Answer:
Where Was Abraham Born?
APRIL 21, 20035:59 P
Reporters attending the Washington-sponsored coalition talks in the Iraqi city of Ur last Tuesday noted that the summit took place in the “birthplace of Abraham.” The phrase turned up in reports on Nightline, NBC Nightly News, the Associated Press, and the New York Times. Was Abraham really born in Ur?
This idea is understandably appealing because Abraham, through his sons Ishmael and Isaac, is considered the spiritual father of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. There’s only one problem: The Bible doesn’t say where Abraham was born.
Abraham first appears in the Bible in Genesis 11:27, which says that Terah, a descendant of Noah’s son Shem, begets three children: Abram, Nahor, and Haran. (Abraham is called Abram at the moment, which means “the father is exalted.” Not until he has a child of his own, decades later, will God change his name to Abraham, which means “father of many.”) The next verse suggests that Abraham’s youngest brother, Haran, was born in a place called Ur of the Chaldeans, where he dies (though not before fathering a son, Lot). It does not say that Abraham was born in Ur.
As the text makes clear, Terah and his family were pastoral nomads, wandering from place to place for varying periods of time. So, it’s not inconceivable that Abraham and even Nahor might have been born someplace else. But where? And where was this place called Ur of the Chaldeans?
