The Amorite of the Bible arrived in Palestine about 2300 B.C. as nomads and destroyers of the existing civilizations was popularized by Kenyon
in her Schweich Lectures of 1963, from her excavations at Jericho and
other sites. By 1900 B.C. the Canaanites and Amorites around Byblos
had influenced most of Palestine. Dever promoted that the urbanized
Amorite arrival as the Middle Bronze Age II A period (2000-1800 B.C. -
Ur III period), which is different than the semi-nomadic Amorites of the
Early Bronze IV - Middle Bronze I period (2100 B.C.).
The Bible clearly states that the origin of Abram was Ur ? to Haran, then he left Haran for Canaan by way of Damascus (Gen. 11:31; 12:4-6; 15:2). Haran is on the Upper Balikh river where it served as a major route for east-west trade, only 130 miles southwest to Aleppo.
The Aleppo to Damascus route passes through the city of Ebla, thus the possibility that Abram and his family stopped there.
The Bible clearly states that the origin of Abram was Ur ? to Haran, then he left Haran for Canaan by way of Damascus (Gen. 11:31; 12:4-6; 15:2). Haran is on the Upper Balikh river where it served as a major route for east-west trade, only 130 miles southwest to Aleppo.
The Aleppo to Damascus route passes through the city of Ebla, thus the possibility that Abram and his family stopped there.
From The Alpha and the Omega, Volume II -- by Jim A. Cornwell -- Chapter Five, page 39 which comments on the subject of Ebla and Abram dating.
Until recently it was commonly felt that Abraham lived in the Middle Bronze Period (c. 2000-1500 B.C.), but an electrifying new discovery in northern Syria in 1974 at Tell Mardikh (Ebla) has caused Noel Freedman to place him in the Early Bronze Period (2950-2000 B.C.) at a time when Ebla was at its height of power and influence. A royal library was found here consisting of 20,000 clay tablets, 80 percent of which were written in Sumerian and the rest in an unknown Semitic language akin to Hebrew that is now called Eblaite. Located halfway between modern Aleppo and Hama, at the top of the Fertile Crescent, the city was in the heart of Abraham’s ancestral home territory of Haran and flourished in c. 2200 B.C. Names like David, Micah, Jerusalem, Sodom, Gomorrah, Haran, and Ur appear in the texts. The Ebla tablets as seen in Chapter Four of this book are a geographic Atlas of the area identifying the ruins of Bub edh-Dhra as Sodom and the ruins of Numeria as Gomorrah. The city of Ebla was destroyed around 2250 B.C.
If you have been grasping what this book is stating about Abram and Abraham, you can see the dilemma of recent scholars and archaeologists in that they are in conflict with dates. Abraham seems to be dated in the Early Bronze period and is also around in the Middle Bronze Period even though he was reported biblically to have only lived for 175 years, "...and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years..."
Until recently it was commonly felt that Abraham lived in the Middle Bronze Period (c. 2000-1500 B.C.), but an electrifying new discovery in northern Syria in 1974 at Tell Mardikh (Ebla) has caused Noel Freedman to place him in the Early Bronze Period (2950-2000 B.C.) at a time when Ebla was at its height of power and influence. A royal library was found here consisting of 20,000 clay tablets, 80 percent of which were written in Sumerian and the rest in an unknown Semitic language akin to Hebrew that is now called Eblaite. Located halfway between modern Aleppo and Hama, at the top of the Fertile Crescent, the city was in the heart of Abraham’s ancestral home territory of Haran and flourished in c. 2200 B.C. Names like David, Micah, Jerusalem, Sodom, Gomorrah, Haran, and Ur appear in the texts. The Ebla tablets as seen in Chapter Four of this book are a geographic Atlas of the area identifying the ruins of Bub edh-Dhra as Sodom and the ruins of Numeria as Gomorrah. The city of Ebla was destroyed around 2250 B.C.
If you have been grasping what this book is stating about Abram and Abraham, you can see the dilemma of recent scholars and archaeologists in that they are in conflict with dates. Abraham seems to be dated in the Early Bronze period and is also around in the Middle Bronze Period even though he was reported biblically to have only lived for 175 years, "...and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years..."
Some sources have tried to equate Eber (Gen. 10:21) with Ebrum, king of Ebla in 2300 B.C. The connections with "Abram the Hebrew" to the term for early semi-nomads the "Habiru, " is still uncertain. Although some suggest these comparisons:
epru - "dusty ones"
epe,,ru; ‘pr - "providing/receiving subsidies"
‘apr - "transferred, without a stable habitat"
ebru - "confederates"
ewri - Hurrian "lord," or possibly "one who passes through, crosses territory"
‘ebe,,ru - a stranger who has left his country and crossed a frontier or "one who seeks a new means of existence after having lost his place in the old order of things." This one agrees with the Septuagint interpretation of Genesis 14:13.
From The Alpha and the Omega, Volume I, -- by Jim A. Cornwell -- Table of Nations, page 247 in Gen. 10:24, and page 263 in Gen. 11:14, subject Eber and Ebrum, a definite area which is suspect of the missing generation of Cainan of Luke 3:36.
epru - "dusty ones"
epe,,ru; ‘pr - "providing/receiving subsidies"
‘apr - "transferred, without a stable habitat"
ebru - "confederates"
ewri - Hurrian "lord," or possibly "one who passes through, crosses territory"
‘ebe,,ru - a stranger who has left his country and crossed a frontier or "one who seeks a new means of existence after having lost his place in the old order of things." This one agrees with the Septuagint interpretation of Genesis 14:13.
From The Alpha and the Omega, Volume I, -- by Jim A. Cornwell -- Table of Nations, page 247 in Gen. 10:24, and page 263 in Gen. 11:14, subject Eber and Ebrum, a definite area which is suspect of the missing generation of Cainan of Luke 3:36.
The publication of the cuneiform texts from Tell Mardikh (Ebla), as stated by Matthiae:
Mardikh III A period is 2000-1800 B.C..
Which
period did Abram or Abraham visit? When did the Amorites extend their
influence? These questions are still up for dispute.
Ebla is a period (2500 B.C.) which predates the Amorite influence.
The texts contain itineraries, lexical lists, commodities transactions, and similar information and which mention Canaan and Canaanite cities. The patriarchal stories make their reference to Canaan, a geographic name, first attested at Alalakh, hundreds of years after the patriarchs. One Ebla tablet describes the preparation of a white statue as a gift for "the lord of Canaan" (dbe kà-na-na-im), a reference which antedates Alalakh by a millennium! More particularly of interest are the references to cities such as Byblos, Ashdod, Jaffa, Akko, Sidon, Beirut, Alalakh, Megiddo, Lachish, Damascus, Homs, and Hama, many of which are mentioned in the Old Testament.
Ebla is a period (2500 B.C.) which predates the Amorite influence.
The texts contain itineraries, lexical lists, commodities transactions, and similar information and which mention Canaan and Canaanite cities. The patriarchal stories make their reference to Canaan, a geographic name, first attested at Alalakh, hundreds of years after the patriarchs. One Ebla tablet describes the preparation of a white statue as a gift for "the lord of Canaan" (dbe kà-na-na-im), a reference which antedates Alalakh by a millennium! More particularly of interest are the references to cities such as Byblos, Ashdod, Jaffa, Akko, Sidon, Beirut, Alalakh, Megiddo, Lachish, Damascus, Homs, and Hama, many of which are mentioned in the Old Testament.
From The Alpha and the Omega, Volume I
-- by Jim A. Cornwell -- Table of Nations - Noah’s descendants page
219, regarding Gen. 10:6 descendants of Ham, specifically here Canaan.
From The Alpha and the Omega, Volume I -- by Jim A. Cornwell -- Chapter Four Section "C", page 488-490 for Gen. 16:1-16 can be found at Hagar the handmaid, The Birth of Ishmael Gen. 16:1-16
which leads to the "twelve princes" of Gen. 17:20, or twelve sons of Ishmael.
The above link is an excerpt from Volume I, Chapter Four Section "C", page 488, subject here regarding Gen. 16:3 as Abram "dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan."
which leads to the "twelve princes" of Gen. 17:20, or twelve sons of Ishmael.
The above link is an excerpt from Volume I, Chapter Four Section "C", page 488, subject here regarding Gen. 16:3 as Abram "dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan."
From The Alpha and the Omega, Volume I -- by Jim A. Cornwell -- Chapter Four Section "C", page 473-478 covers The Mystery of Melchizedek the priest of the Most High God
Gen. 14:18-24, was Melchizedek a Samaritan high priest?
The following is an excerpt from Volume I, Chapter Four Section "C", page 478, in regard to the subject of Megiddo and Canaanite Temples, as to Gen. 14:18-24, mystery of Melchizedek
Gen. 14:18-24, was Melchizedek a Samaritan high priest?
The following is an excerpt from Volume I, Chapter Four Section "C", page 478, in regard to the subject of Megiddo and Canaanite Temples, as to Gen. 14:18-24, mystery of Melchizedek
From The Alpha and the Omega, Volume
I -- by Jim A. Cornwell -- Chapter Four Section "C", page 486-487 covers The Ten Canaanite Tribes Gen. 15:19-21
The Ten Canaanite Tribes are: Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaim, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites. The following is an excerpt from Volume I, Chapter Four Section "C", page 487, subject Gen. 15:21, Amorites and Canaanites
To return to the above subject of the influence of the Amorites.
The Ten Canaanite Tribes are: Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaim, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites. The following is an excerpt from Volume I, Chapter Four Section "C", page 487, subject Gen. 15:21, Amorites and Canaanites
To return to the above subject of the influence of the Amorites.
The cities of the plain promotes a connection between Abram and Lot in Genesis 14 (Abram with Amorite allies battling the four kings of the East) and then later in Genesis 18-19 as Abraham and Lot (as to the destruction of Sodom and Gommorah [note amorah]).
Noel Freedman claims that Pettinato in 1976 revealed a tablet from Ebla which listed the cities that Ebla had commercial transactions with. The five cites of the plains were in the same order as found in Genesis 14:2, but in their cuneiform syllabic form:
From The Alpha and the Omega, Volume I -- by Jim A. Cornwell -- Chapter Four Section "C", page 461-468 which covers The Kings of Canaan Gen. 14:1-11 but here we review Volume I, Chapter Four Section "C", page 462-463 mentioned in Gen. 14:2 the five cities of the plain.
Open this link for a Volume III list of cities that Ebla had commercial transaction with.
The Eblaite names are phonetic equivalents of the names in Hebrew.
Since then Pettinato, has disclaimed his conclusion because of the realities of modern Middle Eastern politics, specifically from the Syrian government (location of the site of Tell Mardikh), and allowing his continued work on the excavation. This relationship between Genesis and the Ebla texts may lend support to the antiquity of the Hebrew people and possibly to the claims of Israel on certain parts of the Arab world.
Excavation of sites near Lisan, the peninsula in the southeast part of the Dead Sea has made scholars such as Albright, to associated it with Bronze Age towns buried beneath the shallow waters of the south end of the Dead Sea. Their destruction in the Early Bronze Period coincided with that of the biblical cities. The abandonment of the principal site, Bâb edh-Dhra', must be dated according to Albright sometime before the foundation of Jericho IV, the Middle Bronze town, or about 1800 B.C.
Recent scholars such as Rast and Schaub are promoting new excavation of Bâb edh-Dhra' and Numeira has resulted in pushing its date of destruction to about 2350 B.C. If the cities of the plain are mentioned in the Ebla archives (2500 B.C.) and if they are to be identified with Bâb edh-Dhra', Numeira, and the other three Dead Sea sites (es-Safi, Feifeh, and Khanazir), all of which were destroyed no later than 2200/2150 B.C., a dilemma has occurred.
These revisionist implications, now thwart some historians to change Abram from Late Bronze and move him back a thousand years. Freedman, stated that "the reason that the story has never been located historically is that scholars, all of us, have been looking in the wrong millennium. Briefly put, the account in Genesis 14, and also in chapters 18-19, does not belong to the second millennium B.C., still less to the first millennium B.C., but rather to the third millennium B.C."
If Bâb edh-Dhra' and the other sites are to be identified with the biblical cities of the plain as to a date of 2067 for the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah (2150 according to Rast and Schaub) and it certainly is early enough to permit the names of the cities to appear in the Ebla archives.
Is 2067 too early to allow for Abraham to have participated in the early stages of the Amorite movement?
All this can be possible if one excepts the view that Abram and Abraham are two different individuals or the same individual transferred by supernatural means 954 years into the future.
Return to the Home Page - Chapter Four content or
check out Overview of Abram's transformation to Abraham for more about the variable years.
return to the Introduction to the Table of Nations or
go back to the Chronological Chart of the Alphabet and Where It Came From or
go to the next subject History of the Bible
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