Nahor

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

NAHOR. 1 . Father of Terah and grandfather of Abra ham (  Genesis 11:22-25 ,   1 Chronicles 1:26 ,   Luke 3:34 ). 2. Grandson of the preceding and brother of Abraham and Haran (  Genesis 11:25-27 cf.   Joshua 24:2 ). He is said to have married Milcah, daughte of Haran (  Genesis 11:29 ), and twelve sohs are enumerated eight by Milcah and four by Re’umah his concubim (  Genesis 22:20-24 ). In   Genesis 24:10 we read of ‘the city of Nahor i.e . Haran, where Rehekah was found. Laban, in making a covenant with Jacob, swears by the ‘God (of Abraham and the God of Nahor’ (  Genesis 31:53 ). The sons ascribed to Nahor (Buz, Uz, Aram, etc.) are for the most part names of tribes. It has been questioner if Nahor is a historical character at all. Some think we have, instead, the name of a lost tribe once resident in the neighbourhood of Haran, from which the Aramæar tribes were descended. While Abraham appears as the common ancestor of the Israelites and Edomites, Nahor is represented as the father of the Aramæans.

W. F. Boyd.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Nahor ( Nâ'Hôr ), Snorting. 1. One of the patriarchs, father of Terah and grandfather of Abraham.  Genesis 11:22-25;  1 Chronicles 1:26. He is called Nachor in  Luke 3:34, A. V. 2. A son of Terah. It would seem, that he must have accompanied his father to Haran; for it is sometimes styled the city of Nahor.  Genesis 11:1-32;  Genesis 26:1-35;  Genesis 27:1-46;  Genesis 29:1-35;  Genesis 22:20-24;  Genesis 24:10;  Genesis 24:15;  Genesis 24:24;  Genesis 24:47;  Genesis 29:5;  Genesis 31:53. He is called Nachor in  Joshua 24:2, A. V.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

A son of Terah, and elder brother of Abraham ( Genesis 11:26,27;  Joshua 24:2 , RSV). He married Milcah, the daughter of his brother Haran, and remained in the land of his nativity on the east of the river Euphrates at Haran ( Genesis 11:27-32 ). A correspondence was maintained between the family of Abraham in Canaan and the relatives in the old ancestral home at Haran till the time of Jacob. When Jacob fled from Haran all intercourse between the two branches of the family came to an end ( Genesis 31:55 ). His grand-daughter Rebekah became Isaac's wife (24:67).

Copyright Statement These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., DD Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain.

Bibliography Information Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Nahor'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/n/nahor.html. 1897.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Na'hor. (Snorting). The name of two persons in the family of Abraham.

1. His grandfather; the son of Serug, and father of Terah.  Genesis 11:22-25. (B.C. 2174).

2. Grandson of Nahor, 1 , son of Terah, and brother of Abraham and Haran.  Genesis 11:26-27. (B.C. 2000). The order of the ages of the family of Terah is not improbably inverted in the narrative; in which case, Nahor instead of being younger than Abraham, was really older. He married Milcah, the daughter of his brother, Haran; and when Abraham and Lot migrated to Canaan, Nahor remained behind in the land of his birth, on the eastern side of the Euphrates.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

1. Son of Serug, and grandfather of Abraham.  Genesis 11:22-25;  1 Chronicles 1:26 . Called NACHOR in  Luke 3:34 .

2. Son of Terah and brother of Abraham.   Genesis 11:26-29;  Genesis 22:20,23;  Genesis 24:10-47;  Genesis 29:5;  Genesis 31:53 . Called NACHOR in  Joshua 24:2 .

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Genesis 11:22-26 2 Genesis 11:26 Genesis 11:29 Genesis 22:20-22 Genesis 22:24

3. City in Mesopotamia where Abraham's servant sought and found a wife for Isaac ( Genesis 24:10 ); this in keeping with the ancient custom of marrying within one's family. The city probably was located southeast of Haran. It is mentioned in the Mari Texts.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

1. Son of Serug, and father of Terah,  Genesis 11:22-25   Luke 3:34 .

2. Son of Terah, and brother of Abraham and Haran. He married Milcah his niece in Ur of the Chaldees,  Genesis 11:26,29 , but seems to have transferred his residence to Haran,  Genesis 24:10   27:43 . He had twelve sons, and among them Bethuel the father of Rebekah,  Genesis 22:20-24 .

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

son of Terah, and brother of Abraham,  Genesis 11:26 . Neither the year of his birth nor of his death is exactly known. Nahor married Milcah, the daughter of Haran, by whom he had several sons, namely, Huz, Buz, Kemuel, Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel. Nahor fixed his habitation at Haran, which is therefore called the city of Nahor,  Genesis 11:29;  Genesis 22:20-22;  Genesis 24:10 .

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

Father of Terah, and grandfather to Abraham. ( Genesis 11:24) Probably derived from Charor, choked. Abraham had a brother also of this name. ( Genesis 11:26)

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

NAHOR. —Grandfather of Abraham, named in our Lord’s genealogy,  Luke 3:34.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

(See Nachor .)

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Nachor', נָחוֹר , Snorting; Sept. and N.T. Ναχώρ : Josephus Ναχώρης ; Vulg. Nachor: A.V. " Nachor,"  Joshua 24:2;  Luke 3:34), the name of two men.

1. Son of Serug, father of Terah, and grandfather of Abraham ( Genesis 11:22-25;  Luke 3:34). He died at the age of 148 years. B.C. 2174.

2. Grandson of the preceding, being a son of Terah, and brother of Abraham and Haran ( Genesis 11:26;  Joshua 24:2). The order of the name of Terah is not improbably inverted in the narrative; in which case Nahor, instead of being younger than Abraham, was really older. B.C. ante 2163. He married Milcah, the daughter of his brother Haran; and when Abraham and Lot migrated to Canaan, Nahor remained behind in the land of his birth, on the eastern side of the Euphrates — the boundary between the Old and the New World of that early age — and gathered his family around him at the sepulchre of his father ( Genesis 11:27-32; comp.  2 Samuel 19:37). Coupling this with the statement of  Judith 5:8 and the universal tradition of the East, that Terah's departure from Ur was a relinquishment of false worship, an additional force is given to the mention of "the god of Nahor" ( Genesis 31:53) as distinct from the God of Abraham's descendants. Two generations later Nahor's family were certainly living at Haran ( Genesis 28:10;  Genesis 29:4). Like Jacob, and also like Ishmael, Nahor was the father of twelve sons; and further, as ill the case of Jacob, eight of them were the children of his wife, and four of a concubine, Reumah ( Genesis 22:21-24). Special care is taken in speaking of the legitimate branch to specify its descent from Milcah — "the son of Milcah, which she bare unto Nahor." It was to this pure and unsullied race that Abraham and Rebekah in turn had recourse for wives for their sons. But with Jacob's flight from Haran the intercourse ceased. The heap of stones which he and "Laban the Syrian" erected on Mount Gilead ( Genesis 31:46) may be said to have formed at once the tomb of their past connection and the barrier against its continuance. Even at that time a wide variation had taken place not only in their language ( Genesis 31:47), but, as it would seem, in the Object of their worship. The "God of Nahor" appears as a distinct divinity from the "God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac" ( Genesis 31:53). Doubtless this was one of the "other gods" which before the call of Abraham were worshipped by the family of Terah, whose images were in Rachel's possession during the conference on Gilead, and which had to be discarded before Jacob could go into the presence of the "God of Bethel" ( Genesis 35:2; comp. 31:13). Henceforward the line of distinction between the two families is most sharply drawn (as in the allusion of  Joshua 24:2), and the descendants of Nahor confine their communications to their own immediate kindred, or to the members of other non-Israelitish tribes, as in the case of Job the man of Uz, and his friends, Elihu the Buzite of the kindred of Ram, Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite. Many centuries later David appears to have come into collision — sometimes friendly, sometimes the reverse — with one or two of the more remote Nahorite tribes. Tibhath, probably identical with Tebah and Maacah. are mentioned in the relation of his wars on the eastern frontier of Israel ( 1 Chronicles 18:8;  1 Chronicles 19:6); and the mother of Absalom either belonged to or was connected with the latter of the above nations.

No certain traces of the name of Nahor have been recognised in Mesopotamia. Ewald (Geschichte, 1:359) proposes Haditha, a town on the Euphrates just above Hit, and bearing the additional name of el-Naura; also another place, likewise called el-Na'ura, mentioned by some Arabian geographers as lying farther north; and Nachrein, which, however, seems to lie out of Mesopotamia to the east. Others have mentioned Naarda, or Nehardea, a town or district in the neighborhood of the above, celebrated as the site of a college of the Jews (Smith, Dict. of Geogr. s.v. Naarda).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

nā´hor ( נחור , nāḥōr  ; in the New Testament Ναχώρ , Nachṓr ):

(1) Son of Serug and grandfather of Abraham  Genesis 11:22-25;  1 Chronicles 1:26 .

(2) Son of Terah and brother of Abraham  Genesis 11:26-27 ,  Genesis 11:29;  Genesis 22:20 ,  Genesis 22:23;  Genesis 24:15 ,  Genesis 24:24 ,  Genesis 24:47;  Genesis 29:5;  Joshua 24:2 .

A city of Nahor is mentioned in  Genesis 24:10; the God of Nahor in  Genesis 31:53 . In the King James Version  Joshua 24:2;  Luke 3:34 , the name is spelled "Nachor."

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Nahor, 1

Na´hor (snorting), or rather Nachor, as in , son of Serug, and father of Terah, the father of Abraham .

Nahor, 2

Nahor, grandson of the preceding, is one of the sons of Terah, and brother of Abraham. Nahor espoused Milcah his niece, daughter of his eldest brother Haran . Nahor did not quit his native place, 'Ur of the Chaldees,' when the rest of the family removed to Haran but it would appear that he went thither afterwards, as we eventually find his son Bethuel, and his grandson Laban, established there .