of Ištar, also worshipped there (Jen. ZA, xi. 299 f.; KAT3, 364 f.).
It is needless to say that these associations, if they existed, are forgotten
in the Hebrew legend.—If, as is not improbable, the tradition contains
ethnographic reminiscences, v.28f. express (1) the dissolution of an older
tribal group, Haran; (2) the survival of one of its subdivisions (Loṭ)
through the protection of a stronger tribe; and (3) the absorption of
another (Milkah) in a kindred stock.—Of (
Hebrew characters) nothing is known. The
Rabbinical fiction that she is Sarah under another name (implied in
Jos. Ant. i. 151; TJ, Jer. Ra. IEz. al.) is worthless. Ewald's conjecture
that she was the wife of Loṭ is plausible, but baseless.
31, 32. The migration from Ur-Kasdîm to Canaan is
accomplished in two stages. Teraḥ, as patriarchal head of
the family, conducts the expedition as far as Ḥarran, where
he dies. The obvious implication is that after his death
the journey is resumed by Abram (125); although [E] alone
gives a chronology consistent with this view (v. supra).
Nāḥôr, we are left to infer, remained behind in Ur-Kasdîm;
and in the subsequent narratives P (in opposition to J) seems
carefully to avoid any suggestion of a connexion between
Nāḥôr and the city of Ḥarran.
(Hebrew characters) (with virtually doubled (Hebrew characters): cf. G Χαρραν; Gr. Κάῤῥαι; Lat. Carræ,
Charra; Ass. Ḫarrânu; Syr. and Arab. Ḥarrān) was an important
centre of the caravan trade in NW Mesopotamia, 60 miles E of
Carchemish, situated near the Baliḫ, 70 miles due N from its confluence
with the Euphrates. Though seldom mentioned in OT (124f. [P],
2743 2810 294 [J], 2 Ki. 1912, Ezk. 2723† ), and now ruined, it was a city of
great antiquity, and retained its commercial importance in classical
and mediæval times. The name in Ass. appears to be susceptible of
several interpretations—'way,' 'caravan' (TA Tab.), 'joint-stock enterprise' (Del. Hdwb. s.v., KAT3, 292)—any one of which might denote
its commercially advantageous position at the parting of the route to
Damascus from the main highway between Nineveh and Carchemish.
Ḥarran was also (along with Ur) a chief seat of the worship of Sin, who
had there a temple, E-ḫul-ḫul, described by Nabuna'id as "from
remote days" a "dwelling of the joy of his (Sin's) heart" (KIB, iii. 2.
97), and who was known in NW Asia as the "Lord of Ḥarran"
(Zinjirli inscr.: cf. Lidzbarski, Hb. 444, An.). See, further, Mez, Gesch. d. St. Ḥarran; Tomkins, Times of Abraham, 55 ff. etc. This double
connexion of Abraham with centres of lunar religion is the most
31. (Hebrew characters)] (Hebrew characters) (Syr. (Syriac characters), Ar. kannat) means both 'spouse' and
'daughter-in-law': in Syr. and Ar. also 'sister-in-law,'—a fact adduced
by Rob. Sm. as a relic of Baal polyandry (KM2, 161, 2091).—(Hebrew characters)]
gives no sense. Read with [E]G (καὶ ἐξήγαγεν αὐτούς) V, (Hebrew characters), or
S, (Hebrew characters).—32. (Hebrew characters)] G + ἐν Χαῤῥάν.
