Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“Terah took Abram his son, Lot the son of Haran, his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife. They went from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. They came to Haran and lived there. The days of Terah were two hundred five years. Terah died in Haran.”
(Genesis 11:31-32)

Most sons living at home and about to do something life-changing will talk it over with their parents. It seems likely that Abram did just that. Acts 7:2-3 tells us that God spoke to Abram BEFORE Abram left Mesopotamia. I think it likely that Terah didn’t want to break up the team, as it were, and he came with Abram as far as Haran and stopped there. Abram, being an obedient son and probably loving his family, allowed it – even though we know that it was not entirely what God said for him to do. Abram struggled to obey God wholly/perfectly throughout his life, but he never lost his trust in God and steadily improved throughout his life and ended life as a man with a GIANT trust in the Lord. The only one who stayed behind was Nahor, Terah’s son. Terah didn’t go all the way to where Abram was told to go. He went as far as Haran and the whole family stopped there, presumably to recover (it was NOT a simple journey – see Steinsaltz below).

Shem lived seventy-five years longer than Terah, who died at 205 years old. Arphaxad, Salah, and Eber also outlived Terah. On the other side of the age coin, Terah outlived Nahor (his father, not his son), Serug, Reu, and Peleg. Terah lived in Haran about 62 years before he died – without Abram, since Abram was about to continue his journey alone (well, with Lot and Sarai, but not the rest of the family).

The sage Ramban writes: ‘AND THEY WENT FORTH WITH THEM FROM UR OF THE CHALDEES. Because Abram was more important than his father and those that followed his counsel and for whose sake they went, Scripture says, And they went forth, [rather than “he went forth”] even though it says at the beginning of the verse, And Terah took. Lot and Sarai, however, went with them to the land of Canaan on account of Abram, for even after Abram separated from his father they went along with him.’

The sage Malbim writes: ‘To go to the land of Canaan. However, once they arrived in Charan, which was outside of Nimrod’s domain, they settled there. Providence prevented Terach from continuing on so that Avraham could separate himself from his father’s idol-worshipping household and so that only Avraham would receive Hashem’s blessing and the promise of the land.’

The sage Or HaChaim writes: ‘ויקח תרח את אברם בנו. Terach took his son Abram, etc. We must understand this verse as an extension of a popular proverb quoted by Baba Metzia 75, that if someone experiences bad luck in one location and he does not move to another location he only has himself to blame if his bad luck continues. When Terach realised that his son Abram did not beget children in Ur Casdim he left in the direction of the land of Canaan to see if his luck would improve. The Torah shows us that Abraham was so important in the eyes of the other members of his father’s household that they all joined in the migration in order to stay close to him. This is why the Torah adds the words ויצאו אתם, “they emigrated with them (Abraham and Sarah).”‘

The Torah: A Women’s Commentary writes: ‘his daughter-in-law Sarai, The Hebrew actually adds also “wife of Abram.” This double mention of Sarai’s identity emphasizes her role in the family and prepares the reader for her continued prominence in the stories that follow.’

The sage Steinsaltz writes: ‘Terah took Abram his son, and Lot, son of Haran, the son of his son, and Sarai, his daughter-in-law, the wife of his son Abram, and they departed with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. It is not at all clear why they left Ur of the Chaldeans, which is probably located in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq, to go to the land of Canaan, which was very far away. Even as the crow flies, this is a huge distance, about 1,000 km. Furthermore, between the two locations lies the Syrian Desert, which can be crossed only in large convoys and after special preparation. In order to reach Canaan, one would have to turn north and come close to the Euphrates River in northern Syria. And they came until Haran, and settled there for the time being, despite the fact that it was not in Canaan.’