Genesis 11

¹Now the entire earth was of one language and uniform words.

²And it came to pass when they traveled from the east, that they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.

³And they said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks and fire them thoroughly’; so the bricks were to them for stones, and the clay was to them for mortar.

⁴And they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make ourselves a name, lest we be scattered upon the face of the entire earth.’

⁵And the Lord descended to see the city and the tower that the sons of man had built.

⁶And the Lord said, ‘Lo! [they are] one people, and they all have one language, and this is what they have commenced to do. Now, will it not be withheld from them, all that they have planned to do?

⁷Come, let us descend and confuse their language, so that one will not understand the language of his companion.’

⁸And the Lord scattered them from there upon the face of the entire earth, and they ceased building the city.

⁹Therefore, He named it Babel, for there the Lord confused the language of the entire earth, and from there the Lord scattered them upon the face of the entire earth.

¹⁰These are the generations of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old, and he begot Arpachshad, two years after the Flood.

¹¹And Shem lived after he had begotten Arpachshad five hundred years, and he begot sons and daughters.

¹²And Arpachshad lived thirty five years, and he begot Shelah.

¹³And Arpachshad lived after he had begotten Shelah four hundred and three years, and he begot sons and daughters.

¹⁴And Shelah lived thirty years, and he begot Eber.

¹⁵And Shelah lived after he had begotten Eber, four hundred and three years, and he begot sons and daughters.

¹⁶And Eber lived thirty four years, and he begot Peleg.

¹⁷And Eber lived after he had begotten Peleg, four hundred and thirty years, and he begot sons and daughters.

¹⁸And Peleg lived thirty years, and he begot Reu.

¹⁹And Peleg lived after he had begotten Reu, two hundred and nine years, and he begot sons and daughters.

²⁰And Reu lived thirty two years, and he begot Serug.

²¹And Reu lived after he had begotten Serug two hundred and seven years, and he begot sons and daughters.

²²And Serug lived thirty years, and he begot Nahor.

²³And Serug lived after he had begotten Nahor, two hundred years, and he begot sons and daughters.

²⁴And Nahor lived twenty nine years, and he begot Terah.

²⁵And Nahor lived after he had begotten Terah one hundred and nineteen years, and he begot sons and daughters.

²⁶And Terah lived seventy years, and he begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

²⁷And these are the generations of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran begot Lot.

²⁸And Haran died during the lifetime of Terah his father in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldees.

²⁹And Abram and Nahor took themselves wives; the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah.

³⁰And Sarai was barren; she had no child.

³¹And Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter in law, the wife of Abram his son, and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees to go to the land of Canaan, and they came as far as Haran and settled there.

³²And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.

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The Terah Age Problem

There is disagreement as to the age of Terah when he had Abram and whether Abram left Haran before or after Terah dies in Haran. All (except Samaritan Pentateuch) agree that i) Terah died in Haran, ii) at age 205, and that Abram was 75 when he left. The Hebrews interpret 11:26 ‘And Terah lived seventy years, and he begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran’ that Terah was 70 when he had Abram and that Abram left at age 75 without Terah then later retrieved his body when he died at age 205.  Ussher is firm, per Acts 7.4 Acts 7:4 (New Testament) ‘Then he [Abram] left the country of the Chaldeans [Ur] and settled in Haran. After his father [Terah] died, God had him move from there to this country [Canaan] in which you are now living.’, that Abram remained in Haran until Terah’s death at age 205 however Abram could not be 75 when he leaves, stay until Terah dies at age 205, if Terah was 70 when he had Abram (Abram would be 205-70=130 not 75). Ussher solves the age problem by assuming Terah was rather 130 years old when he had Abram so when Terah dies in Haran at age 205 and Abram leaves thereafter at age 75 the math works out (205-130=75). Ussher’s rational is that Terah can not be 70 when he has all three children unless Terah’s wife had triplets or Terah had three wives who all conceived at once. Ussher decided that Abram, although named first, was not the first of the three sons to be born, thereby placing Abram’s birth in Terah’s 130th year so that Abram can remain in Haran until his death. The Septuagint version states same as Masoretic text that Terah died at age 205 but the Samaritan Pentateuch lists his age at 145 allowing him to die before Abram leave at age 75 [145 - 70 =  75]. The summary of the different interpretations is below.

Table 1: Terah's Begetting Age and Death

Now in "keeping up with the patriarchs" from Abraham onward we need to consider two possible dates that differ by 60 years in AM counting, one based on Judaic, the other on Christian [James Ussher] interpretation and tradition as well as the different assigned dates for creation, one by James Ussher [Christian] which is 4004 BC and the Judaic tradition of 3761 BC.

Keeping up with the Patriarchs

- Abram is 70 years old
- Abram leaves Ur of Chaldees and arrives in Haran
- The Year is 2078 AM (Ussher) or 2018 AM (Hebrew)^a
- The Date is 1926 BC (Ussher) or 1743 BC (Hebrew)^b

^aAM and dates between Ussher and Hebrew differ by 60 years due to different proposed begetting age for Abram by Terah. Hebrew uses age 70 years per Genesis 11:26 whereras Ussher uses 130 years old.

^bUssher uses 4004 BC as date of creation whereas Hebrew or Judaic tradition the date used is 3761 BC (The Hebrew year count starts in year 3761 BCE, which the 12th-century Jewish philosopher Maimonides established as the biblical Date of Creation) thus conversion AM to BC: Current year BC = Date of creation in BC (Ussher or Hebrew) - AM (Ussher or Hebrew): Ussher date BC = 4004-2078 = 1926 BC and Hebrew date BC = 3761-2018 = 1743 BC when Abram is 70.

Interesting take-Away: in addition to Terah six patriarchs are still alive when Abraham leaves Haran for Canaan. Where were they living and what were their stories? The bible (canon) makes no more mention of these patriarchs after genesis 11 and their passing. Also if Shem still has 140 years of life left we can assume his brothers Ham and Japheth have similar longevity and thus are likely also alive living presumably in their respective nations they founded, see Table of Nations in supplemental materials. Shem would have lived in his nation of Canaan where Abram was heading.  Table 2 below summarizes the ages of the patriarchs when Abram would be 70 and leaves Ur.

Table 2: Living Patriarchs when Abraham was 70 years Old

Further analysis of Terah's age when he had Abraham has major impact on who he might have known thus buried or who had died before him thus he never knew. See below:

Major Take-Aways Table 2:  Only one can be true!

1) In Judaic tradition [Terah begets age 70] Abraham is 58 when Noah dies and thus must have known him well and possibly? Should have? buried him? OR in Christian tradition [Terah is 130] Noah dies 2 years before Abram is born thus never could know him.

Math: Noah born 1056 AM and dies at age 950 in 2006 AM. Ussher [Christian] Abram born in 2008 AM or 2 years after Noah dies [2006 - 2008 = -2]. In Hebrew tradition Abram born 1948 AM thus is 58 when Noah dies in 2006 AM [2006 – 1948 = 58].  

2) A "Christian" Abraham [Terah 130] did not know Peleg whereas a "Judaic" Abraham [Terah 70] is age 48 when Peleg died and thus knew him.

3) A "Christian" Abram [Terah 130] outlives Shem and is 148 when Shem dies. In "Judaic" case [Terah 70] Shem rather outlives Abraham by 33 years.

 Aram-Naharaim

Aram between (the) rivers’) is the biblical term for the ancient land of the Arameans referring to the region along the great bend of the Euphrates river. Aram-Naharaim is also mentioned as Nahrima of the Arameans in the El-Amarna letters. It is mentioned five times in the Old Testament. In Genesis, it is used interchangeably with Paddan Aram and Haran. Both the Septuagint and Flavius Josephus translate the name as Mesopotamia however the Hebrew term refers to a northern region within Mesopotamia (close to Haran).

Map showing Cities of Patriarchs

Compliments of the “The New Oxford Annotated Bible”