Genesis does not provide a lot of information about Mesopotamia and life in that world. Genesis 4:16-26 summarizes the perverted, violent life of Cain and his descendants. The Land of Nod is descriptive of his descendants wandering territory as they appear as nomadic people who herded livestock. Their territory probably was what we call Syria from the Jordan to the Euphrates river.

Between the Tigris and the Euphrates one encounters farm and swamp land, subject to serious flooding. Its people were agriculturalists. The evidence the Bible provides suggests that the Land of Eden laid west of the land between the two rivers (Mesopotamia) and the land of wandering (Nod).

The word Mesopotamia is in origin a Greek name, mesos “middle” and potamos “river”, so we have the land between the rivers. The name refers to the area watered by the Euphrates and Tigris and its tributaries. This roughly encompassed what we know as modern Iraq and part of Syria. In the third millennium (3000 through 2001 BCE), the region south of modern Bagdad, the alluvial plains of the rivers were known as the land of Sumer (the most southern part) and Akkad (the area around modern Bagdad, where the Euphrates and Tigris are close to each other). In the second millennium BCE both regions together are called Babylonia, a mostly flat country. The territory in the north (between the rivers Tigris and the Great Zab) was Assyria, with the city Assur as center. It bordered to the mountains.

In Genesis we are introduced to the account of the patriarchs Abraham, first known as Abram, Isaac and Jacob. Genesis 11:27 records that Terah had three sons: Abram, Nahor (The Younger) and Haran. The grandfather of Nahor (The Younger) was Nahor (The Older) the father of Terah. Haran, the brother of Abram and Nahor (the Younger), apparently died in battle. You can read of Nahor (The Older) at Genesis 11:22-25.

Ur (ûr) was an ancient city of Sumer, in Southern Mesopotamia which was also known as Ur of the Chaldees (or Chaldeans). It was an important center of Sumerian culture identified in the Hebrew Scriptures as the home of Abram, Nahor (The Younger) and Haran the sons of Terah and grandsons of  Nahor (The Older) (Genesis 11:26-28), where Haran died (presumably he fell in battle as well). 

Abram married Sarai, who was his half-sister (Genesis 20:12) as Terah was the father of both by different mothers. Abram and his wife, with their nephew Lot, the son of Haran (The Younger), accompanied Terah, who migrated from Ur of the Chaldeans, to the city of Haran (about 250 miles northeast of Damascus) where Terah died (Genesis 11:31-32, Joshua 24:2). Terah is understood to have Canaan in view when he set out upon his journey (Genesis 11:31).

According to Genesis 11:32 Terah died in Haran at age 205 years whereon Abram, at age 75, left the city of Haran and traveled on to Canaan (Genesis 12:1-5; cf. Acts 7:4. This means Terah was 130 years old when Abraham was born (205 – 75 = 130). There were 352 years from the Noachian Flood to Abraham as follows:

• Arphaxad was born to Noah’s son Shem two years after the flood (Genesis 11:10)
• When Arphaxad was 35, he had Shelah (Genesis 11:12)
• Shelah had Eber when he was 30 (Genesis 11:14)
• Eber had Peleg when he was 34. (Genesis 11:16)
• Peleg had Reu when he was 30 (Genesis 11:18)
• Reu had Serug when he was 32 (Genesis 11:20)
• Serug had Nahor when he was 30 (Genesis 11:22)
• Nahor had Terah when he was 29 (Genesis 11:24)
• Terah had Abraham when he was 130

Again this covers a vast amount of time and over 350 years in the post-Flood (postdiluvian) world the human population would have risen to many millions. During this time, in the days of Peleg (2226-2017 BCE; roughly 101-310 years after the Noachian Flood (Genesis 10:25; Genesis 11:19; 1 Chronicles 1:19) God confused the languages at Babel (ancient Babylon) and peoples began their migration into various parts of the earth. The descendants of Arphaxad (one of the five sons of Shem) settled in southern Mesopotamia.

For dating the chronology provided in Genesis (see Adam to Exodus Chronology), the benchmark is Solomon’s fourth year. It marks the laying of the foundation of the First Temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 6:1). There is some scholarly consensus on dating the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, which conservative biblical historians now generally understand to be 967/966 BCE [Tishri (Sept/Oct) 967 to the end of Elul (Aug/Sept) 966 BCE].

In 966 BCE the Israelites laid the foundation of the First Temple in the spring. This was 480 years before the fourth year of Solomon [Hebrew year 2795 AM extending from Tishri 1, AM (September 18, 967 BCE, Julian) through Elul 29 (September 6, 966 BCE, Julian)]. The Temple groundbreaking took place on Iyyar 2 (2 Chronicles 3:1-2) which fell in both the 4th year of Solomon’s reign and in the 480th ecclesial year after the people of Israel came out of Egypt (1 Kings 6:1). One has to count conclusively in the Hebrew fashion. This dating is consistent with verified Sabbatic years and jubilees before the 40 year captivity of the Jewish people in Babylonia as well as with known dates of the priestly rotation cycle (a usually overlooked way of verification).

Hence, the first (civil year) after the Israelites left Egypt was 1446/1445 [Tishri (Sept/Oct) 1446 to the end of Elul (Aug/Sept) 1445]. This would place the Exodus, by this reckoning, in the Spring of BCE 1446.

Moreover, Exodus 12:40 literally reads “The time that the sons of Israel which dwelt in Egypt sojourned was 430 years.” The Hebrew text does not require that the sojourning apply only to Egypt. The sojourn (stay or dwelling in a place for a short period of time) included the time in Egypt but some time in Canaan as well. This places the sojourn commencing at 1876 BCE (1876 BCE- 430 years sojourn = 1446 BCE) when Abraham was 99 years old. The Apostle Paul makes it clear at Galatians 3:16-17 that the 430 year sojourn runs from the covenant made with Abraham in Canaan until the Sinai covenant (made in the same year as the Exodus).

As Abraham was 99 years old at the making of the covenant in Canaan in 1876 BCE then he would have to be 75 in 1900 BCE (1876 BCE + 24= 1900 BCE) when he left Haran for Canaan. It places his birth in 1975 (1876 BCE + 99 = 1975 BCE). Abraham was born 352 years after the Flood of Noah placing the Flood in 2327 BCE (1975 BCE + 352 years = 2327 BCE). The creation of Adam and Eve was 1,656 years before the Flood placing the creation of humans in 3983 BCE (2327 BCE + 1,656 years = 3983 BCE).

• From Adam’s creation to the birth of Seth 130 years (Genesis 5:3)
• To the birth of Enosh 105 years (Genesis 5:6)
• To the birth of Cainan 90 years (Genesis 5:9)
• To the birth of Mahalalel 70 years (Genesis 5:12)
• To the birth of Jared 65 years (Genesis 5:15)
• To the birth of Enoch 162 years (Genesis 5:18)
• To the birth of Methuselah 65 years (Genesis 5:21)
• To the birth of Lamech 187 years (Genesis 5:25)
• To the birth of Noah 182 years (Genesis 5:28-29)
• To the Flood 600 years (Genesis 7:6)