Book Reviews

Abstract

IN writing this study of Abraham, Sir Leonard Woolley evidently had in mind the class of readers who seek in archaeology evidence which will confirm Bible narrative. As he is careful to explain at the outset, his work of excavation in Mesopotamia has produced no concrete evidence of the presence of Abraham at “Ur of the Chaldees” in any event the epithet is an anachronism. He maintains, however, that the knowledge of the civilisation of Ur, which has been acquired by excavation in the years in which the joint expedition, of which he was leader, was engaged on the site, both explains and expands the Biblical narrative. If Abraham as a young man, and the people of whom he was the leader came from Ur, the patriarch may fairly be regarded ai something more than the leader of a nomad bedouin tribe. He and his people had been in contact with the civilisation of a Sumerion city; and to this contact may be ascribed certain peculiarities in the behaviour of Abraham, such as his treatment of Hagar and Ishmael, and certain distinctive characteristics in Hebrew law and religion, which appear with a clearly perceptible change in the character of the historical narrative when Abraham comes on the scene. The Biblical narrative, therefore, Sir Leonard concludes, is substantially accurate. The argument is stated with much force, and the clear and succinct account of the civilisation of Ur brings into due prominence the resemblances which the author finds in the two cultures.