Now these are the generations of Terach. Terach caused to bring forth @Avräm, Nächôr, and Häran, and Häran caused to bring forth Lôt. # Now Härän died in the presence of Terach his father in the land of his birth, in @Ûr Käsdîm. # Then @Avräm and Nächôr took wives to themselves: the name of the wife of @Avräm [was] Säray and the name of the wife of Nächôr [was] Milkäh, the daughter of Härän, the father of Milkäh and the father of Yiskäh. # (Genesis 11.25-27, dmd translation)
The Traditional Interpretation
| Chart 1: Traditional Interpretation of Terah’s Family | ||||
| Nahor | ||||
| | | ||||
| Terah | ||||
| | | ||||
| | | | | | | ||
| Haran | Abram | Nahor | ||
| | | | | | | ||
| Lot | Milcah | Iscaah | ||
In the traditional interpretation of these verses, Härän the son of Terach had three children: Lôt, Milkäh, and Yiskäh. The Härän recorded in v26 as the father of Lôt is seen as the same Härän recorded in v27 as the father of Milkäh and Yiskäh. Both Jewish and Christian sources agree on this interpretation. Yet, I always thought it was odd Scripture did not record Härän's children in the same sentence (as it does with other siblings) but rather separated them. Now I had accepted the traditional interpretation, but then, I ran across an alternate interpretation, postulated by Dr. Arthur C. Custance, which I found quite plausible. An Alternate Interpretation
Dr. Custance, in Hidden Things in God's Revelation,(1) argues for an interpretation based on the kinship and marriage customs of @Avräm's day, including Levirate marriage, parallel cousin marriages, and fond nicknames. He interprets the text in light of how the people at the time the events took place would have understood the information, instead of how we interpret the text based on a completely different culture over 3,000 years later. The following paragraphs summarize Dr. Custance's evidence.
Scholars agree 'Levirate marriage' (a man marries his deceased brother's wife to provide protection for her and her children) was a common custom in the Ancient Near East.(2) In a Levirate marriage, the deceased brother's children not yet old enough to marry become the living brother's legal children and the legal siblings of his own children. This practice is described in the Bible (Deuteronomy 25.5-10, Matthew 22.23-28) Another common custom of the day in patriarchal societies was what anthropologists call 'parallel cousin' marriages,(3) where one's father's brother's children were one's parallel cousins and one's mother's brother's children were one's cross-cousins. The most desireable marriage was a father's brother's child. Furthermore, if there were several parallel cousins, then the eldest son of one brother was expected to marry the daughter of the other brother closest to him in age and on down the line. A custom recorded in the love stories of many Arab tribes even today is a man calling his father's brother's daughter, his 'princess.',(4) Given 'Säräy' means 'my princess,' @Avräm likely called the cousin he was expected to marry 'my princess' or 'Säräy,' but, according to Jewish tradition(5), tradition,(5) Säräy's given name was 'Yiskäh.'
Taking these customs into consideration, along with the statement in Genesis 11.23 that Terach's father Nächôr had other sons and daughters, Dr. Custance interprets the Härän of v27 (the father of Milkäh and Yiskäh) as the brother of Terach.(6) Dr. Custance postulates Härän died before his brother Terach with his daughters too young for marriage. Terach then took on the expected duty of caring for his deceased brother's wife and daughters, Milkäh and Yiskäh. The two girls became the legal sisters of his own sons, @Avräm and Nächôr, but not the daughters of the boys' mother. Eventually, @Avräm and Nächôr made the parallel cousin marriages to their cousin/sisters expected of them. (father's brother's daughters)
| Chart 2: Alternative Interpretation of Terah’s Family | ||||
| Nahor | ||||
| | | | | |||
| Terah | Haran | |||
| | | | | | | | | | |
| Haran | Abram | Nachor | Iscaah | Milkah |
| | | ||||
| Lot | ||||
Why do I find Dr. Custance's alternate interpretation plausible? Because it explains so much. (1) @Avräm's 'Sister' It explains how @Avräm could have married his 'sister' when YHWH so strongly prohibited sibling marriages in His law 430 years later. I always wondered about that. YHWH doesn't change. If sibling marriages were forbidden by Him in the Mosaic law, then they would also have not been pleasing to Him 430 years earlier either. @Avräm did not marry his half-sister but rather his first cousin, the daughter of his father's brother. However, in the societal norms of the day, because of Terach's Levirate marriage to his deceased brother's widow. Säräy was also his 'sister,' the daughter of his father but not of his mother. So, @Avrähäm's statement to @Ábîmelekh: king of Gerär in Genesis 20.12 that Säräh was his sister, the daughter of his father but not of his mother, was true. But today, 3,900 years later, not being from the Ancient Near East culture. we misunderstand what @Avräm meant. @Avrähäm's father, Terach, was not Säräy's birth father, but rather her uncle who 'adopted' her upon the death of her father (his brother) Härän. Säräh was not @Avrähäm's blood half-sister, and their relationship was consistent with YHWH's later law.(7) (2) Lôt, the child of Härän son of Terach It explains why Lôt, Milkäh, and Yiskäh are not listed together as the children of Härän son of Terach. Scripture lists only Lôt as Terach's grandchild because only Lôt was Terach's grandchild. Milkäh and Yiskäh were the daughters of another Härän.
Addendum In working on understanding the sequencing of events surrounding @Avräm's call (q.v), Rûãch @Élöhîm showed me something else about the structure of the section on the generations of Terach (Genesis 11:25-32): The author/editor completed the information on one son before moving on to the other sons. In other words, the writing structure itself indicates that Yiskäh and Milkäh not being mentioned along with Lôt as the children of Härän son of Terach means they were not the daughters of Härän son of Terach but rather they were the daughters of a different Härän.
(3) Säräy renamed Säräh It explains why YHWH renamed Säräy (my princess) with basically the same name, Säräh (princess). Säräh was no longer just @Avrähäm's princess but now she was a princess who would be the mother of nations and kings. Jewish tradition(8) holds that Säräh's birth name Yiskäh (to watch, be observant) refers to her role as a prophetess. (4) The Wives It explains why the names and geneaology of @Avräm and Nächôr's wives are given in v.27. @Avräm and Nächôr made the most desirable marriages possible in that Ancient Near East culture: parallel cousin marriages. (9), (10) It was important to establish that information by documenting who Milkäh and Yiskäh's father was: Härän, the brother of Terach, after whom Terach apparently named his eldest son.(11) (5) Two Häräns It also explains the last phrase in v27.
. . . the name of the wife of @Avräm [was] Säray and the name of the wife of Nächôr [was] Milkäh the daughter of Härän, the father of Milkäh and the father of Yiskäh.
The sentence could legitimately end with "Milkäh the daughter of Härän."
The phrase, "the father of Milkäh and the father of Yiskäh," is not necessary
with respect to Milkäh
because she was just identified as the daughter of Härän.
The name Yiskäh does not appear anywhere else
and its inclusion raises the question of why the name was included at all.
But Säräy as Yiskäh answers that question.
It was important to establish Säräy also as a daughter of Härän
and a parallel cousin of @Avräm's.
This phrase seems to relate more to identifying who Härän was,
as if he could have been confused with someone else mentioned earlier,
like Härän the father of Lôt.
This Härän was the father of Milkäh and the father of Yiskäh
but not, apparently, the father of Lôt,
since Lôt was not mentioned as one of his children.
However, even if this Härän was not the same person as Härän the son of Terach,
that alone does not mean he was the brother of Terach.
That is a deduction Dr. Custance made in the context of the other factors he considered in reaching his conclusion.
But again, I think Dr. Custance's hypothesis makes sense within the context of Scripture and Ancient Near East familial relationships.
When might the knowledge there were two different Häräns in this passage gotten lost?
I don't know,
but the author of Jubilees seems unaware of it.
Scholars date Jubilees to the second century B.C. (12)
This understanding might have been forgotten as early as the years in Egypt
or as late as the Babylonian captivity.
However, if Dr. Custance's deductions are correct,
this knowledge was forgotten at some point in time,
and @Avrähäm's and Säräh's true blood relationship misunderstood for something it was not.
Conclusion
While the commentators I read on the Mitzräyim and Gerär incidents,
in which @Avräm passed Säräy off as his sister,
do not question that Säräy was genuinely @Avräm's half-sister,
I think Dr. Custance has really hit on something here.
While @Avräm's motives were self-protective and not honorable,
@Avräm was actually telling the truth,
or at least half of it.
My interest here is not @Avräm's behavior
but rather clarifying Scripture in light of the customs of the day.
Dr. Custance's hypothesis answers my questions about this Genesis 11 passage
and @Avräm and Säräy's blood relationship,
which the mainstream interpretation does not answer.
I hope others find this explanation helpful too.
FOOTNOTES (1) Custance, Arthur C. Hidden Things in God's Revelation, Part IV, Chapter 1 "Of Abraham and his Princess,"1977, 2001 2nd ed online, 27p. Return (2) Ibid, p.6. Return (3) Ibid, p.7. Return (4) Custance, p. 7 Return (5) "Sarah," Jewish Encyclopeida Online, http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13194-sarah-sarai Return (6) Custance, p. 7 Return (7) Consider the case of Tseläphechädh during the time of Möshëh who had only daughters and no sons. YHWH commanded the daughters to marry within their father's tribe in order to secure their father's inheritance to the tribe; they married their father's brother's sons.
"For Machläh, Thirtsäh, and Chägheläh, and Milkäh, and Nöøäh, Tseläphechädh's daughters, were for wives to their father's brothers' sons." (Numbers 36.11) Return
(8) "Sarah," Jewish Encyclopeida Online, http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13194-sarah-sarai Return (9) Voinov,Vitaly. "Observations of Old Testament Kinship Relations and Terminology." https://ibtrussia.academia.edu/VitalyVoinov Return (10) Even the Book of Jubilees documents the importance of the father's brother's daughter marriage. While I consider Jubilees dubious as accurate history, that the author recorded six of the ten Genesis 5 generations men as marrying their father's brother's daughters, and three of the ten Genesis 10 generations men doing the same and one marrying his father's sister's daughter, demonstrates the importance of the parallel/cross cousin marriages, even as late as the second century B.C. Return (11) Terach named his youngest son after his own father, Nächôr. Jubilees says his wife named @Avräm after her father who died before @Avräm was born. From this I conclude, Terach might have made a practice of naming his children after his relatives. Return (12) International Standard Bible Encylopedia, "Apocryphal Literature," p.157 Return Return to blog post Return to Side Trips Menu
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