"In the Land of the Chaldeans": The Search for Abraham's Hom

Title

"In the Land of the Chaldeans": The Search for Abraham's Homeland Revisited

Publication Type

Journal Article

Year of Publication

2017

Authors

Smoot, Stephen O. (Primary)

Pagination

6-37

Volume

56 Issue

3 URL

https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/land-chaldeans-search-abrahams-homeland-revisited

Terms of use

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Bibliographic Citation

Abstract

Readers of the Bible discover that Abraham was the son of a certain Terah and claimed "Ur of the Chaldeans" as his home (Gen. 11:28). Many scholars identify modern Tell el-Muqayyar in southern Iraq as Abraham's Ur.

Stephen Smoot first looks at what Genesis says about Abraham and his sojourns throughout Mesopotamia and Syria. He provides a brief history of the excavation of Tell el-Muqayyar and recounts what modern scholarship says about Ur in various parts of its history. From there he compares the picture in Genesis with the archaeological picture provided by this scholarship. He then highlights the work of scholars who have placed Abraham's Ur not in southern Iraq but in various sites in Syria or northern Mesopotamia. Finally, he brings the book of Abraham into the equation to explore the significance it carries when it comes to locating Abraham's Ur.

Ancient Near East

Mesopotamia

Book of Abraham

Abraham (Prophet)