Terah

From BibleWiki

Meaning: the wanderer; loiterer

For some unknown reason emigrated with his family from his native mountains in the north to the plains of Mesopotamia. He settled in "Ur of the Chaldees," where his son Haran died, leaving behind him his son Lot. Nahor settled at Haran, a place on the way to Ur. Terah afterwards migrated with Abraham (probably his youngest son) and Lot (his grandson), together with their families, from Ur, intending to go with them to Canaan; but he tarried at Haran, where he spent the remainder of his days, and died at the age of two hundred and five years (Gen 11:24; Josh 24:2).

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Genealogy

Son of Nahor (son of Serug).

He had three sons, Haran, Nahor, and Abraham, and one daughter, Sarah.

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Idolatry

According to Joshua's remarks at the assembly of the Israelites at Shechem, he was an idolater (Josh 24:2). According to the Midrash (Gen. R. 38.), Terah, in addition to being an idolater himself, made and sold idols; and during his absence he compelled Abraham to act as a merchant for him. The "Sefer ha-Yashar" (ed. Leghorn, 1876, pp. 14b et seq.) regards him as a great general of Nimrod, whom he accompanied on all his campaigns. Angry at Abraham for the destruction of his idols, Terah accused his son before Nimrod, who condemned him to be burned to death. Thereupon Abraham persuaded his father to emigrate to Canaan. See (Abraham in Apocryphal and Rabbinical Literature).

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Etymology

Modern exegetes do not agree as to the etymology of the name "Terah," some identifying it with the Assyrian "turahu" (wild goat), with which the name of the Mesopotamian town Til-sha-turakhi might be compared, while others suppose it to be identical with the Syriac "taṛḥa." Recently the name "Terah" has been regarded as a mutilation of "yeraḥ" (moon); in this case it would refer to a mythological person.