NAHOR

(Naʹhor).

1. Father of Terah and grandfather of Abraham. Nahor was a son of Serug and descendant of Shem. He lived 148 years (2177 to 2029 B.C.E.).​—Ge 11:22-26; 1Ch 1:24-27; Lu 3:34-36.

2. Son of Terah; grandson of Nahor (No. 1); and brother of Abraham. (Ge 11:26; Jos 24:2) Nahor married Milcah, Lot’s sister and the daughter of Nahor’s other brother, Haran, hence Nahor’s niece. By her he had 8 sons, and by his concubine Reumah he had 4 more sons, totaling 12, some of whom became tribal heads. (Ge 11:27, 29; 22:20-24) Through his son Bethuel, Nahor became grandfather to Laban and Rebekah, and great-grandfather of Leah, Rachel, Jacob (Israel), and Esau.​—Ge 24:15, 24, 47; 29:5, 16; 1Ch 1:34.

The Genesis account of Terah and Abraham leaving Ur of the Chaldeans does not include Nahor’s name in the list of travelers. (Ge 11:31) It does seem, however, that he may have come later, for Abraham’s servant, seeking a wife for Isaac, traveled to Haran, where Terah took up dwelling and where he died, and where Nahor’s grandson Laban lived when Jacob went to him. (Ge 11:31, 32; 12:4; 27:43) Abraham’s servant came “to the city of Nahor,” either to Haran itself or a place close by, perhaps the Nahur frequently mentioned in various Mari tablets of the second millennium B.C.E. (Ge 24:10; 29:4; The Biblical Archaeologist, 1948, p. 16) And when Jacob parted company from Laban, Laban called on “the god of Abraham and the god of Nahor” to judge between them.​—Ge 31:53; see HARAN No. 4.