Mind of the Church

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Library / Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume II

Book Sixteen — the tower of Babel and the division of tongues

{These are the generations of Thare: Thare begot Abram, Nachor, and Aran. And Aran begot Lot. And Aran died before Thare his father, in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. And Abram and Nachor took wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nachor's wife, Melcha, the daughter of Aran, father of Melcha and father of Iescha. And Sarai was barren, and had no children. And Thare took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Aran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, the wife of Abram his son, and brought them out of Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Chanaan: and they came as far as Haran, and dwelt there. And the days of Thare were two hundred and five years, and he died in Haran.}

LatineEnglish

{These are the generations of Thare: Thare begot Abram, Nachor, and Aran. And Aran begot Lot. And Aran died before Thare his father, in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. And Abram and Nachor took wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nachor's wife, Melcha, the daughter of Aran, father of Melcha and father of Iescha. And Sarai was barren, and had no children. And Thare took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Aran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, the wife of Abram his son, and brought them out of Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Chanaan: and they came as far as Haran, and dwelt there. And the days of Thare were two hundred and five years, and he died in Haran.}1

Hae sunt generationes Thare. Thare genuit Abram, Nachor & Aran. Porro Aran genuit Lot. Mortuusque est Aran ante Thare patrem suum in terra nativitatis suae in Ur Chaldaeorum. Duxerunt autem Aran & Nachor uxores: nomen uxoris Abram Sarai, & nomen uxoris Nachor, Melcha filia Aran patris Melchae & patris Iescha. Erat autem Sarai sterilis nec habebat liberos. Tulit itaque Thare Abram filium suum, & Lot filium Aran filii sui, & Sarai nurum suam, uxorem Abram filii sui, & eduxit eos de Ur Chaldaeorum, ut irent in terram Chanaan: veneruntque usque Haran & habitaverunt ibi. Et facti sunt dies Thare ducentorum quinque annorum, & mortuus est in Haran.

PRAEFATIO. Super haec verba Mosis quinque disputationes tractandae sunt; quarum prima erit, An Abraham fuerit primogenitus Thare: secunda, An Sara coniux Abrahae fuerit vera eius soror: tertia, An, quia noluit Abraham adorare ignem iussu Chaldaeorum, coniectus ab illis in ignem sit, & inde mirabiliter à Deo liberatus: quarta, An Thare pater Abrahae fuerit cultor Idolorum: quinta, Utrum Abraham aliquando coluerit Idola, an semper veri Dei cultor fuerit.
PREFACE. Upon these words of Moses five disputations are to be treated; of which the first will be: Whether Abraham was the firstborn of Thare; the second: Whether Sara, Abraham's wife, was truly his sister; the third: Whether, because Abraham refused to worship fire at the command of the Chaldees, he was cast by them into the fire and thence miraculously freed by God; the fourth: Whether Thare, Abraham's father, was a worshipper of idols; the fifth: Whether Abraham ever worshipped idols, or was always a worshipper of the true God.2

Translator’s notes

  1. Gen 11:27–32 (verse lemma, vv. 27–32 numbered in the margin). The Scripture text for the whole Third Part — Thare's descendants, Aran's death at Ur, the marriages of Abram (to Sarai) and Nachor (to Melcha), Sarai's barrenness, and the migration from Ur to Haran where Thare died. ↩
  2. Praefatio to the Third Part. Outlines its five disputations: (1) was Abraham Thare's firstborn; (2) was Sara truly Abraham's sister; (3) the Chaldean-fire legend (cast in for refusing fire-worship, divinely rescued); (4) was Thare an idolater; (5) did Abraham ever worship idols. ↩