Nahor, son of Terah
In the account of Terah's family mentioned in Gen.11:26-32, Nahor II (Heb. נָחֹור Nāḥōr) is listed as the son of Terah, amongst two other brothers, Abram and Haran.[v.26,27] His grandfather was Nahor I, son of Serug. Nahor married the daughter of his brother Haran, Milcah, his niece.[v.29] They were all born and raised in the city of Ur.
When Abram had an encounter with God,[1] this brother directed his family to leave their native land and go to the land of Canaan. Terah, their father, coordinated the gathering of his family to journey west to their destination.[v.31] They followed the Euphrates River, with their herds, to the Paddan Aram region. This was about halfway along the Fertile Crescent between Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean, in what is now southeastern Turkey.[2] In this region, Nahor and his family settled except for his brother Haran, who had died sometime ago back in Ur.[V.28] The city where they settled, Harran, is the place that Nahor's father eventually died.[V.32]
Nahor II continued his own travels and settled in the region of Aram Naharaim where he founded the town, Nahor.[Gen.24:10] Here, he had eight sons to Milcah:[Gen.22:19-23]
- Uz, the firstborn
- Buz
- Kemuel
- Kesed
- Hazo
- Pildash
- Jidlaph
- Bethuel, father of Rebekah, the wife of Isaac
To his concubine, Reumah, Nahor had these sons: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maacah.[Gen.22:24]
Family tree
| Serug | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nahor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Terah | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sarah[3] | Abraham | Hagar | Haran | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nahor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ishmael | Milcah | Lot | Iscah | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ishmaelites | 7 sons[4] | Bethuel | 1st daughter | 2nd daughter | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Isaac | Rebecca | Laban | Moabites | Ammonites | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Esau | Jacob | Rachel | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bilhah | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Edomites | Zilpah | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leah | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1. Reuben 2. Simeon 3. Levi 4. Judah 9. Issachar 10. Zebulun 11. Dinah | 7. Gad 8. Asher | 5. Dan 6. Naphtali | 12. Joseph 13. Benjamin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nahor in the Book of Joshua
In his final speech to the Israelite leaders assembled at Shechem, Joshua recounts the history of God's formation of the Israelite nation, beginning with "Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, [who] lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods" (Joshua 24:2).
See also
- Harran, the city the family first settled, is spelled differently in Hebrew, than the family name of Haran.
References
- ↑ Acts 7:2-4
- ↑ Drummond, 2004, p.75
- ↑ Genesis 20:12: Sarah was the half–sister of Abraham
- ↑ Genesis 22:21-22: Uz, Buz, Kemuel, Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, and Jidlaph