one of the most interesting events recorded in the Old Testa-
Abraham ment; but the previous removal of the patriarch from Lower to
STJrto™1“ Upper Mesopotamia, has not been distinguished with suthcient
Upper Meso- r i e a r n e s s -from the subsequent journey which he made by Divine
potamia. 5
command from Haran.
Causes o f Alluding to the former, Josephus gives as the cause oi this
4“ S change of residence, that the patriarch Terah hated Chaldea,
residence. Qn account 0f the loss of his son Háran; 1 who died in the
presence of Terah his father, in the land of his nativity, in U r
of the Chaldees.2 But elsewhere he alludes to another and a
more powerful reason, viz., an opposition excited by the
Chasdim of Mesopotamia. This took place at U ’r, the birt -
place of Abraham,3 who is thus particularly described by
Berossus, without being actually named: “ After the Deluge,
in the tenth generation, there was a certain man among the
Chaldeans, renowned for his justice and great exploits, and
for his skill in the celestial sciences.” 4 The latter circumstance
apparently gave umbrage to the hierarchy of
Babylonia, which was no doubt increased by the opposition
of the patriarch to their doctrines; for he not only m-
His knowledge culcated the great truth that there is but one God, the Creator
enmity of6 the of the universe, and taught that if other gods contribute in
Chaldees. w tQ tpe happiness of mankind, it is by His appointment,
and not by their own power ;5 but according to another authority,
he proceeded to set fire to the temple of the idols in U ’r of the
Chaldees, and Harán, his brother, having gone in to extinguish
the fire, was there consumed.6
It is also stated by Mfihammedan writers, that Abraham
refused to continue his former vocation of selling images for
Azar or Terah, his father;7 and elsewhere it appears that he
opposed the astrology of the day; maintaining that the hea-
1 Jos., Ant., lib. I ., cap. vi.
• Gen., chap. X I ., v. 28, Bellamy’s translation.
8 Euseb., Prsep. Evan., lib. IX ., cap. iv., from Eupolemus.
4 Ibid., lib. IX ., cap. xvii. H H | H H H
5 Jos., Ant., lib. I ., cap. vii., compared with Zonares, A.nnales, tome 1,
p. 22, Paris, 1686. . 17SS
I ’Abú-1-Faraj, Hist. Dynast., p. 11. Bruns and Kirch, Leipsic, 1788.
? BibKothéque Oriéntale, Arts. Azar, and Miihammed fils de Málik-sháh
venly bodies were subservient to Him who commands them ; Abraham
to whom alone men ought to offer honour and thanksgiving.1 Sabaism.
Abraham having been converted by a special revelation to
the true faith,2 from which his family had departed, in the way
so particularly described by Epiphanius ;3 or (as it is elsewhere
expressed), “ delivered from the fire of the Chaldeans,” 4 and
the patriarch and his kindred being determined to abandon
idolatry, and no longer “ to follow the gods of their fathers,” 5
they removed to another part of the country; or, as it is more
clearly expressed in Scripture, “ they (Terah and Abraham,
&c.) went forth from U ’r of the Chaldees, to go to the land of
Canaan; so they came to Haran, and dwelt there.” 6
According to the chronology given by Josephus, this event Epoch of his
took place 420 years after the Deluge, and 1020 years anterior from Mesopo
to the building of Solomon’s temple.7 Commentators differtaima'
very little regarding the latter period; and adopting that of
Crossthwaite,8 the departure of Abraham from Mesopotamia in
the year 2031 B.C., will become a cardinal point to determine
the subsequent dates, which will be chiefly taken from those of
the valuable historian of the Jews.
Being now settled at such a distance as Haran, Abraham and
his family could freely follow the purer light which had been
handed down through Shem; and the preservation of that
light was thenceforth specially entrusted to them.
The change of residence is distinctly mentioned as having
taken place in the sixtieth year of the patriarch, and as he was
seventy-five when he quitted his father’s house, it follows that B.C.2016,
1 Jos., Ant., lib. I ., cap. vii., also Zonares, Annales, tome I ., p. 2 2 .
2 Acts, chap. V I I ., v. 2.
3 “ And from the times of T harra, the father of Abraham, they introduced
images and all the errors of idolatry, honouring their forefathers and their
departed predecessors with effigies which they fashioned after their likeness.
They first made these effigies of earthenware, but afterwards they sculptured
them in stone, and cast them in silver and gold, and wrought them in wood
and other kinds of materials.”—Anc. Fragments, by I . Preston Cory, Esq.,
p. 55.
‘ 2 Esdras, chap. IX ., v. 7. 5 Judith, chap. V., v. 6, 7.
6 Gen., chap. X I., v. 31.
7 Ant., lib. V I I I ., cap. iii., sec. 1.
8 Crossthwaite’s Synchronology, &c. Parker, London, 1839.