TERAH
TERAH
The son of Nahor, and father of Nahor, Haran, and Abraham, Gen 11:24, begot Abraham at the age of seventy-two years, in Ur of the Chaldeans. Upon Abraham’s first call to remove into the land of promise, Terah and all his family went with him as far as Haran, in Mesopotamia, about B. C. 1918, Gen 11:31-32 . He died there the same year, aged two hundred and seventy-five years. Scripture intimates plainly that Terah had fallen into idolatry, or had for a time mingled some idolatrous practices with the worship of the true God, Jos 24:2,14 ; and some think that Abraham himself at fist did the same thing; but that afterwards God, being gracious to him, convinced him of the vanity of this worship, and that he undeceived his father Terah.
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Terah
(Heb. Te’rach, , station, SEE TARAH; Sept. , ; Josephus, , Ant. 1, 6, 5; Vulg. Thare), the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and through them the ancestor of the great families of the Israelites, Ishmaelites, Midianites, Moabites, and Ammonites (Gen 11:24-32). B.C. 2293-2088. The account, given of him in the Old Test. narrative is very brief. We learn from it simply that he was an idolater (Jos 24:2); that he dwelt beyond the Euphrates in Ur of the Chaldees (Gen 11:28); that in the westerly migration which he undertook in his old age he went with his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai, and his grandson Lot, to go into the land of Canaan, and they came unto Haran and dwelt there (Gen 11:31); and, finally, that the days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran(Gen 11:32). Taking the language of Abraham about Sarah being the daughter, of his father but not of his mother (Gen 20:1-2) in its natural sense, Terah must have had children by more wives than one; but we have no particular account of his domestic relations in this respect. In connection with this migration a chronological difficulty has arisen which may be noticed here. In the speech of Stephen (Act 7:4) it is said that the further journey of Abraham from Haran to the land of Canaan did not take place till after his father’s death. Now as Terah was two hundred and five years old (the Samar text and version make him one hundred and forty-five, and- so avoid this difficulty) when he died, and Abram was seventy-five when he left Harali (enl. 12:4) it follows that, if the speech of Stephen be correct, at Abram’s birth Terah must have been one hundred, and thirty years old; and therefore that the order of anis sons- Abram, Nahor, Haran given in Gen 11:26-27 is not their order in point of age. Lord Arthur Herve says (Geneai. p. 82, 83), The difficulty is easily got over by supposing that Abram, though named first on account of his dignity, was not the eldest son, but probably the youngest of the three, born when his father was one hundred and thirty years old a supposition with which the marriage of Nahor with his elder brother Haran’s daughter, Milcah, and the apparent nearness of age between Abram and Lot, and the three generations from Nahor to Rebekah corresponding to only two, from Abraham to Isaac, are in perfect harmony. SEE ABRAHAM.
From Act 7:2-4 it appears that the first call which prompted the family to leave Ur was addressed to Abraham, not to Terah, as well as the second, which, after the death of his father, induced him to proceed from Haran to Canaan. The order to Abraham to proceed to Canaan immediately after Terah’s death seems to indicate that the pause at Haran was on his account. Whether he declined to proceed any farther, or his advanced age rendered him unequal to the fatigues of the journey, can only be conjectured. It appears, however, from Jos 24:2; Jos 24:14 that Terah was given to idolatry, or rather, perhaps, to certain idolatrous superstitions, retained together with the acknowledgment and worship of Jehovah, such as existed in the family in the time of his great-grandson Laban (Gen 31:30). This may suggest that it was not in the divine wisdom deemed proper that one who had grown old in such practices should enter the land in which his descendants were destined to exemplify a pure faith.
From the simple facts of Terah’s life recorded in the Old Test. has been constructed the entire legend of Abram which is current in Jewish and Arabian traditions. Terah the idolater is turned into a maker of images, and Ur of the Chaldees is the original of the furnace into which Abram was cast (comp. Ezekiel 5, 2). Rashi’s note on Gen 11:28 is as follows: In the presence of Terah his father in the lifetime of his father. And the Midrash Haggadah says that he died beside his father, for Terah had complained of Abram his son before Nimrod that he had broken his images, and he cast him into a furnace of fire. And Haran was sitting and saying in his heart, If Abram overcome, I am on his side; and if Nimrod overcome, I am on his side. And when Abram was saved, they said to Haran, On whose side art thou? He said to them, I am on Abram’s side. So they cast him into the furnace of fire and he was burned; and this is [what is meant by] Ur Casdim (Ur of the Chaldees). In Bereshith Rabba (par. 17) the story is told of Abraham being left to sell idols in his father’s stead, which is repeated in Weil, Biblical Legends, p. 49. The whole legend depends upon the ambiguity of the word , which signifies to make and to serve or worship so that Terah, who in the Biblical narrative is only a worshipper of idols, is in the Jewish tradition an image-maker; and about this single point the whole story has grown. It certainly was unknown to Josephus, who tells nothing of Terah except that it was grief for the death of this son Haran that induced him to quit Ur of the Chaldlees (Ant. 1, 6, 6).
In the Jewish traditions Terah is a prince and a great man in the palace of Nimrod (Jellinek, Bet hamiidrash, p. 27), the captain of his army (Sepher Hayyashar), his son in-law according to the Arabs (Beer, Leben A brahams, p. 97). His wife is called in the Talmud (Baba Bathra, fol. 91 a) Amtelai; or Emtelai, the daughter of Carnebo. In the book of the Jubilees she is called Edna, the daughter of Arem, or Aram; and by; the Arabs Adna (D’Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, s.v. Abraham; Beer, p. 97). According to D’Herbelot, the name of Abraham’s father was Azar in the Arabic traditions, and: Terah was his grandfather. Elmakin, quoted by Hottinger (Smegma Orientale, p. 281), says that, after the death of Yuna, Abraham’s mother, Terah took another wife, who bare him Sarah. He adds that in tie days of Terah the king of Babylon made war upon the country in which he dwelt, and that Hazrun, the brother of Terah, went out against him and slew him; and the kingdom of Babylon was transferred to Nineveh and Mosul. For all these traditions, see the book of Jasher and the works of Hottinger, D’Herbelot, Weil, and Beer above quoted. Philo (De Somniis) indulges in some strange speculations with regard to Terah’s name and his migration.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Terah
the wanderer; loiterer, for some unknown reason emigrated with his family from his native mountains in the north to the plains of Mesopotamia. He had three sons, Haran, Nahor, and Abraham, and one daughter, Sarah. He settled in “Ur of the Chaldees,” where his son Haran died, leaving behind him his son Lot. Nahor settled at Haran, a place on the way to Ur. Terah afterwards migrated with Abraham (probably his youngest son) and Lot (his grandson), together with their families, from Ur, intending to go with them to Canaan; but he tarried at Haran, where he spent the remainder of his days, and died at the age of two hundred and five years (Gen. 11:24-32; Josh. 24:2). What a wonderful part the descendants of this Chaldean shepherd have played in the history of the world!
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Terah
Tenth from Noah through Shem; father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran (Gen 11:27). Accompanied Abram from Ur on the way to Canaan (an act of faith on the part of one so very old; persuaded by his godly son), but died at Haran when 205 years old. He was 70 when Haran his oldest son was born, 130 when ABRAM was born (Gen 11:26; Gen 11:32; Gen 12:4; Act 7:2-4). (See ABRAHAM.)
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Terah
TERAH.Father of Abraham; named as a link in our Lords genealogy (Luk 3:34).
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
Terah
TERAH.The father of Abraham, Nahor, and Haran (Gen 11:24-32, 1Ch 1:25, Luk 3:34). Along with his three sons he is said to have migrated from Ur of the Chaldees to Haran, where he died. In Jos 24:2 it is said that he served other godsa statement which gave rise to some fanciful Jewish haggdth about Terah as a maker of idols. 2. A station of the Israelites (Num 33:27-28).
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Terah (1)
tera (, terah; Septuagint , Tharra, or (with New Testament) , Thara; on the name see especially HDB, under the word): The son of Nahor and father of Abraham, Nahor and Haran (Gen 11:24 f). At Abraham’s birth Terah was 70 years old (Gen 11:26), and after Abraham’s marriage, Terah, Abraham, Sarah and Lot emigrated from Ur of the Chaldees on the road into the land of Canaan, but stopped in Haran (Gen 11:31). When Abraham was 75 years old he and his nephew resumed their journey, leaving Terah in Haran, where 60 years later he died (Gen 11:32). Stephen, however, states (Act 7:4) that Terah was dead when Abraham left Haran, an impression that is easily gained from Gen 11 through 12 if the dates are not computed. As there is no reason to suppose that Stephen was granted inspiration that would preserve him from such a purely formal error, the contradiction is of no significance and attempts at reconciliation are needless. In particular, the attempt of Blass (Stud. u. Krit., 1896, 460 ff) to alter the text of Acts is quite without foundation. For further discussion see especially Knowling, The Expositor’s Greek Testament, at the place It is worth noting that Philo makes the same error (Migr. Abr. 177 (section 32)), perhaps indicating some special Jewish tradition of New Testament times. In Jos 24:2 Terah is said to have been an idolater. In Jubilees 12 this is softened into explaining that through fear of his life Terah was forced to yield outward conformity to the idolatrous worship of his neighbors. On the other hand certain Jewish legends (e.g. Ber. Rab. 17) represent Terah as actually a maker of idols. Otherwise in the Bible Terah is mentioned only by name in 1Ch 1:26; Luk 3:34.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Terah (2)
(Codex Vaticanus , Tarath; Codex Alexandrinus , Tharath): A wilderness camp of the Israelites between Tahath and Mithkah (Num 33:27, Num 33:28). See WANDERINGS OF ISRAEL.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Terah
Terah, son of Nahor and father of Abraham, who, with his family, departed from Ur of the Chaldees to go to the land which God should show him, ‘but tarried at Haran in Mesopotamia, and there died at the age of 205 years’ (Gen 11:24-32; Act 7:2-4). From the latter text, it appears that the first call which prompted them to leave Ur was addressed to Abraham, not to Terah, as well as the second, which, after the death of his father, induced him to proceed from Haran to Canaan [ABRAHAM]. The order to Abraham to proceed to Canaan immediately after Terah’s death seems to indicate that the pause at Haran was on his account. Whether he declined to proceed any further, or his advanced age rendered him unequal to the fatigues of the journey, can only be conjectured.
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Terah
[Te’rah]
Son of Nahor, and father of Abraham. Gen 11:24-32; Jos 24:2; 1Ch 1:26. Called THARA in Luk 3:34.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Terah
H8646
Father of Abraham
Gen 11:24-32
Was an idolater
Jos 24:2
Called Thara
Luk 3:34
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Terah
Terah (t’rah), delay. The father of Abraham, who left Ur to go to Canaan, but died at Haran, in Mesopotamia. Gen 11:24-32; Jos 24:2; Jos 24:14; Act 7:2-4. He is called “Tharah” in Luk 3:34.
Fuente: People’s Dictionary of the Bible
Terah
Te’rah. (station). The father of Abram, Nahor and Haran, and through them, the ancestor of the great families of the Israelites, Ishmaelites, Midianites, Moabites and Ammonites. Gen 11:24-32.
The account given of him in the Old Testament narrative is very brief. We learn from it simply that he was an idolater, Jos 24:2, that he dwelt beyond the Euphrates in Ur of the Chaldees, Gen 11:28, and that in the southwesterly migration, which from some unexplained cause, he undertook in his old age, he went with his son, Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai, and his grandson Lot, “to go into the land of Canaan, and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.” Gen 11:31. And finally, “the days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.” Gen 11:32. (B.C. 1921).
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
TERAH
father of Abraham
Gen 11:24; Gen 11:31; Jos 24:2; Act 7:4
–SEE Abraham, ABRAHAM OR ABRAM