r 26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. 27 Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran: and Haran begat Lot. 28 And Haran died before his father Terah, in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. 29 And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife t Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. 30 But "Sarai was barren; she had no child. 31 And Terah w took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees r Josh. 24: 2; 1 Chron. 1: 26. s ch. 17: 15; 20: 12. t ch. 22: 20. u ch. 16: 1, 2; 18: 11, 12. w ch. 12: 1. x Neh. 9:7; Acts 7: 4. thirty-fifth, and so on, till Terah, who first was a father in his seventieth year. 26. Here the genealogy closes with naming the three sons of Terah (as in ch. 5: 32, with the three sons of Noah) and these have reference to the further history, e. g., Abram as the progenitor and head of the chosen people, Nahor as the ancestor of Rebecca, and Haran as the father of Lot, (compare vs. 29 with 22:20-23.) It is not to be understood that these are mentioned in the order of their birth, but of their importance in the history, as in the case of the sons of Noah. The youngest is here first named. Abram was born when Terah was one hundred and thirty years old, (compare vs. 32 with ch. 12:4.) Haran was the eldest. See vs. 29. See Notes, Acts 7: 4. 28. Haran died, and before his father -in presence of Terah his father; (lit., before the face of) and of course before the death of his father. Ur of the Chaldees. This place is probably the modern Orfa (Edessa.) Some make it to be Ur, between Hatra and Nisibis, near Arrapachitis.Keil. Stanley, (Jewish Church, Appendix 1) argues for Orfa as the ancient Ur, from five considerations. 1. That it was on the eastern side of the Euphrates, and thus agrees better with the term 2. The general tenor of the narrative closely connects Ur with Haran and Aram in the northwest of Mesopotamia, and within reach of Orfa, (say a day's journey,) Gen. 11: 27-31; 12:1-4. 3. The " Chasdim," or Chaldees, were in the north, as would seem, whatever may have been the later usage of the term, Gen.. 11:10, 1128. 4. The local features of Orfa are guarantees for its remote antiquity as a city. 5. The traditions are at least as strong as those which may have originated in the anxiety of the Jewish settlement of Babylonia to claim their ancestor's birthplace, and change the name of Chaldea. Ur in Heb. means light, and was probably so called from the Persian idolatry of fire worship, prevalent among this people. Abram was called by God out of this region of idolaters, to be a follower of the true God. ¶ Iscah. The Jewish tradition, as given by Josephus, (Ant. 1, 685,) as also Jerome and the Targum, understand this to be the same person as Sarah, with another name. 31. Terah took Abram. We are elsewhere more expressly informed to go into y the land of Canaan: and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. Kurtz, Keil, and others think that | Terah was not indeed dead before Abram's departure from Haran, but that as the call of Abraham is first mentioned in ch. 12 after the death of Terah is recorded, the order of the narrative is so far followed, without reference to the precise chronology. See the explanation in Notes on Acts 7:4. OBSERVE.-The promise was four hundred and thirty years before the exodus, (Ex. 12:40.) This is also incidentally stated by Paul, (Gal. 3: 17.) It was declared that his seed was to be a stranger in a land that was not theirs for four hundred years, (ch. 15:13.) It. is Joseph, Benjamin. Ephraim, Manasseh. hence inferred that Isaac, his seed, was born about thirty years after the call of Abram. Abram was one hundred years old when Isaac was born, and hence the call was when Abram was seventy years old, and five years before he entered the land of Canaan, (Gen. 12:4.) Terah was two hundred years old when he started for Canaan, and died at two hundred and five, when Abraham was seventy-five. Terah seems to have been ill at Haran, and the expedition was probably delayed there some five years. From Ur of the Chaldees. Abram's native place-a region of idolaters. (See Acts 7:5, 32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran. 66 66 notes.) See vs. 28, notes. ¶ Came unto Haran, (Eng. version, Acts 7:4, Charran.") This place is called the city of Nahor," (Gen. 24: 10. Compare 27: 43,) where Nahor's descendants were settled. It was in Mesopotamia (Padan) Aram ch. 25: 20, where it is still found bearing the same name. The people of Harran," as the name still stands, retained till a late time the Chaldean worship and language. It is now inhabited by a few Arabs, and is on a small branch of the Euphrates. About the time of the Christian era it seems to have been included in the kingdom of Edessa, ruled by king Agbarus. NOTE. Rawlinson states that Ur which he takes to be the modern Mugheir, has furnished some of the most ancient of the Babylonian inscriptions. It seems to have been the primeval capital of Chaldea. Note, p. 253. But this is on the western side of the Euphrates. See Notes, vss. 26-28. 32. Two hundred and five years are here given as the days of Terah. In Acts 7:4, Stephen states that Abraham removed into this land (Judea) when his father was deadwhen his father died. Abraham was at that time seventy-five years old. He was born, as we infer, when Terah was one hundred and thirty years old, and sixty years after the time spoken of in ch. 11: 26, when Terah " begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran "—that is, began to beget these when the eldest of them (Haran) was born. See vs. 29. See notes on Acts 7:4. The Samaritan version has changed the age of Terah from two hundred and five to one hundred and forty-five, in order to get rid of the sixty-years accounted for above. This change is wholly arbitrary and groundless. See vs. 31, notes. It has been estimated that of the ten generations, from Noah to Abram, there would be about fifteen millions of inhabitants when Abram was thirty years of age. Taking a higher average of eight for a family, it is reckoned that there were thirty millions at the one hundredth year of Abram. The boundaries of the land of Canaan, as inhabited by the Canaanites, are given in the table of nations, ch. 10: 19. Terah wished to accompany Abram and Sarah, though he had been involved in the idolatry of the Chaldeans. The revelation made to Abram probably served as a means of removing from his mind this delusion. The true God was acknowledged in some quarters in and about the land of Canaan. Job lived about this time in the land of Uz, in Idumea, and his friends in that vicinity. And in Canaan there was Melchizedec, king of Salem, and priest of the Most High God, who ministered, doubtless, to not a few. NOTE 1.-God had already twice revealed His grace, viz.-to Adam, and to Noah-in the formality of a covenant, looking also distinctly to the whole race, as within the sphere of salvation. We have seen that the revelation of God's grace to the antediluvian world was confirmed and enlarged by that made to the postdiluvians. And now a further step is to be taken in the unfolding of the plan of grace by a Redeemer. NOTE 2.-During the period from Noah to Abraham sin appeared chiefly under four leading forms: unholy marriages, drunkenness, filial infidelity and defiance of God. These were high crimes against society. Insubordination in the family strikes at the root of all government, human and divine. But Noah preached, and God enforced his preaching by warnings, followed at length by overwhelming judgment. Man was established in his headship of the earth by the grant of animal foodcivil government was formally insti Now CHAPTER XII. the a LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: a ch. 15: 7; Neh. 9: 7; Isa. 41: 2; Acts 7:3; Heb. 11: 8. and 16,) opens with the promise of an heir anda solemnizing of the covenant. The third stadium (ch. 17-21,) begins with the confirming of the covenant, through the change of name, and the instituting of the covenant seal of circumcision. The fourth stadium (ch. 22-25: 11,) begins with the trial of Abraham for the assuring and fulfiling of his faith.-Keil and Delitsch, p. 131-2. A new stadium in the economy of grace begins with the history of Abram as called of God. Here opens the Patriarchal history. God had interfered with the natural human development, as it was godless, to check and prevent it by the confusion of tongues. He here further unfolds His gracious purpose-not now in judgment as before, but in mercy. His judgment at Babel was with a view to bless in Abraham. As one who should become the father of the faithful, the patriarch must be separated from his people, who were idolaters, in order to form a distinct Date of Abram's call. (Browne's Ordo Sæclorum, B. c. 2020)..... 2,078 covenant lineage. This separation was, however, only to prepare the way for a dispensation that was to embrace all nations. On Abram's part it now appears that to reach this high distinction of a covenant head, the world and self must be renounced, and God's call must be implicitly obeyed. The covenant grace which was to stand in the place of nature (as in regard to the miraculous seed,) called for faith, and the Divine command called for obedience. The call of Abram occurs now about midway between Adam and Christ. The first two thousand years of the human history are thus comprised within eleven chapters. This is the greatest remove from legendary or mythical narrative, which would have been most diffuse. It is compact, historical statement-and the most ancient is the most compact-just where all other histories (so called) most abound in fable. Abram appears as the tenth in the list of patriarchs from Noah, and the third head of the human race, following Noah and Adam. So, also, Noah was tenth from Adam. And as there was a promise and a prophecy belonging to each of these former personages, so here, to Abram, the prophecy of Christ is further given and still more unfolded. The victory over the serpent promised to Adam was not yet achieved. So far from this, the Japhetic branch of the human family had departed from the true religion, and even the Semitic line had become corrupted by idolatry-contrary to the hopes held out to Noah in the blessing on his sons. It is out of this Semitic branch that Abram is now chosen, according to the intimation given to Noah in the blessing upon Shem. 'Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem-Japhet shall dwell in the tents of Shem," etc., (ch. 9 : 26, 27.) Abram is to be the head of a faithful line to be taken into covenant with God, and to be brought into possession of a land of promise, and there to be put in training for the blessing. See Notes, ch. 13:17. "The history of the Old Covenant," as Kurtz remarks, "begins with the strictest particularism, that is, with the selection of a particular individual and of his seed; but it immediately opens a view of the widely extended, or general plan of the salvation of all nations. The purpose and end of the election of Abram is the salvation of the whole world." There are six stages of the Covenant History: (1.) In the first stage it is that of a Family. (2.) In the second stage it is that of a Nation. (3.) In the third stage it is that of a Kingdom-with the institution of the royal and prophetical lines. (4.) In the fourth stage, the history is that of the nation's exile and return. (5.) The fifth stage is that of more immediate expectations, commencing with the cessation of prophecy. (6.) The sixth stage is that of the fulfilment, when the salvation is to bo exhibited in Jesus Christ. Here we are concerned with the first stage of the covenant historywhich is that of a family. The family encloses within itself, in all their original vigor, the germs and vital powers of the character, tendency and pursuits, which are gradually developed in the people. This is the childhood of the history of Israel, in which accordingly God appears as the tutor, advancing in his communications with the progress of the pupil. Hence, as Kurtz remarks, this period exceeds all others in the number of theophanies, or manifestations of God. It is now about four and a-quarter centuries since Jehovah's last communication to Noah, that He again speaks, here to Abram. 1. Now the Lord had said. More literally this may read, "The Lord said," and may refer to a call to leave Haran, and not to that which |