1Abram went up out of Egypt—he, his wife, all that he had, and Lot with him—into the South. 2Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. 3He went on his journeys from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, 4to the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first. There Abram called on Yahweh’s name. 5Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks, herds, and tents. 6The land was not able to bear them, that they might live together; for their possessions were so great that they couldn’t live together. 7There was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites lived in the land at that time. 8Abram said to Lot, “Please, let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen; for we are relatives. 9Isn’t the whole land before you? Please separate yourself from me. If you go to the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if you go to the right hand, then I will go to the left.”
10Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the plain of the Jordan, that it was well-watered everywhere, before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Yahweh, like the land of Egypt, as you go to Zoar. 11So Lot chose the Plain of the Jordan for himself. Lot traveled east, and they separated themselves from one other. 12Abram lived in the land of Canaan, and Lot lived in the cities of the plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom. 13Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against Yahweh.
14Yahweh said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him, “Now, lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, 15for I will give all the land which you see to you and to your offspring forever. 16I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can count the dust of the earth, then your offspring may also be counted. 17Arise, walk through the land in its length and in its width; for I will give it to you.”
18Abram moved his tent, and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to Yahweh.
1. Ur of the Chaldees (Gen 11:31; Acts 7:2-4)
Haran died before his father Terah in Ur (Gen 11:28). Sometime after this death, Terah took his son Abram, and Lot the son of Haran, Sarai, Abram's wife, and went from Ur of the Chaldees to the land of Canaan, to the city called Haran (presumably named after his father) to make that his new home (Gen 11:31).
It appears that in Haran, Yahweh spoke to Abram and informed him that it was He who brought Abram out of Ur, in order to give the land of Canaan as an inheritance (Gen 15:7). Nehemiah confirms this (Neh 9:7), where the text of Scripture says that Yahweh is the God who chose Abram (great father) and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldees and gave to him the name Abraham (father of many nations).
2. Haran (Gen 12:1-4; Acts 7:4)
Haran is the name of the son of Terah who died in Ur of the Chaldees, and also the name of the city in Canaan. Genesis 11:27 indicates that Terah lived seventy years before he became the father of his sons Abram, Nahor, and Haran. It may be that the order of the sons (Gen 11:26), as is common, depicts the order of their birth (see the sons of Noah, Gen 10). If this is so, then the youngest brother of Abram, Haran, preceded his brothers and father in death (Gen 11:28), after he had already become the father of Lot (Gen 11:27), the nephew of Abram.
The biblical account continues that Abram married his half-sister, Sarai (Gen 11:29). This may be due to the scarcity of possible wives where they went, but the text does not speak of this, but the Bible reveals that Abram and Sarai were married before they left Ur (Gen 11:31). Upon coming to Haran, Terah, at two hundred and five years old, died there (see the map of the Ancient Near East and location of Haran. (Map Link to Haran and Mesopotamia, click map to have a larger map).
Upon the death of Terah, Abram, now seventy-five, was approached by Yahweh, who commanded him to leave Haran, and many of his relatives (Gen 12:1) and travel south from Haran to the places that Yahweh would show him (Gen 12:1).
The biblical text indicates that Abram, in obedience to Yahweh's command, left relatives in Haran, but also took a number of his extended family into the land of Canaan, including Sarai, his wife and half-sister, his nephew Lot (son of Haran), and apparently several others (Gen 12:5) on this journey. Several years later, at Isaac's command, his son Jacob returned to Haran, to escape the wrath of Esau, to live with his uncle Laban (Gen 27:43; 28:10).
Several of the foregoing details in Genesis are substantiated in the sermon of Stephen (Acts 7:2-4).
3. Damascus (Gen 15:2)
5. Bethel (Genesis 12:8)
6. Egypt (Gen 12:9-20)
7. Bethel (Gen 13:1-9)
8. Hebron (Gen 13:10-18)
9. Dan (Gen 14:1-14)
11. Salem (Gen 14:17-21)
12. Hebron (Gen 15:1-21; 17:1-27)
13. Gerar (Gen 20:1-18)
14. Beersheba (Gen 21:1-34)
15. Moriah (Gen 22:1-18)
16. Beersheba (Genesis 26:23-33)
17. Hebron (Gen 23: 1-20)