Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 11:32

And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.

32. two hundred and five years ] For this figure the Samaritan version gives 145, obviously in order to make the year of Abram’s departure from Haran (when Abram was 75 years old; see Gen 12:4) coincide with the year of Terah’s death, since Abram was born ( Gen 11:26) in Terah’s 70th year. It is this tradition which is followed by Stephen, Act 7:4.

In this Table it is possible to follow the different chronologies of the Massoretic, Samaritan, and Septuagint Text (L = Lucian).

( a) The Samaritan Text (except in the case of Shem, Nahor, and Terah) adds 100 years to the ages at the birth of the firstborn: in the case of Nahor, it adds 50.

The Septuagint Text does the same.

( b) The Samaritan Text (except in the case of Shem, Eber, Nahor, and Terah) deducts 100 years from the ages subsequent to the birth of the firstborn; in the case of Eber it deducts 160 years; in the case of Nahor it deducts 50 years; in the case of Terah it deducts 60 years.

The Septuagint Text adds in the case of Arpachshad 27 years; and of Nahor 10 years; and deducts in the case of Shelah 73 years, and of Eber 60 years.

( c) In chap. 11 only nine generations are recorded, as against ten in chap. 5. The Septuagint, by inserting Cainan, secures the number ten.

( d) It will be noticed that the ages of the Shemite Patriarchs become greatly diminished in duration after Eber.

( e) The difficulty, occasioned by Gen 11:32 (Terah’s death in Haran at the age of 205), and by Gen 12:4 (Abram’s departure from Haran at the age of 75, when Terah was 145 years old (cf. Gen 11:26)), is obviated in the Samaritan Text, according to which Terah died at the age of 145, the year of Abram’s departure.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

|-------------------------------------------------||                    A TABLE                      ||                                                 ||                  SHOWING THE                    ||                                                 ||           GENEALOGY OF THE PATRIARCHS           ||                                                 ||                      FROM                       ||                                                 ||                 ADAM TO JACOB                   ||                                                 ||            (A Period of 2168 Years)             ||                                                 ||                    AND ALSO                     ||                                                 ||           WHICH OF THE PATRIARCHS WERE          ||           CONTEMPORARY WITH EACH OTHER          ||            --------------------------           ||                                                 ||         Presented to Dr. Clarke, for his        ||         Commentary by William Blair, Esq.       ||-------------------------------------------------||--------------------------------------------------||     ADAM       |     NOAH       |     SHEM       ||was contemporary|was contemporary|was contemporary||     with       |     with       |     with       ||           Years|           Years|           Years||LAMECH        56|LAMECH       595|LAMECH        93||METHUSELAH   243|METHUSELAH   600|METHUSELAH    98||JARED        470|JARED        366|NOAH         448||MAHALELEEL   535|MAHALELEEL   234|after the flood ||CAINAN       605|CAINAN       179|ABRAHAM      150||ENOS         695|ENOS          84|ISAAC         50||--------------------------------------------------||----------------------------------------------------------------------||                       |  Age|    |Born|    |               |D   |D   ||                       |   at| L A|A.M.|Died|               | A  | A  ||   BIRTH OF CHRIST     |  the| i f| and|A.M.|  GENEALOGY    |  T |  T ||   ANNO MUNDI 4004     |birth| v t|Died|    |   OF THE      |   E|   E||                       |   of| e e|Aged|    |  PATRIARCHS   |    |    ||                       |  the| d r|    |    |               |A.  |B.  ||                       | Heir|    |    |    |               |  M.|  C.||----------------------------------------------------------------------||Gen.v.3,4 ADAM.........|  130|    |    |    |ADAM    Created|----|4004||                       |     | 800| 930| 932|-------------------------||--------------------------------------------|SETH       born| 130|3784||  "     3 SETH..born AM|  130|    | 130|    |-------------------------||        6,7............|  105| 807| 912|1042|ENOS       born| 235|3769||----------------------------------------------------------------------||                       |     |    |    |    |CAINAN     born| 325|3679||  "     6 ENOS.......".|  235|    | 235|    |-------------------------||        9,10,11........|   90| 815| 905|1140|MAHALALEEL born| 395|3609||----------------------------------------------------------------------||                       |     |    |    |    |JARED      born| 460|3544||  "     9 CAINAN.....".|  325|    | 325|    |-------------------------||       12,13,14........|   70| 840| 910|1235|ENOCH      born| 622|3382||----------------------------------------------------------------------||                       |     |    |    |    |METHUSELAH born| 687|3317||  "    12 MAHALALEEL.".|  395|    | 395|    |-------------------------||       15,16,17........|   65| 830| 895|1290|LAMECH     born| 874|3130||----------------------------------------------------------------------||                       |     |    |    |    |ADAM       died| 930|3074||  "    15 JARED......".|  460|    | 460|    |-------------------------||       18,19,29........|  162| 800| 962|1422|ENOCH translatd| 987|3017||----------------------------------------------------------------------||                       |     |    |    |    |SETH       died|1042|2962||  "    18 ENOCH......".|  622|    | 622|    |-------------------------||       21,22,23........|   65| 300| 365| 987|NOAH       born|1056|2948||----------------------------------------------------------------------||                       |     |    |    |    |ENOS       died|1140|2864||  "    21 METHUSELAH.".|  687|    | 687|    |-------------------------||       25,26,27........|  187| 782| 969|1656|CAINAN     died|1235|2769||----------------------------------------------------------------------||                       |     |    |    |    |MAHALALEEL died|1290|2714||  "    25 LAMECH.....".|  874|    | 874|    |-------------------------||       28,30,31........|  182| 595| 777|1651|JARED      died|1422|2582||----------------------------------------------------------------------||                       |     |    |    |    |SHEM       born|1558|2446||  "    29 NOAH.......".| 1056|    |1056|    |-------------------------||       32, and ix.29...|  502| 448| 950|2006|LAMECH     died|1651|2353||----------------------------------------------------------------------||                       |     |    |    |    |METHUSELAH died|1656|2348||  "    32 SHEM.......".| 1558|    |1558|    |-------------------------||Gen.vii.6, and ix.10...|   98|    |    |    |THE DELUGE     |1656|2348||----------------------------------------------------------------------||                       |     |    |    |    |ARPHAXAD   born|1658|2346||  "     6 THE DELUGE...| 1656|    |    |    |-------------------------||Gen.xi.10,11...........|    2| 500| 600|2158|SELAH      born|1693|2311||----------------------------------------------------------------------||                       |     |    |    |    |EBER       born|1723|2281||  "    11 ARPHAXAD.b.AM| 1658|    |1658|    |-------------------------||  "    12,13...........|   35| 403| 438|2096|PELEG      born|1757|2247||----------------------------------------------------------------------||                       |     |    |    |    |REU        born|1787|2217||  "    12 SELAH......".| 1693|    |1693|    |-------------------------||  "    14,15...........|   30| 403| 433|2126|SERUG      born|1819|2185||----------------------------------------------------------------------||                       |     |    |    |    |NAHOR      born|1849|2155||  "    14 EBER.......".| 1723|    |1723|    |-------------------------||  "    16,17...........|   34| 430| 464|2187|TERAH      born|1878|2126||----------------------------------------------------------------------||                       |     |    |    |    |PELEG      died|1996|2008||  "    16 PELEG......".| 1757|    |1757|    |-------------------------||  "    18,19...........|   30| 209| 239|1996|NAHOR      died|1997|2007||----------------------------------------------------------------------||                       |     |    |    |    |NOAH       died|2006|1998||  "    18 REU........".| 1787|    |1787|    |-------------------------||  "    20,21...........|   32| 207| 239|2026|ABRAM      born|2008|1996||----------------------------------------------------------------------||                       |     |    |    |    |REU        died|2026|1978||  "    20 SERUG......".| 1819|    |1819|    |-------------------------||  "    22,23...........|   30| 200| 230|2049|SERUG      died|2049|1955||----------------------------------------------------------------------||                       |     |    |    |    |TERAH      died|2083|1921||  "    22 NAHOR......".| 1849|    |1849|    |-------------------------||  "    24,25...........|   29| 119| 148|1997|ARPHAXAD   died|2096|1908||----------------------------------------------------------------------||                       |     |    |    |    |ISAAC      born|2108|1896||  "    24 TERAH......".| 1878|    |1878|    |-------------------------|| 32 & xii.4. Acts vii.4|  130|  75| 205|2083|SELAH      died|2126|1878||----------------------------------------------------------------------||                       |     |    |    |    |SHEM       died|2158|1846||Gen.xii.4 ABRAM......".| 2008|    |2008|    |-------------------------||Gen.xxi.5, and xxv.7...|  100|  75| 175|2183|JACOB      born|2168|1836||----------------------------------------------------------------------||                       |     |    |    |    |ABRAHAM    died|2183|1821||  "     5 ISAAC......".| 2108|    |2108|    |-------------------------||Gen.xxv.6..............|   60| 120| 180|2288|EBER       died|2187|1817||----------------------------------------------------------------------||                       |     |    |    |    |ISAAC      died|2288|1716||  "     6 JACOB......".| 2168|    |2168|    |-------------------------||Gen.xlvii.28...........|     |    | 147|2315|JACOB      died|2315|1689||----------------------------------------------------------------------||---------------------------------------------------------------------||               |    |    | A | S | E | C | M | J | E | M | L | N | S ||               |    |    | D | E | N | A | A | A | N | E | A | O | H ||               |D   |D   | A | T | O | I | H | R | O | T | M | A | E ||               | A  | A  | M | H | S | N | A | E | C | H | E | H | M ||  GENEALOGY    |  T |  T |   |   |   | A | L | D | H | U | C |   |   ||    OF THE     |   E|   E|   |   |   | N | A |   |   | S | H |   |   ||  PATRIARCHS   |    |    |   |   |   |   | L |   |   | E |   |   |   ||               |A.  |B.  |   |   |   |   | E |   |   | L |   |   |   ||               |  M.|  C.|   |   |   |   | E |   |   | A |   |   |   ||               |    |    |   |   |   |   | L |   |   | H |   |   |   ||               |    |    |-------------------------------------------||               |    |    | -------------  aged when ---------------  ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||ADAM    Created|----|4004|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||SETH       born| 130|3784|130|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||ENOS       born| 235|3769|235|105|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||CAINAN     born| 325|3679|325|195| 90|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||MAHALALEEL born| 395|3609|395|265|160| 70|   |   |   |   |   |   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||JARED      born| 460|3544|460|330|225|135| 65|   |   |   |   |   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||ENOCH      born| 622|3382|622|492|387|297|227|162|   |   |   |   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||METHUSELAH born| 687|3317|687|557|452|362|292|227| 65|   |   |   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||LAMECH     born| 874|3130|874|744|639|549|479|414|252|187|   |   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||ADAM       died| 930|3074|930|800|695|605|535|470|308|243| 56|   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||ENOCH translatd| 987|3017|   |857|752|662|592|527|365|300|113|   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||SETH       died|1042|2962|   |912|807|717|647|582|   |355|168|   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||NOAH       born|1056|2948|   |   |821|731|661|596|   |369|182|   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||ENOS       died|1140|2864|   |   |905|815|745|680|   |453|266| 84|   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||CAINAN     died|1235|2769|   |   |   |910|840|775|   |548|361|179|   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||MAHALALEEL died|1290|2714|   |   |   |   |895|830|   |603|416|234|   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||JARED      died|1422|2582|   |   |   |   |   |962|   |735|548|366|   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||SHEM       born|1558|2446|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |869|682|500|   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||LAMECH     died|1651|2353|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |964|777|595| 93||---------------------------------------------------------------------||METHUSELAH died|1656|2348|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |969|   |600| 98||---------------------------------------------------------------------||THE DELUGE     |1656|2348|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |600| 98||---------------------------------------------------------------------||ARPHAXAD   born|1658|2346|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |602|100||---------------------------------------------------------------------||SELAH      born|1693|2311|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |637|135||---------------------------------------------------------------------||EBER       born|1723|2281|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |667|165||---------------------------------------------------------------------||PELEG      born|1757|2247|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |701|199||---------------------------------------------------------------------||REU        born|1787|2217|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |731|229||---------------------------------------------------------------------||SERUG      born|1819|2185|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |763|261||---------------------------------------------------------------------||NAHOR      born|1849|2155|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |793|291||---------------------------------------------------------------------||TERAH      born|1878|2126|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |822|320||---------------------------------------------------------------------||PELEG      died|1996|2008|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |940|438||---------------------------------------------------------------------||NAHOR      died|1997|2007|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |941|439||---------------------------------------------------------------------||NOAH       died|2006|1998|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |950|448||---------------------------------------------------------------------||ABRAM      born|2008|1996|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |450||---------------------------------------------------------------------||REU        died|2026|1978|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |468||---------------------------------------------------------------------||SERUG      died|2049|1955|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |491||---------------------------------------------------------------------||TERAH      died|2083|1921|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |525||---------------------------------------------------------------------||ARPHAXAD   died|2096|1908|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |538||---------------------------------------------------------------------||ISAAC      born|2108|1896|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |550||---------------------------------------------------------------------||SELAH      died|2126|1878|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |568||---------------------------------------------------------------------||SHEM       died|2158|1846|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |600||---------------------------------------------------------------------||---------------------------------------------------------------------||               |    |    | A | S | E | P | R | S | N | T | A | I | J ||               |    |    | R | E | B | E | E | E | A | E | B | S | A ||               |D   |D   | P | L | E | L | U | R | H | R | R | A | C ||               | A  | A  | H | A | R | E |   | U | O | A | A | A | O ||  GENEALOGY    |  T |  T | A | H |   | G |   | G | R | H | M | C | B ||    OF THE     |   E|   E| X |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   ||  PATRIARCHS   |    |    | A |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   ||               |A.  |B.  | D |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   ||               |  M.|  C.|-------------------------------------------||               |    |    | -------------  aged when ---------------  ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||THE DELUGE     |1656|2348|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||ARPHAXAD   born|1658|2346|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||SELAH      born|1693|2311| 35|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||EBER       born|1723|2281| 65| 30|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||PELEG      born|1757|2247| 99| 64| 34|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||REU        born|1787|2217|129| 94| 64| 30|   |   |   |   |   |   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||SERUG      born|1819|2185|161|126| 96| 62| 32|   |   |   |   |   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||NAHOR      born|1849|2155|191|156|126| 92| 62| 30|   |   |   |   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||TERAH      born|1878|2126|220|185|155|121| 91| 59| 29|   |   |   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||PELEG      died|1996|2008|338|303|273|239|209|177|147|118|   |   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||NAHOR      died|1997|2007|339|304|274|   |210|178|148|119|   |   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||NOAH       died|2006|1998|348|313|283|   |219|187|   |128|   |   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||ABRAM      born|2008|1996|350|315|285|   |221|189|   |130|   |   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||REU        died|2026|1978|368|333|303|   |239|207|   |148| 18|   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||SERUG      died|2049|1955|391|356|326|   |   |230|   |171| 41|   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||TERAH      died|2083|1921|425|390|360|   |   |   |   |205| 75|   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||ARPHAXAD   died|2096|1908|438|403|373|   |   |   |   |   | 88|   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||ISAAC      born|2108|1896|   |415|385|   |   |   |   |   |100|   |   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||SELAH      died|2126|1878|   |433|403|   |   |   |   |   |118| 18|   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||SHEM       died|2158|1846|   |   |435|   |   |   |   |   |150| 50|   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||JACOB      born|2168|1836|   |   |445|   |   |   |   |   |160| 60|   ||---------------------------------------------------------------------||ABRAHAM    died|2183|1821|   |   |460|   |   |   |   |   |175| 75| 15||---------------------------------------------------------------------||EBER       died|2187|1817|   |   |464|   |   |   |   |   |   | 79| 15||---------------------------------------------------------------------||ISAAC      died|2288|1716|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |180|120||---------------------------------------------------------------------||JACOB      died|2315|1689|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |147||---------------------------------------------------------------------|

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

And the days of Terah were two hundred years,…. His days are summed up as none of the rest are in this genealogy, that it might be observed; his death being the time of Abram’s leaving Chaldea and coming into the land of Canaan, given to him and his seed for an inheritance; see Ac 7:4

and Terah died in Haran: the Arabic historian s says, he died in Haran in the month Elul, in the year of his age two hundred and sixty five; but he gives him sixty years too many: a Jewish chronologer t says he died in the thirty fifth year of Isaac. Perhaps he gave the name to this place, where he dwelt a while, in memory of his son Haran, which before might be called by another name, Padanaram, as it seems to be called even after this; see Ge 24:10.

s Elmaaciuns, ut supra. (p. 31. apud Hottinger. p. 282.) t R. Gedaliah, Shalshalet, fol. 2. 1.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(32) The days of Terah.See note on Gen. 11:26. According to the Samaritan text, Abram left Haran in the same year as that in which Terah died. Nahor had probably joined Terah about this time, as we find him subsequently settled in Haran (Gen. 24:10); and moreover, Abram is expressly commanded to leave his kindred and his fathers house, whereas all those who are mentioned by name as going with Terah shared in Abrams subsequent migration. (See Gen. 11:31.)

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

32. Two hundred and five years We see, from Gen 12:4, that Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran . If now he remained in Haran till Terah’s death, then Terah must have been at least one hundred and thirty years old at the time of Abram’s birth, since 205-75=130. But this does not seem likely, since Abram regards it a miraculous thing that he should be a father at one hundred, (Gen 17:17,) and this surprise at the divine promise is unaccountable if he were himself born when his father was one hundred and thirty. But the narrative allows us to suppose that Abram left Haran some years before Terah’s death, the history of Terah being finished up in this chapter, and the narrative then doubling back upon itself to resume the history of Abram. The only difficulty in this interpretation is, that we find St. Stephen, in his discourse, (Act 7:4,) assuming that Abram remained in Haran till the death of Terah . In this, however, Stephen, as we see from Philo, followed a Jewish tradition, which was probably erroneous. We do not certainly know in what year of Terah’s life Abram was born.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.

Observe, how the lives of men have gradually been shortened!

REFLECTIONS.

WHAT an awful view is here again afforded of man’s apostacy! So little effect had the remembrance of the deluge left upon the human mind, that instead of being humbled under the mighty hand of God, we behold the workings of the heart occupied in contriving a plan to counteract the divine sovereignty in future. Perhaps infidelity, which is the same in all ages, ventured to do, what it is forever doing, to put down to second causes what was evidently the effect of a first ordination; and denied any divine interference in the flood of waters. Alas! my soul, what are all the rebellious murmurings and transgressions arising in my heart, but the effects of the same cause, unbelief! Lord I would pray, (as a pious father of old used to pray) “Preserve me from that evil man, myself.”

I cannot close this chapter without stopping to remark, how striking an instance of the sovereignty of Almighty grace is here given, when we consider that from the confusion of languages, sent as a judgment in this instance, arose, in after ages, an occasion for the display of mercy, in the gift of tongues, to the Apostles; so that the wonders of the day of Pentecost sprung out of the ruins of Babel. What a precious testimony to the truth of that scripture: Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee; the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. Psa 76:10 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Gen 11:32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.

Ver. 32. Terah died in Haran. ] And so fell short of the earthly, but not of the heavenly Canaan; to the which, there is as ready a way and as speedy a passage, from one place, as from another. But as the body, when once glorified, shall soon be wheresoever the soul will: so soon shall be the soul where God wills, when once delivered.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

died in Haran (Charran). With this Act 7:4 agrees. Not seeing this, the Massorites wrongly marked Gen 11:32 with an inverted Nun () as being a dislocation of the Text.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

am 2083, bc 1921, Gen 11:32

Reciprocal: Gen 11:31 – Haran Gen 12:1 – had Job 42:16 – an Eze 27:23 – Haran Act 7:4 – came

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge