What these distinctions have in common in Abrahamic history is socio-political influence. Yahweh communed with chosen individuals in dreams and visions as their cultures built up power and influence, tried to hold onto it, and succumbed to their successors. The ‘seers’ of these messages acted as divine vessels to common people and kings, establishing laws, endorsing holy wars, maintaining social and political order, bearing omens of exile, persecution, worship of pagan deities like Baal, and disintegration of God’s covenant with His people.
The Neo-Sumerian Empire: 23rd – 21st Centuries BC
Mesopotamia is the birthplace of human advancement, stretching as far back as 10,000 BC. Traces of divination practices of this region correlate with the Akkadian Empire and the Neo-Sumerian Empire, or the Third Dynasty of Ur (‘Ur III’).