older tradition, rather than a later editorial alteration of the text.
2.2 Genealogical
There is adequate time for the descendants of Kesed to have returned to
their family's ancestral home in Ur and to have established their own
reputation long before the time of Moses. Moses's reference to the
Chaldeans in Gen 11:28 and 31 could be nothing more than identifying Ur
as the home or sphere of influence for the descendants of Kesed.
was the ancestor of the Chaldeans--the last three letters of Arpachshad are
the same as for Kesed and the Kasdim.
century B.C. and the earlier rise of the dynasty of Hammurapi--"one can
hardly close one's eyes to the similarities in events and personalities."
years. Could it be that earlier members of the Kasdim were involved in the
direct contact with the Chaldeans" (ibid.). Moses was well aware of the Aramean origins of Abraham and
his family (unless, of course, one were to deny him authorship of Gen 10:22, 31:47, and Deut 26:5).
Arpachshad, if correctly transmitted, has to be regarded as non-Semitic. This would fit well enough with
what we know today about the composite ethnic background of the Hebrews"--E. A. Speiser, Genesis:
Introduction, Translation, and Notes, The Anchor Bible (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1964),
70. Cf., also, J. Simons, "The `Table of Nations' (Genesis 10): Its General Structure and Meaning," in "I
Studied Inscriptions from before the Flood": Ancient Near Eastern, Literary, and Linguistic Approaches to
Genesis 1--11, ed. Richard S. Hess and David Toshio Tsumura (Winona Lake, Ind.: 1994), 246 (reprinted
from Oudtestamentische Studiën 10 (1954): 155-84; Claus Westermann, Genesis 1--11: A Commentary,
trans. John J. Scullion (Minneapolis, Minn.: Augsburg Publishing House, 1984), 512: "H. Gunkel and
others had already assumed that the name must stand for Babylon, and J. Skinner supported this very
strongly. Babylon, he says, cannot be missing from the list. He also alleges in its favor that the three last
consonants correspond to the Bab. kashdu, the Hebr. Kasdim (= Chaldeans). This is but a conjecture and
does not explain the name fully. However, it is certainly correct that Arpachshad stands for Babylon here."
the secular texts is given greater authority than the biblical text. This contradicts the principle of prima
facie evidence as well as traditional Christian theology that has refused to consider extrabiblical evidences
or proofs as having the greater authority.