knowledge is reflected in some of the local names of Palestine. The
patriarch had not escaped beyond the control even of the Babylonian
government. At times, at all events, the princes of Canaan were
compelled to acknowledge the suzerainty of Chaldæa and obey the laws, as
the Babylonians would have said, of "Anu and Dagon."

The fact needs dwelling upon, partly because of its importance, partly
because it is but recently that we have begun to realize it. It might
indeed have been gathered from the narratives of Genesis, more
especially from the account of Chedor-laomer's campaign, but it ran
counter to the preconceived ideas of the modern historian, and never
therefore took definite shape in his mind. It is one of the many gains
that the decipherment of the cuneiform inscriptions has brought to the
student of the Old Testament, and it makes us understand the story of
Abraham's migration in a way that was never possible before. He was no
wild nomad wandering in unknown regions, among a people of alien habits
and foreign civilization. We know now why he took the road which we are
told he followed; why he was able to make allies among the inhabitants
of Canaan; why he understood their language and could take part in their
social life. Like the Englishman who migrates to a British colony,
Abraham was in contact with the same culture in Canaan and Chaldæa
alike.

But when he reached Canaan he was not yet Abraham. He was still "Abram
the Hebrew," and it was as "Abram the Hebrew" that he made alliance with
the Amorites of Mamre and overthrew the retreating forces of the
Babylonian kings. Abram--Abu-ramu, "the exalted father,"--is a
Babylonian name, and is found in contracts of the age of Chedor-laomer.
When the name was changed to Abraham, it was a sign that the Babylonian
emigrant had become a native of the West.