Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah caused to bring forth Abram, Nachor, and Haran, and Haran caused to bring forth Lot. # Now Härän died in the presence of Terah his father in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldees. Then Abram and Nachor took wives to themselves: the name of the wife of Abram [was] Sarai and the name of the wife of Nahor [was] Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milkah and the father of Iscaah. # (Genesis 11.25-27, dmd translation)
The Traditional Interpretation
| Chart 1: Traditional Interpretation of Terah’s Family | ||||
| Nahor | ||||
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| Terah | ||||
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| | | | | | | ||
| Haran | Abram | Nahor | ||
| | | | | | | ||
| Lot | Milcah | Iscaah | ||
In the traditional interpretation of these verses, Haran the son of Terach had three children: Lot, Milkah, and Iscaah. The Haran recorded in v26 as the father of Lot is seen as the same Haran recorded in v27 as the father of Milcah and Iscaah. Both Jewish and Christian sources agree on this interpretation. Yet, it seems odd that Scripture did not record Haran's children in the same sentence (as it does with other siblings) but rather separated them. However, there is a plausible alternate interpretation, postulated by Dr. Arthur C. Custance. 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 Abram'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 3,900 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 'Saraiy' means 'my princess,' Abram likely called the cousin he was expected to marry 'my princess' or 'Sarai,' but, according to Jewish tradition(5), tradition,(5) Sarai's given name was 'Iscaah.'
Taking these customs into consideration, along with the statement in Genesis 11.23 that Terah's father Nahor had other sons and daughters, Dr. Custance interprets the Haran of v27 (the father of Milcah and Iscaah) as the brother of Terah.(6) Dr. Custance postulates Haran died before his brother Terah with his daughters too young for marriage. Terah then took on the expected duty of caring for his deceased brother's wife and his daughters, Milcah and Iscaah. The two girls became the legal sisters of his own sons, Abram and Nahor, but not the daughters of the boys' mother. Eventually, Abram and Nahor 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 is Dr. Custance's alternate interpretation plausible? Because it explains so much. (1) Abram's 'Sister' It explains how Abram could have married his 'sister' when YHWH so strongly prohibited sibling marriages in His law 430 years later. YHWH doesn't change. If sibling marriages were forbidden by Him in the Mosaic law, then they would not have been pleasing to Him 430 years earlier either. Abram 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 Terah's Levirate marriage to his deceased brother's widow, Sarai was also his 'sister,' the daughter of his father but not of his mother. So, Abraham's statement to Abimelech king of Gerar in Genesis 20.12 that Sarah 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 Abram meant. Abram's father, Terah, was not Sarai's birth father, but rather her uncle who 'adopted' her upon the death of her father (his brother) Haran. Sarah was not Abraham's blood half-sister, and their relationship was consistent with YHWH's later law.(7) (2) Lot, the child of Haran son of Terah It explains why Lot, Milcah, and Iscaah are not listed together as the children of Haran son of Terach. Scripture lists only Lot as Terah's grandchild because only Lot was Terah's grandchild. Milcah and Iscaah were the daughters of another Haran.
Addendum In working on understanding the sequencing of events surrounding Abram's call (q.v), Rûãch @Élöhîm highlighted something else about the structure of the section on the generations of Terah (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 Iscaah and Milcah not being mentioned along with Lot as the children of Haran son of Terah means they were not the daughters of Haran son of Terah but rather they were the daughters of a different Haran.
(3) Sarai renamed Sarah It explains why YHWH renamed Sarai (my princess) with basically the same name, Sarah (princess). Sarah was no longer just Abram's princess but now she was a princess who would be the mother of nations and kings. Jewish tradition(8) holds that Sarah's birth name Iscaah (to watch, be observant) refers to her role as a prophetess. (4) The Wives It explains why the names and geneaology of Abram and Nahor's wives are given in v.27. Abram and Nahor 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 Milcah and Iscaah's father was: Haran, the brother of Terah, after whom Terah apparently named his eldest son.(11) (5) Two Harans It also explains the last phrase in v27.
. . . the name of the wife of Abram [was] Sarai and the name of the wife of Nahor [was] Milkah the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and the father of Iscaah.
The sentence could legitimately end with "Milcah the daughter of Haran." The phrase, "the father of Milcah and the father of Iscaah," is not necessary with respect to Milcah because she was just identified as the daughter of Haran. The name Iscaah does not appear anywhere else in Scripture and its inclusion raises the question of why the name was included at all. But Sarai as Iscaah answers that question. It was important to establish Sarai also as a daughter of Haran and a parallel cousin of Abram's. This phrase seems to relate more to identifying who Haran was, as if he could have been confused with someone else mentioned earlier, like Haran the father of Lot. This Haran was the father of Milcah and the father of Iscaah but not, apparently, the father of Lot, since Lot was not mentioned as one of his children. However, even if this Haran was not the same person as Haran the son of Terah, that alone does not mean he was the brother of Terah. But this is where Josephus comes in. Josephus states the following in Antiquities of the Jews: (12)
I will now treat of the Hebrews. The son of Phaleg, whose father Was Heber, was Ragau; whose son was Serug, to whom was born Nahor; his son was Terah, who was the father of Abraham . . . Nahor begat Haran when he was one hundred and twenty years old; Nahor was born to Serug in his hundred and thirty-second year;
Josephus records the Jewish tradition that Nahor the son of Serug had two sons; Haran and Terah. So, Terah did have a brother after whom he apparently named his eldest son. This supports Dr. Custance’s hypothesis, which I think makes sense within the context of Scripture and Ancient Near East familial relationships. When might the knowledge there were two different Harans in this passage gotten lost? That is an unknown, but the author of Jubilees seems unaware of it. Scholars date Jubilees to the second century B.C. (13) 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, then this knowledge was forgotten at some point in time, and Abraham's and Sarah's true blood relationship misunderstood for something it was not. Conclusion While many commentators on the Egypt and Gerar incidents, in which Abram passed Sarai off as his sister, do not question that Sarai was genuinely Abram's half-sister, it seems very probable that Dr. Custance really hit on something here. While Abram's motives were self-protective and not honorable, Abram was actually telling the truth, or at least half of it. The intent of this essay is not Abram's behavior but rather clarifying Scripture in light of the customs of the day. Dr. Custance's hypothesis answers questions about this Genesis 11 passage and Abram and Sarai's blood relationship, which the mainstream interpretation does not answer. Hopefully, others will find this explanation helpful in understanding that there is no contradiction in Scripture between Abram and Sarai's relationship and the later Mosaic law. YHWH @Élõhîm did not change His parameters for human behavior as His Story moved forward.
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 Zelophehad during the time of Moses 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 Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah, Zelophehad'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) Terah named his youngest son after his own father, Nahor. Jubilees says his wife named Abram after her father who died before Abram was born. From this I conclude, Terah might have made a practice of naming his children after his relatives. Return (12) Josephus Antiquities of the Jews, "Chapter 6.5," Return (13) International Standard Bible Encylopedia, "Apocryphal Literature," p.157 Return Return to blog post Return to Side Trips Menu
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