The Great Ziggurat of Ur

I’m stationed up at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Delta near Al Kut in the southeast part of Iraq. Sometimes we fly down to Tallil, located to our south. Please refer to my large map.

While I was down in Tallil near the town of Nasiriya, I was ASTONISHED to see something I had only read about. There, before my very eyes, as noted in my great travel guide, the Orthodox Study Bible, was a ziggurat. Not just any ziggurat mind you, but the Great Ziggurat of Ur, the city where Abraham, earlier known as Abram, was born. Ur was a former great city in Sumeria, part of Mesopotamia. The Euphrates River used to flow through the city until it changed course.

Abraham, in Arabic إبراهيم‎, is patriarch to Jews and Christians through his son Isaac (who’s mother is Sarah), and Muslims through his other son, Ishmael (who’s mother is Sarah’s servant, Hagar) an ancestor of Muhammad. (Whew! My young adult Sunday School group would have enjoyed that bit of history. Here’s the one picture I took.)

Because I didn’t have time to take a tour, I borrowed the following two pictures from the internet to show you.

Maybe someday I’ll get to walk these steps…

‘Now the Lord said to Abram, “Get out of your country…to a land that I will show you.” ‘ (Genesis 12:1). From my visit to the hot, dusty area, I can say that was a great decision to leave. Besides, of course, the fact that God told him to!

I’m visiting the land spoken of in the Old Testament. Sometimes I don’t think I’m on a deployment as much as a pilgrimage. Incredible!

C-M/P/3