Aramaic Primacy in the East

[ScorpioSniper2]

Yes, indeed Abraham was a Semitic Gentile as well as his father, Terah, who was an idol-maker in Ur and in Harran. Then some Semitic Gentiles became Semitic non-Gentiles. Lots of us original Semitic Gentiles around today.

I never have thought about it that way. Abraham and his seed were separated from the Gentiles after a certain time (possibly when Abraham was circumcised?). I find it interesting that Moses referred to Jacob/Israel as "wondering Aramean" (Deuteronomy 26:5). This would also mean that Abraham was an Aramean. The Assyrian people are the descendants of Abraham through his son Jokshan and his son Dedan (Genesis 25:1-3). I didn't notice that until last time I read Genesis, and when I did notice that I was rather shocked that the Assyrians were not only close relatives of the Israelites, but cousins. I originally thought that they were distant cousins through Shem (through either Ashur or Aram).

As to the name, Assyrians aren't Aramean by ethnicity, only by adopted language. Assyrians and Arameans are related, both being Semitic Gentiles. But their history and ethnic makeup is quite distinct.

To complicate matters: there are Aramaic-speaking Assyrian Jews. There are Arabic-speaking Assyrian Muslims. There are Aramaic-speaking Assyrian Muslims. There are Kurdish-speaking Assyrian Catholics. There are English-speaking Assyrian Atheists.

Assyrian = our ethnicity, Aramaic = our language (most of us who are Christian).

Thank you for saying that. I always assumed that "Aramean" was simply another term used for Assyrians.