haran Summary and Overview

(1.) Heb. haran; i.e., "mountaineer." The eldest son of Terah, brother of Abraham and Nahor, and father of Lot, Milcah, and Iscah. He died before his father (Gen. 11:27), in Ur of the Chaldees. (2.) Heb. haran, i.e., "parched;" or probably from the Accadian charana, meaning "a road." A celebrated city of Western Asia, now Harran, where Abram remained, after he left Ur of the Chaldees, till his father Terah died (Gen. 11:31, 32), when he continued his journey into the land of Canaan. It is called "Charran" in the LXX. and in Acts 7:2. It is called the "city of Nahor" (Gen. 24:10), and Jacob resided here with Laban (30:43). It stood on the river Belik, an affluent of the Euphrates, about 70 miles above where it joins that river in Upper Mesopotamia or Padan-aram, and about 600 miles northwest of Ur in a direct line. It was on the caravan route between the east and west. It is afterwards mentioned among the towns taken by the king of Assyria (2 Kings 19:12; Isa. 37:12). It was known to the Greeks and Romans under the name Carrhae. (3.) The son of Caleb of Judah (1 Chr. 2:46) by his concubine Ephah.

(a mountaineer). 1. The third son of Terah, and therefore youngest brother of Abram. #Ge 11:26| (B.C. 1926.) Three children are ascribed to him --Lot, vs. #Ge 11:27,31| and two daughters, viz., Milcah, who married her uncle Nahor, ver. #Ge 11:29| and Iscah. ver. #Ge 11:29| Haran was born in Ur of the Chaldees, and he died there while his father was still living. ver. #Ge 11:28| 2. A Gershonite Levite in the time of David, one of the family of Shimei. #1Ch 23:9| 3. A son of the great Caleb by his concubine Ephah. #1Ch 2:46| 4. HARAN or CHARRAN, #Ac 7:2,4| name of the place whither Abraham migrated with his family from Ur of the Chaldees, and where the descendants of his brother Nahor established themselves. Comp. #Ge 24:10| with Gene 27:43 It is said to be in Mesopotamia, #Ge 24:10| or more definitely in Padan-aram, ch. #Ge 25:20| the cultivated district at the foot of the hills, a name well applying to the beautiful stretch of country which lies below Mount Masius between the Khabour and the Euphrates. Here, about midway in this district, is a small village still called Harran. It was celebrated among the Romans, under the name of Charrae, as the scene of the defeat of Crassus.

HA'RAN (a mountaineer). 1. The brother of Abraham, and the father of Lot, Gen 11:26. 2. A Levite, 1 Chr 23:9.

HARAN was Terah's firstborn son, oldest brother of Abram (who is named first in Genesis 11:27, because heir of the promises), father of Lot, and Milcah who married her uncle Nahor, and Iscah or Sarai who married her uncle Abram, being "daughter (i.e. granddaughter) of his father not of his mother" (Genesis 20:12). That Haran was oldest brother appears from his brothers marrying his daughters, Sarai being only ten years younger than Abram (Genesis 17:17). Haran died in Ur, his native place, before his father. In the Hebrew the country Haran begins with 'ch', the man Haran with 'h', as also the Haran the Gershonite Levite under David of Shimei's family (1 Chronicles 23:9). Hara begins with 'h'; Caleb's son by Ephah (1 Chronicles 2:46) begins with 'ch'. Jewish tradition makes Haran to have been cast into Nimrod's furnace for wavering during Abram's fiery trial.