before the giving of Lnv. 259 feat was in Babylonia, and not extended much farther Ealixvard, teeing if the Chaldeer, as is moff probable, were called Chafdim, as they are conllantly, from iw Ch fd the Son ofNacbor the Brother ofAbráharú, there muff of necellity beallowed an HyjtoricalPralepfis in the words ; and that is called Vr of the Chaldeer, from whence the Chaldeerwere afterwards tohave theirOriginal, who in time poflefLed Babylonia and the partsadjacent. Whileft Abraham lived with his Progenitors in Vr , there is no doubt hut he 4. 7 was with them infected with much falle Worfhip and Idolatry ; For fo ,foArta af- firms exprelly, that they ferved 1:71,1'7 2.2, chap, 24..3. even thole, whole Worfhip God 'afterwards prohibited in the firft Precept of the Law ; 74 Mr', N' t=rt1r1N aTI'M ,. there fhall not be unto thee other Gods ; thole, or fuch as thole, whom they ferved beyond the flood. Other Gods are all falle gods. The Jews imagination about the difeovery made by Abraham of the true God, his renuncia- tion of all Idolatry thereon, with the breaking of his Fathers Images, and his being caft for that caufe by Nimrod into the fire,all about the forty fourth year of his Age, I have confidered and exploded elfewhere. Andall there figments with, that ofHa- rant being confirmed by fire in the fight of his Father, they wiredraw from theCup - poled- fignification of the name 112,2; which they would have .to fignifie fire,Gen. xi. 28. bite as where it relates unto the Chaldean: ,(Vr of the Chalrlees) it is appa- rently the name of a place, a Town, or Country, fo it rather lignifies a Valley, then fire. And thofe words, Ifa. 24. v. 3. 11ío rim =PVC p 5y, which we tran- dlute in the Text, Wherefore glorip'eye the Lordin thefires, may be better read as in the Margen, in theValk's, which. better anfwers unto the following words : Anctthe name of the LardGod of Ifrael in the Ifles of the Sea. At what year of his ages he left' Vr withhis Father is not exprefled. But it is apparent that it was towards the latter end of thelife ofTerab; Eveneafter the death of Haran his Eldeft Son; and that Nahor and Abrahamweremarried toMilcha and Ifca his daughters , and Sara had continued barren Come remarkable fpaceof time, Gen. a a. a8, a 9, 30, 3 t;.3 a. From Vr therefore, with his Father, and,the refi, of their family , he removed to. ÿ. 8. Haran with a defign for Canaan, Gen. a a. 3r. Where this Haran was fcituated, we before declared. Stephen cilia it záçpar, charran; and lb do the Latin Writers Af rias Latinmaculavit fanguine Charras; layes Lucan, of the overthrow ofCrafur's Army near that place. And it may be pro- nounced either way in die Original,. Rots: the ambiguous force of theHebrewCheth, which feems belt .exprefled by Outran. Howlong heflayed here -is uncertain, as was laid before. That it was not very longappears, fromhis marrying and thebarren- nefs of Sarah, before he came thither. Andyet, that they abode there fome years is no lets evident, fromChap.. aa. v. 5.- Abraham tool Sarai /fir Wife, andLot his Brothers. Son, and all their fubfiance that they hadgathered, and the fouls.ar Servants that they bad gotten in Haran, and they wenrforth to go into the LandofCanaan. It is not the work of a few dayes or moneths that is here defcribed. This gathering, of. fubffance and getting of fouls, was a bolo& of forre years of how many it, is uncertain. What was the defign ofTerab in his attemptto go for the-LandofCanaan is not abfolutely certain. The efpecial Call of4brabam unto"thát Countrey could not, be the bottom of it : for it is moll probable, yea, indeed undeniable, that this he had not, untillaf- ter the-death ofTerah. It was therefore an at oftheirs in anfwer to the Providence ofGod ina fubferviency unto thatfuturecall, thathe might be in more readinefs to yield obedienceunto it; then hecould have been in the Land of Vr. WhetherTecab didmeerlyLeek a new habitation, its a Country lets ,peopled then that of his Nati vity, which doubtlefsthen was the molt populous part of the world, as . being near the place where mankind first planted after the flood ; or whether he might be infiruded in theantient promife, that the poflerityofCanaan the Son of Cham who had then pofletled the Country called after his name, fhould be fervants unto the feed of Shem from whom he was a principal defcendant , I know not. Inanfwei to the call of Abraham it couldnot be; for he was called to leave his Fathers Houle, Chap. az. r. andnot to bring hip Father with his houlhold with him, and that at the feventy fifth year of his "age , when Terah was dead : But what ever was .theoccafion of it, the ProvidenceofGod ufed in it in the ferving of its defrgns towards Abraham. And here in Haran, -If I maybe allowed to conjedl:ure, Ll 2 it
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