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which his posterity is described, must have been equally familiar to his mind. It is
well known that the brilliancy of a starlit sky in the East, and especially where Abram
dwelt, far exceeds anything which we witness in our latitudes. Possibly this may have
first led in those regions to the worship of the heavenly bodies. And Abram must
have been the more attracted to their contemplation, as the city in which he dwelt was
"wholly given" to that idolatry; for the real site of Ur has been ascertained from the
circumstance that the bricks still found there bear the very name of Hur on them.
Now this word points to Hurki, the ancient moon-god, and Ur of the Chaldees was
the great "Moon-city," the very center of the Chaldean moon-worship! The most
remarkable ruins of that city are those of the old moon-temple of Ur, which from the
name on the bricks are computed to date from the year 2000 before Christ. Thus
bricks that are thirty-eight centuries old have now been brought forward to bear
witness to the old city of Abraham, and to the tremendous change that must have
passed over him when, in faith upon the Divine word, he obeyed its command.
Jewish tradition has one or two varying accounts to show how Abram was converted
from the surrounding idolatry, and what persecutions he had to suffer in consequence.
Scripture does not indulge our fancy with such matters; but, true to its uniform
purpose, only relates what belongs to the history of the kingdom of God. We learn,
however, from Joshua 24:2, 14, 15, that the family of Terah had "in old time, on the
other side of the flood," or of Euphrates, "served other gods;" and we can readily
understand what influence their surroundings must, in the circumstances, have
exercised upon them. It was out of this city of Ur that God called Abram. Previously
to this, Haran, Abram's eldest brother, had died. We read, that "Terah took Abram,
his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son
Abram's wife, and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the
land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there." The words which we
have italicized leave no room for doubt, that the first call of God had come to Abram
long before the death of Terah, and when the clan were still at Ur.(Comp. Acts 7:2)
From the circumstance that Haran is afterwards called "the city of Nahor," (Genesis
24:10; comp. 27:43) we gather that Nahor, Abraham's brother, and his family had
also settled there, though perhaps at a later period, and without relinquishing their
idolatry. It is a remarkable confirmation of the scriptural account, that, though this
district belongs to Mesopotamia, and not to Chaldea, its inhabitants are known to
have for a long time retained the peculiar Chaldean language and worship. Haran has
preserved its original name, and at the time of the Romans was one of the great
battle-fields on which that power sustained a defeat from the Parthians.
The journey from Ur, in the far south, had been long, wearisome, and dangerous; and
the fruitful plains around Haran must have held out special inducements for a pastoral
tribe to settle. But when the Divine command came, Abram was "not disobedient
unto the heavenly vision." Perhaps the arrival and settlement of Nahor and his family,
(^)