Chaldea

In the Bible

Chaldea is the name of a region in southern Mesopotamia, and the same name is used for the people who lived there. The Korean Revised Version (Revised Edition) renders the terms as "Chaldea," "Chaldean people," and "Chaldeans"; the King James Version uses "Chaldea," "the Chaldees," and "the Chaldeans." The Bible uses the name in the following ways.

• Abraham's homeland: Genesis 11:28, 31 calls the place where Terah and the household of Abraham lived "Ur of the Chaldees." Genesis 15:7 and Nehemiah 9:7 likewise say that God brought Abraham out from there.
• A band of raiders: In Job 1:17, the Chaldeans form three bands and carry off Job's camels.
• The army that destroyed Judah: Second Kings 24–25, Second Chronicles 36, and the book of Jeremiah call the army of Nebuchadnezzar "the Chaldeans." These books record how they destroyed Jerusalem and carried the people into exile.
• The Babylonian kingdom: Isaiah 13:19 and 47:1 name Babylon in parallel with the Chaldeans. Daniel 5:30 calls Belshazzar "the king of the Chaldeans."
• A class of scholars and astrologers: Daniel 1:4 mentions "the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans," and from 2:2 onward the "Chaldeans" of the royal court appear among the king's diviners.

Background

The Hebrew term is Kasdim. The Chaldeans are known as tribes that, from the early first millennium BC, settled in the marshlands of southern Babylonia near the Persian Gulf. They appear in Assyrian records and frequently resisted Assyrian rule.

In 626 BC Nabopolassar became king of Babylon and founded a dynasty. This dynasty is commonly called the Chaldean dynasty, and its kingdom the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Judah fell during the reign of his son Nebuchadnezzar. The kingdom came to an end in 539 BC, when the Persian king Cyrus captured Babylon.

Babylonian astronomy and astrology were widely renowned. As a result, in the Greco-Roman world "Chaldean" also came to mean an astrologer.

Significance in Scripture as a Whole

In the Old Testament, Chaldea appears in two roles. In the story of Abraham, it is the point of departure from which he was called. In the prophetic books, it is both the instrument by which God judges Judah and a proud empire that will itself ultimately be judged.

Habakkuk 1:6 says that God raises up the Chaldeans, "that bitter and hasty nation." The prophet asks why God holds His tongue "when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he" (Habakkuk 1:13). The answer given is Habakkuk 2:4: "the just shall live by his faith." This verse is quoted in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38.

Jeremiah declared that whoever surrendered to the Chaldeans would live (Jeremiah 21:9). He also wrote to the exiles, urging them to seek the peace of the place to which they had been carried away (Jeremiah 29:7).

In the New Testament the name appears only in Acts 7:4, where Stephen says that Abraham came out of "the land of the Chaldaeans." Many interpreters see "Babylon the great" in Revelation as carrying forward the memory of this empire, although the word "Chaldea" itself does not occur in Revelation.

Interpretation and Issues

• The name "Ur of the Chaldees": The Chaldeans appear in historical records much later than the time of Abraham. Many scholars therefore regard the expression as a place name from the period in which the text was written or transmitted. Some conservative interpreters see it as identifying the location for later readers. Views also differ on the location of Ur: some identify it with Ur in southern Mesopotamia, while others place it in the north, near Haran.
• "Chaldeans" in Daniel: The same word refers in some places to an ethnic group and in others to a class of scholars and astrologers, so it must be read according to its context. Beginning at Daniel 2:4, where the Chaldeans speak "in Syriack" (that is, Aramaic), and continuing through the end of chapter 7, the text of Daniel is written in Aramaic.
• Common explanations versus the text: It is often said that "the Chaldeans were simply astrologers." The Bible, however, uses the term broadly for a people, an army, and a body of learned men.

In the Korean Church

In sermons on the call of Abraham, "leaving Ur of the Chaldees" is frequently used to describe the decision of faith to leave familiar surroundings. Habakkuk's confession in the face of the coming Chaldean invasion (Habakkuk 3:17–19) is also widely cited as a text about faith in times of hardship.