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Where was Abraham’s “Ur of the Chaldees”?

Where was Abraham’s “Ur of the Chaldees”?

Last updated on: March 11, 2026 at 2:16 pm by Dan Peterson

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Where was Abraham’s “Ur of the Chaldees”? 2026-03-11T14:16:18-06:00 Dan Peterson

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Dr. Zuhdi Jasser at the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference
(Photo by Gage Skidmore, Wikimedia CC)

I’m not endorsing Dr. Zuhdi Jasser’s campaign to represent Arizona in Congress. (See here.) Not yet, anyway. It’s not my congressional district and, although he’s definitely a conservative, I haven’t studied his policy positions in detail. But I’ve participated with him on programs down in Arizona, and I know him to be a bright, patriotic, articulate man with a remarkable background.

And here’s an amusing thought: I wrote the other day in condemnation of Congressman Andy Ogles from Tennessee and his flat declaration that “Muslims don’t belong in American society. Pluralism is a lie.” (See “A Firmly Scriptural “No” To Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN).” It’s highly likely, of course, that the execrable Mr. Ogles will be re-elected to Congress. So, given that fact, wouldn’t it be delightful if Arizona were to send a conservative Republican colleague for him to work with in the House of Representatives — a conservative Republican who happens to be a Muslim? I would be happy to spring for the popcorn.

A CIA map of Iraq, showing the location of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers

(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

Another previously published book chapter has gone up in the Interpreter Foundation’s “reprint” series, which is definitely not to be confused with its publication of new articles in its online journal. Today’s chapter is “Ur of the Chaldees: Where is Abraham’s Birthplace?” written by Gary A. Rendsburg:

Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article originally appeared in Abraham and His Family in Scripture, History, and Tradition, edited by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, John S. Thompson, Matthew L. Bowen, and David R. Seely. For more information, go to https://interpreterfoundation.org/books/abraham-and-his-family.

“What can we say about the geography of the site referred to in the Bible as Ur of the Chaldees? I start with the typical map that most of the textbooks and Bible atlases include. This is one example of it, showing what is supposedly Abraham’s home in Ur of southern Mesopotamia, which is known more objectively as Ur of Sumer. That’s the land of the Sumerians, although the map also says Babylonians.

This map, to put it simply, is wrong.”

Joseph’s divining cup is found in Benjamin’s sack, as described in Genesis 44:12 (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

A concise set of helpful notes created by Jonn Claybaugh for students and teachers of the Church’s “Come, Follow Me” curriculum went up yesterday (Tuesday) on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: Come, Follow Me — Old Testament Study and Teaching Helps (2026): March 16-22: Genesis 42-50 — “God meant it unto good”

The Mountain Meadows Massacre as imaginatively envisioned by somebody who wasn’t there. John D. Lee and his Mormonites are behaving as . . . well, as Mormonites DO. (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

I spent yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon up at the boardroom of the Church History Museum in a videotaped conversation with Richard E. Turley, Jr. Our subject was the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and we’ll eventually turn the discussion into one or more installments for the Becoming Brigham series. (Did I not tell you that we intend to tackle difficult issues?) I thought that the interview went very well, although it was disappointing that Barbara Jones Brown, who was also scheduled to participate in the videotaping, was obliged to bow out because she had contracted a bad cold.

By the way, my transportation costs to and from Salt Lake City were not borne by the Interpreter Foundation nor covered by Redbrick Filmworks, nor did I enjoy any lunch or dinner up there at donor expense, nor was I paid so much as a cent for my services as an interviewer. I have to confess, though, that I was given some bottled water at the beginning of the discussion for which I didn’t pay, and that I actually brought the unfinished bottle home with me. Such are the luxuries that I enjoy as a highly paid apologist mercenary.

In the meantime, Episode 7 of Becoming Brigham is available online and at no charge for your viewing pleasure, as are its six predecessors.

C. S. Lewis at about the age of fifty, so in roughly the year 1948 (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

This morning, on the website of Christianity Today. I ran across a passage from a C. S. Lewis collection called Letters on Living the Faith that I’ve never seen and of which I’ve never heard. It concerns what he apparently called the “solemn fun” of nearing one’s end. (Lewis himself would die just a few months later, on 22 November 1963, the same day that claimed the lives of — among many, many others, of course — Aldous Huxley and John F. Kennedy. As I recall, he was already in very poor health by the time he wrote this letter, which is about facing a possibly terminal illness, to Mary Willis Shelburne on 17 June 1963:

Pain is terrible, but surely you need not have fear as well? Can you not see death as the friend and deliverer? It means stripping off that body which is tormenting you: like taking off a hair-shirt or getting out of a dungeon. What is there to be afraid of? You have long attempted (and none of us does more) a Christian life. Your sins are confessed and absolved. Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave it with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.

These are words to ponder and, perhaps, under the right circumstances (and following the promptings of the Spirit), to share.

An artist’s rendering of the Phnom Penh Cambodia Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is currently nearing completion. (LDS Newsroom)

I don’t think that I’ve previously shared this particular abomination from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File™. But horrors like this one must simply be faced, head-on: “Cambodia Health Minister Opens Major Healthcare Facilities Donated by Church of Jesus Christ: It’s the First Provincial Heart Center in Siem Reap and a New Outpatient Building in Preah Net Preah”

And, as if that blow weren’t harsh enough by itself, here’s a second item from the ever-flowing Hitchens File: “Church of Jesus Christ’s annual charitable giving increases again: See why Latter-day Saint aid to those in need rose while the number of humanitarian aid projects decreased for ‘strategic reasons’”

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