So Abraham, we find from that, was told before going to Haran (see Haran was where he left from), but he did not leave for Canaan until after his father Terah died in Haran.
He was battling, I think, some of the same things that we do. The desire to not upset our family anymore than it had been upset, the desire to keep peace in any way that he possibly can, the desire to not bring dishonor or pain or whatever it might be to his father. But at any rate, there is at least an indication that Abraham was having a hard time tearing himself away. So even the father of the faithful had a hard time leaving his roots.
Now for you and me, it can be a very difficult step. But we have to understand that we cannot take the old man to the place of promise. It cannot be saved, and it cannot be improved. It has to be left behind.
It is interesting that Terah was moving with Abram. We also read there in Joshua 24:2 that Terah worshipped other gods. Now perhaps what we are seeing here is at least the beginning of the conversion of Terah, that Terah was either being converted or maybe he repented. I do not know because he was beginning to move with Abraham from the land of Ur to Haran, but he died before they could actually leave.
Now I do not think that I am going too far in saying that, as we would look at it today, what Abraham had gathered around him was what we would call the church on earth at that time and that they were beginning a period of pilgrimage, a wandering. There was a forerunner of the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness, and even today is a forerunner of our spiritual wandering in this world that is opposed to God.
The indication from verse 26, if one took it just the way it was said, it looks as though Abram, Nahor, and Haran were triplets, all born in the same year when Terah was seventy years. However that is not the case. Abram is listed first, although he was not the eldest of the three. Haran was the oldest and Nahor was the youngest, putting Abram in the middle.
Abram was 75 years old when he was called. If Terah died at the age of two-hundred and five years, and if he died just prior to (and that is what the context seems to imply), Abram’s leaving his land, then Terah was one hundred and thirty years old when Abram was born. We can deduce then that Haran was born when Terah was seventy and that Nahor was born at some unspecified time after Abraham.
