The Descendants of Shem and Terah
The Descendants of Shem and Terah
Image by Patrisia Novianti from Pixabay
Shem to Abram
These are the descendants of Shem:
Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he fathered Arphaxad. After fathering Arphaxad, Shem lived another 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
Arphaxad lived 35 years, and then he fathered Shelah. After fathering Shelah, Arphaxad lived another 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
Shelah lived 30 years, and then he fathered Eber. After fathering Eber, Shelah lived another 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
Eber lived 34 years, and then he fathered Peleg. After fathering Peleg, Eber lived another 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
Peleg lived 30 years, and then he fathered Reu. After fathering Reu, Peleg lived another 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
Reu lived 32 years, and then he fathered Serug. After fathering Serug, Reu lived another 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
Serug lived 30 years, and then he fathered Nahor. After fathering Nahor, Serug lived another 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
Nahor lived 29 years, and then he fathered Terah. After fathering Terah, Nahor lived another 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
Terah lived 70 years, and then he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
Image by Peter Epler from Creation Swap
The division of the nations at Babylon leaves the narrative of Genesis on a cliffhanger. What happened to the line of the promised offspring? Did God forget his promise to Eve? Or will he fulfill it through one of the nations listed in chapter 10?
The story of Shem’s descendants, the second half of his genealogy, begins to answer these questions by following the line of Shem through Eber’s son Peleg, who may have been one of the builders of the tower.1 But that event did nothing to deter God’s purposes, and the chosen line continued until it reached Abram, Nahor, and Haran, the three sons of Terah (parallel to the three sons of Noah at the end of the list of Adam’s descendants in chapter 5).
Although the introduction of Terah and his sons marks the beginning of the patriarchal period of Israel’s history, this does not serve as a major division splitting Genesis into two parts, as is often assumed. It is merely the logical next step in the ongoing story of the promised offspring.
The universal focus of 10:1–11:9 serves to show that the defeat of the snake would benefit all of humanity, whether or not they are part of the chosen line. All are descendants of Adam and Eve. With humanity divided, the promised offspring could now come only as a member of one of the nations. But instead of choosing one of the existing nations, God would create a new one, one specially chosen for this purpose. And he would begin with Abram.
Terah’s Family
These are the descendants of Terah:
Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran, the father of Lot. Haran died in his homeland, Ur of the Chaldeans, while his father was still alive. Abram and Nahor both married. Abram married Sarai, and Nahor married Milcah, the daughter of Haran. Haran was the father of both Milcah and Iscah.
Image by Patrisia Novianti from Pixabay
The entire record of the life of Abram (Abraham) falls under the story of the descendants of Terah, Abram’s father.2 In fact, all three of Terah’s sons were ancestors of the Israelites and part of the line of the promised offspring. Isaac’s wife, Rebekah, was the granddaughter of Nahor and Milcah, Haran’s daughter.3 Jacob’s wives Leah and Rachel were their great-granddaughters.4
The introduction of Terah’s family initially reads like a mishmash of random, unrelated details. The family resided in Ur of the Chaldeans. Haran died there, leaving behind three children. Abram took in his nephew Lot, and Nahor took in and eventually married his niece Milcah. Afterward, Terah moved the family to Harran, where he died.5 Abram married Sarai, but she was barren, making Lot his presumptive heir.
The narrative that follows reveals the importance of each of these details. God gradually separated Abram from his home and from each member of his father’s family, including Lot. In doing so, he fulfilled his promise to make Abram into a new nation living under his blessing by miraculously overcoming Sarai’s barrenness to bring forth Abram’s true heir: his own son.
Nahor and Milcah
Nahor married Milcah, the daughter of Haran.
Image by Jacob Rank from Freely Photos
During the time of the patriarchs, marriage to a close relative, a custom called endogamy, was very common in the Near East.6 Nahor married his niece, Jacob married two of his cousins, and Isaac married his cousin’s daughter. When confronted for lying about Sarah to Abimelech, Abraham claimed she was his half-sister in addition to being his wife.7 While it’s not clear whether this was true or just a cover-up, it does illustrate the widespread acceptance of this practice at the time.
Although the law of Moses forbade such relationships, this later prohibition should not be imposed on those who did not have the law.8 God has every right to forbid what he previously permitted or to permit what he previously forbade.9 Indeed, early humanity could never have filled the earth had these laws been in effect. Nahor and Milcah’s marriage, though shocking to most modern readers, was neither unusual nor inappropriate. Rather, Nahor rightly took in and provided for the daughter of his deceased brother.
Barren
But Sarai had no children because she was barren.
Image by Ulrike Mai from Pixabay
Of all the details given in this brief family history, the note that Sarai was barren is probably the most important. It sets the stage for the next part of the history of the line of the promised offspring, beginning with Yahweh’s promise to make Abram into a great nation.
Barrenness is a heartbreaking tragedy in any culture, but in the ancient Near East, producing an heir was necessary to maintain inheritance rights, provide for elderly parents, and ensure they received proper burial.10 Barren women were considered cursed and endured great shame.11 Yahweh’s promise only amplified Abram and Sarai’s dilemma.
The rest of the story of Terah’s descendants revolves around the conflict between Yahweh’s promise and Sarai’s barrenness. The customs and laws of the time provided barren couples several options, including adoption (as with Lot) and surrogacy (as with Ishmael). But Yahweh rejected these human solutions, leaving open the question of how he would keep his promise when Abram and Sarai still had no children twenty-five years later. The line of the promised offspring miraculously survived the flood, but could it survive Sarai’s barren womb?
The Road to Canaan
Terah left Ur of the Chaldeans with his son Abram, his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram. They were headed toward Canaan, but when they arrived at Harran, they settled there. Terah died in Harran at the age of 205.
Image by Daniel Newman from Unsplash
Although Genesis does not mention Abram’s call until after covering the family’s move to Harran, the call originally occurred in Ur.12 The trip to Harran was the first stage of Abram’s journey of obedience. For this reason, some commentators criticize Terah for stopping short of Canaan and settling in Harran instead.13 But this ignores the fact that Abram also settled in Harran until after his father died. Although Canaan was the final destination, Terah and Abram didn’t know that.14 Yahweh told Abram to “go to the land I will show you” without specifying where that was.15
God never commanded Terah to go to Canaan, but he did command Abram to leave his father’s household. Terah could not go with him. Scripture never explains why the family stopped in Harran. God may have led Abram to go there and wait. Or maybe some life circumstance, like a decline in Terah’s health, forced them to stop. Whatever the reason, God used their time in Harran to separate Abram from both his father and his only surviving brother.16
- Genesis 10:25; see The Sons of Shem.
- Genesis 11:27–25:11.
- Genesis 24:24.
- Genesis 28:2; 29:16.
- The similarity between the names Haran and Harran is coincidental. They are not spelled the same in Hebrew.
- Neeley, Translator’s Notes, Gen. 11:29c; Constable, Genesis, 187; Reyburn and Fry, Handbook on Genesis, 267–268; Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 273.
- Genesis 20:12.
- Leviticus 18:6–18; 20:11–14.
- See A New Reality.
- Walton, “Genesis,” 67–68; Walton, Matthews, and Chavalas, Bible Background Commentary, Genesis 11:30; Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 273.
- See Genesis 16:4–5; 30:1–2; 1 Samuel 1:5–7.
- Genesis 15:7, Nehemiah 9:7; Acts 7:4.
- Kidner, Genesis, 120; Schnittjer, Torah Story, 106.
- Hebrews 11:8.
- Genesis 12:1.
- Although Genesis 11:31 does not mention Nahor and Milcah, 27:43, 28:10, and 29:4 imply that they also moved to Harran and then stayed there after Terah died and Abram left.