1. GENESIS 11-50
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
Commentary by Lee Bright, version 0.1 on:
Asimov, Isaac and Palacios, Rafael (1981) Asimov's Guide to the Bible. Wings Books: NY.
Ur establishes the Mesopotamian sources of culture and the texts making up the Genesis anthology.
History of Ur. White Temple to An. Receding of the sea. Sumerian and Akkadian.
https://web.archive.org/web/20190327091057/http://fontes.lstc.edu/~rklein/Documents/Ur.htm
Case for a Northern Ur
Copiest addition of the Chaldees or Mosaic addition as reference to the Kassites?
'Indian' or 'Native American'? [Reservations, Part 0] - youtube.com
Uri is Sumerian for Akkad (ie. Agade) which was the capital of the Akkadian Empire. Although it has yet to be discovered, it is believed to be North of Babylon.
Ur Kasdim: Where Is Abraham’s Birthplace? (2019) by Gary Rendsburg - torah.com
Notably, the names of Teraḥ’s father Naḥor and his grandfather Serug are actually the names of cities in the general region of Urfa: a) Naḫur, known from Akkadian sources (even if its precise location in upper Mesopotamia is unknown), and b) Serug, well known from later Syriac sources, whose name persists in modern Turkish Suruç, 46 km southwest of Urfa.
An often used term to describe Abraham and the three major Abrahamic faiths is monotheism. Only first used in the 1600s, the term has since been enshrined as a major tenet of orthodox faith. At first blush, following the simple etymology of the word, it means "one god" or "single god" from the ancient Greek words monos- (μόνος) and theos (θεός). However, that would be an idiotic definition as it is so clearly defeated by the Problem of the One and the Many and dies the death of a thousand qualifications (See Bob and the French Fry Demon). If monotheism has a relevant meaning, the word order must be reversed - "God is One." There is unity in the diversity of the godhead.
Creator-Creature distinction
Household gods and statuary worship.
The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg - philologos.org
"Abraham the Iconoclast" by Etsuko Katsumata - www.cismor.jp
The Sumerian gods An and Enlil are often presented in parallel phrases or joined together as if of one mind. Enlil often has the same iconography as An - a horned crown sitting on a throne. Except in the Ninurta texts, Enlil is just as unimpeachable as An.
italicized = not firmly established
Genesis 14:9
Terms of Destruction for the Cities of the Plain (2002) by Steven Collins - nebula.wsimg.com
The Science of Lightning | National Geographic - youtube.com
7 Incredible lightning types | Amazing Weather - youtube.com
Q2 Weather: What causes dry lightning? - youtube
Scientist Explains How a Fire Tornado Forms | WIRED - youtube.com
Carbon Dating, how accurate is it? (2021) by Troweling Down - youtube.com
Destruction Layer 1700 BC +- 50 yrs.
The Airburst is Official! (2021) by Troweling Down - youtube.com
A Tunguska sized airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam a Middle Bronze Age city in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea. (2021) 11:18632 PDF
p. 47 "Early general observations at TeH indicated that the destruction layer is marked by anomalously high concentrations of salt."
p. 49
According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), wheat will not germinate if the soil salt content is >1.3 wt.%, and barley will not germinate at>1.8 wt.%152,153. Since these are the two primary cereal grains of the Ancient Near East, if the unusually high concentrations of salt recorded at TeH were similar throughout much of the southern Jordan Valley, no crops could have been grown until, with time, the salt leached out of the soil. Accomplishing the desalination of the soils would have taken hundreds of years, based on typical farming practices.
08 Samaria - Satellite Bible Atlas - youtube.com