You are the LORD, the God who chose Abram, brought him out of Ur of the Chaldees, gave him the name of Abraham,
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 7. The fire of the Chaldees. The city of Ur, in Chaldea, the name of which signifies fire. Or out of the fire of tribulations and temptations, to which he was there exposed. The ancient Rabbins understood this literally, affirming that Abraham was cast into the fire by the idolaters, and brought out by a miracle without any hurt. Challoner.—The Chaldees adored fire, (Saint Jerome q. Hebrew in Gen. xi. 31) and the Persians probably imitated them. Strabo xv.—The emperor Heraclius destroyed their Pyreia. Suidas.—S. Jerom translates Ur of the Chaldees, in all other places. Amama.—Septuagint “the country of,” and so forth Calmet.—It is supposed that he sacred fire preserved in this city, gave name to it, (Ur, “fire,”) as Heliopolis was so called, from the particular worship of “the sun.” Bible.—Abraham, to imply some mystery. Genesis 17. Worthington.—See Isaiah 43:27.