Haran: 1. Heb. haran; i.e., "mountaineer." The eldest son of Terah,
brother of Abraham and Nahor, and father of Lot, Milcah, and
Iscah. He died before his father
(Genesis 11:27) in Ur of the
Chaldees.
2. Heb. haran, i.e., "parched;" or probably from the Accadian
charana, meaning "a road." A celebrated city of Western Asia,
now Harran, where Abram remained, after he left Ur of the
Chaldees, till his father Terah died
(Genesis 11:31,32) when he
continued his journey into the land of Canaan. It is called
"Charran" in the LXX. and in
(Acts 7:2) It is called the "city of
Nahor"
(Genesis 24:10) and Jacob resided here with Laban
(Genesis 30:43) It
stood on the river Belik, an affluent of the Euphrates, about
70 miles above where it joins that river in Upper Mesopotamia
or Padan-aram, and about 600 miles northwest of Ur in a direct
line. It was on the caravan route between the east and west. It
is afterwards mentioned among the towns taken by the king of
Assyria
(2 Kings 19:12; Isaiah 37:12) It was known to the Greeks and
Romans under the name Carrhae.
3. The son of Caleb of Judah
(1 Chronicles 2:46) by his concubine Ephah.
