Terah or Térach was the father of Abraham mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.

The person

The Bible

According to the Genesis 11, Terah was the son of Nahor, who was the son of Serug, who was the son of Reu, who was the son of Peleg, who was the son of Eber, who was the son of Shelah, who was the son of Arpachshad, who was the son of Shem, who was the oldest son of Noah.

According to Genesis 11 Terah had three sons, Abram, Haran, and Nahor; according to Genesis 20:12 Sarah, Abraham's wife, was his half-sister (i.e., the daughter of Terah by a wife other than the mother of Abraham). He lived in "Ur of the Chaldees," where his son Haran died, leaving behind his son Lot. Nahor settled at Haran, a place on the way to Ur. Terah afterwards migrated with Abraham (probably his youngest son) and Lot (his grandson), together with their families, from Ur, intending to go with them to Canaan; however he stayed in Harran, where he died at the age of two hundred and five years (Genesis 11:24-32). Following his death, Abram moved his family out of Haran. (Acts 7:4) The Book of Joshua reports that Terah worshiped other gods. (Josh. 24:2.)

Questions of Consistency

The Bible has been accused that Terah's age when he fathered Abram, the age of Abram when he left Haran, and the age of Terah at his death contradict one another and bring the consistency of the entire text of the Torah into question. One author of this encyclopedia claimed this:

The Torah's account of Terah's life presents some problems regarding the consistency of the text as a whole. He is represented as fathering Abram (Abraham) at the age of seventy, and dying at the age of 205. Abraham should therefore be 135 at the time of Terah's death, yet according to Genesis 12:4 he is only 75.

A close look at Genesis reveals that this logic is based on the assumption that Abram was fathered when Terah was 70 years of age.

Genesis 11:26 says "And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran."

The counter-argument is that Abram, Nahor and Haran were not triplets. They may have been different ages, and Terah fathered the oldest of the three at age 70. Then, assuming that the ages are accurate, Abram is not the oldest of the three. He was probably mentioned first because he was of the most importance to the messianic line. As the middle or youngest child, Abram would have been conceived when Terah was 130.

With this very simple explanation, the Torah does not necessarily contradict itself regarding the ages of Terah and Abram.

Jewish Tradition

The Midrash regards Terah as wicked. (E.g., Numbers Rabbah 19:1; 19:33.) Rabbi Hiyya said that Terah manufactured idols and told the following account: Terah once went away and left Abraham to mind the store. A woman came with a plateful of flour and asked Abraham to offer it to the idols. Abraham took a stick, broke the idols, and put the stick in the largest idol’s hand. When Terah returned, he demanded that Abraham explain what he had done. Abraham told Terah that the idols fought among themselves and the largest broke the others with the stick. “Why do you make sport of me?” Terah cried, “Do they have any knowledge?” Abraham replied, “Listen to what you are saying!” Terah then delivered Abraham to King Nimrod for punishment. (Genesis Rabbah 38:13.) The Zohar says that when God saved Abraham from the furnace, Terah repented. (Zohar, Bereshit 1:77b.) Rabbi Abba b. Kahana said that God assured Abraham that his father Terah had a portion in the World to Come. (Genesis Rabbah 30:4; 30:12.)

Islamic Tradition

In the quran (sura 6:74), Abraham's (known as Ibrahim) father's name is Azar; this has led some Islamic scholars to identify Terah with Azar. Some scholars believe the name Azar was a mistranslation of Eleazer the servant of Abraham.

The place

Terah is also the name of a place where the Israelites stopped on the Exodus.

See also

Terah was also the name of a character on Star Trek: Enterprise, played by Suzie Plakson.