EVIDENCES OP THE MIGRATION OF ABKAM. 115 



over nature and the fortunes of mankind. We are not with- 

 out many traces of this observation of the stars in the Hebrew 

 writings. lu that beautiful book so full of all appertaining to 

 desert life, the book of Job, we have numerous references, as, 

 for example, Job iii. 9 : ''Let the stars of the twilight thereof 

 be dark. Let it look for light, but have none. Neither let 

 it behold the eyelids of the morning.'' " Behold the height 

 of the stars, how high they are " (Job xxii. 12). '' Canst thou 

 bind the cluster* of the Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion ? 

 Canst thou lead forth the Mazzaroth in their seasons ? or canst 

 thou guide the bear with her train ?"' (xxxviii. 31, 32). And 

 the beautiful simile from shepherd life: ''He telleth the 

 number of the stars ; he giveth them all their names" 

 (Ps, cxlvii. 4, E.V.). And this very symbolism, so familiar to 

 Abram the Chaldean, is made the means of foreshadowing one 

 of the most important prophecies : " And he brought him forth 

 abroad, and said. Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, 

 if thou be able to number them. And he said unto him, So 

 shall thy seed be'' (Gen. xv. 5). 



At the time when Abram left his Chaldean home, the 

 astronomy of Chaldea had attained nearly as high a develop- 

 ment as it ever reached, and so the phases of the moon, the 

 measurement of time by the stars, &c., would be known to 

 him and some of the family, and no doubt some of the 

 servants and followers of Terah were worshippers of the moon 

 and stars. -f- 



We now turn to the Hebrew record, and we find the first 

 step in the migration was the removal from Ur of the 

 Chaldees to Haran — " And Terah took Abram, his son, and 

 Lot, the son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai, his daughter- 

 in-law, his son Abram's wife ; and they went forth with them 

 from Ur of the Chaldees, to go unto the land of Canaan, and 

 they came unto Haran and dwelt there" (Gen. xi. 31). 

 Considerable discussion has taken place as to the site of 

 Haran, but inscriptions now before us seem definitely to settle 

 this question. I will first of all take the various references to 

 this city which occur in the Hebrew Scriptures. In addition 

 to the reference above quoted and its repetition (xii. 5), we 

 have also the command of Jacob to flee from Esau — " Now, 

 therefore, my son, obey my voice ; arise, flee thou to Laban, my 

 brother, to Haran " (xxvii. 43) ; and bearing upon this we read 



* Really "family." 



t The worship of the stars was prohibited to the Jews (Deut. iv. 19), but 

 this did not debar them from admiring them, studying them, and deriving 

 most beautiful similes from them. 



