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FROM ABRAHAM TO JESUS:
The Footnotes
While many people are familiar with the stories that make up the collection of Jewish
and Christian Scriptures that we call The Bible, they are probably less familiar with the
historical, political and geographical settings in which these stories take place. This is
the kind of information which is often found in the footnotes of Bibles. This course
attempts to link some of the important and perhaps controversial details that might be
found in biblical footnotes with the stories themselves to provide a more complete
understanding of the characters and events that are at the heart of two major religious
faiths.
Introduction I
The Hebrew Bible
Tanak
The Hebrew Scriptures are grouped into three sections; Torah (the
law), Nevi’im (the prophets) and Ketuvim (the writings). Together
these form the acronym Tanak
- Torah
The five books of the Law. The Torah includes Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah covers events from
the “beginning” to the death of Moses.
- Nevi’im
The Prophets (the ones who speak out on behalf of God.)
There are 8* books of the Nevi’im. They cover the time period
from Joshua and the Judges to the return from Babylon
Former Prophets; Joshua, Judges, Samuel (1&2), Kings (1&2)
Latter Prophets;
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and The Twelve (twelve minor prophets;
Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk,
Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi)
* These count as 21 books in the Protestant OT
- Ketuvim
The writings. The events they cover include the time of David and Solomon to
the return from exile but many critics believe these books were written long
after the return from exile. There are 11* books of the Ketuvim
- The Poetic Books; Psalms, Proverbs, Job
- The five scrolls (Megillot);Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations,
Ecclesiastes (Qoholeth), Esther
- Daniel, Ezra/Nehemiah, Chronicles (1&2)
* These count as 13 books in the Protestant OT
Introduction II
Possible Timeline of the Hebrew Bible
Eden to Noah
Mythic History
Noah to Abraham
Pre-History
Abraham
@1800 BCE
Joseph in Egypt
@1650 BCE
Moses
Varies from 1450-1220 BCE
Israel Under the Judges
Joshua to Saul
(Death of Moses – @1020 BCE)
The United Kingdom of Israel
Saul, David and Solomon
(@ 1020 – 930 BCE)
Israel Divided
@930 BCE
Northern Kingdom (Israel) Conquered
722 BCE
Southern Kingdom (Judah) Conquered
597-582 BCE
Jewish Return from Babylon
538-515 BCE
Persian Rule
538-333 BCE
Greek Dominance (Ptolemaic Egypt)
322-198 BCE
Greek Dominance (Seleucid Syria)
198-143 or 134 BCE
Self-Rule
143 or 134 BCE – 64 BCE
Roman Dominance
64 BCE – 132 CE and beyond
Introduction III
Criteria For Accepting Books Into the Hebrew
Canon of Scripture
Proposed by Gerald Larue in his work, Old Testament Life and Literature
1.
The writing had to be composed in Hebrew.
The only exceptions, which were written in Aramaic, were Daniel (2–7),
writings attributed to Ezra (Ezra 4:8–6:18; 7:12–26), who was recognized
as the founding father of post-Exilic Judaism, and Jeremiah (10:11).
2.
The writing had to be sanctioned by usage in the Jewish community.
The use of the book of Esther at Purim made it possible for it to be
included in the canon. The Book of Judith, without such support, was not
acceptable.
3.
The writings had to contain one of the great religious themes of
Judaism, such as election, or the covenant
Reclassifying the Song of Songs as an allegory, allowed the book to be
seen as an expression of covenantal love.
4.
The writing had to be composed before the time of Ezra (it was
popularly believed that inspiration had ceased after the time of Ezra)
Jonah was accepted since it used the name of an early prophet and dealt with
events that took place before the time of Ezra. The Book of Daniel had its setting in
the Exile and therefore was accepted as an Exilic document.
Introduction IV
Psalm 119
Psalm 119 is an interesting Psalm for those people who have studied the
Hebrew language and alphabet.
Psalm 119 contains 22 sections. Each section begins with a letter of the
Hebrew alphabet in the sequence in which these letters are taught (e.g.
Section 1 begins with Aleph. Section 2 begins with Beit and so on until
Section 22 which begins with the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Tav.
In each alphabetic section, every line begins with the theme letter for that
section.
Introduction V
Controversies Regarding the Hebrew Bible
It is not clear when the Hebrew Scriptures were first written down. Estimates range
from the time of David (@1000 BCE) until around 200 BCE
It is not clear when the canon of each section of the Hebrew Scriptures was closed.
Some critics believe that the Torah was closed during the Babylonian Exile (@509-520
BCE) while the Nevi’im was closed around 200 BCE and the Ketuvim around 100 CE.
Most critics seem to agree that by 150 CE, the entire canon of the Hebrew Scriptures
was closed.
The oldest complete collection of the Hebrew Scriptures in Hebrew was the Aleppo
Codex (some pages were either stolen or destroyed after Israeli independence so the
Leningrad codex is now the oldest complete collection), which can be traced back to
sometime around 930 CE. The story of the Aleppo Codex and the scholars known as
the Masoretes who compiled and wrote down the collection can be found at
http://www.aleppocodex.org. The Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible is considered by
most Jewish believers to be the standard text.
Over a millennium before, however, (@200 BCE), a collection of the Hebrew Scriptures
translated into Greek was commissioned by the ruler of Egypt, Ptolemy II, a descendant
of a Greek general who took power in Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great.
The contents of the Septuagint differed somewhat from what became the Masoretic
texts a thousand years later in both content and organization.
Introduction VI
Comparison of the Septuagint and the Hebrew Bible (I)
Language
The Septuagint was written in Greek instead of in Hebrew
Organization
The Hebrew Scriptures are divided into three main
sections, the Septuagint is divided into four sections (The
Law, History, Wisdom and The Prophets) with an Appendix
added.
Books
Torah. All five books are the same as the Masoretic texts.
Content of the books shows some differences in wording.
History. The History section of the Septuagint contains
many of the books included under the Nevi’im (Joshua,
Judges, Samuel 1&2 and Kings 1&2. History also contains
books found in the Hebrew Ketuvim (Chronicles 1&2, Esdras
1&2 (which contain the books of Ezra and Nehemiah) and
Esther (with some additions). It also contains books not
included in the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Scriptures;
Maccabees (1, 2 and 3), Tobit and Judith
(more on the next slide)
Introduction VII
Comparison of the Septuagint and the Hebrew Bible (II)
In Books
(cont.)
Wisdom. This section has several books in common with the
Ketuvim section of the Hebrew Scriptures (Psalms, Job,
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes/Qoholeth and Song of Solomon, aka
Song of Songs). This section also contains books not
included in the Hebrew Scriptures. These include; an
additional Psalm (151), the Prayer of Mannasah, Wisdom,
Sirach and the Psalms of Solomon.
The Prophets. This section contains books mostly in
common with the Hebrew Nevi’im. These include the three
Major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel) as well as the
twelve minor prophets. This section also includes a couple
of books in common with the Ketuvim (Lamentations and an
extended version of Daniel). It also contains two books not
found in the Hebrew Scriptures, Baruch and the Letter of
Jeremiah.
Appendix. The Septuagint also contains an appendix which
offers a fourth Book of Macabbees.
Introduction VIII
Comparison of the Septuagint and the Hebrew Bible (III)
When we see mention in the books of the Christian New Testament of the importance of
“the Scriptures” in Christian life, “the Scriptures” referred to the Hebrew Scriptures.
Christians chose to include the Hebrew Scriptures in their sacred literature since they
believed that Jesus was predicted in many sections of the Hebrew Scriptures. Paul
would contrast Jesus and Adam in his letters. The question is which version of the
Hebrew Scriptures did the Christian communities use? The answer is not so simple.
For centuries, scholars believed two things;
1)
that there were only two versions of the Hebrew Scriptures; the Septuagint
with a known source and starting date (in Egypt @200 BCE) and the Masoretic
text with an unknown starting date but a final compilation date @150 CE,
about 350 years after the Septuagint and over 100 years after Jesus’ death.
2) Since most of the biblical scholars in question were either Jewish or Protestant, the
Masoretic text was seen to be a more reliable source. They looked on the
Septuagint as a work based on poor source information and poor translation
But then the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered.
These scrolls contained books found in both the Septuagint and the Masoretic Texts
but many of the passages found in the books that were part of the Scrolls were different
from either the Septuagint or the Masoretic texts. Let’s look at a passage from
Deuteronomy as an example.
Introduction IX
An Example of the Differences
Deuteronomy 32:43 Masoretic Text
1 Shout for joy, O nations, with his people 2 For he will avenge the blood of his servants
3 And will render vengeance to his adversaries 4 And will purge his land, his people.
Deuteronomy 32:43 Qumran Text
1 Shout for joy, O heavens, with him and worship him, all you divine ones
2 For he will avenge the blood of his sons 3 And he will render vengeance to his
adversaries And he will recompense the ones hating him 4 And he purges the land of his
people.
The Qumran text has two phrases not included in the Masoretic text
Deuteronomy 32:43 Septuagint
1 Shout for joy, O heavens, with him And let all the sons of God worship him Shout for
joy, O nations, with his people And let all the angels of God be strong in him 2 Because
he avenges the blood of his sons 3 And he will avenge and recompense justice to his
enemies And he will recompense the ones hating him 4 And the Lord will cleanse the
land of his people.
The Septuagint has the phrases found in the Masoretic text and the Qumran text and has two other
phrases not found in either text
Introduction X
Some New Conclusions
Passages in the Qumran texts that were found in both the Septuagint as well as in
the Masoretic texts sometimes seemed to agree more with the wording found in the
Septuagint rather than in the Masoretic texts. This makes sense if the Jewish canon
of scripture was not fully closed until around 150 CE
In light of this, scholars are beginning to change their viewpoint on The Septuagint and
the Masoretic texts. An opinion that is gaining at the moment is that there were likely a
number of variations of the Hebrew Scriptures before 150 CE, and perhaps even after.
The collection that became the Masoretic texts was one of these versions and the
Septuagint another and perhaps there were several others besides those. It’s hard to
be certain. What does seem certain is that the commentaries on the Hebrew
Scriptures, the Talmud, Mishna and Gemara, which began to be put in written form
around 200 CE and the Targums, translations from Hebrew (which by the time of Jesus
had become more a sacred language than a spoken language) into Aramaic seemed
linked to the Masoretic texts. This seems to indicate that by the third century CE, the
Masoretic texts represent the collection that Rabbinic Judaism chose as most
representative of Judaism after the destruction of the second Temple by the Romans
Conversely, many passages in the Christian NT that reference the Hebrew Scriptures
use wording or texts found only in the Septuagint. This seems to indicate that the
authors of the Christian scriptures were more familiar with the Septuagint version of
the Hebrew scriptures rather than the Masoretic or the Qumran texts
Introduction XI
Why is This Important?
All Bibles are libraries, that is, they are a collection of different books. While
Judaism has settled on the Masoretic texts. different Christian communities vary
on which books are part of their “Old Testament” libraries
The same Masoretic Texts of the Hebrew Scriptures, accepted as standardized in
Judaism today, also form the basis for the canon of the Old Testament found in
most Protestant Bibles. Some early Protestant Bibles (e.g. early versions of the
King James translation of the Christian bible) included books from the Septuagint
into a section called Apocrypha but they did not consider these books to be
canonical. These books are rarely, if ever, found in newer versions of Protestant
Bibles
The collection of books found in the Septuagint form the basis for the canon of
the Old Testament in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox bibles but….
Since all Orthodox churches are self-ruled (autocephalous), each Church is free to
include or exclude books and some do just that. Even more, the Coptic (Egyptian)
Orthodox Church includes the Book of Enoch, an ancient text known to have
existed in the centuries before the time of Jesus but not included in either the
Masoretic texts or the Septuagint.
So, before you speak the words “The Bible says”, be sure you know which Bible
and which translation you are referencing.
Introduction XII
Other Hebrew Writings
There are other writings important to Judaism that are not part of the Hebrew
Scriptures but that do offer commentary on them. These include;
• Talmud
The word means “instruction” or “learning”. The Talmud is a
sort of “oral Torah”, which gives a fuller explanation of the
written Torah. The Talmud remained in an oral form until
around 200 CE when it was put into written form.
-
-
The Mishna Derives from the word ‫(משנה‬mishnah) which
means repetition or study. The Mishna is the name given to
the written form of the oral torah. The Mishna is the
first real work of Rabbinic Judaism (Judah ha Nasi)
The Gemara From the Aramaic term ‫( גמרא‬gamar)
meaning to study or learn from tradition. The Gemara is a
further commentary on the Mishna and other writings of the
Tannaim (Jewish sages) including commentary on the
Hebrew Scriptures. The Gemara was completed @500 CE
The Talmud then is the combination of the Mishna and the
Gemara. There are two versions of the Talmud; the Palestinian
version and the Babylonian version. The Babylonian version,
more polished and more complete, is considered the normative
version of the Talmud
• Targum
Plural form is targumim. Targumim are translations of and
commentaries on the Hebrew scriptures into Aramaic from the
period of the second Temple until the early Middle Ages.
Introduction XIII
Course Outline
Section One:
Section Two:
Section Three:
Section Four:
Section Five:
Section Six:
Section Seven:
Section Eight:
Section Nine:
Section Ten:
Section Eleven:
Section Twelve:
Section Thirteen:
Creation to Abraham
The Journeys of Abraham
From Moses to Joshua
A Kingdom United and a Kingdom Divided
The Babylonian Captivity and the Torah
A Nation Restored
A Family Feud
Timeo Romanos Dona Ferentes
Herod and Jesus
The Historical Jesus As Depicted in the
Christian Scriptures
Jesus and His Church
Division and Consensus in Early
Christianity
Jerusalem, O Jerusalem!
Section One: Creation to Abraham
The Creation Story: Myths and Mythology in the Bible
Every culture has its own fanciful way of recording truths about its own history. For
example, the story of George Washington and the Cherry Tree is a fanciful way of
saying that George Washington was truly an honest man. Some of these fanciful tales
are often categorized as myths. It is the contention of this course that Scripture may
contain a number of examples of myth but does not contain a formal, systematic
mythology as did other cultures of the time. For example;
-
-
-
-
Most mythological systems (Babylonian, Greek, Assyrian) have limited, in some
cases, mortal gods who are the product of the process of creation. The God of the
Hebrew Scriptures simply exists, simply is.
In mythological systems, creation is often an incidental result of a conflict
between gods (Zeus defeating Chronos. Marduk defeating Tiamat). The Hebrew
God simply speaks creation into existence and transcends it
In mythological systems, the morality of creation is neutral. Creation comes into
existence often as an accidental result of some war of the gods. The Hebrew God
constantly declares that creation is intentional and that it is good.
In mythological systems, human beings are unimportant, subject to the
whims of the gods. In the Hebrew creation story, human beings are made in
the image of God, are given charge of their part of God’s creation and, as other
parts of God’s work, are declared to be good
So, while one can reasonably say that the Hebrew bible may use myth as a literary
tool, it is far less reasonable to say that the Hebrew (or Christian) scriptures describe a
mythological system similar to many other ancient cultures
1.1
The Context of the Eden Story Misunderstood
‫הַ עֵץ הַ דַ עַת טֹוב ו ָָרע‬
τὸ ξύλον τοῦ εἰδέναι γνωστὸν
καλοῦ καὶ πονηροῦ
‫הַ עֵץ ַ ַֽהחַ ִּ֔יים‬
τὸ ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς
A number of recent books questioning the history of early Christianity, declared what
“everyone” knew. It was the Roman Emperor Constantine who made Christianity the
state religion of the Roman Empire……except that it wasn’t true. Constantine added
Christianity to a long-existing list of religions in the Empire that were “licita” (legal)
with the Edict of Milan in 313 CE. It took almost another seventy years before the
Roman Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the only legal religion in the Empire.
The error may well have been intentional since it was Constantine who attempted to
bring an end to Christian disunity by calling the Council of Nicaea but Constantine did
not try to dictate the outcome of that Council. He left that to the Church leaders. Was
the common mistake made in the Eden story also intentional?
1.2
A Suggested Context of Eden
From at least the Christian perspective, God created human beings to be happy.
Happiness would be found when human beings realized their full potential, to see God
as God really is and to share in the life of the God in whose image and likeness they
were created.
In wanting to know good and evil, Adam would have to be more than simply “like
God”, he would have to be God. He would not only have to know all of the truths of
Creation from beginning to end but also be the cause of those truths. Recall the
passage in Job (38:4-7) where God asks Job,
Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked
off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what
were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—while the morning stars sang together and
all the angels shouted for joy?
Only God who spoke Creation into existence and who transcends that Creation can
know what things conform to his plan for Creation (good) and what things do not (evil).
Human beings do not transcend Creation and are in no position to ever attain that
goal. Therefore, wanting what they could not possibly ever obtain, would forever
prevent humanity from obtaining to true happiness that God had intended for them.
This seems to be what God is saying in Job. It is also the lesson that Christians from
Augustine to Aquinas took from the Eden story. Very often when using the written
word, there are lessons so true, so profound and such a constant part of human
history that they could only be told by using the literary form we call myth.
1.3
Literary Patterns
Much has been made about the story of Cain and Abel. Why was Abel’s
offering pleasing while Cain’s was not? There are many theories but few
facts. One way of looking at this story is as the first example of a literary
pattern that appears throughout Genesis; the preference for the younger son
over the older
Cain is the first born of two brothers. The eldest male is usually considered
the successor to the father yet Cain, as first-born, was not pleasing to God.
Ishmael is first-born to Abraham but it is Isaac who receives the patrimony.
Now, unlike the story of Cain and Abel, there is a reason given why Abraham
chose Isaac. Ishmael was born to Hagar, an Egyptian slave girl and not to
Sarah, Abraham’s wife. By the way, I wonder what those people who read or
listened to this story across the ages, thought of the irony of the Hebrew
woman Sarah having an Egyptian as a slave.
The third instance is the story of Esau and Jacob. Clearly Jacob, with the
help of his mother Rebekah, tricks a tired and hungry Esau, the first of the
twin brothers to leave the womb, out of his birthright.
Finally, there is the fact that it is Joseph, the second youngest son of Jacob,
(Benjamin was the youngest) who was given into slavery by his brothers,
manages to escape slavery and is able save his family
Perhaps the lesson of all these stories is that human wisdom is folly
compared to God’s wisdom
1.4
Other Literary Patterns in the Hebrew Bible
Doublets
- Two creation stories (Gen. 1:1- 2:3 and Gen. 2:4-25)
- Two genealogies of Adam (Gen. 4:17-26 and Gen. 5:1-32)
- Abraham passes Sarah off as his sister (Gen.12:10-20 and Gen.20:1-18)
Note: Isaac does the same think with Rebekah in Gen. 26:7-11
We shall see later that these and other doublets are seen as something other than
literary patterns
The “It happened three times” Story
The “three times” theme is very common in story telling and the Hebrew Scriptures are
no exception. Consider the example of Samuel and Eli in 1 Samuel 3:3-10
A Biblical Pun
‫ַיֹוספּו עֵּ֖ ֹוד ְש ִ֥נא א ַֽתֹו׃‬
ִ֥ ‫ַו ַיחֲלֹ֤ ם יֹוסֵ ף ח ֲִּ֔לֹום ַויַגֵ ֵּ֖ד לְ אֶ ָחָ֑יו ו‬
And dreamed Joseph ( Yosef ) a dream and he told his brothers and yet
increased ( yosefu ) that they hated him (Gen. 37:5)
1.5
Pre-History: Noah’s Flood
There are two events in history that have often been seen as the source for what has
become known as Noah’s flood. One was a global event while the other was
somewhat more localized though perhaps related to the global event.
The global event – the end of the last ice age.
There seems to be general agreement that somewhere between 15,000 and 10,000
BCE, the ice sheet that covered much of the northern hemisphere began to melt. For
years, scientists believed that melting took place gradually over several centuries.
Recently, there has been a lot of speculation that the melting was far more sudden and
likely the result of a catastrophic event such as the collision of the earth with a comet
or asteroid or perhaps an extended burst of solar activity. However it happened, the
ice age did come to an end and the flooding would have affected the entire world
explaining the flood stories that seem to be found across any number of cultures
A more local event – the flooding of the Black Sea
At one time, the Mediterranean Sea was probably an inland sea. About 14,000 BCE, the
sea level of the Mediterranean rose. Perhaps the rising sea levels at the end of the ice
age breached land that once linked North Africa with Spain at Gibraltar. In any case,
the rising level of the Mediterranean flooded into the Black Sea. This was a much
more local event but some have speculated that it may have been significant enough
an event to be remembered in the stories of the peoples in and near that region
1.6
The Tower of Babel –
The Bridge from Noah to Abraham
If the story of Noah represented events that took
place several thousands of years before Abraham’s
time, the story of the Tower of Babel brings us much
farther along the road from the pre-history of the
flood story to an event that almost brings us to
historical times
The tower of Babel might have been an actual tower
as depicted in the upper illustration but it was more
likely something closer to the ziggurat illustrated
below.
This ziggurat is a modern reconstruction of one that
existed around 2100 BCE in the city of Ur, the birth
city of Abraham. The same chapter (Gen. 11) that
describes the Tower of Babel (Ur , later, did become
part of Babylon), give us the ancestral link between
Noah’s son Shem (Semite), Shem’s great-grandson,
Eber (Hebrews) and Eber’s great-great grandson
Nahor, Nahor’s son, Terah (Thare) and Terah’s three
sons, Nahor (named after his grandfather), Haran and
Abram, soon to be called Abraham
1.7
The Fertile Crescent
•
It is commonly believed that civilization (living in settled dwellings) took place when
humans began to change from hunter/gatherers to farmers
•
Civilizations tended to rise along river valleys such as the valleys between the river
Tigris and the River Euphrates. The area between these two rivers became known
as Mesopotamia, the land in the middle of the rivers
•
The Fertile Crescent ran from Mesopotamia to those lands enclosed by the Jordan
River to the East and the Mediterranean Sea in the West
1.8
The Fertile Crescent - Sumer
•
Sumer was thought to be the first civilization that arose in the Fertile Crescent
•
Sumer was established around 3500 BCE and much of what is known about Sumer
comes from written records that they left behind. Sumer is the first civilization in
the region known to have a written language. The language does not seem to be
part of any known language family and the original writing was not originally
cuneiform but hieroglyphs
•
Ur, the city of Abraham, was an important city of what came to be called the
Sumerian Empire
1.9
The Fertile Crescent - Sumer
•
Akkad was a city-state that was located to the North of Sumer
•
Established sometime later than Sumer, Akkad managed to dominate the Sumerian
Empire. The language of Akkad, Akkadian, was a member of the Semitic language
family. Akkadian did not immediately replace Sumerian but rather absorbed it.
Ultimately, Akkadian became the common language of the Empire
•
Sometime around 2200 BCE, the Akkadian Empire fell. It was replaced in the North
by the Ancient Assyrian Empire and in the South by the Ancient Babylonian Empire
1.10
New Facts Change Old Theories
Until recently, 4000 BCE was a far back as most scholars were willing to place the first
civilizations. Recent discoveries have changed that paradigm drastically
Tell Yunatsite
Located in Bulgaria, Tell Yunatsite is
thought to be the oldest known
civilization in Europe (@4500 BCE)
Jericho
Located along the west bank of the
Jordan River, Jericho may have been
first established @8000 years before
Joshua arrived at @1200 BCE
Jericho
.
.
Tell Qaramel
Tell Qaramel
Located in Northern Syria, Tell
Qaramel is estimated to be as old or
even older than Jericho
1.11
Gobekli-Tepe
1.12
The Beginning of the Journey
• The Fertile Crescent is the land that gave birth to a number of peoples and a
number of cultures
• The Fertile Crescent seemed to be a cradle of civilization, as was the Indus
River Valley in India, the Nile River Valley in Africa and the Yellow River Valley
in Asia
• Many of the people living in Fertile Crescent seemed to speak one form or
another of a Semitic language
• Some of the inhabitants of the region began to settle into cities and take up
farming
• Some of the inhabitants raised animals instead of crops and lived a seminomadic life, moving to make sure that their livestock had sufficient grazing
land and water
• The Fertile Crescent was often the route used by traders from India and China
to bring goods to the Sumerians, the Akkadians and later the Babylonians and
Assyrians (old regimes) as well as to the Hittites in Asia Minor and to the
Egyptians
This was the land in which Abraham was born, over which he traveled and in
which he lived, died and was buried. This is the land where three major world
religions had their birth. This is the land that will be the focal point for the rest of
this course
1.13