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HARAN.—1. Son of Terah, younger brother of Abram, and father of Lot, Gen_11:26 (P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] ), also father of Milcah and Iscah, Gen_11:29 (J [Note: Jahwist.] ). 2. A Gershonite Levite (1Ch_23:9).
HARAN.—A city in the N. W. of Mesopotamia, marked by the modern village of Harran, situated on the Bçlikh, a tributary of the Euphrates, and about nine hours’ ride S. E. of Edessa (Urfa). Terah and his son Abram and his family dwelt there on their way from Ur of the Chaldees to Canaan (Gen_11:31; Gen_12:4-5; cf. Act_7:2), and Terah died there (Gen_11:32; cf. Act_7:4). Nahor, Abram’s brother, settled there; hence it is called ‘the city of Nahor’ in the story of Isaac and Jacob (cf. Gen_24:10; Gen_27:43). Its position on one of the main trade-routes between Babylonia and the Mediterranean coast rendered it commercially of great importance (cf. Eze_27:23). It was the chief seat of the worship of Sin, the moon-god, and the frequent references to the city in the Assyrian inscriptions have to do mainly with the worship of this deity and the restoration of his temple. It is probable that Haran rebelled along with the city of Ashur in b.c. 763, and a reference to its subsequent capture and the suppression of the revolt may be seen in 2Ki_19:12; Sargon later on restored the ancient religious privileges of which the city had been then deprived. The worship of the moon-god at Haran appears to have long survived the introduction of Christianity.
L. W. King.