27 And these 'are' births of Terah: Terah hath begotten Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran hath begotten Lot; 28 and Haran dieth in the presence of Terah his father, in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldees. 29 And Abram and Nahor take to themselves wives; the name of Abram's wife 'is' Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife 'is' Milcah, daughter of Haran, father of Milcah, and father of Iscah. 30 And Sarai is barren—she hath no child. 31 And Terah taketh Abram his son, and Lot, son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, wife of Abram his son, and they go out with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go towards the land of Canaan; and they come unto Charan, and dwell there. 32 And the days of Terah are two hundred and five years, and Terah dieth in Charan.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Genesis 11:27-32
Commentary on Genesis 11:27-32
(Read Genesis 11:27-32)
Here begins the story of Abram, whose name is famous in both Testaments. Even the children of Eber had become worshippers of false gods. Those who are through grace, heirs of the land of promise, ought to remember what was the land of their birth; what was their corrupt and sinful state by nature. Abram's brethren were, Nahor, out of whose family both Isaac and Jacob had their wives; and Haran, the father of Lot, who died before his father. Children cannot be sure that they shall outlive their parents. Haran died in Ur, before the happy removal of the family out of that idolatrous country. It concerns us to hasten out of our natural state, lest death surprise us in it. We here read of Abram's departure out of Ur of the Chaldees, with his father Terah, his nephew Lot, and the rest of his family, in obedience to the call of God. This chapter leaves them about mid-way between Ur and Canaan, where they dwelt till Terah's death. Many reach to Charran, and yet fall short of Canaan; they are not far from the kingdom of God, and yet never come thither.