NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible | Page 14

18  |  INTRODUCTION TO Genesis
SETTING OF GENESIS
Harran
E G Y P T
Shechem
Bethel
Hebron
Beersheba
i
n
te
ed
ra
ea
Euphra
M
r
te
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a
Se
Ur
(Tell el-Muqayyar)
0
0
100 km.
100 mi.
­ ab­ylonian, Arioch the Hurrian (from northern Syria), and Tidal the Hittite (from modern Turkey).
B
They do not appear later in the ancient Near Eastern texts. Only in this period (2000 – 1500 BC) was it
possible for armies to move across the entire Holy Land with relative freedom as they do here. Only
in this early period (the time of Abram, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph) do the Elamites appear in texts as
far west as they do in Gen 14.
5. Customs from the early second millennium BC recur later, but their concentration in Genesis is
unique. Examples include the stipulation that a surrogate mother could be used in cases where the
wife remains barren for a period of seven years (16:1 – 4) and the betrothal gift that allows the bride-
groom to marry (34:12).
6. The city of Harran (11:31 – 32; 12:4; 27:43; 28:10; 29:4) appears in the accounts of Abram and his
descendants. Ancient Near Eastern texts attest to the site as a well-populated city during the early
second millennium BC, occupied by large tribal coalitions of Amorites.
7. In 37:12 – 17, Joseph’s brothers graze the family’s flocks some 60 miles (96.5 kilometers) north of
their home in Hebron. Only in the early second millennium BC do we have records of similar shep-
herds (Amorites in north Syria) grazing their flocks and herds more than a hundred miles (160 kilo-
meters) from their homes, where their families remained. In the biblical account of later shepherds
such as David, there is no mention of grazing in such distant past