The Journey From Ur Of The Chaldees

Chaldea was the geographic term used for the southern area of Babylonia, in Mesopotamia (a Greek word which means between the rivers i.e. the Tigris and Euphrates - see the map below), today known as Iraq. Much of it was a great plain, made fertile by the water and organic-matter deposits of the two rivers (just as the Nile River did for Goshen in Egypt; see Why Did They Go To Goshen?).

Ur was a major city of Chaldea. It functioned as a commercial and political power base for the region. Ur was named after the Sumerian moon god, Ur (or Urim). The Great Ziggurat of Ur (the present-day excavated ruins are shown in the photograph) was a temple to that pagan god (i.e. worship of the moon); it was constructed in the shape of a massive step pyramid about 200 feet long, 150 feet wide and 100 feet high.

The original Babylonian Empire (see the Fact Finder question below) rose from, and fell in, Chaldea; its last imperial king is called a Chaldean.

"^5:17 Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation. ^5:18 O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour: ^5:19 And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down. ^5:20 But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: ^5:21 And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will [see Nebuchadnezzar's Lesson].

^5:22 And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; ^5:23 But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee [see The Temple Vessel Prophecies Today], and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified: ^5:24 Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written.

^5:25 And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.

^5:26 This is the interpretation of the thing:

MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.

^5:27 TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.

^5:28 PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

^5:29 Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

^5:30 In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. ^5:31 And Darius the Median [see Ancient Empires - Persia; also Iran's Greatest Leader Was Pro-Zionist] took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old." (Daniel 5:17-31 KJV)

"In the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees"

Abram, later known as Abraham, is one of the most well-known natives of Ur (see also 'Raghead' Racism). Abraham's ancestry is recorded back to Shem, a son of Noah (see After The Flood).

"^11:10 These are the generations of Shem:

Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood: ^11:11 And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

^11:12 And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah: ^11:13 And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.

^11:14 And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber: ^11:15 And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.

^11:16 And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg: ^11:17 And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.

^11:18 And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu: ^11:19 And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.

^11:20 And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug: ^11:21 And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.

^11:22 And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor: ^11:23 And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

^11:24 And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah: ^11:25 And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.

^11:26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran." (Genesis 11:10-26 KJV)

The immigration from Ur began under the leadership of Abram's father, Terah.

"^11:27 Now these are the generations of Terah:

Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. ^11:28 And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. ^11:29 And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. ^11:30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child.

^11:31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son [see also Why Did Lot's Wife Look Back?], and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.

^11:32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran." (Genesis 11:27-32 KJV)

From Haran, in what is today Syria, the journey continued on according to the specific command of the LORD (see The First Christian Church) to Abram. He obeyed the LORD and continued right on to what is today the southern border of Judea, in the Negev Desert.

"^12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee:

^12:2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: ^12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

^12:4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. ^12:5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.

^12:6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. ^12:7 And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.

^12:8 And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD. ^12:9 And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south." (Genesis 12:1-9 KJV)

Fact Finder: How is "Babylon" used in prophecy?
See What And Where Is Babylon Today? and The Tabernacles Celebration After The Fall Of Babylon; see also The Babylon Exodus And Exile and Do You Observe Christ's Sabbath Or Babylon's Sun Day?

This Day In History, November 21

164 BC: Judas Maccabaeus, the son of Mattathias the Hasmonean, restored the Temple in Jerusalem after the original "abomination of desolation" (see Antiochus And The Maccabees). The event is celebrated each year by the festival of Hanukkah (see Christ's Hanukkah and The Temple Vessel Prophecies Today).

235: Anterus began his reign as pope.

1620: Leaders of the Mayflower expedition wrote the Mayflower Compact which was designed to bolster unity among the English settlers of "New England."

1783: In Paris, France, Jean de Rozier and the Marquis d' Arlandes made the first uncabled balloon flight, covering nearly 6 miles in 23 minutes.

1818: Czar Alexander I of Russia called for a Jewish state in "Palestine."

1880: Emmanuel Daude d'Alzon of France died at age 70. The Church of Rome cleric, who founded the order of the "Augustinians of the Assumption," was active in preparing the Church of Rome's doctrine of papal infallibility (that has proven itself false, by numerous papal blunders; see also The Struggle For The Papacy and listen to our Sermon Constantine's Papacy).

1904: Motorized buses replaced horse-drawn cars in Paris.

1907: The Cunard liner Mauretania set a new speed record for steamship travel: 624 nautical miles in a one-day run.

1916: During the First World War (listen also to our Sermon The European World Wars), the Britannic, the larger sister ship of the Titanic, sank in the Kea Channel off Greece. It was on its fourth trip from Southampton to the island of Lesbos to pick up casualties. 18 people died, 1,106 survived. Still under construction when the Titanic sank in 1912, the Britannic had its design changed to correct defects in what was supposed to have been the unsinkable Titanic.

1918: The German High Seas Fleet surrendered at the Firth of Fourth in Scotland, one of the key conditions of the First World War armistice signed on November 11.

1929: A tidal wave caused by an underwater earthquake in the Atlantic Ocean off southeastern Newfoundland killed 29 people who were drowned when their homes were swept into the ocean.

1949: The United Nations granted Libya its independence (see also Libya In History And Prophecy).

1953: The British Museum published a scientific report proving that the "Pitdown Man," discovered in 1912 by Charles Dawson (not to be confused with Charles Darwin), proved to be a hoax (listen to our Sermon Darwin's Theory of Evolution).

1977: The first operational flight of the supersonic Concorde took place from London to New York.

1991: The UN Security Council chose Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt as the new Secretary-General of the United Nations.