Genesis 11:27-32

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 11:27-32

Here begins the story of Abram, whose name is famous, henceforward, in both Testaments. We have here, I. His country: Ur of the Chaldees. This was the land of his nativity, an idolatrous country, where even the children of Eber themselves had degenerated. Note, Those who are, through grace, heirs of the land of promise, ought to remember what was the land of their nativity, what was their corrupt and sinful state by nature, the rock out of which they were hewn. II. His relations, mentioned for... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 11:27

Now these are the generations of Terah ,.... Or the genealogy of his posterity, which is a very short one; for it only gives an account of his three sons as before: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran : and of three grand children, Lot, Milcah, and Iscah, the children of Haran; and chiefly for the sake of Abram it is given, and indeed the above genealogy of Shem, which ends with him; and of whom and whose posterity the remaining part of this book of Genesis treats: and Haran begat Lot... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 11:28

And Haran died before his father Terah ,.... In his father's presence, before his face, in his life time, as Jarchi; he seeing him, as Aben Ezra: it does not so much respect the time of his death, that it was before his father, though that is true, as the place where he died, his father being present there at the time this was: in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees ; Ur, which Ben Melech renders a valley, was the place of his birth, as it was of Abram's; it was in... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 11:29

And Abram and Nahor took them wives ,.... Very probably after the death of their elder brother Haran, whose daughters they married, at least one of them did, and some think both: the name of Abraham's wife was Sarai : it is not said whose daughter she was, unless she is the same with Iscah, the daughter of Haran, and so had two names, Iscah her name before marriage, Sarai after it, Abram calling her "my mistress", as "Sarai" signifies, as she called him my lord: so the Targum of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 11:30

But Sarai was barren; she had no child. Aben Ezra observes, there are some that say that Abraham was impotent, and not Sarai barren; the very reverse of the Scriptures; but as he rightly adds, his son Ishmael and his sons by Keturah show the contrary, see Genesis 15:2 . read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 11:31

And Terah 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 ,.... Many words are made use of in describing Lot and Sarai, and yet still we are left pretty much in the dark who Sarai was; for, as Aben Ezra observes, if she was the sister of Abram and daughter of Terah, the Scripture would have said, Terah took Abram his son and Sarai his daughter, and wife of Abram; and if she was the sister of Lot, it would have said, and Sarai... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 11:32

And the days of Terah were two hundred years ,.... His days are summed up as none of the rest are in this genealogy, that it might be observed; his death being the time of Abram's leaving Chaldea and coming into the land of Canaan, given to him and his seed for an inheritance; see Acts 7:4 . and Terah died in Haran : the Arabic historian F19 Elmaaciuns, ut supra. (p. 31. apud Hottinger. p. 282.) says, he died in Haran in the month Elul, in the year of his age two hundred and... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 11:29

Milcah, the daughter of Haran - Many suppose Sarai and Iscah are the same person under two different names; but this is improbable, as Iscah is expressly said to be the daughter of Haran, and Sarai was the daughter of Terah, and half sister of Abram. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 11:31

They went forth - front Ur of the Chaldees - Chaldea is sometimes understood as comprising the whole of Babylonia; at other times, that province towards Arabia Deserta, called in Scripture The land of the Chaldeans. The capital of this place was Babylon, called in Scripture The beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, Isaiah 13:19 . Ur appears to have been a city of some considerable consequence at that time in Chaldea; but where situated is not well known. It probably had its name Ur אור ,... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 11:27

Verse 27 27.Terah begat Abram. Here also Abram is placed first among his brethren, not (as I suppose) because he was the firstborn; but because Moses, intent on the scope of his history, was not very careful in the arrangement of the sons of Terah. It is also possible that he had other sons. For, the reason why Moses speaks especially of them is obvious; namely, on account of Lot, and of the wives of Isaac and Jacob. I will now briefly state why I think Abram was not the first born. Moses... read more

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