Haran

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the Bible, Haran is the name of a man and of a place. Though usually spelled identically in English, they are not in Hebrew.

Genesis records that Haran (Hebrew: הָרָן) was born and died in Ur of the Chaldees. He was a son of Terah and brother of Nahor and Abram (later Abraham). He was the father of Lot, Milcah, and Iscah (Genesis 11:27, 29).

According to Genesis, sometime after Haran's death Terah set out with Abram, Abram's wife Sarai, and Lot towards Canaan, along the way settling in the place called Haran (also spelled Harran, Charan, and Charran; Hebrew: חָרָן). After the death of Terah in Haran (also related in Acts 7:4), Abram, Sarai and Lot continued on to (southern) Canaan, current-day Israel. The city of Harran, in modern southern Turkey (32 km/20 mi southeast of Şanlıurfa, formerly Edessa) near the border with Syria, is probably the Haran of the Biblical accounts.

[edit] References

• E. M. Blaiklock and R. K. Harrison, eds. The New International Dictionary of Biblical Archaeology. (Zondervan, 1983):228.