CHALDEA

(Chal·deʹa), Chaldean (Chal·deʹan).

Originally the land and people occupying the southern portion of the Babylonian alluvial plain, that rich delta area of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. At one time these rivers may have emptied into the Persian Gulf separately, the cities of Eridu and Ur being seaports. But over the years the river silts gradually filled in the bay, pushed the coastline 130 miles (209.2 kilometers) to the SE, and allowed the Tigris and Euphrates to join together before emptying into the sea. In early times the region’s most important city was Ur, the hometown of Abraham, from which he and his family departed at God’s command before 1943 B.C.E. (Gen. 11:28, 31; 15:7; Neh. 9:7; Acts 7:2-4) In the last quarter of the seventeenth century B.C.E. Satan the Devil caused Chaldean raiders to inflict heavy losses on faithful Job.—Job 1:17.

As the influence of the Chaldeans spread northward, the whole territory of Babylonia became known as “the land of the Chaldeans.” Isalah in his prophecies anticipated this Chaldean rise to power and their subsequent fall. (Isa. 13:19; 23:13; 47:1, 5; 48:14, 20) Particularly was this domination manifest during the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.E., when Nabopolassar a native of Chaldea, and his successors, Nebuchadnezzar II, Evil-merodach, Neriglissar, Labashi—Marduk Nabonidus and Belshazzar, ruled the third world empire, Babylon. (2 Ki. 24:1, 2; 2 Chron. 36:17; Ezra 5:12; Jer. 21:4, 9; 25:12; 32:4; 43:3; 50:1; Ezek. 1:3; Hab. 1:6) That dynasty came to its end when “Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed.” (Dan. 5:30) Later Darius the Mede was “king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans.”—Dan. 9:1.

From early times the Chaldeans were noted for their knowledge of mathematics and astronomy. In the days of Daniel a special cult of prognosticators who considered themselves skilled in the so-called “science” of divination were called “Chaldeans.”—Dan. 2:2, 5, 10; 4:7; 5:7, 11.