Posted by mehrdad on February 27, 19101 at 09:30:52:
In Reply to: God's History of man posted by mehrdad on February 27, 19101 at 07:34:13:
“I am Yahweh
Who had brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees,
To give thee this land, to inherit it.”
…
And Abram said:
“My Lord Yahweh,
By what shall I know that I shall inherit it?”
“And when his Lord tried Ibrahim with certain words, he fulfilled them. He said: Surely I will make you an Imam of men. Ibrahim said: And of my offspring? My covenant does not include the unjust, said He.”
These are of course some scenes or snapshots of the famous “Covenant” that God made with Abraham or Ibrahim and his descendants about four thousands years ago as it is told by Bible and Koran respectfully.
In order to respect your question by furnishing it with logic, it is important for us to establish a solid logical foundation by providing as much proof as it is possible from four thousands years ago, regarding the existence of such character called “Abraham”. The existence of Abraham is necessary for the three big religions to have any meanings whatsoever. Without Abraham there is no Judaism, Christianity or Islam. Abraham is the one that gives meanings to these religions and if he had never existed, then the holy books are nothing but lie. We also need Abraham to establish our first signpost of time to figure the identity of the “firon” in Moses time. Plus all that, without Abraham, then the question of who the mystery Pharaoh was, becomes meaningless, since we need Abraham in order to establish Moses.
So who is this man who was called “Abram” (father’s favorite) at the beginning and later at the night of Covenant, Yahweh changed his name to “Abraham” (the father of multitude of nations). The question that we are trying to answer here is, if any trace or mention of Abraham can be found in other places beside the holy texts? The answer seems to be a yes. We know that Abraham and his family are from Nippur and he was a Sumerian noble man with a priest and oracle reader as a father. So let us look at Sumerian documentations to see if we can find him.
Votive inscriptions found at Nippur (as those by the archaeological expeditions of the University of Pennsylvania) confirm that the kings of Ur have talked about a mysterious character, which they called “THE PRIEST’S SON” who was very Pious and performed admirably in the battles. The name of this so called “the priest’s son” has been mentioned in the Sumerian tablets as “AB.RAM”, also beginning with the component AB (“Father” or “Progenitor”). The family of Abram was so closely associated with Nippur that they were called “Nippurians” or perhaps their grand fathers founded the city. At the time of Terah, Abraham’s father, the ruler of Sumer was “Ur-Nammu” and Terah was serving him as a liaison between the temple of Nippur and the royal palace in Ur. The Abraham’s family stayed in Ur throughout Ur-Nammu’s reign; it was in the year of his death that the family left Ur for Harran.
In Harran, according to the Babylonian tablets and documents, this “son of priest” got involved in Harran’s foreign affairs; his special friendship with the Hittite residents of Canaan, who were known for their military experience, made Abraham an experience military general that helped him to defeat the enemy in the “War of Kings” very successfully. Ancient tablets also depict Abraham as greatly versed in astronomy, knowledge then valuable for long journeys guided by the starts.
There is a scene carved on a Sumerian cylinder seal that I saw in Chicago, which is a pictorial commemoration of the “War of Kings”. This depiction clearly shows all the warring sides, which includes the five kings, facing in the opposite direction and a crowned hero on horseback standing between them, this hero is the “the priest’s son”.
In his book “Against Apion”, the first-century historian “Flavius Josephus” quoted as one of his sources on the history of Egypt the writings of an Egyptian priest named “Manetho”. The writings of “Manetho” have never been found but it is recognized that his writings are the basis for several important works by all other historians; therefore there is no doubt that such a writing once had existed. Anyhow in that book “Josephus” quoting from “Manetho” wrote, “A foreigner called Abraham reigned at Damascus, and he has come with an army out of the land above Babylon”. Of course for an Egyptian historian (Manetho), Abraham is a foreigner who has come from Sumer.
By the Sumerian and Babylonian accounts, Abram left Harran when he was seventy-five years old at 2048 B.C. So if this “son of the priest” is the same guy whom the bible and Koran are talking about, as I am sure it is, then we can be certain that Abraham was indeed born in (2048 B.C + 75years = 2123 B.C.).
Now that I have relatively laid a solid foundation regarding the existence of an individual called “Abraham” and established our first signpost of date, I am going to stop now and see if there are any questions or comments from anyone, before continuing this. I certainly hope that I am not talking to myself since I already know all these.