Terah's Two Wives

 

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

Abraham's father was Terah. Terah is an ancient word meaning "priest" among the Nilotic Hebrew. Terah was a descendant of Nimrod, a Kushite kingdom builder.

The tile above shows a Tera (priest) of the Sethite Hebrew (a moiety) who served at a temple in a city of the Anu. The Tera-neter tile was found by British Egyptologist W.M. Flinders Petrie (1853-1942) in the early temple at Abydos underneath the dynastic temple. 

The figure has the drooped chin of the same type seen in the ivory king from Abydos, and the Scorpion king of Nekhen, the oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship.

Keeping with the custom of his Hebrew ancestors, the ruler-priest Terah had two wives. One wife was the mother of Nahor and Abraham, and the second wife was the mother of Haran and Sarah. Nahor was Terah's proper heir. Abraham was a sent-away son. Haran's mother was a cousin bride as is evident by the cousin bride's naming prerogative. She named her first-born son Haran after her father, the chief of Haran, shown on this map. 

Haran is shown on this map.

The first-born son of the cousin bride was not his father's proper heir. He was to serve as a high official in the territory of his maternal grandfather after whom he was named. Haran's death in Ur suggests that he was not yet serving in that capacity. Haran probably died at a fairly young age. He had only one son, Lot.

Terah's proper heir was Nahor, the first-born of his principal wife who was a half sister. They had the same father but different mothers. This was also the case with Abraham and Sarah (Gen. 20:12).

Terah took Abraham, Sarah, and Lot from Ur to Haran where Terah died. Nahor assumed control of Terah's considerable holdings in the territory designated as Paddan-Aram on this map.

Paddan Aram designates the region of Harran in upper Mesopotamia. "Paddan Aram" and "Haran" relate to the Akkadian words paddanū and harranū meaning "road" or "caravan route." This gives a sense of the prosperity enjoyed by Nahor who, as regional chief, would have controlled commerce in and through his territory.

Nahor's high status is also indicated by his Horus title. Na'Hor is a Horus title that ran in the family. Terah's father was Na'Hor also. In Akkadian, "na" is a modal prefix indicating service to, affirmation, or affiliation. The name Na'Hor would indicate a servant of HR (Horus), further evidence that Terah and his sons were Horite Hebrew rulers.

After Nahor assumed control of their father's territory, Abraham received gifts and was sent away from Paddan-Aram. This constituted his call by which God would establish him in a territory of his own. Abraham adhered to the same custom. Before he died, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from Isaac his heir (Gen. 25:6).

Abraham speaks of Paddan-Aram as his "own country" in Genesis 24:4. He sent his servant there to fetch a cousin bride for his heir Isaac. If Isaac upheld the marriage and ascendancy pattern of his Hebrew ancestors, she would have been a cousin bride. Rebekah was indeed his patrilineal cousin.

Related reading: Ancient Words for Priest; Hebrew Rulers with Two Wives; Abraham the Hebrew; Leaving Haran; The Calling of Abraham

An Anthropologist Looks at Genesis 11

Alice C. Linsley

In this series we have tracked the eastward movement of the early Hebrew out of Africa and demonstrated that the themes and customs found in Genesis chapters 1-11 are consistent with what is known about the early populations of the Green Sahara, the Nile Valley, and Canaan. 

Genesis 11:2 states that some of Abraham's ancestors migrated from the east to the Tigris-Euphrates basin. Clearly, the early Hebrew were widely dispersed before Abraham's time. However, we first meet Abraham in Mesopotamia because that is where his Kushite ancestor Nimrod established his kingdom.

Chapter 11 provides a transition to the subsequent focus on Abraham the Hebrew who left Mesopotamia for the land of Canaan. He came from the east and eventually established himself in a territory that extended between Hebron to Beersheba.

Genesis 11:10-32 provides a list of some of the Hebrew ruler-priests who descended from both Shem and Ham, though only Shem is mentioned in Genesis 11:10. The lines of Ham and Shem intermarried as did their ancestral lines of Cain and Seth. Though Asshur is not named in Genesis 11, he is listed as a son of Shem in Genesis 10:21. The diagram shows how Abraham is a descendant of both Ham and Shem. 

Note that there are two named Asshur: Asshur the Elder and Asshur the Younger. Here we have further evidence of the cousin bride’s naming prerogative. The pattern is evident also in the naming of Terah's son Nahor after his maternal grandfather, Nahor the Elder. Some of the descendants of Nahor the Younger are listed in Genesis 22:20-24.

Nahor the Younger ruled over Terah's territory in Mesopotamia after Terah died in Harran. Abraham became a sent-away son whose marriage to Keturah of the royal house of Sheba helped him to become a ruler in ancient Edom.

Linguistic diversity is expressed in the different names for the High God and His Son.

After the flood, God resorts to scattering humans by confusing their languages, as if by magic. Suddenly, there are many languages and the words that once were understood by all are now incomprehensible to many.

The focus on the tower in Shinar, presumably a ziggurat (Akkadian: zaqâru, "to rise high") indicates a Neo-Babylonian source. The principal ziggurat of Babylon was called “En-temen-An-ki” which means "Royal foundation of [the High God] An on earth". Among the Hebrew of Mesopotamia, God Father was called Ani/Anu and his son was Enki, meaning “Lord over the earth.” Among the Nilotic Hebrew God Father was called Ra and his son was called Horus from the ancient Egyptian HR, meaning "Most High One". Hebrew royal priests were associated with the prestigious temples of both Ani/Ra and Enki/Horus. The Hebrew believed in God Father and God Son and they were devotees of Hathor, the mother of Horus.

Explanation of Linguistic Diversity

Genesis 10 attempts to explain ethnic diversity and the dispersion of ancient populations. Genesis 11 offers an explanation of the diversity of languages that emerged from a common earlier language (Gen. 11:1). Though this account is far from scientific, linguists recognize that many of the populations named in Genesis 10 shared common consonant roots (radicals).

The great civilizations and peoples of the ancient world reflect advancements in technology, astronomy, architecture, and warfare. Written and spoken communication between the peoples facilitated trade and the exchange of ideas. Royal scribes were versed in multiple scripts (sipru) and Akkadian cuneiform was in use throughout the Ancient Near East. 

Akkadian, the oldest known Semitic language, appears to be a linguistic bridge between some of the older Afroasiatic languages and the Indo-European languages.

The Indian scholar Malati J. Shendge has concluded that the language of the Harappans of the Indus Valley was Akkadian. The Indian linguist Ajay Pratap Singh explains, "Comparisons of Akkadian and Sanskrit words yielded at least 400 words in both languages with comparable phonetic and semantic similarities. Thus Sanskrit has, in fact, descended from Akkadian."

The Bible scholar, E.A. Speiser, found that names taken to be Indo-European were often labeled "Hurrian" only to be identified eventually as Akkadian. E.A. Speiser called attention to Hurrian/Horite personal names associated with Shechem and with other areas whose inhabitants the Bible calls Hivites. Genesis 34:2 specifies Shechem as a Hivite or Horite settlement. He noted the juxtaposition of the Hurrian Jebusites and the Hivites in various biblical references and he concluded that “Hivite” was a biblical term for Horite/Hurrian. Speiser supported his identification of the biblical Hivites with the Horite/Hurrians by reference to Genesis 36:2 and 36:20, where the terms Hivite and Horite are used interchangeably. In Genesis 36:2, Zibeon is called a Hivite, and in Genesis 36:20 Zibeon is identified as a Horite descendent of Seir. 

Other examples of the interchange of the terms Hivite and Horite may be found by comparing the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint. The Septuagint reads "Horites" for the "Hivite" of the Masoretic Text in Genesis 34:2 and Joshua 9:7.

There was no Hurrian or Horite language. The widely dispersed Horites employed the languages of the people among whom they lived. Thus, scholars today use terms like Hurro-Akkadian, Hurro-Urartian, and Canaano-Akkadian.

Related reading: Sarah's Story; The Marriage and Ascendancy Pattern of the Biblical Hebrew; Royal Sons and Their Maternal Uncles; The Hebrew Hierarchy of Sons; Our African Ancestors; An Anthropologist Looks at Genesis 10

Hebrew Priests in Aram, Edom, Judah, and Moab

Alice C. Linsley

The Hebrew (Akkadian Abru) priests of the ancient world were found among numerous biblical populations, especially the Judahites, the Arameans, the Edomites, and the Moabites. According to the biblical data, these populations were related by blood (consanguine) and marriage (affinty).

The Hebrew priests of Judah were related to the priests of Aram, Edom and Moab. All these priests share a common male ancestor in Terah. The Moabites are descended from Terah through his deceased son Haran and his grandson Lot.

The Arameans are difficult to define ethnically because of their diversity and wide geographic dispersion. They populated a region extending from the Iranian steppes east of Damascus to the rich agriculture zones of southern Mesopotamia. Their language, West Semitic Aramaic, became the lingua franca of the ancient Near East until the arrival of Greek. Palmyrene Aramaic inscriptions have been found on Hadrian's Wall in England. Palmyrene is a West Aramaic dialect, along with Nabataean and Judeo-Aramaic.

Terah's oldest son was Nahor. His Akkadian name means "Devoted to HR, the Most High God," and he was Terah's proper heir. After Terah died, Nahor ruled over Terah's holding in Aram. Abraham became a sent-away son and, by God's direction, came to Canaan from Aram.

Jacob was also Aramean by virtue of his mother, Rebecca, who Abraham’s personal servant fetched from Aram to marry Isaac (Genesis 24). As a sent-away son, Jacob lived in Aram for 20 years while working for Laban. There he married two wives and gradually gained wealth before being reconciled to his brother Esau. Because of his unsettled state, Jacob is sometimes referred to as a "Wandering Aramean."

When Jacob left to stay with relatives in Aram, he fled from his brother Esau, Isaac's proper heir and the man who ruled in Edom after Isaac death. Hebrew priests practiced endogamy, that is, they married only within the Hebrew clans wherever they might be dispersed. The marriage between Isaac of Edom and Rebecca of Aram shows that the priests of both regions were kinsmen. Jacob's marriage to two Aramean women fits the pattern.

This is the back story for Naomi and Ruth, the wives of Hebrew priests who were living in Moab.

Some Hebrew priests of Bethlehem resided in Moab. When Ruth returned to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law Naomi, she became the wife of Boaz, a ruler of Bethlehem. Boaz fathered Obed, but by levirate marriage law, Obed was the heir of Ruth's late husband whose holding was probably in Moab, not Bethlehem. This means that David's family had kin in Moab which explains why David sent his parents to the citadel of the king of Moab for protection while he was being pursued by Saul (1 Samuel 22:3).

The book of Ruth presents anthropologically significant data about the House of David's link to Bethlehem. Bethlehem was a Horite Hebrew settlement according to I Chronicles 2:54 and I Chronicles 4:4. The priests who resided there believed in God Father and God Son to whom they made grain and oil offerings and offered blood sacrifice. This is verified by 2 Samuel 8:18 which states that David’s sons were priests.

After David became king, he brought the Ark "from the house of Abinadab, that was in Gibeah” (Saul's hometown) to Jerusalem (II Sam. 6:1-12). However, for three months the Ark rested in David’s hometown of Bethlehem in the house of Obed-Edom. This indicates the great antiquity of David's royal lineage. Genesis 36:31 states that there were kings in Edom long before there was a king in Israel. In fact, Abraham's territory was entirely in the region of ancient Edom, and Edom is where Aaron was buried.

Related reading:  Leaving Haran; Sent-Away Sons; Isaac's Wealth; The Chiefs of Edom

Leaving Haran

Haran and Ur are shown on this map.

Alice C. Linsley

Abraham's father Terah maintained two wives in separate households. One resided in Ur of Chaldea (modern Iraq) and the other resided in Haran (modern Turkey). The rulers of Abraham's people marked their northern and southern boundaries by the placement of their wives. Abraham did this also. Sarah resided in Hebron and Keturah resided in Beersheba to the south. (Both Hebron and Beersheba were in the territory that the Greeks called Idumea, which is Edom, the land of red people.)

The Horite Hebrew rulers did not place their wives on an east-west axis because that would be to claim equality with God. The solar arc symbolized God's daily route as Sovereign over the Earth from the rising to the setting of the sun. There is a subtle criticism of Lamech the Elder (Gen. 4) whose two wives apparently lived in settlements on an east-west axis. As the Hebrew scholar Theodor Gaster noted, their names Adah and Zillah indicate dawn and dust. This rounds out the picture of Lamech's arrogance, for besides boasting of killing a man, he set himself as an equal to God.

Evidently, Terah was a powerful ruler. His territory was the fertile land between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. His son Nahor ruled after Terah died in Haran (Gen. 11:32). Nahor was Abraham's older brother and Terah's propre heir. Na'Hor is a Horus title that ran in the family. Terah's father was Na'Hor also.

In Akkadian, "na" is a modal prefix indicating service to, affirmation, or affiliation. The name Na-Hor would then indicate a servant of Horus; further evidence that Terah and his sons were Horite Hebrew rulers.

Nahor's sons were Uz, Buz, Kemuel, Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and Bethuel. Job was of the clan of Uz. Nahor also had children by a concubine named Reumah. Their names were Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah (Gen. 22:20-24). The name "Tahash" refers to tanners and leather workers. A stronghold called Aram-Maacah is mentioned as an ally to the late Bronze Age strongholds of Aram Naharaim and Zobah in 1 Chronicles 19:6.

According to the marriage and ascendancy pattern of the Horite Hebrew, Abraham would have received gifts from his father before Terah died. These were provisions for Abraham's departure as a "sent-away" son. Abraham did the same for the sons of his concubines (Gen. 25:6). Sent-away sons were to seek territories of their own away from their father's proper heir. The sending forth of Abraham constitutes a divine call and appointment. It means that a kingdom will be gained, not according to worldly means, but as God directs. Sent-away sons receive divine protection, guidance, territory, authority, and heirs. This pattern is found with Cain, Abraham, Moses, Yacob, Yoseph, Samuel, and David.

The right of rule was bestowed on the first-born son of the principal wife. The principal wife was the bride of the man's youth and a half-sister, as was Sarah to Abraham. Inheritance grants were given to the sons of concubines. Abraham gave grants to the sons of his concubines Hagar and Masek and sent the sons away from the territory of his proper heir, Isaac (Gen. 25:6). 

Many heroes of the Bible are men who left their homes and relied on God for provision of their own territories. This practice of sending away sons drove the expansion of the early Hebrew into new territories. It explains why the Horite Hebrew are found dispersed among the peoples of Y-DNA Haplogroup R (shown on map above).

Related reading: The Wives' Settlements Marked Boundaries; The Calling of Abraham; Solar Symbolism Among the R1 Peoples; The Marriage and Ascendancy Pattern of Abraham's People; The Chiefs of Edom; Hebrew Rulers with Two Wives

Abraham's Ancestral Faith

Alice C. Linsley

Ur and Harran are cities in Mesopotamia. Abraham's father Terah was a ruler-priest with holdings in both cities. This is why Abraham is associated with both locations. One of Terah's wives lived in Ur and the other lived in Harran. The normal arrangements for priests of Terah's Horite Hebrew caste was to maintain two wives in separate settlements on a north-south axis. The pattern is first found in Genesis 4 and 5 with Lamech. Abraham's marriages reflect this pattern also. His first wife, Sarah, resided in Hebron at the northern boundary of ancient Edom (Idumea), and this second wife, Keturah, lived in Beersheba, at the southern boundary of Edom. These settlements marked the northern and southern boundaries of Abraham's territory.

Terah died in Harran and Nahor inherited his holdings. From Harran, Abraham departed to Canaan as a sent-away son. He settled in the region of Edom where the Horite ruler-priests had long been established. Some of their kings are listed in Genesis 36. This is the clan of Seir, the Horite.

When we first meet Abraham he is living in Ur in southern Mesopotamia (Sumer). This is because he is a descendant of Nimrod, the Kushite kingdom builder. Genesis 10:8 states that Kush begat Nimrod. The ruler-priests of antiquity were known as 'apiru or ha'piru or ha'biru. The words piru and biru refer to a house of worship. They became widely dispersed in the service of the "mighty men of old" who established kingdoms from Central Africa to India. Terah and Abraham were Ha'biru, which is rendered Hebrew in English Bibles.

The Royal Shrine City of Ur

Some scholars speculate that the Genesis narrative is mistaken about Abraham being in Ur. Joshua J. Mark writes in the Ancient History Encyclopedia that some scholars "believe that Abraham’s home was further north in Mesopotamia in a place called Ura, near the city of Harran, and that the writers of the biblical narrative in the Book of Genesis confused the two." However, there is no reason to doubt the Genesis account. It aligns perfectly with what we know about the marriage and ascendancy pattern of the Horite Hebrew ruler-priests. Terah's territory (his priestly cure) extended between Harran in the north and Ur in the south along the Tigris river.

There were many locations called Ur or Er. This term simply designates a shrine city built at a high elevation. These were royal cities with a central temple and palace. Some shrine cities are known as Eridu and Eredo. These words are related to the Magyar word erdő, meaning forest. The earliest shrine cities were built in virgin forests. Eridu is a Sumerian place name and Eredo is a Nigerian place name.

The Ur mentioned in Genesis is in modern Iraq. It was a Sumerian settlement as early as 5000 BC, and it was continually inhabited until 450 BC. Ur's location on the Persian Gulf helped it to grow into a thriving port by 3000 BC. Due to the silting of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, biblical Ur is now much further inland than it was in Abraham's time. The same thing happened with Nekhen, an ancient Horite shrine city on the Nile. Today the ruins of Nekhen are found far from the Nile.

In 1922, Sir Leonard Wooley excavated a burial complex in Ur and discovered royal tombs. Among the royal names found on grave artifacts was the name Mesannepadda, a First Dynasty king, also known through the Sumerian King List. As Abraham's father was a high ranking ruler-priest his ancestors are likewise remembered in the Genesis King Lists.

Mesopotamia was ruled by Sargon of Akkad between 2334-2218 BC. His territory is sometimes called "Kish" a variant of the word Kush. The script of his empire is called Akkadian. Sargon the Great claimed to have been conceived when his mother was overshadowed by the Sun while praying in the east-facing O'piru, or sun temple. Archaic rulers were believed to be appointed to rule if they could prove virginal conception by solar overshadowing. They thought of the sun as the emblem of the Creator who ruled over all the earth. Solar overshadowing indicated persons divinely appointed to rule (deified sons of God).

The Harris papyrus speaks of the 'apriu of Re at the shrine city of Heliopolis (biblical On). Joseph married Asenath, the daughter of the priest of On. In Hebrew, Joseph's name is Yosef. It has the initial Canaanite Y, a solar symbol. Many of the Horite Hebrew have the Canaanite Y in their names. In ancient images the Y is a headdress of bull horns in which the solar orb is cradled. Consider these Hebrew names: Yaqtan (Joktan); Yishmael (Ishmael); Yishbak; Yitzak (Isaac); Yacob (Jacob); Yosef (Jospeh); Yetro (Jethro); Yeshai (Jesse) and Yeshua (Joshua/Jesus).

She who conceives the Son of God

is foreshadowed in images found among Abraham's Kushite ancestors.

According to legend, Sargon was born in Azu-piranu, meaning House (piru) of God (Anu). God has many names in the archaic world. One was Anu (Akkadian). Azu indicated royal house. Variant spellings include ash meaning throne in Arabic; and names like Asa in Chadic, Asha in Kushitic, and Ashai in Hebrew. In Nehemiah 11:13, we read of a Jerusalem priest named Am-ashai.

Some speculate that Sargon is biblical Nimrod, Abraham's ancestor. The terms sar and gon both refer to a king. Sargon likely means "most high king" or "king of kings." Sargon's Akkadian name was Šarru-kīnu, which is usually translated “the true king.”

Whether Nimrod is Sargon or not, the prestigious caste of ruler-priests who served in his Akkadian empire appear to have shared the notion of kingship as divine appointment by overshadowing. We find among them early expressions the Messianic expectation/hope concerning a righteous ruler who would be conceived by divine overshadowing.

Christians believe that Jesus is the fulfillment of that ancient hope. We believe Jesus is the incarnate Son of God who was conceived exactly as expected. When the Virgin Mary asked how she would conceive, seeing she "knew" no man, the angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God." (Luke 2)


Related reading: Who Were the Kushites?; The Pattern of Two Wives; Edom and the Horites; Why Nekhen is Anthropologically Significant; The Urheimat of the Canaanite Y

Terah Means "Priest"

Alice C. Linsley

Terah or Térach (Hebrew: תֶּרַח / תָּרַח, Modern Téraḥ / Táraḥ) is an important figure in biblical history. His name means "priest". Tera/Terah is one of numerous ancient words for priests: korah, harwa, sem, and hekau. Among the Nilotic Luo, Ja'Ter refers to the priest who performs the widow cleansing rituals. Among the Dinka, the word for priest is tier. In Japan, tera refers to a temple priest.

It appears that Terah is a title. It was found among the rulers of the Anu who inhabited the Upper Nile. The title "Tera-netjer" means priest of God/King. 

Terah was a son of Nahor, the grandson of Serug. He was the father of Abraham and Sarah, Abraham's half-sister wife, and Haran and Nahor.  All are descendants of Arpachshad, the son of Nimrod, the Kushite kingdom builder (Gen. 10).

Terah was a descendant of both Ham and Shem, as their ruling lines intermarried, as shown in the diagram below.

These are the ruler-priests who spread far and wide before the earliest dynasties of Egypt. They are also known in Genesis as "the mighty men of old" and regarded as deified "sons" of God. They are often called "gods" (elohiym) as in Exodus 22:28: "Thou shalt not revile the gods (elohiym), nor curse the ruler of thy people."

These rulers were a caste. One of the characteristics of castes is endogamy, that is, the practice of marrying only within one's caste. Joseph (Yosef), the son of Jacob (Yacob), married the daughter of a ruler-priest of Heliopolis (Biblical On). The intermarriage of the ruler-priest lines has been verified through kinship analysis of the royal families named in Genesis. Analysis of the marriage and ascendancy pattern of these ancient rulers reveals that the lines of Kain and Seth intermarried also, as did the lines of Abraham and Nahor.


Was Terah an idol worshipper?

In Joshua 24:2 we read: "In olden times, your forefathers – Terah, father of Abraham and father of Nahor – lived beyond the Euphrates and worshiped other gods..." and because of this many assume that Abraham was the first of his family to turn from idol worship to iconoclastic monotheism. Of course, this is far from accurate. The Aramean rulers kept ancestor figurines called teraphim. Teraphim belong to the priest caste.

This verse in Joshua must be understood in the context of the iconoclastic Deuteronomist Historian whose account clearly comes from a time long after Terah and Abraham. The Deuteronomist Historian reinterprets the history of Abraham's Horite ancestors in an attempt to strengthen the power of the Jerusalem Temple authorities. As Bernard M. Levinson points out the legal corpus of Deuteronomy conceptualizes the king in a way that rejects all prevailing models of monarchic power held among the ancient Hebrew/Habiru/'Apiru/Abrutu. This shift causes readers of the Old Testament to lose the continuity between the Messianic expectation of Abraham's cattle-herding Nilotic ancestors and the New Testament's understanding of Jesus as King and Messiah, raised on the third day according to the expectation of his Horite Hebrew ancestors.

Tera/Terah means "priest" and there is no substantial evidence that Abraham's father departed from the faith of his ancestors who believed in God Father and God Son, and who hoped for bodily resurrection.


Related reading: Who Were the Kushites?; Royal Names in Genesis; The Genesis King Lists; Why Rachel Didn't Trust Laban; Horite Mounds; Ancient Words For Priests; Early Resurrection Texts

Genesis on the Ancient Kingdom Builders

Tomb painting at Nekhen, c. 3300 B.C.

Alice C. Linsley


Genesis tells a story of a mighty race of archaic rulers who dispersed widely taking with them skilled craftsmen and priests. Obviously, since the rulers listed in Genesis 4 and 5 are Neolithic kings, Genesis begins the story of Abraham's Nilo-Saharan ancestors much later than the earliest humans. It does provide some anthropologically significant data, however, about early human communities, ancient castes, and the religious beliefs honored by the people.

Ancestor veneration was practiced universally and it appears that there was a widespread expectation of a righteous ruler who would establish universal rule of peace and justice. He was a man who carried a big stick. He was expected to produce children to enlarge the clan. He would have had more than one female partner. He was honored at his death by a proper burial, usually in hidden subterranean caves or in remote mountain caves.

The first historical ruler named in Genesis is Kain/Kayan (Kahn), which means king. His line intermarried with the line of his ruler Seth. This means that Cain's line was not cut off in the flood. Likewise, the lines of Ham and Shem intermarried. Abraham is a descendant of both.

Nahor the Elder was Abraham's grandfather. Abraham's mother and father had the same father but different mothers, as shown in the diagram below. Nahor was the royal title of Abraham's older brother. He ruled in the territory of his maternal grandfather and of his father Terah in the region of Aram Na-haraim, between the western Tigris and the Euphrates. This territory was established by Nimrod, one of Nahor's ancestors (Gen. 10:8-12) Na-Haraim means "dedicated to Horus."  This was Horite territory.

The Horite rulers of Edom are listed in Genesis 36. They are described as having a red skin tone.

Nahor the Elder was a descendant of Nimrod, the great Kushite kingdom builder. Erech (Uruk), Accad and Calneh were shrine cities in Nimrod's territory. Accad is Agade, the original name of a river settlement in Odukpani, Nigeria. Accad is a variant of Agades, a city in Niger which is famous for metalwork.

From there Nimrod expanded his territory to include other important cities, including Asshur, Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and Resen. All these cities had a common script - the Akkadian cuneiform.

In Nigerian lore Nimrod is known as Sharru-Kin which means “the righteous King.” Nimrod's Akkadian name was Šarru-kīnu, which is usually translated “the true king.” Nimrod’s territory was called Kish, which is Kush. A seventh century Assyrian text designated Azu-piranu on the Euphrates as a principal city. It was a Horite shrine as evidenced by the word piranu. The Hapiru (Hebrew) devotees of Horus called their temples O-piru, meaning House of the Sun. Azu is an Nilo-Saharan name for God - Asa. Variant spellings include Asha, Ashai and Am-ashai (Nehemiah 11:13). Azu-piranu means “House of God” and is equivalent to the Hebrew Beth-el. 

The language of Nimrod's territory was related to Elamite, Dravidian, Chadic and Nilo-Saharan languages. Nimrod was a son of Kush (Gen. 10:8-12). Abraham's family demonstrates the movement of peoples out of Africa along ancient water ways.

Linguistics and DNA studies have shown that Abraham and his ancestors were Kushites whose cultural context was that of the Afro-Asiatic Dominion which extended from West Africa to India. The region in red shows the area of Kushite expansion. "Kushite" is a general term that includes many peoples and skin tones, including red, brown, reddish brown and black.

The Archaic Afro-Asiatic Dominion

(Image from Clyde A. Winters)

This marriage and ascendancy pattern of the Kushite rulers drove expansion out of Africa. Genesis indicates that Kushites moved out of Africa into Mesopotamia and Central Asia. They brought their religious practices and beliefs with them. Kushite rulers, such as Nimrod and his priests spread a common worldview to India, Nepal, Cambodia and beyond. This stone relief at Anghor Wat shows the Ra's solar boat with Horus flying as a falcon at the top of the mast. Anghor is ankh-Hor which means "Long live Horus!"

Nimrod was a younger son of Kush and was a "sent away" son. Sent-away sons are especially famous in the Bible for founding new territories or ascending to prominence in neighboring territories. Cain, Abraham, Ishmael, Jacob, Joseph and Moses are examples. Jesus Christ is God's sent-away son who establishes the eternal kingdom. 

Just as Abraham gave gifts to all his sons and sent them away from his heir Isaac, so Kush gave gifts to his son Nimrod and sent him away from his older brother Ramah whose territory was in Arabia. As with all sent-away sons in the Bible, there was struggle and hardship, but ultimately by God's grace, these sons prospered. Nimrod’s territory was far greater than Ramah's.


Scribes, Warriors and Smiths

Rulers such as Nimrod, Nahor and Terah were supported by the Ar clans, who were royal scribes. Among the Igbo, the scribe clans were called Ar or Aro. The Nsibidi script, said to be the oldest script of Africa, contains may Sumerian and Egyptian hieroglyphs. Likewise the Akkadian reflects the movement of royal scribes from the greater Chad basin along a west-east corridor.

The rulers were highly effective warriors who were served by metal workers who fashioned their weapons and symbols of authority such as iron beads and crooked staffs. These are called the Nes, Neshi or Nehesi. The metal-working Nes of Anatolia are their kin. The Neshi still function as priests in Igboland.  

The Nes were a caste of smiths who venerated the cosmic serpent, the totem of their people. The ancient Egyptian Asa-ar means the Serpent of Asa (Deity). The peoples living in Arvad, Tyre and Sidon employed serpent imagery in their temples and shrines. The serpent was venerated among the Kushite ruler-priests of Israel. Aaron forged a bronze serpent on a rod which Moses raised over the people. All who looked upon it were saved from death.

Nehesi and the Biblical name Nahor share a common NH root. Na-Hor means the Na of Horus, that is to say "One who serves Horus." In Akkadian, Na is a modal prefix indicating service to, affirmation, or affiliation. Nahor was apparently a Horite ruler-priest, as was his father Terah. Terah means priest. It is evident that Terah and Nahor are titles.

Nehesi means "One who serves Hesi."  Hesi was another name for Hathor-Meri, Horus' mother. Throughout the ancient Afro-Asiatic world shrines were dedicated to both Horus and Hathor. These were mound cities with water sources. Tell-Hesi is an example. Other mound shrines included Hazor and Beersheba.

Nehesi also refers to people of the Upper Nile, and often appears as Ta-Nehesi, meaning Land of Nehesi. Ancient Kush was also called Ta-Nuhusi, a variant of Ta-Nehesi. Today this is designated as Nubia.

Ne-Hesi monument found in Nubia

This evidence indicates a back and forth east-west movement of peoples along a well-watered equatorial zone. Given the antiquity of haplogroup L2a1 (c. 100,000) it appears that there was more mixing of peoples in the well-watered Saharan region than generally recognized. Haplogroup L2a1 also was found at Tell Halula in Syria (c. 9600).

It appears that the Akwa neshi dwarfs, the Khwe, and their southern Pygmy neighbors, share a common cradle land in the region of Nigeria-Cameroon where they enjoyed the benefits of the Benue and Niger Troughs that connected to the greater Chad Basin and to various lakes in Sudan and to the Nile. The interconnection of these water systems made travel and commerce possible across vast distances. 

Genetic comparisons of the Khwe and the sub-Saharan Kung San indicate different peoples living in close proximity. The Kung mtDNAs are mainly L1a2, a subset of the sub-Saharan Pygmy. Genetically, the Khwe (Kwa/Akwanshi) are more closely related to western African Bantu-speaking populations than to the Kung San. The Nigerian historian, Dr. Catherine Acholonu, describes the Khwe or Kwa Igbo as the "Diaspora Igbo," indicating movement along those water systems. She calls the Akwanshi the "Igbo First People."

Dr. Acholonu argues that Iboland is the cradle of the dispersed kingdom builders. That view is not supported by a limited study done at the University of Khartoum. The findings are in this report:

The area known today as Sudan may have been the scene of pivotal human evolutionary events, both as a corridor for ancient and modern migrations, as well as the venue of crucial past cultural evolution. Several questions pertaining to the pattern of succession of the different groups in early Sudan have been raised. To shed light on these aspects, ancient DNA (aDNA) and present DNA collection were made and studied using Y-chromosome markers for aDNA, and Y-chromosome and mtDNA markers for present DNA. Bone samples from different skeletal elements of burial sites from Neolithic, Meroitic, Post-Meroitic and Christian periods in Sudan were collected from Sudan National Museum. aDNA extraction was successful in 35 out of 76 samples, PCR was performed for sex determination using Amelogenin marker. Fourteen samples were females and19 were males. To generate Y-chromosome specific haplogroups A-M13, B-M60, F-M89 and Y Alu Polymorphism(YAP) markers, which define the deep ancestral haplotypes in the phylogenetic tree of Y-chromosome were used. Haplogroups A-M13 was found at high frequencies among Neolithic samples. Haplogroup F-M89 and YAP appeared to be more frequent among Meroitic, Post-Meroitic and Christian periods. Haplogroup B-M60 was not observed in the sample analyzed.

For extant DNA, Y-chromosome and mtDNA haplogroup variations were studied in 15 Sudanese populations representing the three linguistic families in Sudan by typing the major Y haplogroups in 445 unrelated males, and 404 unrelated individuals were sequenced for the mitochondrial hypervariable region.

Y-chromosome analysis shows Sudanese populations falling into haplogroups A, B, E, F, I, J, K, and R in frequencies of 16.9, 8.1, 34.2, 3.1, 1.3, 22.5, 0.9, and 13% respectively. Haplogroups A, B, and E occur mainly in Nilo-Saharan speaking groups including Nilotics, Fur, Borgu, and Masalit; whereas haplogroups F, I, J, K, and R are more frequent among Afro-Asiatic speaking groups including Arabs, Beja, Copts, and Hausa, and Niger-Congo speakers from the Fulani ethnic group.

Accordingly, though limited on number of aDNA samples, there is enough data to suggest and to tally with the historical evidence of the dominance by Nilotic elements during the early state formation in the Nile Valley, and as the states thrived there was a dominance by other elements particularly Nuba/Nubians."

Related reading: God's African Ancestors; The Origin of Castes; Afro-Asiatic Metal Workers; The Saharan Origins of the Pharaohs; Chronology of the Genesis Rulers

Is Nehesi Related to the Name Nahor?

Alice C. Linsley


A reader from Torrence, California has asked if the name Nehesi might be the same as the Biblical name Nahor. On the surface this seems a possibility since the vowels are not certain and the root is the same. Removing the vowels, we have NH as a common root. Na-Hor means the Na of Horus, that is to say "One who serves Horus." In the Akkadian, Na is a modal prefix indicating service to, affirmation, or affiliation. Nahor was apparently a Horite ruler-priest, as was his father Terah. Terah means priest. Terah and Nahor are not names. They are titles.

Nehesi is also a title. It means One who serves Hesi.  Hesi refers to wisdom. There is a relationship between the Nehesi and Nahor in that both appear to be dedicated to Horus and his mother Hathor-Meri, the patroness of smiths and an ancient symbol of wisdom (sophia). Shrines were dedicated to both Horus and Hathor throughout ancient Canaan, Syria and Lebanon. These were mound cities with water sources. Tell-Hesi is an example. Other mound shrines included Hazor and Beersheba.

Nahor was Abraham's older brother. He was named after his maternal grandfather. Nahor the Younger ascended to the throne of his father Terah in the region of Aram Naharaim, between the western Tigris and the Euphrates. This territory was ruled by Nimrod, one of Nahor's ancestors (Gen. 10:8-12).

Nehesi refers to people of the Upper Nile, a region called Ta-Nehesi, meaning "Land of Nehesi." This was earlier called Wawat. The Upper Nile appears to be the point of origin of the features of religion that are associated with Moses and his people. This includes animal sacrifice, the burning of incense, circumcision, ruler-priests, the Holy Name YHWH, and the solar imagery of the Habiru/Hebrews.

Red and black Nubians

Terah is a title found among the ancient Nubians. Tera-neter designated a nobleman of the Ainu people, pre-dynastic inhabitants of the Upper Nile. Neter refers to ruler or a deified king. Neter was retained in the Coptic language as Nuti.


The Line of Nahor the Elder

Nahor the Elder was Abraham's maternal grandfather. He was a descendant of Nimrod, the great Kushite kingdom builder. Erech (Uruk), Accad (Akkad or Agade) and Calneh were centers of Nimrod's initial territory. From there he went north and conquered or founded Asshur, Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and Resen. All these city-states were united by a common script, the Akkadian cuneiform. The language of Nimrod's territory was related to Elamite, Dravidian, Chadic and Kushite languages. This should not surprise us since Nimrod was a son of Kush (Gen. 10:8-12).


Related reading:  God's African Ancestors; Issues in the Historical Phonology of Chadic Languages; Abraham's Kushite Ancestors; Tomb of Nubian Priest Found; Terah's Nubian Ancestors

Terah's Territory and Legacy

Terah may have looked like this.

Alice C. Linsley

Abraham's father was Terah, a great ruler, a priest, and a descendant of the Kushite kingdom builder Nimrod. Terah's territory extended along the Euphrates between an unidentified fortified settlement called "Ur of Chaldees" and Haran to the north. It is likely that Terah's two wives resided in those settlement. It was the pattern of the Hebrew rulers to maintain two wives in separate households.

Terah's proper heir was Nahor the Younger, named after his maternal grandfather. Terah's grandsons by his heir were Lot, Huz, Buz, Kamuel, Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and Bethuel (Gen. 22:20-22). Nahor also had four sons by his concubine, Reumah. Their names were Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maacah, a daughter. Maacah is listed as a chief. The listing of Nahor's daughter Maacah as a chief or "son" is consistent with the marriage pattern of the early Hebrew. 

Genesis 36:24 lists Anah as a ‘son’ of Zibeon, and her daughter Oholibamah is listed as an Edomite chief in Genesis 36:41. "These were the names of the chiefs of Esau, in their tribes and places, in their countries and nations: Chief Timnah, Chief Alvah, Chief Jetheth, Chief Oholibamah, Chief Teman, Chief Mibzar, Chief Magdiel, and Chief Zaphoim." Terah's legacy is traced through at least two women chiefs.

Terah's kingdom came to be called Aram-Naharaim. In Old Syrian/Aramaic aram means "high ground" and naharaim means "between the rivers." Genesis 24:10 says that Abraham's servant Eliezar took gifts and set out for  Aram-Naharain to seek a cousin bride for Abraham's proper heir Isaac.

The term aram appears in other biblical references. For example, the ruler of Aram Soba (Zobah) was defeated by Saul, according to 1 Samuel 14:47, and Joshua confiscated the land of Maaka/Maacah, the ruler of Aram, according to Joshua 12:16. 

It was typical for rulers to built their principal settlements on high ground (mounds) near permanent sources of water. The Jebusites were especially famous for this and according to Joshua 15:63, the Israelites were never able to uproot the Jebusites from Jerusalem, a high place watered by the Gihon Spring.

The rulers of Genesis controlled vast territories along the ancient rivers. The extreme boundaries of their territories were marked by the cities or settlements of their two wives.  As the rivers were oriented more or less on a north-south axis, so were their wives. The ruler traveled between his wives on a north-south axis, as the sun travels between the horizons from east to west. Knowing the marriage custom helps us to identify the extent of  Terah's territory. One wife lived in Ur to the south and the other wife lived in Haran to the north.

Abraham also set his wives on a north-south axis, with Sarah in Hebron and Keturah in Beersheba.

There is another explanation in Genesis for why the ruler's two wives were placed on a north-south axis rather than on an east-west axis. The explanation involves Lamech who bragged to his two wives Adah and Zillah (Gen. 4). Theodor Gaster noted that the names Adah and Zillah have a relationship to words for dawn and dusk, suggesting a celestial or sacred marriage motif. It was not unusual for archaic rulers to brag about their greatness by claiming to control all the land from the sunrise to the sunset.

Another theory pertains to the hubris of Lamech the Elder who is portrayed as a braggart in Genesis 4. In placing his wives' settlements on an east-west axis,he patterned himself after the High God whose territory is marked by the east-west solar arc. In other words, he posed himself as God.

Lamech the Younger is the first-born son of Methuselah by his cousin wife Naamah. He is the great great grandfather of Nimrod/Sargon the Great who apparently shared his ancestor's hubris because he claimed to rule from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean or "from sunrise to sunset."

It is likely that the final redactor of Genesis was a priest living during the reign of David. He would have known that the name Naamah was associated with David's dynasty. The mother of Rehoboam, David's grandson, was a princess by that name. If so, he would have mentally connected Lamech and David, both of whom shed innocent blood. David was repentant and almost inconsolable. Lamech, as far as we know, was not repentant. 

Or perhaps he was! St. John Chrysostom believed that by confessing his sins to his wives, Lamech brought to light what Cain tried to hide from God, and “by comparing what he has done to the crimes committed by Cain he limited the punishment coming to Him.” (St. John Chrysostom’s Homilies on Genesis, Vol. 74, p.39. The Catholic University Press of America, 1999.)

Related reading:  Terah Means "Priest"; Locating Biblical Ur; The Story of Lamech; Lamech Segment Analysis; St. John Chrysostom on Lamech; Ancient Words for Priests; Horite Hebrew Rulers With Two Wives

Was Abraham the First Jew?

The answer to that question is NO. Abraham was not a Jew and he did not speak Hebrew. He was a Hebrew or Habiru/'Apiru. The Habiru were an ancient caste of ruler-priests who served at the Sun temples of the archaic world long before the time of Abraham.

It is time that the narrative of Abraham as the first Jew go away.  It is entirely false.

Abraham is a pivotal figure of biblical history. He is the ancestor of many peoples and he is a descendant of Nilo-Saharan peoples who dispersed across the ancient world. His ancestors were known by various names: Habiru (Hebrew); Horim (Horite); Shasu of Yahweh, Anu or Hanu (Ainu), and the Tera-neter (priest of God). Tera-neter refers to a ruler-priest of the Anu, a pre-dynastic people of the Upper Nile. Abraham’s father has the title Tera, which means priest. The Ainu spread abroad, taking their religious beliefs and practices with them. They migrated to Northern Japan and into Eastern Canada. In the Japanese language "tera" means priest.

Dr. Shaye Cohen

Here is a NOVA interview with Dr. Shaye Cohen in which he presents the Jewish myth of Abraham.

Q: Was Abraham the first Jew?

Shaye Cohen: The biblical narrative gets going with Abraham in Genesis chapter 12. Abraham in turn Isaac, in turn Jacob, in turn Joseph and the twelve tribes, this brings us directly to the people of Israel and the covenant at Sinai. So Abraham is thought of as the first Jew, the archetype.

Historically speaking, of course, this doesn't make much sense. It's hard to talk about Jews living around the year 1800 B.C.E. or anytime near that. We don't have any of the institutions, beliefs, social structures in place that will later characterize Jews and Jewishness. So in a mythic kind of way we can say that Abraham recognizes God and that Abraham launches the process—biological and social and cultural—that will culminate in the people of Israel, who in turn will become Jews and the purveyors of Judaism. But to call Abraham Jewish simplifies things very dramatically.


Q: In terms of things that characterize being Jewish today, where does Abraham stand?

Cohen: In modern terms, the Jewishness of Abraham fundamentally consists of belief. He communicates with God, and God communicates with him. Now, the rabbis of old imagined that Abraham observed the whole Torah, that Abraham observed all the commandments: He observed the Sabbath, he observed the festivals, he observed the laws of culture and food. He observed everything, not just circumcision, which is attributed to him explicitly in Genesis, but everything else as well. Because how can you imagine our forefather Abraham, the founder of Judaism, not observing the Jewish rules, not observing the Jewish laws? This is a wonderful anachronism, a charming conceit. But historically speaking, how could it be?


Q: Does Abraham discover monotheism?

Cohen: Is Abraham the founder of monotheism? The texts in Genesis simply have Abraham talking to God and God talking to Abraham, that's it. Later Jews could not imagine such events without explaining more fully how it was that Abraham came to recognize God and why it was that God chose Abraham. And one of the most famous of these stories recounts how Abraham, the philosopher, sits and contemplates the natural order and realizes that there must be a first cause, that everything has a purpose. And behind the world that we can perceive, there must be some force that we cannot perceive but whose existence we can infer. That's how Abraham came to believe in God. And he went home to his father, Terah, who in the story is an idol maker, and Abraham then smashed all of his father's idols. And numerous Jewish children are convinced to this day that the story is found in the book of Genesis and are always shocked and amazed to discover that it isn't.

So is Abraham the founder of monotheism? Ancient Jewish storytellers thought the answer was yes, and following them Christian storytellers thought the same. However, reading historically, we realize monotheism is a very difficult and elusive concept to define. Again, it's far too simple to say that Abraham discovers monotheism.

Q: Does the Abraham account in Genesis have a central message, a central purpose?

Cohen: It teaches sacred values, sacred ideas—how to relate to God, to have faith in God. It's also simply a story about our founders. We humans are always curious to know about where we come from. All cultures have stories about their founders or great figures of the past. So here, too, we have stories about our great founder figure, Abraham, who sets the process going that makes us who we are, we meaning the people of Israel, the covenantal people.

From here.


Abraham and his ancestors were ethnically Kushite and belonged to the royal priest caste known as Horites. The Horites are also known in ancient texts as Habiru (Hebrew) and the Shashu of YHWY. The were rulers of the ancient world with a distinctive marriage and ascendancy pattern.


Related reading: Archaic Rulers, Ascendancy and the Foreshadowing of Christ; Who Was Abraham?; Jacob Leaves Beersheba; Busting Myths About Abraham; Challenge to Shaye Cohen's Portrayal of Abraham; Abraham and Job: Horite Rulers; Moses' Horite Family; Was Abraham Jewish?

Was Abraham an Idol Worshiper?

Father Abraham, justified by faith, saw the promise of the Son to come and believed! Jesus said to the unbelievers, "Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad." (John 8:56)

Alice C. Linsley

Abraham the Hebrew is posed throughout Scripture as a man of great faith. He believed the sign God gave on Mount Moriah and trusting in the promise of the future Messiah, he was justified. For the early Hebrew, the ram provided by the Father was a symbol of the son of God (HR). In the solar symbolism of the Hebrew the lamb rose at dawn and matured as the day lengthened. The ram in its full strength set with the sun in the west, the direction of the future. This is what Abraham discovered on Mount Moriah and he believed.

This belief emerged from the solar imagery of the Proto-Gospel. Horus, the son of the High God was depicted as being one with the Father. He rode with the Father on the solar boat. The boat of the morning hours was called Mandjet (Ancient Egyptian: mꜥnḏt) and the boat of the evening hours was called Mesektet. While Horus was on the Mesektet, he was in his ram-headed form.

The short answer to the question: "Was Abraham an idol worshiper?" is no! Matthew Henry perpetuates the notion that Abraham worshiped idols in his commentary on Genesis. He writes, "God made choice of Abram, and singled him out from among his fellow-idolaters..."

Who was Abraham?

Abraham is a pivotal figure in the Bible. He is mentioned in 230 verses, and he is the central figure of the book of Genesis. Those who adhere to the faith of Abraham in the promised Son of God are, according to Paul, heirs of the promise. "Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy Seed, which is Christ… And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Gal. 3:16, 29)

Abraham was known by the Hittites as a "prince of God among us" (Gen. 23:6). He is the ancestor of many peoples living in many parts of the ancient Near East. He is a descendant of the early Hebrew kingdom builders, such as NImrod (Gen. 10) who dispersed across the ancient world. 

His ancestors were known by various names: Abrutu, 'Abiru, 'Apiru, Habiru; Hapiru, Horim, Horite, etc. All these terms refer to a royal priest caste that believed in a supreme creator God (Re, Anu) who has a son (HR, Horus). HR in ancient Egyptian means "Most High One."

Abraham was not a pagan who converted to monotheism. He was a member of the Hebrew ruler-priest caste which believed in God Father and God Son. The text is clear that Abraham worshiped according to the beliefs of his Horite Hebrew ancestors. The oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship was Nekhen on the Nile (4000 BC). The idea that Abraha was a idol worshiper comes from a late source in the Book of Joshua. In olden times, your forefathers – Terah, father of Abraham and father of Nahor – lived beyond the Euphrates and worshiped other gods. (Jos. 24:2)

The word Terah means priest and Na-Hor is a Horus name found among the rulers and priests of the Horite Hebrew. Nahor ruled over his father's territory in Paddan Aram when Terah died. In ancient Akkadian, Na is a modal prefix indicating service to, affirmation, or affiliation. Na-Hor indicates that this man was a devotee of HR, which in ancient Egyptian refers to the Most-High God.

HR also refers to the Son of God who the Greeks called Horus. His Horus name suggests that Nahor was a Horite Hebrew. A prayer addressed to Horus says, "For you are he who oversees the gods, there is no god who oversees you!" (Ancient Pyramid Texts, Utterance 573)

Many of the early Hebrew had Horus names such as Hur, Moses’ brother-in-law, the husband of Miriam. Hur’s grandson was one of the builders of the Tabernacle. 1 Chronicles 4:4 lists Hur as a "father of Bethlehem", an early Horite Hebrew settlement. Rahab of Jericho married Salmon, another "father" of Bethlehem.

It is incorrect to apply the term “pagan” to Abraham since the term comes from ancient Rome, a much later period of history. The Online Etymological Dictionary explains that "pagan," from classical Latin means "villager, rustic, civilian," from pagus "rural district." The term "pagan" refers to a peasant and expresses a class hierarchy in which common country folk were regarded by the urban elite as being of low birth, having rude manners, and lacking sophistication. This term cannot be applied to the ruler Abraham who maintained an army of at least 300 trained warriors, controlled a substantial holding between Hebron and Beersheba, negotiated water treaties with rulers, had a personal audience with Pharoah, and maintained two wives and two concubines in separate households.

Other than the Joshua 24 statement, which has another explanation, there is not a shred of evidence that Abraham or his ancestors were idolaters. Abraham's calling does not constitute a turning away from the tradition of his Hebrew forefathers (his Horim). He was a sent-away son to whom God delivered a territory of his own. 

Abraham's Hebrew people did not worship idols. They were priests of the Proto-Gospel and recognized in ancient texts as unique and especially pure in their worship and religious practices.

This peculiar verse: “In olden times, your forefathers – Terah, father of Abraham and father of Nahor – lived beyond the Euphrates and worshiped other gods” must be understood in the context of the Deuteronomist account, which begins in Deuteronomy and ends in 2 Kings. These books share a common concern with idolatry and recognize that on that side of the Euphrates, people worshiped the moon as equal to the sun. This is historically accurate. The moon god was honored in Ur and Haran, but never among the early Hebrew who regarded the moon as the lesser light. The Hebrew recognition of the sun's superiority is expressed in Genesis 1:16: "God made the two great lights: the greater to rule the day, the lesser light to rule the night."

Nothing is said in Genesis about Abraham worshiping other gods. The Joshua reference implies that Terah fell into worshiping contrary to tradition of his Hebrew ancestors. What we have here is speculation on the part of the Deuteronomist Historian. What the Deuteronomist Historian has done is like photo-shopping an image; an attempt to remove perceived flaws. However, this was done without understanding the Nilotic cultural context of Abraham's ancestors (4000-3000 BC), a very different context from that of the Neo-Babylonian context of the Deuteronomist (900-200 BC).

In the tradition of the Horite and Sethite Hebrew the sun and the moon were viewed as a binary set, and the Sun was regarded as the greater of the two lights. In binary thought (versus dualism), one entity in the set is understood to be superior through observation to the other entity in the set. In dualism, the sun and the moon are equals so both are worthy of veneration. In the binary view, the sun is the greater celestial light and to venerate the lesser light is idol worship. This may be what stands behind the Joshua 24 criticism of Terah's residing in Mesopotamia where the Moon was venerated. Note, however, this is not a criticism of Abraham.

There is no other verse in the Bible to support the view that Terah, a Hebrew ruler-priest, worshiped a Moon god or goddess contrary to the practice of his Hebrew ancestors who regarded the Sun as the emblem of the Creator. Abraham's ancestors believed that divine appointment came by being "overshadowed." They anticipated that this is how the son of God would be conceived, as the Angel Gabriel explained to the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:35). 

Abraham is called Hebrew. The term is derived from the ancient Akkadian word for priest - abru. Akkadian is the oldest known Semitic language, and it was the language used by Abraham. (Hebrew did not yet exist. Judaism emerged around 1500 years after Abraham.)

Genesis tells us about Abraham's Hebrew priest caste and the promise that the Creator made to their ancestors in Eden that a woman of their people would bring forth the Seed of God (Gen. 3:15).

Related reading: The Hebrew Were a Caste; Horite and Sethite Mounds, The Calling of Abraham; The Substance of Abraham's Faith; Abraham's Faith Lives in Christianity; Judaism is NOT the Faith of Abraham; Appointment by Divine Overshadowing; INDEX of Topics at Just Genesis