Age of Abram and Terah

Genesis 11:26‑32; Genesis 12:4  •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 7
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Answer: The difficulty is due to supposing that Terah’s eldest son was Abram. Gen. 11:25, 2725And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters. (Genesis 11:25)
27Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. (Genesis 11:27), does not give the order of birth, but names Abram first from his superior dignity, as is common in Biblical genealogy.
Acts 7:44Then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell. (Acts 7:4) is express that Abram came into Canaan only after Terah’s death, who was 205 years old. Deducting 75 years (Abram’s age at that epoch) we have 130 as the years of Terah’s life when Abram was born. Haran was really the eldest; Nahor, the second son of Terah, married Haran’s daughter Milcah, his own niece; and Abram was youngest of the three. Lot was Haran’s son, as Sarai (or Iscah) was his daughter. Thus Lot was Abram’s brother-in-law, as he also is called his brother, and Abram called Sarai his sister. The great difference (60 years) between the eldest and the youngest sons of Terah (by two different mothers, as Abram intimates) made this possible and explains the matter.
It is plain therefore that Dean Alford was not only precipitate but predisposed to think Stephen in error, and the inspired word guilty of “demonstrable mistake.” Josephus and Philo were right and confirm the account in the Acts; and so was Usher.
The mistake arose from assuming that Gen. 11:26-2726And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. 27Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. (Genesis 11:26‑27), meant the order of birth, and consequently that Abram was eldest. There is no ground to doubt that he was the youngest, but named first because of his honorable position. So was Shem in Gen. 5:32; 6:10; 7:13; 9:18; 10:132And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Genesis 5:32)
10And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Genesis 6:10)
13In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark; (Genesis 7:13)
18And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. (Genesis 9:18)
1Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood. (Genesis 10:1); yet x. 2, compared with ver. 21 plainly shows that Japheth was the eldest, Ham being probably the youngest (Gen. 9:2424And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. (Genesis 9:24)). The place of precedence is due in both Shem and Noah, not to birth but to the honor God set on them respectively. Haran then was the eldest son of Terah, and Abram born 60 years after. And with this agrees the fact that Sarah (or Iscah) Haran’s daughter was but 10 years younger than Abram. Nor is there force in the objection that this makes Terah 130 years old when Abram was born; for Abram took Keturah after Sarah’s death, when he was at least 137 years old and had six sons subsequently (Gen. 25:1, 21Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. 2And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. (Genesis 25:1‑2)). It is Stephen in Acts 72And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, (Acts 7:2) who enables us certainly to adjust what in the O. T. was not so clear. And so the early Jews saw, as may be gathered from Philo (de Mig. Abr. 1. 463). Bengel made no mistake here.