When did the Hebrews leave Mesopotamia?

Answer 1

No one knows. There is currently no evidence available to accurately pinpoint the exact time in which Abraham might have lived. The only known mention of Abraham, in fact, comes from the various scriptural sources we have today that came out of ancient Judah and the Kingdom of Israel nearly three -thousand years ago, and those stories were only written down after several generations of being repeated through oral traditions. In addition, we do not have any of these original documents, so we rely upon much newer copies that have gone through an untold number of former iterative copies themselves, and have been likely redacted several times in this process. Lastly, as these earliest scriptures likely spread orally to different parts of the Levant simultaneously, and were likely written down by different authors at different times, we have been left with several slightly different sources from which to work from. All of these sources list different dates from which to determine Abraham's life. As it stands, it is difficult to determine when Abraham may have lived with any more accurately than, say, the early half of the 2nd millennium B.C.E. or the late half of the 3rd millennium B.C.E.. He may have, in fact, existed centuries earlier than this, if he even existed at all.

Generally, all these sources have Abraham living in Mesopotamia until he was seventy-five (Genesis 12:4), so using the genealogies of the Patriarchs in each source, we simply add up the ages of each to determine when Abraham lived. This calculation thus gives us the length of time from their births back to when Creation supposedly took place (i.e. Garden of Eden). Another source of variability is answering this question is in the method of determine when Creation itself was said to have occurred in these sources. Archbishop Ussher calculated 4004 B.C.E. while the Jewish Calendar says creation was in 3760 B.C.E. Other scriptural sources have been used to establish many other dates of Creation. Using Ussher's calculation and the modern Christian Bible, a common estimate for Abraham's birth date has been established as 2018 B.C.E., which make his departure date from Mesopotamia in 1943 B.C.E. Other earlier scriptural sources, which commonly use the Hebrew calendar for a date of Creation, have established Abraham's birth date differently. The Book of Jubilees places Abraham's birth in 1884 B.C.E. (hence his exodus from Mesopotamia would have been 1809 B.C.E.). The Mesoretic Hebrew Torah places Abraham's birth in 1812 B.C.E. (leaving Mesopotamia in 1737 B.C.E.) and the Samaritan Pentateuch place Abraham's birth in 1513 B.C.E. (leaving Mesopotamia in 1438 B.C.E.). Other interpretations of the of Bible Chronology have placed Abraham's birth at 1752 B.C.E. (thus leaving Mesopotamia in 1677 B.C.E.).

Efforts to use archeology to date Abraham have been futile. The best attempt was back in the late 19th century and early twentieth century, when a concerted efforts to tie Hammurabi (1792B.C.E. -1750 B.C.E.) to the Babylonian King of Shinar, Amraphel, who was mentioned in Genesis 14:1. This would have given a way to date Abraham more accurately. However, the linguistic analysis of the two names never quite materialized, and no extra-biblical reference has ever been found to Amraphel, so this line of reasoning was abandoned soon after being proposed. No other evidence has yet to be uncovered to validate which of these dates, if any of them, might be accurate.

The majority of Biblical historians and archaeologists today interpret the Abrahamic story as one designed to unite certain central hill dwelling Canaanite tribes-people into a common national cause, rather than meant as a literal record of historical events. It is likely the Abraham story was an ancient one even at the time when the Biblical stories of Israel were first being brought together into one Torah.

Answer 2

There are no written records to suggest that the Hebrews were ever in Mesopotamia. But if you mean Babylonia, then it was in the 6th Century BCE.

Answer:

Yes, there is a written record stating that the Hebrews were in Mesopotamia. It is, of course, the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). See Genesis ch.11 and Joshua ch.24.

To answer the question, Abraham and his family left Mesopotamia in 1737 BCE.

Answer 3

The Hebrew's bible said that Abraham had to leave his city of Mesopotamia and his family. If Abraham did this, then God would bless him with a good environment.