SEDER OLAM - Revisited

Year 1948 – 1812 BCE – Birth of Abram

Terach, son of Nachor, was 70 years when he begot Abram, Nachor and Haran, in year 1948. 

Abram was the oldest of these three sons. Nachor was named after Terach’s father, Nachor (the elder). At the time, the latter was about 100 years old and just had a few more years to live because, possibly, he was getting ill, a condition unknown to mankind before but that would the result of God’s will to reduce human lifetime. Terach named his second son, Nachor (the younger), after his father in order to influence fate and prolong his name, if not his life. Then Terach begot Haran who will be the first of the three sons to marry and have a child, Lot.

Abram is the 20th human generation from Adam, as it is explained in this page (click here).

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Year 1968 – 1792 BCE – Nimrod

At the time, the city of Ur and the whole region were under the rule of the first powerful post-Flood man to rise. He built a kingdom in the valley of Shinaar, with his capital which he called Babel:

Like his predecessors, in the same region than before the Flood, Nimrod had established new religious beliefs based on idolatry, as it obviously served his purpose to rule over the minds and the people by presenting himself as guided by these gods. It may be about Nimrod, a grandson from Cham who was cursed to be a slave to his brothers, that the author of the Proverbs mentioned:

In the Babylonian history, one of the greatest rulers of these times was Hammurabi who reigned for 42 years. He is remembered in History as the one who vastly expanded the kingdom of Babylon for the first time. This Hammurabi was most certainly the Biblical Nimrod. He started to reign in year 1792 BCE and will reign for a long period of 42 years, until 1750 BCE.

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Year 1996 – 1764 BCE – The Code of Hammurabi

It is from this family of local rulers and priests that Hammurabi took the concept of codification of laws. Indeed, the oldest recorded code of laws came from Ur, not from Babylon, and is called the Code of Ur-Nammu. It was created around 2100 BCE by the founder of the Dynasty of Ur that was started after the Flood. 

Hammurabi surely thought that this idea of a code would greatly help him consolidate his newly conquered and vast kingdom.

Where did this idea of codifying some "laws" came from? According to Jewish tradition, Noah established rules, dictated by God, for his sons and descendants to follow after the Flood, before they went to scatter on earth. These so-called Noachide Laws included the command not to murder a man, directly commanded by God to all mankind:

Prologue from Hammurabi's Code[2]

In the prologue to his code, Hammurabi declares himself appointed by Enlil,[3] to make a justice that will prevail over the land. Further, in the code, the concept of an eye for an eye and of a tooth for a tooth is also stated (code articles 196 and 200 respectively), a concept which also guided the Noachide Laws. This type of law was known in Canaan too, as a recent discovery in the ancient city of Hazor, Northern Israel, has demonstrated.[4]

Hammurabi on his throne (Mus�e du Louvre)

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Year 1996 – 1764 BCE – The Tower of Babel

Then Hammurabi went too far in his quest of grandeur. In Babylon, he decided to erect a tower high up to reach the sky:

And it was that all the earth was one language and common matters. And it was that they travelled from where they were and found a valley in the land of Shinaar. They settled there. And one man said to another: “Come, let us make bricks and burn them in fire.” And the bricks served them as stones, and the bitumen served them as mortar. And they said: “Come; let us build a city and a tower with its head in the sky. And this will make us a name, lest we would be dispersed on the face of the earth.”

God came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of Adam had built. God said: “Behold, they are one people with one language for all of them, and this is what they started to do. And now, they will not fortify from all what they have initiated to do. Come, let us descend and let us confuse there their language, so that one would not understand the language from another.”

And God dispersed them from there on the face of the earth, and they stopped building the city. This is why it was called Babel (בבל) because there God confused (בלל) the language of the whole earth and from there God scattered them on the face of the whole earth.

--- Genesis 11:2-9

The common matters of the text may refer to the Code imposed by Hammurabi to unify the rules of the world. In the same effort of centralized power, rulers of this generation feared that God will punish them and disperse them on the face of the Earth. 

The confusion of the languages has been recorded by ancient civilizations, not just the Bible. For example, the epic of Enmerkar, a legendary ruler who reigned or lived for 900 years (this is probably to say that the composition of the epic probably spread over this long period of time), mentions the various languages and expressed the wish to return to one common one:

At such a time, may the lands of Šubur and Ḫamazi, the many-tongued, and Sumer, the great mountain of the me of magnificence, and Akkad, the land possessing all that is befitting, and the Martu land [Amorites], resting in security -- the whole universe, the well-guarded people -- may they all address Enlil together in a single language!

For at that time, for the ambitious lords, for the ambitious princes, for the ambitious kings,Enki, for the ambitious lords, for the ambitious princes, for the ambitious kings, for the ambitious lords, for the ambitious princes, for the ambitious kings -- Enki, the lord of abundance and of steadfast decisions, the wise and knowing lord of the Land, the expert of the gods, chosen for wisdom, the lord of Eridug, shall change the speech in their mouths, as many as he had placed there, and so the speech of mankind is truly one.""

 --- Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta, lines 134-155, to read text online click here

This generation was evil but wiser than the generation of the Flood. They feared that God will use fire this time against mankind, after having used water. This led a Jewish rabbi from Medieval Spain to comment around 1300 CE:

There is a wise explanation to it: people of tower generation were villains versed in wisdom. They built a city and a tower to save from fire flood as they had already seen the ruin of the world from water flood and were afraid. They decided to build a tower to rescue with its help; if He brings fire flood and burns the world down, the fire won’t get close to them. This is what is meant in midrash telling us about the war on heaven – they have audaciously opposed the will of the Blessed. They decided to tie up a part of fire so that it could not get to the city. In our generation, we also know some wise men who know the power, which ties up a portion of lightning so that it could be exhibited only within a certain scope.

--- Bahya ben Asher ibn Halawa, Commentary of the Torah 

What Bahya meant is the following: if God would sent to them fire to burn down their city, the tower would serve as a giant lightning rod that would protect the city from destruction and its people from dispersion. Thus this commentator from medieval times suggests that the Ancients had knowledge of the lightning rod as protection of the buildings against the fire coming from heavens. This knowledge was ultimately "discovered" by Benjamin Franklin in 1752 when he flew a kite in a thundering storm.

The event of the Tower of Babel and the subsequent dispersion took place in the year 1996, the year when Peleg died in Ur. He was soon followed by Nachor the elder who died there in 1997. Lot, son of Haran, was probably born at that time. What happened with this family?

The generations from the Flood to Babel

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Year 1996 – 1764 BCE – The sacrifice of Haran

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Year 2000 – 1760 BCE  – Start of a new era for mankind

Two millennia had passed since the Creation. These millennia were devoted to the emergence of mankind, made at the image of God. But most of it was failure as people turned away from God. 

Yet there was hope. Abram came to the world and was now 52 years old: this age represents twice the numerical value of God's name (26).  The next two millennia will witness the emergence of a new era where the "path of God" will emerge after the first dark ages of mankind. The Jewish Sages generally consider that Abram started to teach the Torah (its principles) at that time. The sacrifical death of Haran must have been this trigger, to correct the path of ill-doing.   

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Year 2006 – 1754 BCE  – Death of Noah

Noah died 350 years after the Flood: this was the Hebrew year 2006. He enjoyed greater longevity than people who came after him as he died at the age of 950. In Canaan, Shem was still alive and will remain alive until he would be able to pass the knowledge of God onto a spiritual heir, who will be Abram.

Year 2010 – 1750 BCE  – Death of Hammurabi

After Hammurabi’s death in 1750 BCE (Hebrew year 2010), his son Samsu-Iluna succeeded him. The powerful kingdom of Babylon then started to show signs of weakness when several city-states started to rebel against the central power in the course of several years. Some large regions, such as Elam and Assur, managed to obtain relative independence with their own king, but remained vassals and allies of Babylon.

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Year 2022 – 1737 BCE  – God speaks to Abram

At the end of the Hebrew year 2022, in Charan, God spoke to Abram, the first man He spoke to since He had instructed Noah and his sons them to populate the earth after the Flood and when He gave them the basic laws of human behaviour (the Noachide Laws). 

Abram was ready to receive God’s word because, there in Charan, he had made a soul, different from the house of his father. This is why God told him Go for yourself because Abram was ready to find the answers about existence that he asked himself. Then God talked to him, to guide him.

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Year 2024 – 1736 BCE  – Abram's "exodus" from Egypt and the Ipuwer Papyrus

But can one human defy God's designs? The famine that havocked the land of Canaan also affected Egypt which was weakened by reductions in the Nile levels at the time. In addition, the country passed through political instability at the end of the 12th Dynasty which left no heir.

The Aamu immigrants, depicted in Beni Hasan tomb 

It is interesting to note the richness of the clothing of these immigrants, with very elaborated weaved robes as compared to the plain white ones from Egyptians. To be accepted in Egypt, they surely had to bring with them products or techniques that were unknown or rare to Egyptians. One of these techniques may have been the glass making. According to experts, this technique was used in Asia and in the Levant in particular, and was brought down to Egypt. The Egyptians learned the technique and used glass in tools, utensils, jewelery and so on. Most of antique glass comes from Egypt, because of the good preservation that was there, but it didn't originate from Egypt. This is why, maybe, the tomb of Beni Hasan also features these new techniques, or wool weaving and glass smelting, because it was new to Egyptians in these times of the Medium Bronze period.

Beni Hasan tomb - glass smelting

When he went down to Egypt, Abram had his wife Sarai taken from him because of her beauty. The court of a semitic Pharaoh probably thought that he would like to have her as a wife because she was from the same ethnicity as him. But God intervened, caused great plagues (Genesis 12:17) among the court of Egypt and even in Pharaoh's own house. Pharaoh called up onto Abram and expelled him with his wife and followers out of Egypt, and with all his riches. Abram remained several months in Egypt before returning to Canaan in Hebrew year 2024 (1736 BC). He left Egypt on 15 Nisan 2024. 

According to historical chronologies of Egypt, the ruling Pharaoh at that time was Sobekhotep IV, who reigned for 10 years and, because of his attitude towards Abram and Sarai, he may have been blessed in his endeavours as he is considered to have been the most powerful king of the 13th Dynasty.[8c]

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Year 2024 – 1736 BCE  – The Hyksos and the Ipuwer Papyrus

The Ipuwer Papyrus have also been assessed by historians to relate to the invasion of the Hyksos. They were a foreign people, being described as "pale faced", who came to rule over the Nile Delta, the most northern part of Egypt. [8e] The Ipuwer Papyrus is full of references of the catastrophies that fell upon Egypt during Abram's passage but also catastrophies that fell upon Egypt at subsequent periods of these troubled times. This is probably because, Egyptian chroniclers of later generation looked upon that period of their history as one bad period, one catastrophe leading to another, and so they combined (mixing?) all these natural and surnatural ordeals into a single tale in the papyrus as if they had one unique cause: the invasion of the Hyksos. Example of the text is as follows:

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Year 2030 – 1730 BCE  – Rebellion against Babylon

After his return from Egypt, much wealthier than when he had left Canaan, Abram settled in the place he was before, a hilly country of today's Samaria, between Beth-El and Ai. But his nephew Lot, also wealthy, opted to settle in the Jordan valley, where the Dead Sea is today, because of the abundance of water in this area before it was destroyed with Sodom.

In the 20th year of the reign of Samsu-Iluna, which started in 1750 BCE after Hammurabi's death, the rebellion spread to more remote parts of the empire. In the land of Canaan, all the cities rejected the allegiance to the king of Elam, vassal of Babylon, the so-called king Kedar-LaOmer in the Bible (Genesis 14:1), who was Kudur-Lagamar from the Elamite dynasties. This king called upon the king of Babylon, Amraphel in the Bible, for military support. The king of Assyria[11a] and the king of Goyim[11b] joined them in what was the campaign of four powerful kings against five small kings who had rebelled in the land of Canaan. They obviously defeated these five kings in the Valley of Siddim, which used to be where the city of Sodom was, where the Dead Sea is today in Israel. This battle took place in the 20th year after the death of Hammurabi, so in 1730 BCE, Hebrew year 3020.[12] 

After wrecking the land, they started their return by heading north. Lot, Abram’s nephew, was among the many captives. But Abram and his 318 trained men born in his house (Genesis 14:14), intervened at night and attacked successfully the large enemy camp to free the captives, and then they pursued their enemies even further north (Genesis 14:15-16). This success would not have happened without God's intervention, because of the big difference in number between Abram's small army and the combined forces of four powerful kings who just defeated the alliance of five Canaanite kings. Indeed the expression trained men born in his house refers to disciples who were spiritually raised by Abram to walk with God.

Abram was greeted upon his return and the Canaanite kings paid tribute to him. Another king to pay tribute, but who was not in the coalition, was Melchi-Zedek:

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About Year 2031 – 1729 BCE  – God makes an alliance with Abraham

In a series of visions that probably started in Hebrew year 2028 (when Abram was 78 years old, because this age represents three times the numerical value of God's name), God appeared to Abram and addressed to him eight paroles. In one of them, God announced Himself as follows:

One could ask, why did God mention that He brought Abram out of Ur? The previous mention of this departure from Ur was rather as follows:

So God's statement to Abram was to say that He had been the designer behind Terah's departure. This explains why Terah had plans to go specifically to Canaan. God must have addressed Himself to the father of Abram to leave Ur and go to Canaan. But Terah stopped on his way, in Charan, and later God revealed Himself to Abram.

But this sentence is chiefly a direct reference to the future, when God will bring the descendants of Abraham out of Egypt, for example in the following:

In this vision, or this series of visions, God told Abram that his offspring will be form a big nation but that they will go through some ordeal:

The vision above is symbolized by the darkness that Abram’s descendants will have to endure before becoming the great nation that God promised. We can assume that God was holding some form of punishment for Abram because he left the land where God took him in order to seek refuge in Egypt during a famine: it was a lack of trust that God would look after him. His stay in Egypt did not actually last long, and therefore the famine must not have been so enduring. All the more a reason for God to hold it against Abram: his offspring will suffer darkness before awaking into a nation. This will happen after the last night they will spend in Egypt, a Passover night from the 14th to the 15th of the month of Nissan. And, in the morning, they will walk out from Egypt in daylight. There was night, there was day… The awakening of the Hebrew nation, during the Exodus, will echo the days of the Creation. But this day for the nation that Abram will beget will not come before a period of 400 years, as God had announced. The number 400 will always be a mark of darkness or bad omen for the Hebrew people across their History, as we shall see later in this work. But it is also a duration of ordeal before a redemption arrives. The other fact is that it will be the fourth generation of Hebrews who dwelled in Egypt that will come out of Egypt at the time of the Exodus, as we shall see.

To comfort Abram after such somehow negative vision, God made an alliance with him and repeated His promise:

The Covenant with Abraham (Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, "Die Bibel in Bilderm", 1860)

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Year 2034 – 1726 BCE  – Birth of Ishmael

This important Biblical text is immediately followed by the story of Ishmael, the son born to Agar the Egyptian maidservant of Sarai that she had pushed onto her husband to give him an offspring. It occurred 10 years after Abram came to dwell in the land of Canaan, after his return from Egypt (Genesis 16:3). He had brought Agar the Egyptian maid from there.

Ishmael was born when Abram was 86 years old (Genesis 16:16), so it was the Hebrew year 2034 (1726 BCE). As he was a son of Abram, he benefited from the blessing that God gave to his offspring and, to this day, his descendants indeed dwell in the region that God promised to Abram, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River.

But after the birth of Ishmael, the servant Agar lost respect for Sarai, because the latter was still barren. So Abram's wife had to make her leave. 

In the wilderness, water came to an end and Agar thought her child would die. An angel appeared to Agar and convinced her to come back to Abram and Sarai and told her about her son:

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