Genesis 11:28

Haran died before his father. Literally, “in the face of his father,” meaning “while his father was still alive,” or, “in the presence of his father.” This is the first mention (though not necessarily the first case) of a son having died before his father.

Ur of the Chaldees. As shown by literary documents and recent excavations, the city of Haran’s nativity had a long and glorious history. The ruins of Ur have long been known under the modern name Tell el-Muqayyar, which is situated about halfway between Baghdad and the Persian Gulf. Between 1922 and 1934 a joint British-American expedition carried out what have proved to be among the most fruitful of all Mesopotamian excavations. Royal tombs of an early dynasty gave up their fabulous store of treasures. The well-preserved ruins of houses, temples, and a temple tower have provided a wealth of material from which we may reconstruct the checkered history of this city which played so important a role from the dawn of history to the time of the Persian Empire. At the beginning of the second millennium B.C., when Abram lived there, the city possessed an exceptionally high culture. Houses were well constructed, and usually two stories high. Rooms on the ground floor were grouped around a central courtyard, and a staircase led up to the second story. The city had an efficient sewage system, which is more than some cities in that country can boast even today. In the schools of Ur reading, writing, arithmetic, and geography were taught, as the many school exercises that have been recovered make evident. In the OT this city is usually called “Ur of the Chaldees,” an expression that has not yet been found in the cuneiform texts of Mesopotamia. There it is simply called “Ur.” It is, however, known that the region of Ur was later inhabited by Aramaic Chaldean tribes, who may have come somewhat earlier. These tribes were closely related to the family of Terah, and both were descendants of Arphaxad. The memory of this relationship was kept alive by referring back to the original family home as Ur in Chaldea, or “Ur of the Chaldees.”

The advanced cultural level of Ur in Abram’s time puts to silence the sneers of those who would stigmatize Abram as an ignorant nomad. His youth was spent in a highly cultured and sophisticated city as the son of one of its wealthy citizens, and without doubt he was a well-educated man.

Abram must, as well, have been acquainted with the religious life of Ur, which, as excavations have shown, was polytheistic. Joshua states that Terah, Abram’s father, had served other gods in Ur (Joshua 24:2). We are led to assume that Terah’s other sons did likewise, for Rachel, Jacob’s wife, stole idols from her father, Laban, who was a grandson of Abram’s brother Nahor (Gen. 31:19). It is a miracle that Abram remained untouched by the pagan influences surrounding him.