The question of whether Abraham was a Babylonian, which is the subject of this discussion may appear insignificant. It may sound simple, but it is bigger than that because of its wider implications. Put differently, are Jews who descended from Abraham also Babylonians? Who really was Abraham? What was his history, his life and times? Why did God move Abraham from Babylon to the Garden of Eden where Adam was moulded and gave the area to him for an everlasting inheritance? Why did God also return his descendants from Egypt to the same place, the “promised land” flowing with milk and honey?
The nativity of Abraham (2166BC – 1991BC) in the Bible looks like a mystery to a majority of the human race. This is because he was said to be a Babylonian but given the land of Canaan. However, contrary to that erroneous view, his genealogy as detailed in Gen.11:10-28 identifies him as the son of Terah, a descendant of Noah. In turn , Noah descended from Adam, a Canaanite(Genesis 5:1 – 29). It is obvious that divine reticence accounted for this ambiguity because when God chose Abraham, formerly known as Abram from the city of Ur in Babylon, He told him “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee”(Gen.12:1). He did not expressly tell Abraham that the land was his ancestral land. However, a glance at the Bible will reveal the truth.
There is no argument that God moulded Adam in the Garden of Eden. The details and purpose are known and need not repeating here. Therefore the issue before us is to trace the genealogy of Abraham to establish his link to Adam. As we all know, the Bible teaches that in the course human existence, God decided to carve out a virgin territory described as the Garden of Eden in Canaan. He moulded Adam, His agent of salvation in that Garden of Eden in the year 4114BC.
However, Adam failed God and was therefore expelled from the Garden of Eden. God’s anger and curse culminated in the flood of 2458BC which devastated Canaan land and destroyed human beings. However , God saved Noah and his family.
Now, what did Noah do after experiencing that great flood which destroyed his country? Did he remain there when the flood dried? The Bible says that Noah and his family migrated from Canaan after the flood thus: “And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons wives with him” ( Genesis 8:18).
It is evident that they were constantly on the move because after Noah died 350 years later in the year 2108BC, his children continued the migration up to Babylon where they eventually settled: “And it came to pass as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and they dwelt there” (Gen. 11:2). This is a clear evidence that the children of Noah finally settled in Shinar, at a place called Babel or Babylon. Abraham was later born in Babylon by Terah.
Meanwhile, as Noah and his children abandoned their native land in Canaan and migrated to Babylon where they finally settled, Canaan land was said to have laid desolate for 108 year before Akkadians migrated there in 2350BC and occupied it. This is the ancestral land of Abraham being occupied by foreigners.
Another source, a historical account by Joy of Knowledge, Volume 7, pages 392 and 393 describes Sumerians as “mysterious”. It says that Sumerians (Samarians )suddenly disappeared from the surface of the earth in 2458BC in a mysterious manner. It goes on to report that in 2350BC, Akkadian warrior King Sargon 1 led his people to occupy Sumeria until they were driven away by Amorites and Hittites in 2000BC.
We must remember that as these migrations of peoples were taking place, God continued to search for a reliable descendant of Noah to take up Adam’s assignment. He found that person in Abram from the town of Ur in Babylon. As far as Abram was concerned, he was a native of Ur, a Babylonian because he was totally ignorant of his ancestry. This is because God simply ordered: “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee” (Genesis 12:1). As we can see, while God described Abram’s place of sojourn as “thy country”, He still detailed out Abram’s genealogy (Gen. 11:10-28) to show that his father, Terah descended from Noah, who descended from Adam, a native of Canaan land.
The question which now begs for an answer is this: which land or place did God give to Abraham? How can we identify the place? The Bible provides the answer saying that immediately Abraham stepped his feet on the land, that God appeared to him to welcome him, declaring: “Unto they seed will I give this land…”(Genesis 12:7). The name of the place is the plain of Sichem and Moreh. This is the land which God gave to Abraham. It was however occupied by Canaanites but Abraham had to live with them as commanded by God.
Another question that requires clarifications revolves around the people who were referred to as Canaanites occupying the land before the arrival of Abraham. The answer lies in appreciating the nature of migrations which occurred after the flood. At this juncture, it is very important to understand that the indegineous Canaanites were killed by the flood, except Noah and his family who fled to Babylon. After the flood, Canaan was left desolate for 108 years when Akaddians saw it empty and occupied it. They were later joined by Hittites and others. These migrants were the people referred to as “Canaanites” by the time Abraham returned.
Abraham was visibly disappointed that the land was occupied. He had already regarded himself as a stranger. He even purchased a piece of land from a Hittite to bury his wife(Genesis 23: 3-18). Nevertheless, God was said to have noticed Abraham’s countenance and therefore issued a proclamation reassuring him: “And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God”(Genesis 17:8).
The Bible further reveals that a time came when Abraham was long dead when draught and famine ravaged the land of Canaan. His descendants had to relocate to Egypt where there was food. At the end of their sojourn in Egypt after more than four centuries, God decided to return them to the land of their fathers. Leading them out of Egypt, God made a declaration: “And I come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites”(Exodus 3:8).
From these biblical accounts, it is glaringly clear that God picked Abraham from Babylon and sent him back to settle in the Garden of Eden in Canaan land. His descendants from Egypt also returned to the same place. It is therefore quite obvious that the Garden of Eden in Canaan land is very important to God. Abraham is also connected to it.
In summary at this juncture, the mystery of the nativity of Abraham was created because God did not say it directly. He rather chose to say it through Abraham’s genealogy. The lesson learned in the final analysis is that God merely sent Abraham back to his fatherland. In other words therefore, ABRAHAM WAS NEVER A BABYLONIAN. HE WAS A CANAANITE. This is the incontrovertible truth.
By Okenze George Nkwoji
