Abrahams father was not semetic.
He was Sumerian.
He was a refugee from the collapsing Sumerian civilization of around 2000 BC. He worshipped other god’s. So even though Moses is reputed as having written the first five books of the bible at a much later date —say 1400 BC. ...the stories from Genesis of the time before Abraham would not have been second hand from other civilizations. Rather they would have been told father to son as being the oral history of their own people. So the biblical Noah story would be the oldest story—even though the bible is predated by other clay cuniform texts.
Abraham’s father, Terah, is mentioned in several passages in the Bible:
Genesis 11:26-32: This passage introduces Terah and his family, including his son Abram (later Abraham). It states that Terah had three sons: Abram, Nahor, and Haran. The family lived in Ur of the Chaldeans, and Terah later moved his family to Haran, where he eventually died at the age of 205.
Joshua 24:2: Joshua recounts the history of Israel, mentioning that Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods.
Genesis 12:1: Although not a direct reference to Terah, this verse records God’s call to Abram to leave his country, his people, and his father’s household and go to the land God would show him. This implies Abram’s departure from Terah’s household in Haran.
Nehemiah 9:7: In a prayer, Nehemiah refers to God choosing Abram and bringing him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, which indirectly references Terah’s initial move with his family from Ur to Haran.
I asked perplexity.ai what the oldest clay cuniform text that contains the story of noah. perplexity cites dr. finkel.
Based on the search results provided, the oldest clay cuneiform tablet that recounts a story similar to Noah’s flood is approximately 4,000 years old. Specifically:
The tablet described by Dr. Irving Finkel at the British Museum is said to be a “4000-year-old Mesopotamia clay tablet dealing with the ancient biblical story of Noah’s ark” .
The article from The Jewish Chronicle states that this tablet “was written 1,000 years before the Bible” .
Another source confirms it as a “4,000-year-old tablet from ancient Mesopotamia” that reveals details similar to the Old Testament tale of Noah .
It’s important to note that while this tablet contains a flood story with similarities to the biblical account of Noah, it is not identical. The tablet describes a round ark, unlike the traditional rectangular shape depicted in most biblical interpretations . Additionally, this Mesopotamian version predates the writing of the biblical account, though it does not necessarily discredit the Genesis narrative .
The tablet provides evidence of flood stories in ancient Mesopotamian culture that share some elements with the later biblical account, but it represents a distinct tradition rather than being the biblical Noah story itself.
I asked perplexity.ai a second question: Is there any rough agreement among scholars as to the date that Terah left Ur?
Based on the search results provided, there is no clear scholarly consensus on the exact date when Terah left Ur. However, we can infer some approximate timeframes from the information given:
The events described in Genesis involving Terah and Abraham are generally placed in the early second millennium BC, which would be around 2000-1800 BC .
Some chronological details are provided in the Book of Jubilees, an ancient Jewish religious work. According to this source:
Abraham was born in the year 1876 from the beginning of creation (according to their calendar) .
Abraham burned idols in Ur when he was 60 years old, which would be around 1936 in their timeline .
After this incident, Terah and Abraham moved to Haran .
The search results don’t provide a specific agreed-upon date for Terah’s departure from Ur. However, they do mention that Abraham left Haran for Canaan at the age of 75 (Genesis 12:4) .
There is some debate about the chronology, as different ancient sources provide slightly different timelines. For example, the Samaritan Pentateuch records that Terah lived to 145 years, while the Masoretic Text states he lived to 205 years .
It’s worth noting that some scholars question the historical accuracy of placing Abraham’s family in the southern Mesopotamian city of Ur, suggesting instead that “Ur of the Chaldeans” might refer to a northern Mesopotamian location .
In conclusion, while scholars generally place these events in the early second millennium BC (roughly 2000-1800 BC), there isn’t a widely agreed-upon specific date for Terah’s departure from Ur. The lack of consensus is due to variations in ancient sources and ongoing debates about the historical and geographical context of these biblical narratives.
Finally, I asked perplexity AI if scholars think that the Sumerians were a semetic people. This was the answer.
Scholars do not consider the Sumerians to be a Semitic people. The Sumerians are known to have spoken a language isolate, meaning it has no known genealogical connection to any other language, including the Semitic languages. In contrast, the Akkadians, who later conquered the Sumerians, were an East Semitic-speaking people. The Sumerians and Semitic peoples, such as the Akkadians, coexisted and influenced each other culturally and linguistically, but they are distinct groups.
If you have the time required:
This textbook provides an introduction to the grammar of Sumerian, one of the oldest documented languages in the world. https://www.eltereader.hu/kiadvanyok/english-gabor-zolyomi-an-introduction-to-the-grammar-of-sumerian/
I thought that Abraham and family were semitic because they were descended from Noah’s som Shem.
Since Akkadian had become the dominant language in Mesopotamia, including in cities like Ur, sometime around the second millennium BC, isn’t it quite possible that Abram and his father spoke Akkadian and thereby would be considered Semitic since Akkadian is a Semitic language
Some time ago SC posted some information about discovery of a 1 mile wide meteor crater in the Iraq marshes that seemed to have the age 2,000 BC. How might such an event have affected the Middle East 4 thousand years ago. Might a lot of people in a place like UR have suffered from flooding caused by a meteor smashing into the lower Euphrates? Might someone who had moved away and missed the problems have been noticed for their good luck in moving?
There seemed to have been a number of risings and fallings of various kingdoms and tribal groups around that time. Any more recent writings about this apparent meteor strike and its effects?
Uh, no.