the Assyrian and Babylonian world than the temple of the moon-God at
Ur.
“Between Ur and Harran there must, consequently, have been a close
connection in early times, the record of which has not yet been recovered.
It may be that Harran owed its foundation to a king of Ur; at any rate the
two cities were bound together by the worship of the same deity, the
closest and most enduring bond of union that existed in the ancient world.
That Terah should have migrated from Ur to Harran, therefore, ceases to
be extraordinary. If he left Ur at all, it was the most natural place to which
to go. It was like passing from one court of a temple into another.
“Such a remarkable coincidence between the Biblical narrative and the
evidence of archaeological research cannot be the result of chance. The
narrative must be historical; no writer of late date, even if he were a
Babylonian, could have invented a story so exactly in accordance with
what we now know to have been the truth. For a story of the kind to have
been the invention of Palestinian tradition is equally impossible. To the
unprejudiced mind there is no escape from the conclusion that the history
of the migration of Terah from Ur to Harran is founded on fact” (Sayce).
- URIAH the Lord is my light. (1.) A Hittite, the husband of Bathsheba,
whom David first seduced, and then after Uriah’s death married. He was
one of the band of David’s “mighty men.” The sad story of the curel
wrongs inflicted upon him by David and of his mournful death are simply
told in the sacred record (2 Samuel 11:2-12:26). (See BATHSHEBA;
DAVID.)
(2.) A priest of the house of Ahaz (Isaiah 8:2).
(3.) The father of Meremoth, mentioned in Ezra 8:33.
- URIEL God is my light. (1.) A Levite of the family of Kohath (1
Chronicles 6:24).
(2.) The chief of the Kohathites at the time when the ark was brought up
to Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 15:5, 11).
(3.) The father of Michaiah, one of Rehoboam’s wives, and mother of
Abijah (2 Chronicles 13:2).