John Calvin Commentary Genesis 11:31

"And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his son`s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram`s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there." — Genesis 11:31 (ASV)

And Terah took Abram his son. Here the next chapter should begin, because Moses begins to discuss one of the main subjects of his book, namely, the calling of Abram. For he not only recounts that Terah changed his country, but he also explains the purpose and the goal of his departure: that he left his native land and began his journey in order to come to the land of Canaan. From this, the inference is easily drawn that he was not so much the leader or author of the journey as the companion of his son.

And it is no obstacle to this inference that Moses assigns priority to Terah, as if Abram had departed under his auspices and direction, rather than by the command of God: for this is an honor conferred upon the father’s name. Nor do I doubt that Abram, when he saw his father willingly obeying the calling of God, became in return more obedient to him.

Therefore, it is ascribed to the authority of the father that he took his son with him. For, that Abram had been called by God before he moved a foot from his native soil will soon appear too plain to be denied. We do not read that his father had been called.

It may therefore be conjectured that the oracle of God had been made known to Terah through his son’s account. For the divine command to Abram regarding his departure did not prohibit him from informing his father that his only reason for leaving him was that he preferred the command of God to all human obligations.

These two things, indeed without controversy, we gather from the words of Moses: that Abram was divinely called before Terah left his own country, and that Terah had no other design than that of coming into the land of Canaan, that is, of joining his son as a voluntary companion.

Therefore, I conclude that he had left his country a short time before his death. For it is absurd to suppose that when he departed from his own country to go directly to the land of Canaan, he should have remained sixty years a stranger in a foreign land. It is more probable that, being an old man worn out with years, he was carried off by disease and weariness.

And yet it may be that God held them in suspense for a little while, because Moses says he lived in Haran; but from what follows, it appears that the delay was not long, since, in the seventy-fifth year of his age, Abram departed from there; and he had gone there already advanced in age, and knowing that his wife was barren.

Moreover, the town which the Hebrews call Haran is declared by all writers, unanimously, to be Haran, situated in Mesopotamia, although Lucan, poetically rather than truly, places it in Assyria. The place was celebrated for the destruction of Crassus and the overthrow of the Roman army.

CHAPTER 12.