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In Genesis, Haran dies in Ur of the Chaldeans before his father Terah. Rabbinic tradition in Genesis Rabbah adds a backstory in which Abraham smashes his father Terah’s idols and Haran perishes in the fiery furnace Nimrod prepares for Abraham.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Genesis 11:28
Hebrew Bible
27 This is the account of Terah.Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. 28 Haran died in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans, while his father Terah was still alive. 29 And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai. And the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, who was the father of both Milcah and Iscah.
Genesis Rabbah 38:14
Aggadah
Rabbinic
[Genesis 11:28 says,] “And Haran died in the presence of his father Terach.” Rabbi Hiyya said: Terach was a manufacturer of idols. He once went away somewhere and left Abraham to sell them in his place. A man came in and wished to buy one. ‘How old are you?’ Abraham asked the man. ‘Fifty years old,’ he said. ‘Woe to such a man, who is fifty years old and would worship a day-old object!’ Avraham said. On another occasion, a woman came in with a plateful of flour and requested him, ‘Take this and offer it to them.’ So he took a stick and broke them, and put the stick in the hand of the largest. When his father returned, he demanded, ‘What have you done to them?’ ‘I cannot conceal it from you. A woman came with a plateful of fine meal and requested me to offer it to them. One claimed, “I must eat first,” while another claimed, “I must eat first.” Thereupon, the largest arose, took the stick, and broke them.’ ‘Why do you make sport of me? Have they any knowledge?’ Terach said. ‘Should not your ears hear what your mouth has said?’ Avraham said. Thereupon Terach seized him and delivered him to Nimrod. ‘Let us worship fire,’ Nimrod said. ‘Let us rather worship water which quenches fire,’ Avraham said. ‘Let us worship water,’ Nimrod said. ‘Let us rather worship the clouds which bear the water,’ Avraham said. ‘Let us then worship the clouds,’ Nimrod said. ‘Let us worship the wind which disperses the clouds,’ Avraham said. ‘Let us worship the wind,’ Nimrod said. ‘Let us worship human beings which can stand up to the wind,’ Avraham said. ‘You are just bandying words, and we will worship nothing but the fire. Behold, I will cast you into it, and let your God whom you adore come and save you from it!’ Nimrod said. Now Haran was standing there undecided. ‘If Avraham is victorious, I will say that I am of Avraham’s belief, while if Nimrod is victorious, I will say that I am on Nimrod’s side,’ he thought. When Avraham descended into the fiery furnace and was saved, Nimrod asked him, ‘Of whose belief are you?’ ‘Of Avraham’s,’ he replied. Thereupon he seized him and cast him into the fire; his innards were scorched and he died in the presence of his father. Hence it is written, ‘And Haran died in the presence of his father Terach.’
Date: 500 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
... father and brother serving other gods explained not only why Abraham ended up being the one to whom God promised great things in Genesis 12, but also how it was that Abraham came to know that there is only one God in the first place and that all the “other gods” are simply false. Now, elsewhere in the Bible the worship of “other gods” is frequently described—caricatured, one might say—as bowing down to “gods of wood and stone,” that is, idols, mere human creations. And so, ancient interpreters and retellers of the story of Abraham enjoyed depicting at length Terah’s ministering and tending to such idols. Terah became not just an idol worshiper, but a priest of idolatry, or a manufacturer or seller of idols. With such a father, Abraham must in his youth have gotten a close-up view of the folly of worshiping idols, and it was this exposure that might ultimately have led him to realize that these “other gods” are simply an illusion ...
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