Above: Mud-brick huts typical of Charran up until recent times.
Why is it that historians and archaeologists argue over the true location of Ur? As with so many debates, it may be that both are correct! The hidden history reconciles both opinions, and it explains much about Avram's journey and how he was nearly trapped in his mission to recover Lot. It may also give us a glimpse into how Avraham's experience with Nimrod foreshadowed King Nebuchadnezzar's great golden image in Babel.
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Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth [lekh lekha] from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you...” (Ge 12:1)
Most scholars agree that Ur is now the modern Tall al-Muqayyar, Iraq. It was an important city of ancient Mesopotamia, situated about 140 miles southeast of the site of Babylon and about 10 miles west of the present bed of the Euphrates River. In antiquity the river ran much closer to the city; the change in its course has left the ruins in a desert that once was irrigated and fertile land.” (Britannica) A seven-stepped Ziggurat of Ur is the pattern for understanding how the nearby Tower of Bavel was constructed. Bavel's tower was likely of similar model in seven vertical sections in order for the mudbrick to bear the weight load above. Located near the Tigris and Euphrates (Perat), it was strategically positioned to reach both the Perat River of Eden, its source river, and the Chidekkel (Tigris), the river that circled the tightest journey around the Tree of Life.
It’s hard to think of Charran [Haran] as an improvement over Ur, but it may explain why the final commandment in Lekh Lekha specifically addresses “your father’s house.” Weirdly, Charran, which is now in southern Turkey, just north of the Syrian border, is also identified as Ur at times in its regional development. A little history explains the connection.
A temple to the moon god was established near the end of the Neo-Sumerian Empire (circa 2000 BCE) in Charran. It may have begun as a satellite facility to the primary moon temple of Nanna in Ur, and then absorbed a refugee priesthood fleeing southern Ur during warfare. As modern Nashville is sometimes called "the Athens of the South," so may Charran have been referred to as Ur because of its Urrian refugee population and religious practices.
In the Jewish tradition, Avram's father Terach was said to be an idol-maker, so he may have taken the family to a place where he could open a business and protect his “black sheep” son Avram from Nimrod’s wrath. The dispersion of Bavel occurred in 1996 from Creation, approximately 2000 BCE. If there were a population of Urrians in Charran, Avram’s father Terach may have known about it.
Avram would have been about 48 years old at the dispersion of languages from Bavel. The building of the tower of Bavel was said to be under Nimrod’s direction, who was mighty “before” or “in the face of” Adonai:
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Cush became the father of Nimrod; he began [הֵחֵל] to be a mighty one in the earth. (1 Ch 1:10)
Genesis 10:8-9 describe Nimrod as being a might hunter "before the LORD," or literally "in the face of." Our brief verses portray Nimrod as one who both challenged the Creator and desired a kingdom, not just his own region, but in the whole earth. The Tower of Bavel was a way to solidify his kingdom and make it everlasting. The Midrash says Avram would curse the builders when he passed by the Tower, and he is credited as the originator of a prophetic line in David’s Psalm 55:9:
- Confuse, O Lord, divide their tongues, for I have seen violence and strife in the city...
Indeed, there would have been violence and strife when the Tower-workers couldn't understand one another. It would have been the Three Stooges multiplied by thousands.
There are Midrashic “grain of salt” traditions about how Nimrod came to power: Ham stole Adam’s garments from Noach, which were handed down to Nimrod. This allowed him to subdue animals, which gave him the reputation as being a fearless and powerful hunter, when it was really the Divine coat.
Nimrod waged war against the Yafetites, conquered them, and took slaves. His followers crowned him as king, and Nimrod began to claim Divine power and for human beings to prostrate themselves to him. He became the second “world ruler,” for all nations had gathered at Bavel, “the beginning, reishit” [רֵאשִׁית] of Nimrod’s kingdom (Ge 10:10). The idols were part of his ability to control the people.
The nations agreed with Nimrod and gathered so that through the Tower, they could prevent another flood. The Alshich says Avram insulted the idols and refused to bow before Nimrod. Nimrod tried to convince Avram to bow to him and worship idols. Finally, Avram taunted Nimrod by saying he wasn’t immortal and couldn’t save anyone from death. He was imprisoned ten years. When Avram still wouldn’t comply, Nimrod declared that he’d destroy Avram with fire. They prepared a kiln with wood stacked five amot high. YHVH descended personally to save Avram, and “Nimrod’s slaves opened the door and behold-Avram was moving around in the midst of the fire as if in a palace garden, and angels were keeping him company. Only the ropes holding him were burned.” When Nimrod ordered Avram to be removed, “flames sprang up and burned them alive.”
Although Terach escaped with Avram to the second Ur (Charran), Avram would need to go for himself to find the Kingdom of the Creator. In what may have been an attempt to lure Avram back to Ur or Babylon, Amraphel (thought to be another name for Nimrod because Bavel was "the beginning" of his kingdom) captures Lot and takes a northern route west of the Jordan toward Damascus and then to Bavel instead of crossing the mountains and taking the eastern road. Although English versions often translate that Nimrod was "a mighty hunter," the Jewish translations will frequently read "a great trapper."
Amraphel/Nimrod lures Avraham to Dan, where the ”Gates of Abraham” may still be seen preserved in Tel Dan. Abraham would have passed through the city in his pursuit of Lot. The Midrash says that when Abraham reached this location, he grieved, for he knew that his descendants would worship idols in Dan. What was the point of freeing Lot in hopes that he would turn from idols? His own descendants would do so. The mission was hopeless.
Nearby Tel Dan is Nimrod’s Fortress, which guards this part of Israel. Here we can understand why Nimrod is described as a “trapper,” not a hunter in Jewish translations. Nimrod lured Avraham to pass by his fortress to kill him. From Nimrod’s Fortress, anyone could monitor the traffic moving through those areas, initiate an attack, or repel one. Because of its strategic location, the fortress has been used by successive occupiers and the ruins of the medieval fort are still well-preserved. “When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he led out his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.” (Ge 14:14)
Scripture goes to great trouble to explain how the bricks for the Tower of Bavel had to be man-made. The reason for this is that there are no building stones in that region. The few stones available could reinforce a small building foundation, but there was not enough to support a huge tower.
This is something to keep in mind when we read about Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of a great stone smashing the previous kingdoms of gold, silver, bronze, iron, and clay. Abraham's faith in the enduring Kingdom of Adonai led to the final defeat of Nimrod, and with it came a legacy of faith in the resurrection of the dead according to the Divine plan, not the plans of kingdoms of men to make their reigns everlasting.
Nebuchadnezzar II built his golden image many hundreds of years after Nimrod attempted the Tower of Bavel. Historians often draw anachronistic conclusions about the two different events...but which may have occurred in exactly the same place! Near the Euphrates River, the natural counterpart to the Perat River of the Garden Eden above, which flowed from the Throne of Upper Eden.
Which brings us back to Lekh Lekha and Avram’s predicament of a kidnapped nephew. Avraham's victory assured his descendants that the final Kingdom of Messiah, the Stone, the Word given at the mountain, “will destroy and sweep them away all in a moment.
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Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. (Da 2:35)
Successive kingdoms, Babylon, Medo-Persian, Greece, Rome, and their descendants have attempted to build everlasting kingdoms, but they were only of earth, ultimately, clay.
- Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”(Jn 18:36)
Why rule the world before he ruled over death? Yeshua doesn't want the righteous to inherit more death.
Under King Nebuchanezzer, who historically attempted to replicate the unfinished Tower of Bavel, the three Hebrews were also thrown into the fire and exposed the false god of Bavel. Although separated by many hundreds of years, it’s quite possible that the fiery kiln was so easily accessed because it had been used to build the golden image to King Nebuchadnezzar, who desired to re-kindle Bavel’s history and finish the Tower to the Heavens, the place of Good Gold in the Garden. Like Nimrod, Nebuchadnezzar required all nations to bow down to him. Strange coincidence?
Daniel had interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. Although natural “gold” in itself, Babylon would not endure. It would be followed by progressively weaker kingdoms until the stone made without hands (Israel under Messiah) crushed them all. If the king could cause representatives from all people to bow, including the three Hebrew nobles, he could continue his “gold” kingdom and conquer Heaven. Like Nimrod, he assembles the nations before his image of world power:
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Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, the height of which was sixty cubits and its width six cubits; he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. 2 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent word to assemble the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up... Then the herald loudly proclaimed: “To you the command is given, O peoples, nations and men of every language, 5 that at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe and all kinds of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up. 6 But whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire.” 7 Therefore at that time, when all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe and all kinds of music, all the peoples, nations and men of every language fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. (Daniel 3:1-7)
Nebuchadnezzar made the golden image of himself 6 x 60 cubits.
- This matches the height of the side pillars of the Temple (Ezek 40:14)
- This matches the number of mighty men of King Shlomo: “Behold, it is the traveling couch of Solomon; sixty mighty men around it, of the mighty men of Israel.” (Sng 3:7) This represents the Ark of the Covenant in the Song.
- The image’s foundation was said to be supported by the supernaturally strong gold taken from King Shlomo’s Temple.
Daniel acknowledges that Nebuchadnezzar is like Nimrod:
- You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory; and wherever the sons of men dwell, or the beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold. (Da 2:37-38)
Perhaps the king’s gratefulness to Daniel and his God was followed by second thoughts, or merely feigned. Now maybe Nebuchadnezzar believes he can circumvent the worldwide reign of Elohim because Daniel has given him the enemy’s playbook:
- In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. (Da 2:44)
If all the peoples, including the Hebrews, would bow to the entirely gold statue of Babylon, then it would extend Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom; it would make it all of gold. Nebuchadnezzar would rule over heaven, and his kingdom would be without end.
So Nebuchadnezzar, who built a ziggurat similar to Ur’s, also built his golden self-image to stand beside it. Which is really what all idols are...how we see ourselves. A reflection of self-will. Coating it even in good gold does not make it Divine or eternal. The slight difference in Chronicles that describes Nimrod's vision of worldwide domination is in the verb translated "began":
Cush became the father of Nimrod; he began [הֵחֵל] to be a mighty one in the earth. (1 Ch 1:10)
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châlal; to bore, i.e. (by implication) to wound, to dissolve; figuratively, to profane (a person, place or thing), to break (one's word), to begin (as if by an 'opening wedge'); to play (the flute): begin (× men began), defile, × break, defile, × eat (as common things), × first, × gather the grape thereof, × take inheritance, pipe, player on instruments, pollute, (cast as) profane (self), prostitute, slay (slain), sorrow, stain, wound.
Likewise, Nebuchadnezzar opened the dedication of his golden idol, spiritual prostitution, with all kinds of instruments. He was trying to “wedge” his way into the reign of Heaven, trying to profane it. We’re still trying to wedge our will into Heaven’s today.
The image was built in the plain of Dura, where “Local tradition points to a site near the famous ruins of Babylon, southwest of Baghdad and north of Hilla as the place where Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah were thrown into the flames. Tradition places the lions’ pit into which Daniel was thrown near this area. It was where the tower of Babylon was built.” (R’ Bachya to Ge 11:4, also Ibn Ezra)
As with the midrash of Nimrod’s slaves dying from flames, so did those who carried Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed Nego to the top of the kiln. This explains how they “fell” in, for like Nimrod, the king had ordered it prepared hotter (7x), so the sides were built up. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 92b) says that on this day, Ezekiel’s dry bones were resurrected in the plain of Dura. The is the famous two-stick prophecy of the mountains of Israel and Judah:
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§ The Sages taught in a baraita: At the moment that Nebuchadnezzar the wicked cast Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah into the fiery furnace, the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Ezekiel: Go and revive the dead in the Dura Valley. Once Ezekiel revived them, the bones came and struck Nebuchadnezzar, that wicked man, in his face. Nebuchadnezzar said: What is the nature of these? His servants said to him: The friend of these three, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, is reviving the dead in the Dura Valley. Nebuchadnezzar began and said: “How great are His signs and how mighty are His wonders; His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and His dominion is from generation to generation” (Da 3:33).
Historians write that there was nothing like the splendor of the New Year processional of King Nebuchadnezzar through Babylon. But there is. Every week, in every synagogue around the world. Before the Torah processional in a synagogue, we recite the following, taken from Psalm, Exodus, and King Nebuchadnezzar’s admission:
- There is none like You among the gods, O Lord, and there is nothing like Your works. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion is throughout all generations. The Lord reigns, the Lord has reigned, the Lord will reign for ever and ever. The Lord will give strength unto His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace.
Thank you, Father Avraham. Thank you, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed Nego. Thank you to all those who believed that the Father's reign of Messiah was the only enduring Kingdom. The Word, the Stone, the Mountain will prevail. Hope in the resurrection is according to the Divine plan. It's not hopeless, even when we think our descendants may worship idols in spite of our example. Be faithful anyway. Good things awaited Abraham when he defeated the King of Babylon.
Good things await you and your descendants, too.
