Hos 12:12-13): Harran, Paddán-Arám, Aram-Naharaim. This area was a crossroads of trade & civilization.”

There was more than one ancient ‘Ur’ (‘fire’ ?)!  readyforeternity.com Which Ur is Abraham’s Ur? “There were several ancient cities called Ur or a variation of Ur. The Mari tablets (dating to the time of Abraham) and later Assyrian sources mention cities such as Nahor and Serug in the vicinity of Harran. Modern Suruc is 35 miles east. Harran wasn’t on the route between Sumerian Ur and Canaan. A caravan traveling from southern Mesopotamia heading for Canaan would have followed the Euphrates in a northerly direction and then turned west at Mari [200 miles SSE of Haran!]…before turning south toward Canaan. Going directly west from Sumerian Ur to Canaan wasn’t a viable route because the Arabian desert would have proven an impractical, or perhaps impossible, challenge.”

TheTorah.com Ur Kasdim “A more attractive suggestion is that Abraham’s hometown is the city of Ur in northern Mesopotamia, modern-day Urfa [Sanliurfa] in SE Turkey, 44 km north of Ḥarran.  Most likely, this city is the one mentioned as Ura in cuneiform tablets from Úgarit (14th–13^th centuries BCE), where it is associated with the Hittite realm. A journey from Urfa to Canaan would indeed pass directly through Ḥarran. Local (Turkish) Jewish, Christian, and Muslim tradition identifies this city as biblical Ur, the birthplace of Abraham.”  ‘Abraham’s Cave’ is a pilgrimage site in Sanliurfa.

OT Professor Tony Cartledge Have We Erred On Ur? “Cyrus Gordon, who dug at the Sumerian Ur with Leonard Wooley, never accepted Wooley’s identification of the southern Ur as Abraham’s ‘Ur of the Chaldees’. He consistently argued for a northern location. I’ll point to the more likely possibility that Abraham grew up in Anatolia [Turkey], not Sumer.”  Not in southern Mesopotamia.

Ge.11:31 Amplified Bible Harran was 550 miles NNW of the Sumerian Ur!  JFB Commentary Ge.11:31 “They came unto Harran, two days’ journey SSE from Ur [Sanliurfa].”  It is understood, a caravan couldn’t travel 550 miles north from the southern Sumerian Ur to Harran in only two days!

Jub.12:31 Nahor [2] too was in Harran.  Antiquities 1:6:5 “Nahor…Abram…Terah …they all moved to Harran.  Jash.22:15 “Abraham’s brother Nahor, his father, and all belonging to them dwelt in Harran.”  Keil and Delitzsch Ge.11:31 “Nahor must also have gone to Harran.”  Ge.24:10 Abraham’s servant “went into Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor.”  Jash.24:27 “Nahor…died and was buried in Harran”.  Ge.24:4 LXX, CEV, GN Abraham said, “Go to my country where I was born, find a wife for my son [Isaac].”  Cambridge Bible Note Ge.24:7 “Land of my nativity’; the land of Harran is clearly intended.”  Jash.24:32 “The servant [Eliezer] answered his master Abraham, ‘I go to your birthplace and to your father’s house to take a wife for your son from there.”  Abram “was born” in that northern region.

Professor Cyrus Gordon Where Is Abraham’s Ur? “Sumerian Ur is never called ‘Ur of the Chaldees’ in  the countless cuneiform tablets that mention Ur. The biblical evidence is conclusive in placing Ur of the Chaldees in the Urfa-Harran region…rather than in southern Mesopotamia. The designation ‘Ur of the Chaldees’ distinguishes it from other cities called Ur, including Sumerian Ur. Gen.24:7, 10, 29 tells us that Abraham’s birthplace was in Aram-Naharayim where Laban lived.”  Laban, grandson of Nahor 2.  Ge.31:21 leaving Laban in the east, Jacob crossed over Euphrates heading west on his way into Gilead.

The Ebla Tablets, dated c 2350 BC, were discovered in NW Syria in 1974.  Jonas Manske The Ebla Tablets (2005) “The Ebla tablets also speak of the city of Ur…as being in the territory of Harran.”

Ac.7:2 “The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Harran.”  Meyer NT Commentary Ac.7:2 “The land of Ur (Gen.11:28) was situated in northern Mesopotamia.”  Cambridge Bible Ac.7:2 “…the site of Ur, the most probable opinion seems to be that which places it at Edessa [Sanliurfa], called Orfah…Orrha in early times.”  Smith’s Bible Dictionary:Ur “It has been identified by the most ancient traditions with Orfa in the highlands of Mesopotamia.”

Israel-a-history-of.com Ur of the Chaldees: The Forefather of the Hebrew Race “The traditional site of Abraham’s birth according to Islamic tradition is a cave in the vicinity of Edessa. Edessa is now named Sanliurfa and…is the site of a mosque called the ‘Mosque of Abraham’.”

Derek Gilbert Second Coming of Saturn, p.64 “For most of the last 4,000 years most people assumed that Abraham came from northern Mesopotamia. Until Wooley, Bible scholars generally believed the patriarch had come from southern Turkey.”  (Urkesh, now Tell Mozan, was 100 miles east of Harran.)

But since the 1920s, many have thought Abraham’s birthplace was the Ur in southern Mesopotamia (west of the Euphrates).  Yet the OT LXX and most other evidence to date indicates his birth was east of the Euphrates in northern Mesopotamia, near Urfa/Sanliurfa or Urkesh.  Perhaps future archaeological findings will more conclusively identify an exact location, be it northern or southern Mesopotamia.

 

Patriarchs’ Bronze Age Languages

This topic discusses languages of the Bronze Age (approximately 3300–1200 BC) in the Ancient Near East (ANE), relative to the time of the Biblical patriarchs.

We don’t know what the language of Adam was (cf. Ge.2:19-20).  Many historians think Sumérian is the oldest written language.  Sumerian is called an isolated language, with no ancestor tongue.  But loan words have been identified in Sumerian writings.  So Sumerian as the first language is questioned.  Encyclopaedia Brittanica “The Sumerian language…first attested about 3100 BC in S. Mesopotamia.”

Wikipedia: Writing System “The Sumerian archaic cúneiform script closely followed by the Egyptian híeroglyphs are generally considered the earliest writing systems, both emerging out of their ancestral proto-literate symbol systems from 3400 to 3200 BC with earliest coherent texts from about 2600 BC.”

Dating from pre-3000 BC Súmer, pictograph was pictures that represent a word or idea.  Cuneiform script was wedge-shaped marks or symbols, on clay tablets.  Cuneiform was adapted from pictograph.

The sons of the patriarch Noah were Shem, Ham and Jápheth (Ge.9:18).  The family survived the Flood.  The Septúagint/LXX dates Noah’s Flood circa (c) 3200 BC.  After the Flood, his descendants migrated from old Armenia (Ge.8:4), to Shinár (Ge.10:10), and so on.  The Ge.10–11 account, with the tower of Babél zíggurat, coincides with the development of language families from a primitive root language.

Post-Flood, Ge.11:1-9 “The whole earth was of one language [lip, shore, Strongs h8193 Hebrew]. They found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. They said, ‘Let us build a city & tower whose top is in heaven.’ Its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language [lip/shore], and scattered them over the whole earth.”  Wikipedia: Tower of Babel “The Akkadian name of the city was Babilim, meaning ‘gate of God.”  Shinar (Sumer, or Sínjar?) was an area in Mesopotamia (Ac.2:9, 7:2; it included ancient Babylonia).  Shinar means ‘two rivers’.  Mesopotamia (Greek) means ‘land between the rivers’, the Tigris and Euphrates.  Mankind spread out over the land; other languages emerged.

Language families developed through Noah’s descendants (ref Ge.10:1, 5, 20, 31).  Carlos Quiles From Adamic or the Language of the Garden of Eden Until the Tower of Babel “The language spoken by Noah and his descendants, whether the original Adamic language or the derived Chaldáic [?], split into 70 or 72 languages, according to the different traditions.”  People dispersed upon the earth through extended family lines, clans, languages.  It is said that 14 major language families exist today (e.g. Indo-European, Áfro-Asiátic the oldest).  Dialects developed within the major language groups/tree models as humanity spread geographically; numerous dialects of descent are within each.

Ge.10:6 “The sons of Ham were Cush, Mízraim [Egypt], Phut and Canáan.”  The Egyptian people descended from Ham.  Ge.10:22 “The sons of Shem were Elám, Asshúr, Arpachshad, Lud and Arám.  These were grandsons of Noah.  Semític languages are named from Shem.  (The Aramaic language would be named from Aram.)  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 1:6:4 “Elam…the Elamites, ancestors of the Persians [Iranians]. Asshur lived at the city Nineveh, and named his subjects Assyrians. Arpachshad named…the Chaldéans. Aram…called Syrians. Lud…Lydians [W Turkey].”  (see the topics “Aramaic in the Bible” and “Chronology: Septuagint versus Masoretic Text”.)  Aram & Arpachshad were brothers.

Wikipedia: Arpachshad “Arpachshad was understood by many Jewish and Muslim scholars [pre-1920] to be an area in northern Mesopotamia. This led to the identification of Arpachshad with Urfa-Kasid, a land associated with the Khaldis.”  Wikipedia: Chalybes “The Chalybes and Chaldoi were…peoples living in N. Anatolia [Turkey]. Their territory was known as Chaldia.”  (Later they’d move south.)

Ge.10:24 LXX “Arphaxad begot Kaínan (not Canaan), Kainan begot Shélah, Shelah begot Éber.”  (The Hebrew people would be named after Eber, Josephus ibid.)  Eber was the great-grandson (or grandson) of Arphaxad.

Sumerian of Iraq is an extinct linguistic isolate.  At Ur in S Mesopotamia, the writings on the mud-brick walls of the Great Ziggurat (2000–2100 BC) are Sumerian cuneiform.  The ancient Elamite language of SW Iran, dating from c 2600 BC and now extinct, is also considered a language isolate.  Although Elamite was named from Shem’s son Elam (Ge.10:22), it isn’t considered a Semitic language.

There were multilinguals in Mesopotamia, speaking Sumerian, Akkádian…then other dialects.  Akkadian is an extinct E Semitic Afro-Asiatic language.  Ge.10:10 Akkád was in or near the land of Shinar (the exact location hasn’t been discovered).  Akkadian names are seen in Sumerian writings, dated c 2500 BC.  Wikipedia: Akkadian Empire “Akkadian gradually replaced Sumerian as a spoken language somewhere around 2000 BC.”  Near the commencement of the Middle Bronze Age.

Ge.11:10-27 Abrám descended from Arphaxad.  v.31 Abraham (born c 2100 BC) likely came from Ur/Urfa/SanliUrfa/Edessa, or Urkesh, in N Mesopotamia.  He migrated approx 25 miles S to Harrán (Akkadian ‘Harránu’, ‘crossroads’) in far S Turkey, 10 miles above the N Syrian border.  The region of Aram in Upper Mesopotamia.  Ancient Urkesh (Tel Mozan today) in NE Syria was 100+ miles E of Harran.  Abram later would migrate SSW through Damascus; cf. Ge.15:2 his “Eliézer of Damascus”.

Ge.11:16-27 the names of early Hebrews (descendants of Eber and ancestors of Abraham) are seen in the names of towns located in the vicinity of Harran, Turkey.  Péleg, the city of Paliga; Serúg, the city of Sarugi; Nahór, Nakhur in the valley; Abraham’s father Térah, Til-Turakhi (‘mound of Terah’).

Rudolph Klein Abraham’s Chaldean Origins and the Chaldee Language “He must have been literate & fluent in Sumerian, Akkadian, various other Semitic languages (e.g. Amorite), probably Egyptian as a trade language. His descendants would adopt the language of…Canaan [Phoenícian/old Hebrew].”

Mark D. Kaplan The Languages of the Bible “One of the earliest ancient cities was Akkad in Mesopotamia (Ge.10:10). Perhaps Abraham originally spoke an Akkadian dialect in Ur. Abraham went south to Canaan…the Canaanites were descendants of Ham [Ge.10:1, 6 Noah’s son]. In Canaan Abraham picked up the local language. His clan’s version of Canaanite became known as Hebrew [much later].”  (Hebrew is classed as a Canaanite NW Semitic Afro-Asiatic language.)

Eblaite, named after the city Ebla (Tel Márdikh today] in N Syria, is an extinct E Semitic Afro-Asiatic language dating from the (latter) 2000s BC.  Ebla was approx 90 miles SW of Harran & 190 miles N of Damascus.  Wikipedia: Ebla [3000–1600 BC] “At its greatest extent, Ebla controlled an area half the size of modern Syria, from Ursaum in the north [S Turkey] to around Damascus in the south, and from Phoenícia and the coastal mountains in the west to Haddu in the east. It is probable the inhabitants of 3^rd kingdom Ebla [2000–1600 BC] were predominantly Amorites, as was most of Syria at that time.”

Wikipedia: Eblaite Language “Similarity to Hebrew, Ugarític, or Phoenician.”  Eblaite is an E Semitic sister language to Akkadian.  Jeff Benner The Archives of Ebla and the Bible “The tablets were written [2300 BC at Ebla] with a cuneiform script, like Úgarit [N Syrian coastal city]. The Eblaite language shares many similarities to the Hebrew language.”  Kevin Drendel The Ebla Tablets Confirm Biblical Accounts “The tablets include Sumerian Eblahite vocabularies with thousands of translated words. Also an ancient language…related to [the later] Hebrew and Phoenician.”

Abram was also probably familiar with Hurrian, an extinct N Mesopotamia language dating from 2300 BC.  And Elamite (cuneiform).  Ge.14:1-17 Abram defeated Chedorlaómer, the powerful king of Elam.  Bible patriarchs knew Akkadian, some Eblaite & Hurrian.  And Amorite too, an extinct NW Semitic Afro-Asiatic language (and an ancestor of Ugaritic?).  Ge.10:15-16 the Amorites descended from Ham’s son Canaan.  Abram dwelt in the plain of his ally Mamré the Amorite (Ge.14:13), near Hebron.

Ge.12:10-20 while in Egypt, Abram perhaps spoke Middle Egyptian (an Afro-Asiatic language) with Pharaoh.  Ge.20:1-18 Abraham and an ancient Abimélech, king of Gerár (capital city), dialogued SE of Gaza (Ge.21:32-34).  There they possibly spoke an early form of Proto-Sináitic?  So-called “Philistine” territory was the SW coast of Canaan.  Those Philistines descended from Mizraim/Egypt, son of Ham.  Ge.10:13-14 “Mizraim begot Pathrúsim and Caslúhim, from whom came the Philistines, and Caphtorím.”  Josephus op.cit. 1:6:2 “All the children of Mizraim, eight in number, possessed the country from Gaza to Egypt; though it retained the name of one only, the Philistim.”  Ge.21:34 “Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days.”  Gill Exposition “For many years.”

Later the Israelites would say of their ancestor in De.26:5, “My father was a wandering Araméan [Arammíy h761, Syrian]”.  Referring to Abraham or Jacob.  Ge.14:13 “Abram the Hebrew” (Ibríy h5680) and grandson Jacob were from Eber’s line.  Abraham and Jacob (born c 1950 BC) had spent years in N Syria; both would have known Akkadian, Amorite, and Jacob the developing Proto-Aramaic.

Abraham told his servant, Ge.24:1-4 “Don’t take a wife for my son from the Canaanites, among whom I live; but go to my country to my relatives and take a wife for Isaac.”  v.10 “He went to Arám-of-the-two-rivers, the city of Nahór.”  Wikipedia: Aramaic “Ancient Aram…Syria”.  The city of Abraham’s brother Nahor was in N Mesopotamia, Syria-Turkey, 400 miles distant.  The servant brought back Rebekah for Isaac.  Ge.25:20 “Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuél the Aramean of Paddán-Arám, the sister of Labán the Aramean [Arammiy].”  Ge.22:20-23 Bethuel, the son of Nahor, was Abraham’s nephew.  90 years later, Ge.28:5 “Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-Aram, to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean.”  A form of primitive Aramaic was likely the dialect at the ‘plain of Aram’.  Jacob brought his wives Leah & Rachel from the old country to the Land of Canaan.

Laban was an Aramean.  Pre-Aramaic and pre-Hebrew are reflected in the same verse in Ge.31:43-48. “They took stones and made a heap, and ate there. Laban called it Jegár sahaduthá, but Jacob called it Galéed.”  They made a “heap of witness” c 1865 BC at Mizpáh of Gilead, E of the Jordan River.  Laban called the memorial by a proto-Aramaic name, but Jacob called it by a precursor of Hebrew.  Barnes Notes “Here is the first specimen of Aramaic, as distinguished from Hebrew.”  Jacob would’ve learned both dialects in Canaan, Proto-Canaanite pre-Hebrew and his mother’s primitive Paleo-Syrian.

Codex 99 Proto-Sinaitic “Around 1900 BC the Proto-Sinaitic script began to appear in Egypt, the Sinai and the Levánt. Associated with hieroglyphic or hierátic signs. It was adopted by the Canaanites (hence Proto-Canaanite) and later by the Phoenicians.”  Omniglot: Proto-Sinaitic/Proto-Canaanite “Proto-Canaanite is a version of the Proto-Sinaitic script as used in Canaan, modern Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and parts of western Syria. It is also used to refer to an early version of the Phoenician script as used before 1050 BC, or an ancestor of Phoenician.”  Phoenicia was a 150-mile coastal region, Lebanon today.  (cf. Mk.7:26 “The woman was a Syrian-Phoenician.”)  Phoenicia included the cities of Tyre, Byblos, Sidon.  Ge.10:15 Sidón was the firstborn son of Canaan.

Ge.40:15 Jacob’s son Joseph was from the “land of the Hebrews”, peoples racially disliked by the Egyptians (Ge.43:32).  Descendants of Eber lived in N Syria and then Canaan.  After Pharaoh made Joseph a ruler in Egypt, Jacob/Israel and his sons’ families moved from Canaan to Egypt c 1827 BC.  see “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus”.  Ge.42:23 an interpreter was necessary, since the Middle Egyptian language and the Proto-Canaanite (and the Akkadian of the Old Assyrian period) differed.

Joseph died in Egypt c 1757 BC.  The Amorite Hammurabi (1810-1750 BC) wrote his famous law Code between 1755–1750 BC in Akkadian cuneiform text at the ancient Babylon city-state.  He was the 6^th king of the First Babylonian Empire (1894-1595 BC), ruling Mesopotamia.  (Later, after Israel exited Egypt, two Amorite kings in NE Canaan c 1575 BC were Sihon and Og. ref De.31:4.)

While in Egypt, the descendants of Jacob/Israel became slaves and learned Middle Egyptian.  Ac.7:22 “Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians; he was mighty in words and deeds.”  Ex.2:16-19 Reuél’s daughters (1600s BC) in the land of Midián thought Moses was Egyptian, from his speech & dress.  Moses spent years in Midian near Mt Sinai, where he was called by God (Ex.3:1-ff).

Ex.31:18 after the Israelite exodus from Egypt, the Decalogue at Mt Sinai was written by the finger of God.  In Canaano-Akkadian, Proto-Sinaitic/Canaanite script, Eblaite, hieroglyphic or hieratic scripts?  The Lord’s Old Covenant too.  F.F. Bruce Who Wrote Genesis? “A man [Moses] ‘learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians’ would have been conversant with the Egyptian hieroglyphic and hieratic.”

John C Lennox Seven Days That Divide the World, p.126 “The scribal use of cuneiform script spread from Mesopotamia as far as Canaan, Hazor [in Upper Galilee], and even Hebron [between Jerusalem and Beershéba] by the 17^th century BC.”

In the Land of Canaan after 215 years in Egypt, the Israelites/‘mixed multitude’ (Ex.12:37-38) of 1550 BC likely took on Proto-Canaanite.

Andre H. Roosma The Written Language of Abraham, Moses and David “The Paleo-Hebrew script developed from a script that was used in the W Semitic area during the 2^nd millennium BC. It is often referred to as Proto-Canaanite or Proto-Sinaitic script.”  The Israelites would then use the developing Old/Paleo Hebrew (and Phoenician) in the Land of Canaan.

The Amarna Letters (1360-1332 BC) are 382 tablets found in Upper Egypt, but written in Akkadian cuneiform script (not in Egyptian).  They’re correspondence between the kings of Canaanite cities and Pharaoh.  Wikipedia: Amarna Letters “The letters, though written in Akkadian, are heavily colored by the mother tongue of their writers, who probably spoke an early form of Proto-Canaanite.”  Not long before the time of Gideon in the book of Judges (6:11-ff).  see “Chronology: the Exodus to Samuel”.

There’s no indication that Paleo-Hebrew was spoken in Mesopotamia.  Cambridge Bible Ge.11:1 “That Hebrew was the primitive language….has been disproved by the scientific comparative study of languages, and of Hebrew and the Semitic languages in particular.”  Wikipedia: Canaanite Languages “Hebrew, Phoenician…derived from the Proto-Canaanite alphabet to record their writings.”

That brings us to the approaching end of the ANE Bronze Age, c 1200 BC.  Further archaeological findings may bring to light other ancient dialects and/or revisions to those discussed here in this topic.

The Paleo-Hebrew (Old Hebrew alphabet) script would become the language of south Canaan.  Is.19:18 “language of Canaan”.  Language historians say the Phoenician language was spoken in NW Canaan.  Old Hebrew and Phoenician were very similar; both contained the same 22 letters.  (Aramaic too has 22.)  Wikipedia: Paleo-Hebrew Alphabet “Like the Phoenician alphabet, it is a continuation of the Proto-Canaanite script, which was used throughout Canaan in the Late Bronze Age. There is no difference in Paleo-Hebrew vs Phoenician letter shapes.”

For more on Aramaic & Hebrew in the ensuing centuries of the Iron Age, see “Aramaic in the Bible”.

Aramaic in the Bible (1) – Old Testament

Our Bible books were written in (at least) three ancient languages; Hebrew, Aramáic, koine Greek.  This two-part topic is about Aramaic.  Part 1 discusses Aramaic in Old Testament (OT) times, BC. 

Noah and his family survived the Flood (Ge.7:13, 8:15-16).  Ge.9:18 “The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Jápheth; and Ham was the father of Canáan.”  Ge.10:22, “The sons of Shem were Elám, Asshúr, Arphaxad, Lud and Arám.”  Aram and Canaan were grandsons of Noah.

Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 1:6:4 “Asshur lived at the city of Nineveh, and named his subjects Assyrians. Arphaxad named…the Chaldéans. Aram…called Syrians.” 

Semític languages are named from Shem.  The Aramaic language is named from Shem’s son Aram.  Cambridge Bible “The people denoted by Aram were destined to exercise great influence. The Araméan language gradually prevailed over the other Semitic dialects, even Hebrew.”

Ge.10:24 Septúagint/LXX “Arphaxad begot Kaínan [not Canaan], Kainan begot Shélah; Shelah begot Éber.”  The Hebrew people were named after Eber.  Josephus ibid “Eber, from whom they originally called the Jews, Hebrews.”  Eber was the great-grandson (or grandson) of Aram’s brother Arphaxad.

Much later, a language in the “Land of Canáan” Holy Land would be called Hebrew.  Tel Aviv’s Bar-Ilan Univ: Daf Parashat Hashavua (No.112) “It’s clear from extant epigraphic material that Hebrew is a Canaaníte language.”  Aramaic and Canaanite are classed as NW Semitic languages.  Hebrew and Phoenícian are sub-classed as NW Semitic Canaanite languages.  All four are primary-classed as Áfro-Asiátic languages.  Aramaic would become widely used geographically in the Near East.

Wikipedia: Aramaic “Ancient Aram, now called Syria, is considered the linguistic epicenter of Aramaic, the [later] language of the Arameans who settled the area during the Bronze Age. Aramaic is a Semitic language. By around 1000 BC, the Arameans had a string of kingdoms in what is now part of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and the fringes of southern Mesopotamia [Ac.2:9, 7:2] and Anatólia [Turkey]. Aramaic rose to prominence under the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–605 BC), under whose influence Aramaic became a prestige language after being adopted as the língua fránca [common tongue] of the empire. Its use spread throughout Mesopotamia, the Levánt and parts of Asia Minor. At its height, Aramaic, having gradually replaced earlier Semitic languages, was spoken in several variants all over what is today Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, E. Arabia, Bahrain, Sinai, parts of SE and south central Turkey, and parts of NW Iran.”  Aramaic became the language of Mesopotamia.

Wikipedia: History of Mesopotamia “Mesopotamia literally means ‘between the rivers’ in ancient Greek. The oldest known occurrence of the name Mesopotamia dates to the 4^th century BC, when it was used to designate the land east of the Euphrates in north Syria. Later it was more generally applied to all the lands between the Euphrates and the Tigris, thereby incorporating not only parts of Syria but also almost all of Iraq and SE Turkey. The neighboring steppes to the west of the Euphrates and the western part of the Zágros Mountains are also often included under the wider term Mesopotamia. A further distinction is usually made between Upper or N. Mesopotamia and Lower or S. Mesopotamia. Upper Mesopotamia, also known as the Jazíra, is the area between the Euphrates and the Tigris from their sources down to Baghdad. Lower Mesopotamia is the area from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf.”

Prior to Aramaic, the main language of the ancient Near East was Akkádian, an East Semitic Afro-Asiatic language, now extinct.  Holman Bible Dictionary: Akkadian “Akkadian was the international language of diplomacy & commerce in the Near East before 1000 BC.”  Wikipedia: Akkadian Language “Its gradual replacement by Akkadian-influenced Old Aramaic among Mesopotamians.”  The ancient Old Aramaic period was c 1000–700 BC.  (Historians differ some in their period designations/dates.)

The OT term for “Aramaic language”, Aramíth Strongs h762 Hebrew (rendered “Syrian language” in the LXX), occurs 4 times: 2Ki.18:26, Is.36:11, Da.2:4, Ezr.4:7.  The term for a Syrian/Aramean person is Arammíy h761, 11 occurrences.  Aram h758 is both a man’s name and the Syrian region, occurring over 100 times.  Mesopotamia/Arám Naharáyim h763 (Aram-of-the-two-rivers, rendered Mesopotamia in the LXX), occurs 6 times: Ge.24:10, De.23:4, Jdg.3:8, 10, 1Ch.19:6, Ps.60:1.

Ge.12:5 Abrám (born c 2100 BC) migrated to the land of Canaan from Harrán (Akkadian “Harránu”), which was in the region of Aram.  Harran is in far south Turkey, 10 miles from the north Syrian border.

Abraham told his servant in Ge.24:2-4, “Don’t take a wife for my son from the Canaanites, among whom I live; but go to my country to my relatives and take a wife for Isaac”.  v.10 “He went to Aram-of-the-two-rivers, the city of Nahór.”  The city of Abraham’s brother Nahor was in N. Mesopotamian Syria, 400 miles distant.  The servant brought back Rebekah for Isaac.  Ge.25:20 “Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuél the Aramean of Paddán-Arám, the sister of Labán the Aramean [Arammiy h761].”  Bethuel, the son of Nahor, was Abraham’s nephew (Ge.22:20-23).  Then Ge.28:5 “Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-Aram,to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean.”  Jacob later brought back his wives, daughters of Laban on the Syrian “plain of Aram”…to the land of Canaan.

Of the Israelites’ ancestor, De.26:5 “My father was a wandering Aramean”.  Referring to the semi-nomad Abraham, or Jacob.  Abraham and grandson Jacob (born c 1950 BC) had spent several years in Aram/Syria.  Ge.14:13 Abram the “Hebrew” (Ibríy h5680) descended from Eber.  The term “Hebrew”, Ibriy h5680, occurs 34 times in the OT.  But that OT term always meant a people, not a language!

Circa 1865 BC, Laban and Jacob made a “heap of witness” at Mizpáh of Gilead, E. of the Jordan River (Jephtháh later lived there, Jg.11:34).  Ge.31:44-47 “They took stones and made a heap, and ate there. Laban called it Jegár–sahaduthá, but Jacob called it Galéed.”  Laban the Aramean called the memorial by a pre-Aramaic word, but Jacob called it by a pre-Hebrew word.  Jacob had learned both developing dialects growing up in Canaan, pre-Hebrew and his mother Rebekah’s pre-Aramaic.

Later, God’s nation of ancient Israel knew the developing Old Hebrew dialect (and Phoenician) in the Land of Canaan.  In 1954 AD, Solomon Birnbaum coined the term “Paleo-Hebrew alphabet” for the Old Hebrew.  The Old Hebrew script would be used from c 1000–500 BC to record Biblical texts.

There’s no evidence that Old/Paleo Hebrew was spoken in Mesopotamia.  Cambridge Bible Ge.11:1 “That Hebrew was the primitive language….has been disproved by the scientific comparative study of languages, and of Hebrew and the Semitic languages in particular.”  The ‘Old Hebrew’ alphabet script became a Canaanite language of (south) Canaan.  Is.19:18 “language of Canaan”, Israel’s language. 

Historians say the Phoenician language was spoken in north Canaan.  Phoenícia was a 150-mile coastal region.  (cf. Mk.7:26 “the woman was a Syrian-Phoenician”.)  Phoenicia included the cities of Tyre, Byblos, Sidón .  Ge.10:15 Sidon was the firstborn son of Canaan.  Old Hebrew and Phoenician were very similar; both contained the same 22 (consonantal) letters.  Aramaic too has 22.  Wikipedia: Paleo-Hebrew Alphabet “There is no difference between Paleo-Hebrew vs Phoenician letter shapes.”

Wikipedia: Old Aramaic “Emerging as the language of the city-states of the Arameans in the Levant in the early Iron Age [c 1000 BC]. From the 10^th century BC, the alphabet seems to be based on the Phoenician alphabet. From 700 BC, different dialects emerged in Assyria, Babylonia, the Levant and Egypt. The Akkadian-influenced Aramaic of Assyria, and then Babylon, started to come to the fore.”  Circa 800 BC, Aramaic was becoming the trade language of the Near East.  It generally was spoken by Syrians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, etc., E. of the Euphrates.  (cf. “Patriarchs’ Bronze Age Languages”.)

encyclopedia.com aramaic-language “Aramaic is the general name for various dialects often difficult to classify.” 

Canaanite is the general name/class for the Hebrew, Phoenician, Moabite, Edomite, Ammonite dialects; these developed gradually and were ‘mutually intelligible’. 

Presently, no Old Aramaic or Old Hebrew inscriptions have been discovered that predate 1000 BC; all are more recent!  No evidence has been found yet as proof either script existed prior to 1000 BC.

Ancient Jews called their language Judahite (Jehudíth h3066), not “Hebrew” (Ibriy h5680).  Jehudith occurs 6 times in the OT: 2Ki.18:26-28, Is.36:11-13, 2Ch.32:18, Ne.13:24.  2Ki.18:26-28 Jewish officials in Jerusalem wanted the threatening Assyrian commander Rabshakéh to speak to them in Aramaic (Aramith h762), not Judahite/Judean, so as not to frighten people on the wall.  In King Hezekiah’s day, 700 BC, common Jews in Judah didn’t speak Aramaic.  However, the Jewish officials understood Aramaic, the language of diplomacy in the Near East from c 800 BC (after Akkadian).

Nowhere in the OT is the language of Israelites/Jews called the ‘Hebrew language’!  James F. Driscoll Hebrew Language and Literature “The name Hebrew [Hebraistí g1447, Greek] as applied to the language is quite recent in Biblical usage, occurring for the first time in the Greek Prologue of Ecclesiásticus [Wisdom of Sirách], about 130 BC.”  Not occurring until that book in the Apócrypha.

In 721 BC, the northern kingdom of Israel was deported to Assyria.  2Ki.17:23-24 “Israel was exiled from their land to Assyria.”  Aramaic-speaking foreigners from Babylon etc. were brought into north Israel.  They’d assimilate as the “Samaritans”.  (see the topic “Israelite Deportations By Assyria”.)

In 597 BC, the southern kingdom of Judah was taken captive to Babylon, the next empire.  Je.10:11 is in Aramaic…Jeremiah was telling his Jewish people what to say to their Aramaic-speaking captors. 

Aramaic was the lingua franca of both the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian (Chaldean) empires.  Israelites and Jews learned to speak Aramaic in their places of captivity beyond the Euphrates.  The Aramaic language was also called Cháldee (a misnomer?).  Easton’s Bible Dictionary “Chaldee is the Aramaic dialect, as it is sometimes called, as distinguished from the Hebrew dialect.”  Aramaic was also the official language of the Persian/Achaeménid Empire (559–333 BC), which followed.  The period of Old Aramaic (c 1000–700 BC) evolved into the period of Imperial/Official Aramaic (c 700–300 BC).

Wikipedia: Biblical Aramaic “King Darius the Great declared Imperial Aramaic to be the official language of the western half of his empire in 500 BC, and it forms the basis of Biblical Aramaic.”   

God inspired some scriptures of the OT from this time to be written in Aramaic.  The following chapters were written in Aramaic: Da.2:4b-7:28, Ezr.4:8-6:18, 7:12-26.

Of the total verses comprising Daniel & Ezra, 56% are written in Hebrew, 44% in Aramaic.  Jews then knew Aramaic.  Da.2:4 “The Chaldeans spoke to King Nebuchadnézzar in Aramaic [Aramith h762].”  Ezr.4:7 “The text of the letter was written in Aramaic [Aramith].”  To Artaxérxes, king of Persia.

{Sidelight: The Divine Name or Tetragrámmaton YHVH (h3068) occurs 6,500 times in the OT.  But the Name never occurs in any of the OT Aramaic chapters.  It seems that Daniel and Ezra weren’t ‘sacred name’ advocates who thought that God’s (Old Hebrew) Name must be commonly used!}

The hand from God even wrote in Aramaic the “handwriting on the wall” (539 BC)!  Da.5:24-28 “This is the written inscription: ‘MÉNE, MÉNE, TÉKEL, UPHÁRSIN.”  The words are monetary weights.  The wise men of Babylon spoke Aramaic, but Daniel could decipher the writing.  Wikipedia: Belshazzar’s Feast “The Chaldean wise men are unable to…interpret it. As Aramaic was written with consonants alone, they may have lacked any context in which to make sense of them.” 

Jews began returning to the Land of Canaan from captivity in 538 BC.  They returned with Zerubabbél, Ezra, Nehemiah.  These returnees brought the Aramaic language with them to the Land of Canaan. 

By the time of Nehemiah (450 BC), many Israelites and Jews no longer knew Judahite.  Ne.13:24  “As for their children…none of them was able to speak in the language of Judah [Jehudith h3066].”

The Holman Christian Standard Bible indicates they “could not speak Hebrew”.  Benson Commentary Ne.13:24 “The language which the Jews then spoke was Chaldee; this language they learned in their captivity, and after their return never assumed their ancient Hebrew tongue.”  Commoners didn’t resume the lip of Canaan or Judahite in Judea.  Pulpit Commentary Ne.13:24 “All the children [450 BC] spoke a jargon half Ashdódite and half Aramaic.”  (Áshdod was on the old Philistine coast.)

Ne.8:1-8 Ezra the priest-scribe read publically the Hebrew scriptures in Jerusalem on Rosh Hashánah.  v.8 “They read from the book of the law of God, translating so the people could understand.”  The returnees no longer could read the Judahite scriptures.  Pulpit Commentary Ne.8:8 “They translated the Hebrew words into the popular Aramaic or Chaldee.”  Ellicott Commentary “They naturally translated into the vernacular Aramaic dialect.”  Aramaic was the trade language of the then Persian Empire.

Some Bible scholars think that Ezra translated (or redacted) OT books into Aramaic/Chaldee.  Talmud: Sanhedrin 21b “In the times of Ezra, the Torah was given in Áshuri [Neo-Assyrian] script and Aramaic language.”  Juanjo Gabina How Similar Was the Phoenician Language to the Hebrew Language? “The ‘Paleo-Hebrew’ language is a Canaanite Phoenician language with writing. As evidenced by the Samaritan Torah that preserves these ancient [Old Hebrew] texts. According to tradition, Ezra adopted the square script of the Aramaic alphabet instead of the Canaanite Phoenician, nicknamed the Paleo-Hebrew [1954 AD], during the post-exile restoration of Israel in the 5^th century BC. When the Aramaic alphabet became the Hebrew alphabet, Hebrew parchments were written mainly in Aramaic characters.”

{{Sidelight: The Jewish philosopher Philo (c 20 BC – 50 AD) lived in Alexandria, Egypt.  Philo On the Life of Moses 2:5:26 “In olden time [450 BC?] the laws were written in the Chaldean language, and for a long time they remained in the same condition as at first, not changing their language.”  Then prior to 132 BC, Jewish scholars translated the OT into the old Greek version.  ibid 2:7:38-40 “In the case of this translation of the law, exactly corresponding Greek words were employed to translate literally the appropriate Chaldáic words, being adapted with exceeding propriety to the matters which were to be explained. If Chaldeans were to learn the Greek language, and if Greeks were to learn Chaldean, and if each were to meet with those scriptures in both languages, namely, the Chaldaic and the translated version, they would admire and reverence them both as sisters, or rather as one and the same….to go along with the most pure spirit of Moses.”  ibid 2:41:224 “The Passover is celebrated, which in the Chaldaic language is called páscha.”  Philo On the Embassy to Gaius 1:4 “This nation of the suppliants is in the Chaldaic language called Israel.”  Marg Mowczko The Septuagint “Philo refers to the original language of the Old Testament as Chaldean rather than Hebrew.”  Ezra had translated the OT into Chaldee?  (And Philo didn’t use the Greek term Hebraís, “Hebrew” g1446 noun, to refer to Aramaic.)}}

Omniglot: Paleo-Hebrew “By the 6^th century BC the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet was gradually replaced by the Imperial Aramaic alphabet, which developed into the Hebrew square script.”  The Ashuri script.

In 330 BC, Greece conquered the Persian Empire.  Greek became the trade language for the Grecian Empire.  No longer was it the Aramaic of the Persian Empire.  Koine/common Greek, a (Hellénic) Indo-European language, was now spoken.  Many Jews in the diáspora (dispersion) accepted Greek culture, becoming Héllenized and speaking Greek.  Some continued to speak Aramaic.  Most Jews in Judea kept speaking Aramaic.  During this period, regional dialects of Imperial Aramaic began to emerge.

Most Jews everywhere no longer knew the lip of Canaan, Old Hebrew Judahite.  So Jews translated all the OT scriptures into koine Greek.  This old Greek version was completed before 132 BC.  Literate Greek-speaking Jews in the diaspora could then read the OT text!  The old Greek version later became our Septuagint/LXX.  The LXX wouldn’t have been so needed if most Jews still knew Judahite.

The Grecian Empire lasted until the 1^st century BC.  The Roman Empire followed. The Greek language continued as the commercial language of the Roman Empire too.  (Latin would become the language of the Roman army and higher administration.)  Many Jews, Hellenists, spoke Greek.

This topic is continued and concluded in “Aramaic in the Bible (2) – New Testament”.  It notes the Aramaic Tárgums, Aramaic words seen in the gospel accounts, and traces Aramaic to the present day.

Israelites Identification (2)

Foundational scriptures for this topic were covered in “Israelites Identification (1)”.  This Part 2 is the sequel.  Part 2 won’t contain a full recap of what was covered in Part 1.  Verses referenced in (1) are essential for (2).  Also see the topic “Israelite Deportations by Assyria” for more background.

Part 1 ended with Hoséa’s prophecy.  The Lord told Hosea to prophesy to the northern kingdom of Israel.  Ho.1:4-11 “I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. For you are not My people and I Am not your God. Yet the number of the sons of Israel will be like the sands of the sea which cannot be measured or numbered. And it will come about that it will be said to them, ‘You are the sons of the living God.’ And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together.”  The disobedient 10 tribes of Israel would be exiled from the Holy Land, and become a multitude in Assyria, Persia, and elsewhere.  But Ho.2:23 “And I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they shall say, ‘You are my God!”  Yet eventually in the future, descendants of the 10 tribes would become the people of God again!  Israel gathered to Christ together with the descendants of the southern kingdom of Judah, the Jews (ref Ezk.37:15-22)…all 12–13 tribes together.

“Israelites Identification (1)” noted Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews 11:5:2. “There are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the 10 tribes are beyond Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers.”  In 94 AD, the 10 tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel were still gone!  Talmud Yebamot 17b “The 10 tribes of scattered Israel in their places of exile are legally gentiles for all intents and purposes.”

Jewish Virtual Library “The belief in the continued existence of the ten tribes was regarded as an incontrovertible fact during the whole period of the Second Temple and of the Talmud.”  Jewish Encyclopedia: Tribes, Lost Ten “Those of Judah and Levi [and Benjamin] returned with Ezra and Nehemiah. If the Ten Tribes have disappeared, the literal fulfilment of the prophecies would be impossible; if they have not disappeared, obviously they must exist under a different name.”  Only the 2–3 tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Levi, not the 10, returned to the Land from Babylonian captivity.

In the 60s AD, Peter wrote to scattered people living among gentiles in the area of Asia Minor, north from the Holy Land (1Pe.1:1).  1Pe.2:9-12 “You are a chosen stock, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. You were once not a people, but now you are the people of God. Conduct yourselves honorably among the gentiles [nations].”  The scattered resident aliens to whom Peter wrote included those who were “not a people”, but had now become the people of God.  Peter tied them to the ancient northern Israelites of Ho.1:10 & 2:23.  Israelites migrated from captivity.  Jews did too.  Peter continued, 1Pe.4:16 “If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed”.  Recipients of 1Peter had become Christians of God!

Paul wrote in Ro.9:6, “They are not all Israel who are of Israel”.  There was a spiritual remnant.  v.24-27 “Even us whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among gentiles. As He says in Hosea, ‘I will call those who were not My people, My people. Though the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant will be saved.” (Paul here also quotes Is.10:22 LXX).  Paul too relates the 10 tribes of Israel to…gentiles. (also see the topic “Gentiles in the Bible”.)

Paul continues in Ro.11:13, addressing gentiles, “I am speaking to you gentiles”.  v.17-26 RSV “I want you to understand this mystery, brethren; a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles come in, and so all Israel will be saved.”  JFB Commentary Ro.11:25 “Blindness (hardness) has come partially, or upon a portion of Israel.”  Meyer’s NT Commentary “A part of Israel is hardened, until the gentiles collectively shall have come in.”  Jews and gentiles, including the 10 tribes, together the people of God.  All Israel.  Judah and Joseph as “one stick” (Ezk.37:15-ff).

Paul spoke his defense before King Agríppa in Ac.26:6-7. “Now I’m standing trial for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers; which our 12 tribes hope to obtain, as they serve God night and day. For this hope, O King, I am being accused by the Jews.”  Does Paul here differentiate the 12 tribes from the Jews, or are the “12 tribes” representative of “Jews”?  Cambridge Bible Notes Ja.1:1 “The ten tribes of the Kingdom of Israel, though they had been carried into a more distant exile than Judah and Benjamin, were thought of, not as lost and out of sight, but as still sharing the faith and hope of their fathers. So St Paul speaks of ‘the twelve-tribed nation’ as ‘serving God day and night’ (Ac.26:7), and our Lord’s promise that His twelve disciples should sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Mt.19:28).”  1Clement 22:24 “Nor did Esther expose herself to any less hazard, for the delivery of the 12 tribes of Israel, in danger of being destroyed.”  After the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, Israelites of the 12 tribes were in Persia too at the time of queen Esther (400s BC).

By the 1^st century, many Jews saw the restoration of the 12 tribes as part of the eschatological work of Elijah or Messiah (ref Mt.19:28).  Ja.1:1 “James, a bondservant of God, to the 12 tribes who are scattered abroad, greetings.”  Benson Commentary Ja.1:1 “James very properly inscribed his letter to the twelve tribes which were in the dispersion, seeing the twelve tribes really existed then, and do still exist, although not distinguished by separate habitations, as they were anciently in their own land.”  Gill Exposition “They were the posterity of those who had been dispersed in former captivities, by the Assyrians and others, and who remained in the several countries whither they were carried, and never returned. We read of 144,000 sealed of all the tribes of Israel, Re.7:4.”  Those weren’t just the Jews.

Rabbi A.H. Fink from Spokane, WA, “The Jews do not claim to represent the twelve tribes, for the ten tribes never returned from captivity and are lost to history.”

In 1Co.10:18, Paul speaks of “Israel according to the flesh”, the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob/Israel.  Yet Paul’s writings reflect both a fleshly and a ‘spiritual Israel’.  In Ga.6:15-16, Paul doesn’t restrict the “Israel of God” to those physically circumcised (Jews).  Ellicott Commentary “By the ‘Israel of God’ is here meant the ‘spiritual Israel’, not converts from Judaism alone.”  JFB Commentary “Not the Israel after the flesh, but the spiritual seed of Abraham by faith.”  Paul wrote in Ga.3:28-29, “There is neither Greek nor Jew, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed.”  Gentiles are grafted-in, as Paul puts it in Ro.11:17.

The New Covenant is with descendants of Israel and Judah, God’s two ancient kingdoms.  In He.8:8-10 the writer quoted God’s words to Jeremiah. “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. I will put My laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God and they shall be My people.”  According to Paul, gentiles share in the new covenant by being grafted-in, becoming part of spiritual Israel.  God writes His laws on their hearts & minds via the Holy Spirit.

In Mt.12:3-4, Jesus spoke of the time David had “entered the house of God”.  The Old Testament house of God was the tabernacle/temple (e.g. Jg.18:31, 2Ch.3:3).  Later He.4:14, 10:21 “We have a great priest over the house of God”.  Now Jesus is High Priest over the house of God (in the order of Melchisedek, He.5:6).  Paul wrote in 1Ti.3:15, “The house of God, which is the church of the living God”.  There’s no more physical temple…the house of God is the church of God!

God’s kingdom and temple “house” was taken from those Jewish leaders…and is given to others.  Jesus proclaimed in Mt.21:42-46, “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation bearing the fruit of it. The chief priests and Pharisees understood He was speaking about them.”  Accordingly, in 70 AD the kingdom was taken from the physical ‘nation’ of Judaea, and given to a spiritual “nation” bearing fruit.  1Ch.28:5-6 the old kingdom.  De.4:23-27 if the ancient Israelites ignore or violate God’s covenant, they wouldn’t remain in God’s Land!  So God exiled them to other nations.  Paul spoke of them in Ro.10:19 (ref De.32:21 LXX), “I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation”.  The “nation” bearing fruit isn’t a singular national entity.  Again 1Pe.2:9-10 “You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation.”  Peter wrote to a holy “nation”, Christians (1Pe.4:16)…the house of God.

So where are the 10 or 12 tribes of Israel located, since Christ?  Josephus Wars of the Jews 2:16:4 is Herod’s 1^st century speech about Israelite tribes then beyond the Euphrates in Ádiabene (central old Assyria).  Then around 300 years after Josephus, Jerome said the ten tribes were “Still beyond the Euphrates, in the land of their captivity. Nor has their captivity ever been loosed” (Opera 6:780).  They were still  ‘lost’, gone from the Holy Land.

Asahel Grant wrote The Nestorians in 1841.  Grant had missionary experiences in Assyria & Persia.  He there encountered a people who displayed an Israelite culture and claimed to be descendants of ancient Israel.  We’ve also heard of Ethiopian Jews.  The Lemba people in Zimbabwe observe Jewish customs.  In northeast India are a people who exhibit a surviving Israelite culture and claim descent from the tribe of Manasséh.  Some think even Queen Elizabeth of England looked Jewish!?

Dr. J.H. Hertz, Chief Rabbi of the British Empire, said in 1918: “The people known as Jews are the descendants of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with a certain number of the tribe of Levi. So far as is known, there is not any further admixture of other tribes. The Ten Tribes have been absorbed among the nations of the world. The Jews look forward to the gathering of all the tribes at some future date.”

So the ancient 10 tribes of northern Israel, and the Jews too, are for the most part now assimilated into the various nations.  And intermarriage is increasing!  In 1900 AD, only 2% of married Jews worldwide were wed to non-Jews or gentiles.  In 1975 that figure was 25%.  But by 2004, 50% of marrying Jews intermarry with non-Jews.  And among non-Orthodox Jews in the USA, in 2013 the intermarriage rate is 70%.  And beyond Jews, it’s speculated that by now at least a small fractional % of our father Abraham’s ‘blood’, so to speak, is existent in most nations, if not in most people on earth!

Who is a real Jew today?  Regardless of descent, some consider a Jew to be anyone who practices Judaism.  But the religion or oral tenets of Judaism wasn’t that of ancient Jacob/Israel’s son Judah.  Judaism isn’t ‘Judah-ism’, so to speak.  Many say a (genetic) Jew is anyone who has a Jewish mother (some add, ‘and who hasn’t adopted another faith’).  Sects within Judaism have differing views on this issue.  However, in scripture, genealogies are patrimonial; not reckoned from the mother, whose name often isn’t included.  (a related topic is “Levites and the Exodus Multitude”.)

Some Jews say physical circumcision is unnecessary.  Joseph Jacobs wrote in 1905, Jew. Enc. X, 283. “The question whether the Jews of today are in the main descended from the Jews of Bible times, and from them alone, is still undecided.”  And after 3,500+ years of intermarriage & proselytizing, today it’s difficult to ascertain who’s really of the Abraham–Isaac–Jacob–12 tribe line anyway!

Genetic studies have produced mixed results…“No test can give you unambiguous proof.”  Some results may seem surprising.  Wikipedia: Genetic Studies on Jews “Many genetic studies also found substantial genetic overlap between Muslim Palestinians and Ashkenazi and Sephárdic Jews.”  Wikipedia: Canaanite Religion “The DNA [50%] of the modern Arab and Jewish people matches the DNA of the ancient Canaanites.”  Patheos: “Y–chromosome haplotypes revealed that Arabs and Jews are essentially a single population. Palestinians and Jews are virtually indistinguishable.”

Semites are a language group, not a racial group.  Today 340 million people speak Semitic languages (Shem, Ham, Jápheth were the three sons of the patriarch Noah, Ge.10:1).  Of those: 300 million speak Arabic, 22 million Amháric (Ethiopia), 7 million Tigrínya (Horn of Africa), 10 million speak Hebrew.  (Yiddish was mostly a Germanic language, not a Semitic.)  By definition, anti-Semitic opposes Arabs, Ethiopians, Jews/Hebrew speakers.  But usually the term is used wrongly, with racial implications.  Dr. Benjamin Freedman (Facts Are Facts, 1954) thought the term anti-Semitism doesn’t apply to Jews in the sense its most commonly used, and even “should be eliminated from the English language”.

The question continues to be raised as to whether some secular Zionist Jews who founded the modern Israeli state were really Semites (‘Shemites’, descended from Shem)?  Their Yiddish language wasn’t Semitic.  They’re Ashkenazi (German) ‘Jews’.  Ge.10:1-3 but Ashkenáz descended from Noah’s son Japheth, not Shem.  If so, possibly they’re non-Semitic (and pre-1950 had a non-Semitic language, Yiddish), perhaps descending from East European Slavs; i.e. Kházars who settled in Russia & Ukraine.  In 740 AD, the ruler of Khazária adopted Judaism as their official state religion.

Jewish scholar Arthur Koestler wrote in The Thirteenth Tribe: “The Khazars came not from Jordan, but from the Volga, not from Canaan, but from the Caucasus. Genetically they are more related to the Hun, Úygur and Mágyar than to the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The story of the Khazar Empire, as it slowly emerges from the past, begins to look like the most cruel hoax that history has ever perpetrated.”

But Jewish scholar Yair Davidiy doesn’t think the Khazars came from Turkish stock. The Khazars, Tribe 13 “Early traditions spoke of the Lost Ten Tribes being in the Scýthian and Khazar areas. According to most Jewish sources, Khazars were a portion of the 10 tribes, especially Ephráim and Manasseh. All Jews are Israelites but not all Israelites are Jews, in the same way that all Texans are Americans but not all Americans are Texans.” (p.200)

Descendants from Japheth and Ashkenaz traditionally settled in Germany, but were driven out and established new communities elsewhere in Europe.  They called themselves Ashkenazi, following customs & rulings previously practiced by Jews in Germany.

The Sephardic Jews are in the minority.  ref Ob.1:20 “Sepharád”.  Sepharad meant Spain to rabbis.  Sepharim were Spanish Jews or those following customs & rulings of Spanish Jews.  Sephardics now dwell around the Mediterranean area and North Africa.  Any future DNA matching for the 10 tribes?

When the Land allotments were originally assigned to the tribes of Israel (Jsh.14–19), at least 50% of the West Bank area inheritance went to the tribes of Ephraim & Manasseh & Issachár, not all of it to Judah & Benjamin (who became the Jews)!  And in the north, the area of the Golan Heights within Israel went to Manasseh (and a fringe area to Naphtalí), not to Judah or Benjamin.  That’s Bible history and geography from Joshua, not so-called anti-Semitism.  Yet…if the Khazars descended from the tribes of Israel, adopted Judaism, intermarried with Jews, and some of their seed returned to the Land during the past 130 years…then some living in modern Israel are the seed of ancient Israelites?!

Who is a true descendant of Abraham and Jacob/Israel?  Ga.3:28-29 “There is neither Greek nor Jew, you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed.”  Paul includes all who are in Christ…Christians. (Ro.11:24 with Jews re-grafted.)  Ge.17:1-6 anciently God changed Abrám’s name to Abraham, because he would become father of many nations.  Ro.4:16-17 includes all who have the same faith as “Abraham, the father of us all”.  Ro.11:26 thus all Israel will be saved!

Paul wrote in Ro.2:28-29, “Neither is circumcision outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart [cf. De.30:6], by the Spirit.”  According to Paul, it’s spiritual; not based on physical circumcision or a % of Jewish blood ancestry.

To conclude: Re.7:4-8 “I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000 from every tribe of the sons of Israel.”  John identifies 12 tribes (including the tribe of Judah).  Re.21:10-12 “It had a great and high wall with twelve gates; and names were written on them, those of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel.”  At the end of the Book…the names of the 12 tribes are on the gates of the Holy City!

Ps.22:23, 27-28 “You who fear the Lord, praise Him. All you seed of Jacob, glorify Him. All you seed of Israel. All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. And all the families of the nations will worship before Thee.”  (Ge.32:28 God changed the man Jacob’s name to Israel, see Part 1.)  Eventually all the tribes will be saved.  All the nations will praise Christ, the God/Rock of Israel.  Praise the Lord!!