Genesis 11.27-32-The Descendants of Terah and the Birth of Abram
Thursday November 3, 2005
Genesis: Genesis 11:27-32-Descendants of Terah and the Birth of Abraham
Lesson # 55
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 11:27.
This evening we will complete our study of Genesis 11 by studying Genesis 11:27-32, which presents the record of the descendants of Terah and the birth of Abraham.
Genesis 11:27, “Now these are the records of the generations of Terah. Terah (the-rakh-“delay”) became the father of Abram (“exalted father”), Nahor (naw-khor-“snorting”) and Haran (haw-rawn-“mountaineer”); and Haran became the father of Lot (“covering”).”
“These are the records of the generations of Terah” refers to the record of the descendants of Terah and in particular Abraham, which follows in Genesis 11:27-25:11 and this is indicated by the noun toledhoth (toh-led-aw) (tw{dl@w{T), “the records of the generations” which is always used as an introduction to what follows.
The noun toledhoth appears ten times in the book of Genesis and is always used in a transitional sense as a heading or title for what is to follow and provides the outline or framework to the book of Genesis.
In Genesis 11:27, the noun toledhoth introduces the sixth section of the book of Genesis, which is completed in Genesis 25:11 and centers upon Abraham who is the most illustrious ancestor of the Promised “Seed” Jesus Christ.
This sixth section in the book of Genesis, which is contained Genesis 11:27-25:11 has three sections: (1) Introduction (11:27b-32) (2) Main body (12:1-22:19) (3) Transition to the next section of the book of Genesis and generation (22:20-25:11).
The introduction presents the principle characters in Genesis 11:27-25:11, namely, Abraham and Sarah.
The main body develops their story with the testing of Abraham and the concluding section includes the presentation of securing a bride for Isaac with Abraham and Sarah’s deaths.
Genesis 12:1-22:19 presents Abraham’s struggle to trust the Lord in the face of a series of adversities and personal failures.
Genesis 11:27, “Now these are the records of the generations of Terah. Terah (the-rakh-“delay”) became the father of Abram (“exalted father”), Nahor (naw-khor-“snorting”) and Haran (haw-rawn-“mountaineer”); and Haran became the father of Lot (“covering”).”
“Terah” was the father of Abraham and later settled in Haran where he died.
The name Terhah is associated in literature with the moon-god, and some thus think there exists a direct etymological link between his name and the teraphim, that is, small idolatrous images that were kept in most households.
The fact that “Terah” was an idolater is confirmed by Joshua 24:2 and 14.
Joshua 24:2, “Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, "From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.”
The name “Abram” means, “exalted father,” indicating that he had a noble lineage.
The Lord later changed his name to “Abraham,” which means, “father of a multitude.”
Abraham is called the “father of all them that believe” in Romans 4:11.
Abraham was a man of faith and this he declared openly several times in his life and in Hebrews 11:8, Abraham is mentioned as the 4th member in God’s Hall of Fame of Faith.
Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
Hebrews 11:2, “For by it the men of old gained approval.”
Hebrews 11:3, “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.”
Hebrews 11:4, “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.”
Hebrews 11:5, “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.”
Hebrews 11:6, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”
Hebrews 11:7, “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”
Hebrews 11:8, “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.”
Hebrews 11:9, “By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise.”
Hebrews 11:10, “for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”
Hebrews 11:11, “By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.”
Hebrews 11:12, “Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants AS THE STARS OF HEAVEN IN NUMBER, AND INNUMERABLE AS THE SAND WHICH IS BY THE SEASHORE.”
Hebrews 11:13, “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.”
Hebrews 11:14, “For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.”
Hebrews 11:15, “And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return.”
Hebrews 11:16, “But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”
Hebrews 11:17, “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son.”
Hebrews 11:18, “it was he to whom it was said, ‘IN ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE CALLED.’”
Hebrews 11:19, “He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.”
Abraham is called in Scripture "the friend of God."
James 2:23, “And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘and Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,’ and he was called the friend of God.’”
Abraham is also the recipient of a covenant promise from God as recorded in Genesis 12:1-3, 13:14-18, 15:6, 18-21, and 22:15-18.
Genesis 11:27, “Now these are the records of the generations of Terah. Terah (the-rakh-“delay”) became the father of Abram (“exalted father”), Nahor (naw-khor-“snorting”) and Haran (haw-rawn-“mountaineer”); and Haran became the father of Lot (“covering”).”
“Lot” was the son of Haran and the nephew of Abram.
Genesis 11:28, “Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.”
The fact that Haran died in the presence of his father Terah left Lot an orphan and the childless Abram took care of him.
The location of “Ur” is Tell-el-Muqayyar on the Euphrates River in southern Iraq.
Excavations of this site between 1922-34 yielded significant discoveries, including thousands of inscribed tablets and the ruins of a stepped temple tower known as a ziggurat.
It was a thriving city in Sumerian times through the Old Babylonian period and was occupied to some degree through the Seleucid times, spanning the history of independent Mesopotamia.
Merrill F. Unger, “When Abram migrated, the city was idolatrous, given over to the worship of the moon deity Nannar and his consort Nin-Gal; a sacred area and ziggurat were devoted to this idolatry. Significantly, Nannar, the moon god, was also adored at Haran, to which Terah emigrated (cf. Josh. 24:2). It seems Abram’s own father was an idolater. From universal polytheism God called Abram as a purge to be an exponent of the gospel of salvation by grace through faith and the blessing of knowing and serving the one God, the Creator and Redeemer of man” (Unger’s Commentary of the Old Testament, page 54).
The “Chaldeans” entered southern Mesopotamia in the first millennium B.C. and became the rulers of this area in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.
The ancestor of the Chaldeans was Chesed, the nephew of Abraham through his brother Nahor (Gen. 11:28, 31; 15:7; Neh. 9:7).
The nation of Israel identified the Chaldeans as the Babylonians under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar and the city of Babylon was said to be the pride of the Chaldean people (Isa. 13:19).
Genesis 11:29, “Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai (“princess”); and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah (“queen”), the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah (“the one who looks forth”).”
The phrase “to take a wife” is a technical Hebrew expression for getting married.
The name “Sarai” means, “princess and suggests that rulers would come from her lineage and that she was a woman of a measure of social standing.
Her name was later changed to “Sarah” in the covenant ceremony that appears in Genesis 17:5.
Sarai was the daughter of Terah by a different mother than Abraham’s (20:12), therefore; she was the half-sister of Abraham.
Nahor married his niece, Milcah, daughter of Haran.
Such incestuous relationships were later forbidden in the Mosaic Law.
Genesis 11:30, “Sarai was barren; she had no child.”
Sarah’s infertility drives the narrative of Genesis 11:27-25:11 since the promises of God are all meaningless apart from an heir being born.
Her infertility also tests the faith of both Abraham and Sarah and her beauty drives the narrative since on two occasions, with Pharaoh and Abimelech, Abraham claims that Sarah is his sister rather than his wife in order to protect his life from the rulers of the lands in which he traveled.
She offers her slave Hagar to Abraham in order to solve their problem of being childless, which Abraham accepts producing Ishmael and the creation of a problem that exists with us today, the Arab and Israeli conflict.
Like Abraham, Sarah is mentioned as a hero of faith in Hebrews 11 since she trusts in the Lord to give her a child even though she was past the age of childbearing.
Genesis 11:31, “Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife; and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and settled there.”
Genesis 11:32, “The days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.”
Haran still exists in and is located in northern Mesopotamian, a commercial city on the Balikh River, sixty miles from its entrance into the Euphrates.
The city was on the busy caravan road connecting with Nineveh, Asshur, and Babylon in Mesopotamia, and with Damascus, Tyre, and Egyptian cities in the west and south and was a natural stopping place for Terah and Abraham on their trek to Palestine.
It was in Haran that Abram received his second call from the Lord with the first being in Mesopotamia.
Since according to a comparison of Acts 7:2-4 with Genesis 12:1-4, on two separate occasions Abraham received the command to leave his country and go to a land that the Lord would show him, once in Ur of the Chaldeans and again in Haran.
Acts 7:2, “And he said, ‘Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran.’”
Acts 7:3, “and said to him, ‘LEAVE YOUR COUNTRY AND YOUR RELATIVES, AND COME INTO THE LAND THAT I WILL SHOW YOU.’”
Acts 7:4, “Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living.”
Genesis 12:4, “So Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.”