10.7 THE JOURNEY OF TERAH: TO UR-KASDIM OR URKESH

 

THE JOURNEY OF TERAH:

TO UR-KASDIM OR URKESH

Genesis 11 records a line of descent from Shem t

hat culminates with Terahben-Nahor, who

begotAbram, Nahor and Haran(11:27).

THE HURRIAN LEDGE

The most likely place for that setting is the region known as the HurrianLedge. This stretch of land, well watered by rivers

and rainfall, runs acrossthe upper arch of the Fertile Crescent, near the sources of the Euphrates and

Tigris Rivers, with rugged mountains to the north,

east and west, andMesopotamia to the south. Here the Hurrians established themselves, and by

the third millennium they had flourishing city-stat

e kingdoms, especiallyalong the north-south and east-west trade routes that link Anatolia to thePersian Gulf and the Zagros Mountains to the Mediterranean coast. By the

mid-second millennium their power was declining and

their kingdomseventually faded away, but Hurrians were still found in scattered areas,including Canaan where they can be identified withthe Horites of the Bible.

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The Hurrians were not Semites, but Akkadians and

other Semites lived inHurrian cities, bringing their languages and customs with them. This melding

may underlie similarities between personal names in

Genesis 11 and namesof cities and towns of the Hurrian Ledge: Sereg (Sarugi), Terah (Turahi),Nahor (Nahor). It may also underlie the similaritybetween names of women

of Terah's household and those of Hurrian goddesses

: Sari/Sarah (Sar-natum)and Milcah (Malkatu).

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