Terah

Te´rah, 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.

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.\par

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).

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.)

Terah (tç’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.

[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.

TERAH.—Father of Abraham; named as a link in our Lord’s genealogy (Luk 3:34).

By: Wilhelm Bacher, Schulim Ochser

Father of Abraham, Nahor, and Haran (Gen. xi. 26). His original home was Ur of the Chaldees; but later he emigrated with his sons to Haran, where he died (Gen. xi. 32). According to Joshua's remarks at the assembly of the Israelites at Shechem, he was an idolater (Josh. xxiv. 2). Modern exegetes do not agree as to the etymology of the name "Terah," some identifying it with the Assyrian "turahu" (wild goat), with which the name of the Mesopotamian town Til-sha-turakhi might be compared, while others suppose it to be identical with the Syriac "taṛḥa." Recently the name "Terah" has been regarded as a mutilation of "yeraḥ" (moon); in this case it would refer to a mythological person.

According to the Midrash (Gen. R. xxxviii.), Terah, in addition to being an idolater himself, made and sold idols; and during his absence he compelled Abraham to act as a merchant for him. The "Sefer ha-Yashar" (ed. Leghorn, 1876, pp. 14b et seq.) regards him as a great general of Nimrod, whom he accompanied on all his campaigns. Angry at Abraham for the destruction of his idols, Terahaccused his son before Nimrod, who condemned him to be burned to death. Thereupon Abraham persuaded his father to emigrate to Canaan. See Abraham in Apocryphal and Rabbinical Literature.

Bibliography:

Hastings, Dict. Bible;

Friedrich Delitzsch, Prolegomena zu einem Neuen Hebr.-Aram. Wörterbuche, p. 80, Leipsic, 1886;

Nödeke, in Z. D. M. G. 1886, p. 167;

Winckler, Gesch. des Volkes Israel, ii. 24, note 1, Leipsic, 1900.

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 gods’—a statement which gave rise to some fanciful Jewish haggâdôth about Terah as a maker of idols. 2. A station of the Israelites (Num 33:27-28).

tē´ra (תּרח, teraḥ; Septuagint Θάρρα, Thárra, or (with New Testament) Θάρα, Thára; 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. B^er. 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.