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| Map circa 700 BCE |
Genesis 22:22 names him as a son of Nachor (נחור) by Milkah (מלכה), which is rather an extraordinary statement. Nachor is Inachus, the Phoenician river-god, and the river in question is the Perat (Euphrates). Milkah means Queen; she is the Queen of Heaven, which is to say the moon-goddess.
Thus the marriage of the river-god and the moon-goddess gives birth to the entire region of Chaldea, the classic statement of ancient mythology. Note that Nachor was Av-Ram's elder brother, and Av-Ram, or "Great Father", implies the Sun or Sky god, probably the two-in-one. Sarai, though she is not mentioned here, means "princess", completing the heavenly family.
Kasdim (כשדים), as in Ur Kasdim, where Nachor et al first appear, refers to the Chaldeans or Yoshvey Bav-El (ישבי בבל), who we generally know as the Babylonians.
See also ARPACHSHAD (ארפכשד), from the same root, and the commentary on Genesis 11:10-13.
In later Yehudit the term "Chaldean" came to mean "astrologer" as well as an inhabitant of that region. The term "Magi", used in the New Testament, refers to these same astrologers, the role of priest in the ancient world including that of astrology; though by then the Magi were specifically the astrologer-priests of Zoroastrianism.
Kasdim (כשדים), as in Ur Kasdim, where Nachor et al first appear, refers to the Chaldeans or Yoshvey Bav-El (ישבי בבל), who we generally know as the Babylonians.
See also ARPACHSHAD (ארפכשד), from the same root, and the commentary on Genesis 11:10-13.
In later Yehudit the term "Chaldean" came to mean "astrologer" as well as an inhabitant of that region. The term "Magi", used in the New Testament, refers to these same astrologers, the role of priest in the ancient world including that of astrology; though by then the Magi were specifically the astrologer-priests of Zoroastrianism.
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