Haran

Haran is a place on the long road of Abram’s family. Terah led them out of Ur of the Chaldees, “and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there” (Genesis 11:31). Years later Abram left it, seventy-five years old, because the LORD had spoken to him. The name returns when Rebekah sends Jacob to her brother Laban at Haran to escape Esau’s anger. Joshua and Isaiah mention it too, once as a town a conquering king had destroyed. It is a waypoint rather than a destination, a stop where lives were lived before the next step of the promise.

8 verses

Genesis

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; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.

Genesis 12:4

So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.

Genesis 12:5

And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.

Genesis 27:43

Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; and arise, flee thou to Laban my brother to Haran;

Genesis 28:7

And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padanaram;

Joshua

Joshua 24:2

And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods.

Joshua 24:14

Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.

Isaiah

Isaiah 37:12

Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar?

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

(1.) Heb. haran; i.e., “mountaineer.” The eldest son of Terah, brother of Abraham and Nahor, and father of Lot, Milcah, and Iscah. He died before his father (Gen. 11:27), in Ur of the Chaldees.

(2.) Heb. haran, i.e., “parched;” or probably from the Accadian charana, meaning “a road.” A celebrated city of Western Asia, now Harran, where Abram remained, after he left Ur of the Chaldees, till his father Terah died (Gen. 11:31, 32), when he continued his journey into the land of Canaan. It is called “Charran” in the LXX. and in Acts 7:2. It is called the “city of Nahor” (Gen. 24:10), and Jacob resided here with Laban (30:43). It stood on the river Belik, an affluent of the Euphrates, about 70 miles above where it joins that river in Upper Mesopotamia or Padan-aram, and about 600 miles northwest of Ur in a direct line. It was on the caravan route between the east and west. It is afterwards mentioned among the towns taken by the king of Assyria (2 Kings 19:12; Isa. 37:12). It was known to the Greeks and Romans under the name Carrhae.

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(3.) The son of Caleb of Judah (1 Chr. 2:46) by his concubine Ephah.

From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

(a mountaineer).

(1.) The third son of Terah, and therefore youngest brother of Abram. (Genesis 11:26) (B.C. 1926.) Three children are ascribed to him --Lot, vs. (Genesis 11:27,31) and two daughters, viz., Milcah, who married her uncle Nahor, ver. (Genesis 11:29) and Iscah. ver. (Genesis 11:29) Haran was born in Ur of the Chaldees, and he died there while his father was still living. ver. (Genesis 11:28)

(2.) A Gershonite Levite in the time of David, one of the family of Shimei. (1 Chronicles 23:9)

(3.) A son of the great Caleb by his concubine Ephah. (1 Chronicles 2:46)

(4.) HARAN or CHARRAN, (Acts 7:2,4) name of the place whither Abraham migrated with his family from Ur of the Chaldees, and where the descendants of his brother Nahor established themselves. Comp. (Genesis 24:10) with Genesis27:43 It is said to be in Mesopotamia, (Genesis 24:10) or more definitely in Padan-aram, ch. (Genesis 25:20) the cultivated district at the foot of the hills, a name well applying to the beautiful stretch of country which lies below Mount Masius between the Khabour and the Euphrates. Here, about midway in this district, is a small village still called Harran . It was celebrated among the Romans, under the name of Charrae, as the scene of the defeat of Crassus.