UR OF THE CHALDEES (witvz 1:1N; X6PCt T CO. P XaMaicov ; Ur Chaldawruni ; in Jose phus, Xanalwv), the native place of the patriarch Abraham. The sacred historian states, that after the death of Haran, his son Terah mi grated with his family from Ur of the Chaldees, and came unto Haran, and dwelt there' (Gen. xi. 2S, 31). It is only in connection with this event that Ur is mentioned in Scripture. There is no clear indication in the Bible of its geographical position, nor is it said whether it was a city or a province. From the narrative in Genesis it appears that Terah set out from Ur with the intention of going to Canaan ; but for some reason, on reach ing Horan, he settled there ; and it was not until after the death of Terah that Abraham continued his journey to the Land of Promise (xi. 3 t, 32 ; xii. 5). It may be inferred from another passage in Genesis that Abraham and his father originally left Ur of the Chaldees by divine command (xv. 7) ; and it is expressly stated by Nehemiah, the only other sacred writer who mentions Ur, that it was there the Lord first elected Abraham (ix. 7). The words of the martyr Stephen are important, not only as confirming this fact, but as tending to indi cate the position of Ur. The God of glory ap peared unto our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran' (Acts vii. 2). This is all the information the Bible gives regarding Ur. Froni it, however, it is evident : first, that Ur was in the country of the Chaldxans ; and secona', that it was also situated in the country afterwards called Mesopotamia.
It will be obsetTed that the Septuagint render ing of Ur is uniformly xchpa, region,' or land.' It may be that xthpa was an error, or attempted correction of some copyist for 6pa. Or perhaps the word may have originally been written as a proper name, the letter x being prefixed as an aspirate or to indicate some peculiar pronuncia. tion of t'he initial Hebrew N. It is certain that the Hebrew 11N could never be made equivalent to the Greek xoipa.
Jerome translates the clause in Neh. ix. 6 edux isti eum de igne Chez/decorum : Thou broughtest him' (Abraham) out cl the fire of the Chaldmans.' This rendering was doubtless suggested by the Jewish fable which is thus related in the 7rg,lim of yona than on Gen. xi. 28 : And it came to pass when Nimrod had cast Abram into the furnace, because Ite would not worship his idol, and the fire had no power to burn him, that Hara.n's heart became
doubtful, saying, If Nimrod overcome, I will be on his side ; but if Abram overcome, I will be on his side. And when all the people saw that the fire had no power over Abram, they said in their hearts, Is not Haran full of divinations and charms, and has he not uttered spells over the fire, that it should not bum his brother ? Immediately there fell fire from the heavens and consumed him ; and Haran died in the sight of Terah his father, in the furnace of fire which the Kasdai (Chaldmans) had made for Abram his brother.' The word Ur signifies fire' or light,' and may have formed the basis of this romantic legend. But the names of ancient cities were generally, in deed it may be said always, descriptive ; and very often they were taken from some deity to whose worship the city was dedicated. The Chaldmans were fire-worshippers, and Ur appears to have contained one of their chief temples, which, at a later period, was specially dedicated to the moon, then esteemed the second great light' of heaven (Jerome, Quast. in Gen. xi. 28; Eusebius, Pray% Evang. ix. 7). Rufinus states that Chaldman priests were accustomed to carry their sacred fire with them from place to place to combat other gods. Idols of brass, vvood, and stone, were easily consumed or melted by the action of fire, and thus the victory of their national deity was secured (Hist Eccles. ii. 26). Others suppose that 11K may be a Babylonian form of the word a city,' and thus wiwz -1).; would sig-nify the city of the Chaldmans' (Bonomi, Nineveh, p. L1.1). Others again derive Ur from a Persian root which signifies a castle' (Gesenius, Heb. Lex. by Tre gelles, s. v.) Various opinions have been held as to the site of Ur. josephts calls it a city of the Chaldans' (Antiq. i. 6. 5) ; he says that Chaldma was in .Me sopotamia (i. 7. r) ; and he quotes a passage from Nicolaus of Damascus to the effect that the land of the Chaldmans was above Babylon' (inrep Baga6)vos ; 7. 2). The words of Stephen in Acts vii. 2 also show that TJr was in Mesopotamia. But Mesopotamia was a wide region. The name was often applied somewhat indefinitely to the whole country extending from the mountains of Armenia to the Persian Gulf.