Gênesis 11
John Phillips · Citado em PreceptAustin
Gênesis 11
Phillips observes that "God builds with stone (1 Peter 2:4–8+). The coming world empire of Christ is depicted as one of stone (Daniel 2:34–35+, Da 2:44–45+). But man uses brick. “They had brick for stone and slime had they for mortar” (Ge 11:3). Brick is simply hardened clay, a fitting symbol for humankind. That ancient world empire, in other words, was humanistic. Nothing really lasting can be made out of hardened clay and slime. All human things are bound to be faulty and frail. The slime used by those old world builders was bitumen, a tenaciously adhesive substance. What a contrast between the precious stones of the heavenly city (Revelation 21:19) and the clay and slime of Babel!" (BORROW Exploring Genesis page 104) Steven
Gênesis 11
Phillips quips that "As the world’s first federation of nations, it epitomized the last, for human history begins and ends at Babel (Revelation 17–18). As there was a great rebel (NIMROD) standing behind the first Babel, so there will be a great rebel (ANTICHRIST) behind the last one. As the first united nations organization centered everything in a cultural, political, and religious unity, so will the last. Here in Genesis is man’s first attempt to build a society from which God was to be excluded. But God refuses to be ruled out of human affairs so, consequently, He came down in judgment upon the scene." (BORROW Exploring Genesis page 104) Bob
Gênesis 11
Phillips - Ur of the Chaldees where Abram lived was an important city of Babylonia. It was a city of luxury and attainment, and a center of moon worship (BORROW Exploring Genesis - page 108) NET NOTE on Chaldeans - The phrase of the Chaldeans is a later editorial clarification for the readers, designating the location of Ur. From all evidence there would have been no Chaldeans in existence at this early date; they are known in the time of the neo-Babylonian empire in the first millennium B.C. Ur of the Chaldees Next to Euphrates River QUESTION - Where was Ur of the Chaldees? (SEE MAP ABOVE) ANSWER - Ur of the Chaldees (or Chaldeans) was a place in Mesopotamia and is mentioned four times in the Old Testament: Genesis 11:28 says that Haran (Abram’s brother and Lot’s father) died in Ur of the Chaldees, “the land of his birth.” Genesis 11:31 says that Abram left Ur of the Chaldeesand moved to Canaan. Chapter 12 goes on to explain that this move was the result of God’s call to Abram to leave his home and move to a new land that God would one day give to his descendants. In Genesis 15:7, God identifies Himself to Abram: “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees to give you this land to take possession of it.” In Nehemiah 9 the Israelites confess their sins and recount the history of Israel: “You are the LORD God, who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and named him Abraham” (verse 7). Ur may have been a city, and there have been many sites suggested as the location of Ur, but no theory is definitive. The site that is most commonly suggested is a city on the Euphrates River, about 150 miles northwest of the Persian Gulf. The Septuagint (an Ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament) simply calls Ur of the Chaldees the “land of the Chaldees,” and in the New Testament Stephen, reviewing the history of Israel, says that Abraham came out of “land of the Chaldeans” (Acts 7:4). Many scholars believe that Ur is not the name of a city but simply a word that means “land.” If this is the case, then Ur of the Chaldees is simply the land of the Chaldees. Chaldea was in the area known as the Fertile Crescent. Depending upon the time period, the territory of the Chaldeans varied, but it would have included the lower part of the Fertile Crescent, extending from the upper edge of the Persian Gulf northwest to the area of the city of Babylon. The Chaldeans ruled Babylon for a while. The exact boundaries of their territory are not clear. The point of the story is that God called Abram out of an area of civilization and prosperity. Ur of the Chaldees, the place where he lived, would have had ample water and land for pasturing and would have been active with commerce. It was “the place” to be. God called him away from that to a place that was unknown to him. Abram would probably have had a hard time imagining any place better than the place where he already was. But Abram believed the promises of God, and God credited that faith to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:3). History has been filled with pioneers who have left civilization to seek a better life, but usually these people have been in dire straits, desperate for something better. They left a bad situation knowing that, even though there would be dangers and hardships, they could have something better in the end. Abram’s situation seems to have been the opposite. He lived in a prosperous civilization among his family, who appears to have been wealthy. He walked away from it all, simply trusting that God was going to give him something better, even though he would be a stranger in a strange land and would not see the fulfillment of God’s promises in his lifetime. Many Christians face the same issue. Those living in ease and luxury can too easily focus on the here and now, forgetting that God has called them, like Abram and his children, to look “forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:10). GotQuestions.org UR OF THE CHALDEES MULTIPLE RESOURCES Howard Vos (see also following note for more on Ur) in Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Manners & Customs (page 6 - BORROW - also for an excellent summary click "The Land of Mesopotamia") has an interesting discussion related to Ur of the Chaldees which makes it even more striking that Abraham was willing to leave this area of prosperity to go to some unknown place. Vos entitles this section "Ancient Sumerian Ur: Important and Prosperous," asking "So what is the significance of the move, you ask? For us today, Ur is not an important place, nor is it located in one of the more progressive regions on earth. Conditions were quite different then, however. Instead of being situated in a cultural and political backwater, Ur was at the forefront of developments. If we have our chronology straight (see later discussion) Ur controlled a powerful empire and was perhaps the greatest city-state in the world at the time. The only possible exception was the Harappan culture of the Indus Valley, to be seen at such cities as Harappa and Mohenjodaro. Those cities were on the wane by 2000 B.C., however, and seem never to have been as advanced as the Mesopotamian cities. Not only was Ur an important and prosperous place in Abraham’s day, but it also stood in the general area where civilization began. The usual view is that civilization involves such developments as writing, the wheel—for pottery making and transportation—monumental architecture, the decorative arts, and metallurgy. All of these things appeared first in southern Mesopotamia, and the people who get credit for those many achievements were the Sumerians, who lived at the northern end of the Persian Gulf and who controlled Ur in Abraham’s day. The earliest monumental architecture (three large temples) was found at Obeid (4 miles northwest of Ur) dating from about 4000 B.C. At Uruk (biblical Erech, Genesis 10:10), another 35 miles up the Euphrates from Obeid, civilization really began. Pottery was produced on a spinning potter’s wheel and four-wheeled chariots with solid wheels were built by 3500 B.C. Soon after 3500 the inhabitants were writing on clay tablets in crude pictograms and by 3000 were using wedge-shaped cuneiform. We might well imagine Abraham learning to write on a clay tablet. At Uruk, too, archaeologists uncovered monumental architecture in the form of large temples, the first ziggurat or stage- tower, and city walls. Fairly sophisticated artistic production appeared in the decoration of the temples and the cylinder seals of the period. Cylinder seals were small stone cylinders one to three inches long and incised with artwork. These could be rolled across wet clay and serve as a signet or evidence of ownership. An irrigation system was also developed in the Uruk period. If Ur was the leading city of the world in Abraham’s day, and if it was located in an area that stood at the forefront of cultural advancement, Abraham’s decision to leave Ur and follow God’s call takes on new significance. NOTE: Howard Vos's "Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Manners & Customs" has one of the best discussions of Ur of Mesopotamia I have ever read. Click the following links if the book is unavailable (it seems to be very popular and so is often "checked out" and thus unavailable): Life in Abraham's Hometown - Ur of Mesopotamia - page 5 The land of Mesopotamia - page 6 Cuneiform As it was written during the Ur III period - page 6-7 Where Abraham Lived - Ur and Her Empire - page 8-9 (has an excellent map of the "Ancient Near East") The state also operated huge factories employing hundreds or even thousands of workers - page 10 Festivals were celebrated - page 10-11 Metal had to be imported - page 12-13 A greater sophistication than the one-story houses of earlier periods or later construction in Babylonian times - page 14-15 Varieties of sheep that cannot as yet be related to modern strains - page 16-17 Abraham probably started life as an upper class family member - page 18-19 (this is the limit of searchable pages) BIBLIOGRAPHY Howard Vos used that relates to Ur: Titles underlined and in bold are all available to BORROW Bottero, Jean, Mesopotamia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992. MESOPOTAMIA: Writing, Reasoning, and the Gods The oldest cuisine in the world : cooking in Mesopotamia Everyday life in ancient Mesopotamia Religion in ancient Mesopotamia Crawford, Harriet. Sumer and the Sumerians. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Hawkes, Jacquetta. The first great civilizations; life in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and Egypt. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1973. Jacobsen, Thorkild. The treasures of darkness : a history of Mesopotamian religion. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press, 1976. Kramer, Samuel N. History Begins at Sumer. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 3rd ed., 1981. Kramer, Samuel N. The Sumerians : their history, culture, and character. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963. Lloyd, Seton. The Archaeology Of Mesopotamia From The Old Stone Age To The Persian Conquest. London: Thames & Hudson, 1978. Lloyd, Seton. Foundations in the Dust. London: Thames & Hudson, rev. ed., 1980. Moorey, P.R.S. Ancient Mesopotamian Materials and Industries. Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1994. (Another possible resource - Ancient Mesopotamian technology) Oppenheim, A. Leo. Ancient Mesopotamia : portrait of a dead civilization Chicago: University of Chicago Press, rev. ed., 1977. Oppenheim, A. Leo, and others. Glass and Glassmaking in Ancient Mesopotamia. Corning, N.Y.: The Corning Museum of Glass Press, 1970. (Another possible resource - Glass : a short history) Postgate, J.N. Early Mesopotamia. New York: Routledge, 1992. Roux, George. Ancient Iraq. New York: Penguin Books, 3rd ed., 1992. Schenck, Helen, ed., “The World of Ur,” Expedition, Vol. 40, No. 2, 1998 (ONLINE - includes the articles below) Introduction - Helen Schenck Ur and Its Treasures: The Royal Tombs - Lee Horne The Musical Instruments from Ur and Ancient Mesopotamian Music -Anne Draffkorn Kilmer The Boat-Shaped Lyre: Restudy of a Unique Musical Instrument from Ur Maude de Schauensee Life on the Edge of the Marshes - Edward Ochsenschlager Texts, Tablets, and Teaching: Scribal Education in Nippur and Ur - Steve Tinney Van DeMieroop, Marc. The Ancient Mesopotamian City. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. (Related books) Whitehouse, Ruth. The First Cities. Oxford: Phaidon, 1977. Woolley, C. Leonard. The Sumerians. New York: W.W. Norton, 1965. Woolley, C. Leonard. Ur ‘of the Chaldees’. Rev. by P.R.S. Moorey. London: the Herbert Press, 1982. Henry
Gênesis 11
Phillips - Moses records Abram’s initial venture as a pilgrim. Again, the immediate narrative does not record how or when the true and living God revealed Himself to Abram, the pagan idolator of Ur, but evidently He did, because in response to that revelation not only Abram but also Terah his father, Sarai his wife, and Lot his nephew all took the first step. Together they left Ur of the Chaldees migrating northward until they came to Haran. Evidently, too, God’s initial revelation of Himself to Abram was of such a powerful and convincing nature that Terah was not only persuaded to join the pilgrimage but actually took the lead..... The pilgrim family journeyed until they came to the city of Haran, and there the sojourners made their first stop. Haran was a frontier town of the Babylonian Empire and, like Ur of the Chaldees, was devoted to the worship of the moon god. There the whole pilgrimage bogged down and, it would seem, remained inert and inactive for about twenty-five years until the death of Terah. After all, the old nature, as represented by Terah, can make only token responses to divine things. (BORROW Exploring Genesis - page 108) Warren Wiersbe contrasts "man’s ways at Babel and God’s ways in calling Abraham and Sarah. (1) The world depends on large numbers of powerful people in order to accomplish things, but God chose two weak people and started a new nation. (2) The people at Babel wanted to make a name for themselves, but God promised to make Abraham’s name great. (3) The workers at Babel followed the wisdom of this world, but Abraham and Sarah trusted the Word of God (Heb. 11:11–12). (4) Babel was built by the energy of the flesh and the motivation of pride, but the nation of Israel was built by the grace and power of God and in spite of human weakness. We live in a confused world and Babel is still with us. But God still has His faithful remnant that follows Him by faith and keeps their eyes on the heavenly city (Heb 11:13–16). Are you a part of that remnant?" (Note numbers added to the 4 points of contrast). Steven