was terah an idol worshipper
While Terah was gone, Abram had destroyed all of the idols except the largest one. Genesis 11:26,31 And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. This is what happened shortly after Joshua died. Abram replied, "Listen to what you are saying! (E.g., Numbers Rabbah 19:1; 19:33.) But his son did not share his worldview or his enthusiasm for idol worship, even at a young age. 54 And the king said to Abram, Had they power to speak and eat and do as thou hast said? [37] In Dua Umm Dawood, a supplication recited by Shi'ite Muslims cited to be from Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, the supplicant sends blessings on a person by the name of 'Turakh'. Terah is known in the Bible as the father of Abram (known later as Abraham), who in turn received the covenant promise of God regarding the future birth of His Son, Jesus. If he had possessed the spirit which his son had, he would have said there is no power with these gods; but he did not, and Abraham had to flee from his fathers house, confiding in the Lord, who gave many promises to him and concerning his posterity. He was not shackled by his fathers idolatrous past, and by choosing to abide by Gods instruction to desert his father, he was relieved from the Mitzvah of respecting his parents. Of course, influence always runs both ways, but as the saying goes as the Church goes, so goes the world. [17], According to Ibn Kathir, a scholar of Sunni Islam, Abraham's father is believed to have been a disbelieving man,[18] due to his refusal to listen to the constant advice of his son. At the tender age of 13, Abram was personally convicted by the Most High God to cast off all foreign gods, so he smashed all of his father's idols. c. Terah was an idol worshipper. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Ivy_League, https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/04/17/rendering_unto_caesar_96034.html, https://catholicstand.com/consequences-50-years-poor-catechesis-1/, Abram was an the idolater who lived in Mesopotamia prior to following God, This is part of the dialogue between faith and reason. "The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.". Abraham responds that people withstand wind. 17 And Abram said, As the Lord liveth these images shall not remain in my fathers house; so shall the Lord who created me do unto me if in three days time I do not break them all. And Nimrod and all his princes and servants were that day sitting before him, and Terah sat also before them. However, they still placed Abraham in a fire, but he was protected by God. Abraham concluded his preaching by warning Azar of the grave punishment he would face if he did not mend his ways. 59 Now therefore put away this evil deed which thou doest, and serve the God of the universe, as thy soul is in his hands, and then it will be well with thee. When he was confronted, he asked them why their biggest idol did not do anything, despite the peoples claim that they could hear and speak. See Larsson, Gerhard. Rabbi Hiyya relates this account in the Genesis Rabba: Terah left Abram to mind the store while he departed. 41 And Terahs anger was kindled against his son Abram, when he spoke this; and Terah said to Abram his son in his anger, What is this tale that thou hast told? Haran is the son of Terah, brother of Abraham, and the father of Lot. Once he went on a trip and he placed Abraham in charge of the store in his place. At the end of the book he gives some very encouraging answers, and probably more important, a positive perspective. When God makes a promise, it is irrevocable. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.. 5. When Terah returned, he demanded that Abram explain what he'd done. Abraham responds that wind pushes clouds. The Zohar says that when God saved Abram from the furnace, Terah repented (Zohar Genesis 1:77b) and Rabbi Abba B. Kahana said that God assured Abram that his father Terah had a portion in the World to Come (Genesis Rabbah 30:4; 30:12). 23 And when Abram had gone from them he went to his mother and sat before her, and he said to his mother, Behold, my father has shown me those who made heaven and earth, and all the sons of men. The question the rabbis are trying to answer with the Midrash is why and how did Haran die in the presence of his father. Abraham responds that clouds hold water. 'father'. When Abrahams father learned what had happened, he of course was greatly exercised; he inquired of Abraham who had done it. Are they not wood and stone? The same thing happens in civil society where a generation arises that is ignorant of their nations history. This comes from the idea that Abraham did not need proof of God before being cast into the fire, which is why God saved him. Scripture doesn't say why. According to the Book of Genesis 11, Terah was the son of Nahor, who was the son of Serug, who was the son of Reu, who was the son of Peleg, who was the son of Eber, who was the son of Shelah, who was the son of Arpachshad, who was the son of Shem, who was one of the sons of Noah . Perhaps he became sick. ", Terah is identified as the person who arranged and led the family to embark on a mysterious journey to Canaan. 52 And the king sent three men of his servants, and they went and brought Abram before the king. Why did Abraham banish Ishmael (Genesis 21:14). These were faint echoes, but nevertheless, the knowledge of God was not completely extinguished. And Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac. Any comments? The Torah, however, relates Terah's death in Haran before Abram continues the journey to Canaan as an expression that he was not remiss in the Mitzvah of honoring a parent by leaving his aging father behind. Abraham explained to him the faults of idolatry,[20] and why he was wrong to worship objects which could neither hear nor see. Suffice to say, from Terah going downwards there were generational curses that he could have passed down to his children. People everywhere were worshipping pagan gods. 48 Now therefore my father refrain from this, and bring not evil upon thy soul and the souls of thy household. When I looked it up online I found that it was in the Midrash. 47 And how can you continue to do this and serve gods of wood and stone, who cannot hear, or speak, or deliver you from oppression, thereby bringing down the anger of the God of the universe upon you? The rabbinical tradition dubs Terah a wicked (Numbers Rabbah 19:1; 19:33), idolatrous priest (Midrash HaGadol on Genesis 11:28) whose job was to make idols (Eliyahu Rabbah 6, and Eliyahu Zuta 25). Abraham mocked them, and said, Surely, the savory meat that I prepared doth not please you, or perhaps it is too little for you! "[16] Stephen asserts that Abram left Haran after Terah died. Rabbi Hiya the grandson of Rabbi Adda from Jaffa says: 'Terah was an idol-worshiper. Genesis: Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Pentateuch by John Goldingay. 1: Israel and Revelation, classic reprint hardcover, Forgotten Books Publishers, London, 2018, Zainab, Bahrani, Mesopotamia: Ancient Art and Architecture, Thomas Hudson publisher, High Holborn, U.K., 2017, For an interesting article on the current state of catechesis in the Catholic Church, please click the following link. The Twelver Shi'ite website Al-Islam.org treats Azar as being Abraham's uncle, not his biological father. Terah, having heard the crash of the hatchet on the stone, ran to the room of the idols, and he reached it at the moment when Abraham was leaving it, and when he saw what had happened, he hastened after Abraham, and he said to him, What is this mischief thou hast done to my gods? Abraham answered: I set savory meat before them, and when I came nigh unto them, that they might eat, they all stretched out their hands to take of the meat, before the big one had put forth his hand to eat. Idol worship is considered a sinby the ten commandments. ", Therefore, the singular word ab does not always mean progenitor, and can be used for an adopter, uncle, step-father, or caretaker, unlike the word wlid (Arabic: , progenitor). Terah begot three sons: Abram (more popular by his later name Abraham), Haran, and Nahor II. This one, enraged against them on account of their behavior, took the hatchet and broke them all, and, behold, the hatchet is yet in his hands, as thou mayest see., Then Terah turned in wrath upon Abraham, and he said: Thou speakest lies unto me! 15 And Terah his father was in those days, still captain of the host of king Nimrod, and he still followed strange gods. Terah to be the uncle of Abraham, not his father. this article is almost word for word from the book of Abraham; the book has much more and even though. When President Nelson shared the story of his breaking the bottles of alcohol his father owned, I kept thinking about another prophet who also broke things. The singular word ab does not necessarily always translate to progenitor. [9][need quotation to verify]. President Nelson shared the following story last April: I adored my parents. After his passing, Abraham departed from Haran. Haran is thrown into the fire, and is not saved by God. Azar refused, warning his son that he would get stoned to death if he kept saying such things. Abraham told him that a woman came in to make an offering to the idols. Abraham dwelt with his father, Terah, who was an idolater, in Ur of the Chaldees, when he received the call of God to go entirely away from his kindred and his //clark/the theology of holiness/chapter iii entire sanctification in.htm, From Abraham to Egypt. d. Genesis 11:26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. A woman came with a plateful of flour and asked Abram to offer it to the idols. Born: c. 2200-2170 BCE, Ur Kadim, Kaldea, Sumer, (present-day Southern Iraq) The moon god and other deities were distant objects of worship, and they did not personally interact with men. Nevertheless, Abraham offered a prayer to God, seeking forgiveness for his father. This has led many scholars to conclude that when he departed from Haran at the age of 75, it was well before his fathers demise. So Abraham took a stick, smashed the idols and placed the stick in the hand of the largest idol. Then the idols argued about which one should eat the offering first. He said that God appeared to Abraham in Mesopotamia, and directed him to leave the Chaldeanswhereas most rabbinical commentators see Terah as being the one who directed the family to leave Ur Kasdim from Genesis 11:31: "Terah took his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai (his son Abram's wife), and his grandson Lot (his son Haran's child) and left Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. Terah is prominently featured in Genesis 11:26-28. When it became clear that Azar's unrelenting hatred towards monotheism would never be fought, Abraham dissociated himself from him. Terah is mentioned in Genesis 11:2632 as a son of Nahor, the son of Serug, descendants of Shem. Ep 193 | Matthew 9-10; Mark 5; Luke 9, Come Follow Me 2023 (March 6-12), Ep 192 | Matthew 8; Mark 2-4; Luke 7, Come Follow Me 2023 (February 27-March 5), Matthew 18; Luke 10 Ep 198 Quotes and Notes, Matthew 14; Mark 6; John 5-6 Ep 196 Quotes and Notes. I expected my father to punish me, but he never said a word. 1. Enter your email to subscribe and receive notifications of new content. Like Abrahams generation, our generation finds itself steeped in idolatry. Ijebu-isiwo Is Under Which Local Government, They were polytheistic and idol worshippers. Verification of diving systems; Pressure Testing; Subsea Testing; Test Facilities; Chemical analysis. And Abram hastened and went from the chamber to his fathers outer court, and he found his father sitting in the court, and all his servants with him, and Abram came and sat before him. The God of Nahor? Joshua -- 'the LORD is salvation', Moses' successor, also the name of a number of Israelites, Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular, A people, a tribe, troops, attendants, a flock, LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel, gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative, Israel -- 'God strives', another name of Jacob and his desc, Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular, Preposition-m | Noun - masculine singular, Concealed, eternity, frequentatively, always, Noun - masculine plural construct | second person masculine plural, Terah -- Abraham's father, also a place in the desert, Abraham -- 'exalted father', the father of the Jewish nation, Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural, To sit down, to dwell, to remain, to settle, to marry, Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct, Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural, A brief history of God's benefits from Terah, He renews the covenant between them and God, OT History: Joshua 24:2 Joshua said to all the people Thus (Josh. A. Abraham was a born idol worshipper whose father Terah was a professional maker of idols. Hebrew, Islamic and Latter-day Saint traditions all hold that Terah was an idol worshipper. The worship of idolaters can have no other ends; for they know not and care not for eternal life; they even deny it. Terah, in response to Abraham's question to him about who the God was that had created heaven and earth and the children of men, took him to the hall wherein stood twelve great idols and a large number of little idols, and pointing to them he said, "Here are they who have made all thou seest on earth, they who have created also me and thee and Was Terah an idol worshipper? 3, There is something humorous in a history that we have in relation to this personage. Humiliated, the people agreed that their idols could not do anything. Abraham went thence to his mother, and he spoke to her, saying: Behold, my father has shown those unto me who made heaven and earth and all the sons of men. Although he was indeed on the correct path, he did not arrive at the divine destination. [29] When Abraham arrived, the people immediately began to question him, asking him whether he had anything to do with the broken idols. It can also mean an adopter, uncle, step-father, or caretaker. The idols argued about which one should eat the offering first, then the largest idol took the stick and smashed all the other idols. 28 Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans. And Terah answered his son Abram and said, Behold those who created us are all with us in the house. [12] The significance of Terah not reaching Canaan was a reflection of his character, a man who was unable to go "all the way". According to rabbinic literature Terah was a wicked (Numbers Rabbah 19:1; 19:33), idolatrous priest (Midrash HaGadol on Genesis 11:28) who manufactured idols (Eliyahu Rabbah 6, and Eliyahu Zuta 25). The earliest story involving Abraham in the Quran is his discussion with his ab (Arabic: , lit. . Edition, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1971, Ruse, Austin, No Finer Time to Be a Catholic, Crisis Publication, Manchester, N.H., 2021, Time-Life Books, editor, Sumer: Cities of Eden, Lost Civilization Series, Time Life Education, 1993, Voegelin, Eric, Order and History, Vol. It intimates that Abraham did not - in fact - worship idols but believed in GOD, even as a child. An idol is an image, a representation of anything, or a symbol that is an object of passionate devotion, whether material or imagined. His analysis deals with how in modern times, Abraham came to be seen as the only monotheist. When a man would come to buy [an idol], [Abraham] would ask him: "How old are you?" Consider this quote from the book of Judges in the Old Testament: And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them, who did not know the LORDor the work which he had done for Israel.. According to the bible God sent Abram to convert the people from idol worshiping. According to many Jewish and Islamic sources, the two did meet, and their meeting was symbolic of the confrontation between either: And Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.. 7. (E.g., Numbers Rabbah 19:1; 19:33.) Terah lived his life as an idol worshipper but perhaps this journey is reflective of the fact that towards the end of his life he began to shift away from his past modes of worship and began to seek God. Hebrew, Islamic and Latter-day Saint traditions all hold that Terah was an idol worshipper. The ancient Israelites did not listen. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges, and officers of Israel, and they presented themselves before God. Soon an idol worshipper came in and wished to buy an idol. As such Terah remains an obscure figure in the biblical tradition. Nimrod asked Abram: "Why do you not worship my god?" Terah is portrayed by Vittorio Gassman in the film Abraham (1993). Is this merely a coincidence? 61 And when Abram had ceased speaking before the king and princes, Abram lifted up his eyes to the heavens, and he said, The Lord seeth all the wicked, and he will judge them. Said he, Father, I did not do anything to them, they quarreled among themselves and went to work fighting and knocked one another down, broke one anothers heads and knocked off one anothers arms and legs. Oh, said his father, my sons do not tell me anything of that kind, for they are made of wood and they could not move or stir from their place nor knock one another down; it has been some other agency that has done it. Why, father, said he, would you worship a being that could not stir or move, that had hands and could not handle, that had legs and could not walk, a mouth that could not speak, and a head and it was of no use? Whereupon Abraham responded by saying that you deny their knowledge, yet you worship them! Ur and Haran were also significant places for the moon worship cult. Terah was 70 years old when he began to bear sons (Genesis 11:26). God was not waiting for Terah to die before He called Abram away from his father's house and his influence. And as he put it, The temple of the Moon attracted the devotion of Julian.3 This was over 2200 years after Abraham lived! The Bible tells us the Lord said to him: Get thee up from thy fathers house, from the land wherein thou wast born, and go up to a land I will show unto thee, and which I will afterwards give unto thee for an inheritance. And we are told that he went up, not knowing whither he went. 4, It is said Abrahams father was an idolater, and that he had a number of gods in his house. Terah or Terach (Hebrew: Tera) is a biblical figure in the Book of Genesis.He is listed as the son of Nahor and father of the patriarch Abraham.As such, he is a descendant of Shem's son Arpachshad.Terah is mentioned in Genesis 11:26-27, Book of Joshua 24:2, and 1 Chronicles 1:17-27 of the Hebrew Bible and Luke 3:34-36 in the New Testament Some human beings were able to specialize [] Thou shall have no other God's before Me. Terah or Terach (Hebrew: Tera) is a biblical figure in the Book of Genesis. Why, even Abram's father, Terah thought by some to have been an idol-maker also leaves! Abraham told him that a woman came in to make an offering to the idols. In the Genesis narrative, Terah took his family and left Ur to move to the land of Canaan. According to rabbinical tradition Terah was a wicked (Numbers Rabbah 19:1; 19:33), idolatrous priest (Midrash HaGadol on . The name of Abrahams Father, Terah, is etymologicallyrelated to the word moon.1 Since the moon god was the chief deity of Ur, it would not be unusual that someone like Terah would be named after the moon god, in essence signifying that he and his family were under the protection of that god. Get our Question of the Week delivered right to your inbox! [33] Abraham, as a result, remained unhurt both physically and spiritually, having survived the fire of persecution. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopedia. The time period when the Catholic Church stopped effectively catechizing also coincided with unprecedented prosperity in the West. Copyright 2002-2023 Got Questions Ministries. https://catholicstand.com/consequences-50-years-poor-catechesis-1/, Your email address will not be published. His descendants would be chosen as Gods people in order that all of the nations would be blessed. 25 And his mother did so, and she fetched a kid, and made savory meat thereof, and brought it to Abram, and Abram took the savory meat from his mother and brought it before his fathers gods, and he drew nigh to them that they might eat; and Terah his father, did not know of it. God taught Abraham about his special heritage that he was a part of a people who were blessed by God. A man walked in and wished to buy an idol. [13], In the Samaritan Pentateuch Terah dies aged 145 years and Abram leaves Haran after his death. Genesis 12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: Genesis 31:53 The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge betwixt us. It is clear, however, that Terah himself is an idol worshipper, both from the Midrash stories and from Joshua 24:2. Terah, along with his family, set out for the land of Canaan. Even Abram's father, Terah, was involved in idolatry, perhaps making idols. The Quran describes Abrahams people as idol worshippers. Terah was the eighth generation from Noahs son Shem. The most well known form is worshipping a statue resembling some form of god, however putting anything before your could be consider idol worship. Terah once went away and left Abraham to mind the store. Terah is mentioned in Genesis 11:2627,[1] Joshua 24:2,[2] and 1 Chronicles 1:1727[3] of the Hebrew Bible and Luke 3:3436[4] in the New Testament. Therefore I will prepare fresh savory meat to-morrow, better and more plentiful than this, that I may see what cometh therefrom. But the gods remained mute and without motion before the second offering of excellent savory meat as before the first offering, and the spirit of God came over Abraham, and he cried out, and said: Woe unto my father and his wicked generation, whose hearts are all inclined to vanity, who serve these idols of wood and stone, which cannot eat, nor smell, nor hear, nor speak, which have mouths without speech, eyes without sight, ears without hearing, hands without feeling, and legs without motion!, Abraham then took a hatchet in his hand, and broke all his fathers gods, and when he had done breaking them he placed the hatchet in the hand of the biggest god among them all, and he went out. Like Noah, Terah also had three sons, Abram being one of them. 36 And Terah entered the room and found all the idols fallen down and broken, and the hatchet in the hand of the largest, which was not broken, and the savory meat which Abram his son had made was still before them. 24 Now, therefore, hasten and fetch a kid from the flock, and make of it savory meat, that I may bring it to my fathers gods as an offering for them to eat; perhaps I may thereby become acceptable to them. 3000-323 BC, 3rd Edition (Blackwell History of the Ancient World), Wiley-Blackwell, Hoboken, N.J., 2015, Hahn, Ph.D., Scott, Kinship by Covenant: A Canonical Approach to the Fulfillment of Gods Saving Promises, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT., 2009, Kramer, Samuel Noah, The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character Revised ed. Abraham told him that a woman came in to make an offering to the idols. He sired two other sons besides Abraham: Haran, and Nahor II. 6. He learned that God is one and not many and that Yahweh is the one true God. Terah: Abrams father worshipped false gods and settled in Haran, Shems Descendants to Abram, Genesis 11:10-32. Even though his family had fallen into idolatry, there was most likely some echoes of the one true God that had come down from the past. He was an Idol worshipper, which is son Abraham did not continue. Before Joshua led the Israelites to conquer Canaan about 800 years after Abraham lived, he said the following: Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Long ago your ancestors Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor lived beyond the Euphrates and served other gods. "The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.". The Talmud notes that Abrahams age was 52 in 2000 AM (Anno Mundi). Generally speaking, idolatry is the veneration, love, worship, or adoration of an idol. Abram then took a stick, broke the idols, and put the stick in the largest idols hand. ", Abraham told his father that he had indeed received revelations from God, knowledge which his father did not possess,[22] and told him that belief in God would grant him immense rewards in both this life and the hereafter. ( Genesis 31:53) We include this description as a contrast. And as far as the sexual revolution question, it is really a chicken and egg question. What was Abrahams religion before God called him? Was Terah, the father of Abraham the first Hebrew, an idol worshipper? It is thou that didst place the hatchet in the hand of the big god, and thou sayest he smote them all. Abraham answered his father, and said: How, then, canst thou serve these idols in whom there is no power to do anything? Abraham's brother Haran sees what happened and says that he believes in the God of Abraham. He sought to restore the line of Shem back to the true worship of Yahweh. Would you like updates when content is posted? and probably influenced by the declining health of the aged Terah, he took up Pharaoh, though an idolater, knew by this supernatural infliction, that there was //headley/half hours in bible lands volume 2/scenes in the lives of.htm, Hearken and Look; Or, Encouragement for Believers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of which God hath not even yet cast away was originally himself an idolater, and had //spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 27 1881/hearken and look or encouragement.htm, The Perpetual virginity of Blessed Mary. After the incident of the idol wreckage, the people of Abraham, while having admitted their fault, are said to have ignored Abraham's warning and instead retaliated by throwing him into a fire and exclaiming "protect your gods". Answer (1 of 3): A story is told of Abraham (Ibrahim), the father of the three Semitic, monotheistic religions. We have already told you what a close brush with death Abraham had on the very night of his birth. All three have stories of attempts to sacrifice Terah's son Abraham by a major wicked priest but was miraculously saved by his God. Environmental analysis; Sediment sampling Furthermore, he cautioned his father of serious divine punishment if he rejected his advice. Shems genealogy is highlighted in verses 10-26. But God doesn't call the qualified. Get our Question of the Week delivered right to your inbox! Abraham is the first patriarch and is seen as the father of the four Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Bah Faith. was terah an idol worshippertalk radio seattle radio stations was terah an idol worshipper. At this point, Terah took Abraham to Nimrod. For the place, see, The Masoretic Text gives his age at death as 205. One day I jumped on the streetcar and went to an LDS bookstore to find a book about the Church. 15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by human hands. 27 And Abram mocked them, and said, Surely the savory meat that I prepared has not pleased them, or perhaps it was too little for them, and for that reason they would not eat; therefore tomorrow I will prepare fresh savory meat, better and more plentiful than this, in order that I may see the result. This account records Terah as the first to set out to Canaan with Abram and his family from Ur of the Chaldeans to settle in Canaan (vs. 31-32). They meant the world to me and taught me crucial lessons. Iraqi Male, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Terah.jpg. they replied, "We shall worship your God and the God of your aba, Ibrahim, Isma'il, and Is-haq, one single God: we devote ourselves to Him. Abram told his father that the idols fought among themselves and the largest broke the others with the stick. "[5] There is no description of a biblical interaction between Nimrod and Abraham. What is the significance of Mount Moriah in the Bible? Another reason why this happens is prosperity. There were seven generations between Shem and Abraham and somewhere along the line, the chain was broken. This Midrash can be interpreted as an example of persecution against those of monotheistic beliefs during a time when polytheism dominated.[8]. At one point in the book, he muses over possible causes that led to the near collapse of the Catholic Church in the West in the 1960s. Even though the line of Shem fell into idolatry, God did not abandon them. Later, a woman walked into the store and wanted to make an offering to the idols. 4, p. 175. Most likely, the same thing happened to Shems descendants. Terah or Trach (Hebrew: / , Modern Tra / Tra Tiberian Tra / Tra ; "Ibex, wild goat", or "Wanderer; loiterer") was the father of Abraham mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. c. Terah was an idol worshipper. 38 And he found Abram his son still sitting in the house; and he said to him, What is this work thou hast done to my gods? Terah was a high priest of the idol worshippers. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot. Terah then brought his unruly son before Nimrod, who threw him into a fiery furnace, yet Abram miraculously escaped (Genesis Rabba 38:13). Abram's following God's command to leave his father, thus absolved him from the mitzvah of honoring parents, and as Abraham, he would go on to create a new lineage distinct from his ancestors.