Texts in Conversation
The Aramaic translation of Genesis in Targum Neofiti along with the Rabbinic midrash in Genesis Rabbah interpret God’s promise to Abram as including rescue from a fiery ordeal in “Ur,” reflecting an interpretation that saw a wordplay with the Hebrew word “ur” that can also mean “fire.”
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Neofiti Genesis 15:7
Targum
And Abram believed in the name of the Memra of the Lord and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. And he said to him: “I am the Lord who brought you out of the furnace of fire of the Chaldaeans to give you this land to inherit it.” And he said: ‘“I beseech by the mercies that are before you, how, I pray, will I know, that I shall inherit it?” And he said to him: “Sacrifice before me a heifer, three years old, a goat, three years old, and a ram, three years old, a turtle dove and the young of a pigeon.
Date: 300-600 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Genesis Rabbah 38:13
Aggadah
Rabbinic
A woman came with a plateful of fine meal and requested me to offer it to them. One claimed, “I must eat first,” while another claimed, “I must eat first.” Thereupon, the largest arose, took the stick, and broke them.’ ‘Why do you make sport of me? Have they any knowledge?’ Terach said. ‘Should not your ears hear what your mouth has said?’ Avraham said. Thereupon Terach seized him and delivered him to Nimrod. ‘Let us worship fire,’ Nimrod said. ‘Let us rather worship water which quenches fire,’ Avraham said. ‘Let us worship water,’ Nimrod said. ‘Let us rather worship the clouds which bear the water,’ Avraham said. ‘Let us then worship the clouds,’ Nimrod said. ‘Let us worship the wind which disperses the clouds,’ Avraham said. ‘Let us worship the wind,’ Nimrod said. ‘Let us worship human beings which can stand up to the wind,’ Avraham said. ‘You are just bandying words, and we will worship nothing but the fire. Behold, I will cast you into it, and let your God whom you adore come and save you from it!’ Nimrod said. Now Haran was standing there undecided. ‘If Avraham is victorious, I will say that I am of Avraham’s belief, while if Nimrod is victorious, I will say that I am on Nimrod’s side,’ he thought.
Date: 500 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... This reasonable supposition (backed up by Isaiah 29:22) that the Chaldeans might have sought to harm Abraham because of his beliefs soon took on a new form. For, the city in which Abraham and his family lived was called Ur. But the word 'ur' in Hebrew had another meaning as well: 'fire' or 'flame.' Ancient readers of the Bible could not help concluding that this was no mere coincidence. And so, when God later says to Abraham: 'I am the Lord who took you out of [the] ur of the Chaldeans' many interpreters found in these words a hidden meaning, a hint about some fire or burning that had taken place in Ur and from which God had in fact saved Abraham, taking him from the midst of the flames ..."
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Wow, such a big help and illumination in gain of understanding with the HOLY SPIRIT all over me confirming TRUTH