- Haran
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For the biblical place, Haran (Charan), see Haran (biblical place). For the ancient city in Upper Mesopotamia and presently a village in Şanlıurfa, Turkey, see Harran. For the village in Azerbaijan, see Haran, Azerbaijan.
Haran or Aran (Hebrew: הָרָן, Modern: Hārān [1]) is a figure in Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. (Genesis 11:27-32) Haran was born in Ur Kaśdim (Ur of the Chaldees), the son of Terah and thus a descendant of Shem. Haran's brothers were Abram/Abraham and Nahor. Haran fathered two daughters, Milcah and Iscah, and a son, Lot, who fled Sodom and Gomorrah and fathered the Edomites and Ammonites.
Haran died in Ur Kaśdim in the presence of his father Terah. After Haran's death, Terah took his son Abram, Abram's wife Sarai, and his grandson Lot with the intention of going to Canaan. But they stopped at Charan (or Haran) in the region of Paddan Aram or Aram Naharaim and settled there.[2] After Terah (aged 205) died in Haran, God again instructed Abram to depart. He was "seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran." (Genesis 12:4)
In the New Testament, Stephen says that their departure from Ur was in obedience to God's instruction, given to Terah's son Abram. (Acts 7:2-4)
Contents
Etymology
The name Haran possibly comes from the Hebrew word hr (mountain) with a West Semetic suffix appearing with proper names, anu/i/a.[3] Thus, it has been suggested that Haran may refer to "mountaineer".[4] Similar names associated with Haran are ha-ri and ha-ru that appear around the second millennium BC.[5] The name ha-ar-ri appears in the Mari and Alalakh texts, but none of their meanings have been deciphered.[6] The initial element of Haran can be found in the Phoenician personal name, hr-b’l and also in the Israelite personal name hryhw (Gibeon).[7]
Other biblical people
Haran is the name of two other people mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.
- Haran, son of Caleb (1Chronicles 2:46). His name's Hebrew spelling, however, is like that of Haran the place.
- Haran, son of Shimei (1Chronicles 23:1-9). He was a Levite who lived in the time of David and Solomon.
See also
- Ur Kaśdim
- Haran (biblical place)
References
- ^ Freedman, Meyers & Beck. Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible (ISBN 0802824005, ISBN 9780802824004), 2000, p.551)
- ^ Eerdmans dictionary, p. 997
- ^ D. Sivan, Grammatical Analysis and Glossary of the Northwest Semitic Vocables in Akkadian Texts of the 15th-13th C., BC from Canaan and Syria, 1984, p.97-98
- ^ A Dictionary of the Bible: Dealing with its Language, Vol. 1, 1899, p.301
- ^ D. Sivan, Grammatical Analysis of Northwest Semitic Vocables, p. 222
- ^ H. Huffmon, Amorite Personal Names in the Mari Archives: A Structrural and Lexical Study, 1965, p.204
- ^ Alexander & Baker. Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch, 2003, p. 380
Categories:- Torah people
- Abraham
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