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27 This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot. 28 And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, 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 took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. 32 So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran. ~ Genesis 11:27-32
Today, we conclude our study of Genesis 11. In this set of verses, Moses finishes the genealogy of Terah. This genealogy is the sixth that the Bible has given us – the generations of the heavens and the earth; the generations of Adam; the generations of Noah; the generations of the sons of Noah; the generations of Shem, and now those of Terah.
Terah was not a believer in the God of the Bible. According to Joshua 24:2 Terah worshipped other gods. So, these three boys, Abram, Nahor, and Haran were born into an unbelieving family. Their family was influenced strongly by the astrology of Babel, they worshiped the moon god. Since the name Terah comes from the Hebrew the word for moon, he was named after the moon god by his father Nahor.
In v.27 of today's passage we read, "This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot."
Here we have Terah and his sons listed. And then, right after that, it says, “Haran begot Lot.” Although Lot is not Terah's son, he is his brother's son, he is mentioned because he will show up again later in the narrative, in a significant way. This is why the Lord chose to mention his name here. And, as we have seen before, when God in a seemingly random way, mentions someone out of their place, it means their involvement is the narrative will be somewhat significant.
In v.28 of today's passage we read, "And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans."
Haran, the older brother of Abram, died in Ur of the Chaldeans before the family left town. The death of Abram's older brother was big for the development of Abram's faith in the God of the Bible, as we will see. I have learned that when something awful happens in our lives, God is always there to use that awful experience to draw us closer to Himself. For me, it was through the death of my dad that I first trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior. As we will see, God undoubtedly used the death of Abram's brother and his dad to introduce Himself to Abram.
In v.29 of today's passage we read, "Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah."
The two remaining sons of Terah both married: Abram married his half sister Sarai. We learn later in Genesis that she was the daughter of his father Terah, but they had a different mother, meaning Terah had more than one wife. Nahor, on the other hand, married the daughter of his oldest brother Haran. And then we have another daughter of Haran mentioned, Iscah. And, as we have seen many times before, when a person is mentioned like this in the Bible, even if it’s only once, their name will be important to something else that will yet be born out in the future.
In v.30 of today's passage we read, "But Sarai was barren; she had no child."
Sarai's barrenness impacted the course of human history in enormous ways and it continues to do so to this day. Sarai is the first person mentioned in the Bible who is barren, but there will be many more in the pages of the Bible. When a statement like this is made in the Bible, an incredible story awaits to unfold that blows the minds of it readers.
In v.31 of today's passage we read, "And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there."
On their trek to Canaan, they stopped in a place called Haran. Terah their father knew he couldn’t go on, maybe because he was just too old. Instead of going any further, it seems they established a home in the land and called it Haran after their dead son and brother. Abram didn’t leave Haran until Terah died.
In v.32 of today's passage we read, "So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran."
Terah was born in the year 1879 and he had his son Abram in the year 2009. Terah died and Abram was called to move to the land of Canaan in the year 2084. Terah was 205 years old at his death and he is the last person to live over 200 years of age and believe it or not Shem is still alive at this point. All of these dates and times underscore the veracity of this unfolding story. And, it is yet another reminder that God works in the lives of real, fallible people so that His purposes might come to a sure and purposeful fruition.
Learning to trust Him and subsequently follow Him is our responsibility as we go through what God has planned for us. The beauty of it all is that God will always meet us where we are and He will always work out a tapestry that we could have never imagined. Through it all, He takes us to places that we never would have intended to go in order to produce in us what we could not achieve on our own. When we go through the trials of this life, we must see them as sure signs of the goodness of God shown in and through our yielded lives. Even though these trials are most often unwanted, through them we gain the ability to see Him with our hearts and to see life through His eyes. Even the trials that we face are mile markers along the road that are leading us to the greatest life that we could have ever imagined.
