Mesopotamia

The land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers—Abraham's homeland and the land of Babel.

Mesopotamia is a Greek name meaning “land between rivers,” denoting the broad region between the Tigris and Euphrates, equivalent to the Hebrew Aram-naharaim (“Aram of the two rivers”; superscription of Ps 60; the Septuagint often renders the latter as Mesopotamia). In its broad sense it stretches from the Persian Gulf in the south to the mountains of Turkey and Iran in the north, including the ancient alluvial plain of Babylonia south of Baghdad; in its narrow sense it refers only to the northern highland, excluding Babylonia. It was one of the earliest centers of civilization after the Flood: Nimrod founded his kingdom in the land of Shinar, beginning with Babel (Babylon) (Gen 10:9-10), and when people built a tower on the plain of Shinar to make a name for themselves, Jehovah confused their language and scattered them over the earth (Gen 11:1-9). Abraham's family originally lived in Ur of the Chaldeans in southern Mesopotamia; Terah led Abraham, Lot and Sarai first to Haran (Gen 11:28-31), after which Abraham obeyed Jehovah's call to leave his country and relatives and enter Canaan (Gen 12:1; Acts 7:2). Abraham sent his servant back to his homeland to find a wife for Isaac, and the servant “went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor” (Gen 24:2-4,10); Jacob likewise fled to Paddan-aram between the rivers to Laban, seeking refuge and a wife (Gen 28-29). In the days of the judges, Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia oppressed Israel for eight years until Othniel was raised by Jehovah to deliver them (Judg 3:8-10). The Ammonites hired chariots and horsemen from northern Mesopotamia to fight David (1 Chron 19:6-7). Later the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were successively destroyed by Assyria and Babylon, the two great powers of this river region, and the people were exiled here (2 Kings 17:6; 24-25). At Pentecost 33 C.E., among those gathered in Jerusalem were Jews and proselytes “living in Mesopotamia,” who heard the apostles declaring Jehovah's magnificent works in their own languages (Acts 2:1-9).