Traduction Masquer
The City of God

Chapter 13.--Why, in the Account of Terah's Emigration, on His Forsaking the Chaldeans and Passing Over into Mesopotamia, No Mention is Made of His Son Nahor.

Next it is related how Terah with his family left the region of the Chaldeans and came into Mesopotamia, and dwelt in Haran. But nothing is said about one of his sons called Nahor, as if he had not taken him along with him. For the narrative runs thus: "And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarah his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and led them forth out of the region of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan; and he came into Haran, and dwelt there." ¹ Nahor and Milcah his wife are nowhere named here. But afterwards, when Abraham sent his servant to take a wife for his son Isaac, we find it thus written: "And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his lord, and of all the goods of his lord, with him; and arose, and went into Mesopotamia, into the city of Nahor." ² This and other testimonies of this sacred history show that Nahor, Abraham's brother, had also left the region of the Chaldeans, and fixed his abode in Mesopotamia, where Abraham dwelt with his father. Why, then, did the Scripture not mention him, when Terah with his family went forth out of the Chaldean nation and dwelt in Haran, since it mentions that he took with him not only Abraham his son, but also Sarah his daughter-in-law, and Lot his grandson? The only reason we can think of is, that perhaps he had lapsed from the piety of his father and brother, and adhered to the superstition of the Chaldeans, and had afterwards emigrated thence, either through penitence, or because he was persecuted as a suspected person. For in the book called Judith, when Holofernes, the enemy of the Israelites, inquired what kind of nation that might be, and whether war should be made against them, Achior, the leader of the Ammonites, answered him thus: "Let our lord now hear a word from the mouth of thy servant, and I will declare unto thee the truth concerning the people which dwelleth near thee in this hill country, and there shall no lie come out of the mouth of thy servant. For this people is descended from the Chaldeans, and they dwelt heretofore in Mesopotamia, because they would not follow the gods of their fathers, which were glorious in the land of the Chaldeans, but went out of the way of their ancestors, and adored the God of heaven, whom they knew; and they cast them out from the face of their gods, and they fled into Mesopotamia, and dwelt there many days. And their God said to them, that they should depart from their habitation, and go into the land of Canaan; and they dwelt," ³ etc., as Achior the Ammonite narrates. Whence it is manifest that the house of Terah had suffered persecution from the Chaldeans for the true piety with which they worshipped the one and true God.

Edition Masquer
De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput XIII: Quae ratio fecisse uideatur, ut in transmigratione Tharae, qua Chaldaeos deserens in Mesopotamiam transiit, nulla filii eius Nachor facta sit mentio.

Deinde narratur quemadmodum Thara cum suis regionem reliquerit Chaldaeorum et uenerit in Mesopotamiam et habitauerit in Charra. tacetur autem de uno eius filio, qui uocabatur Nachor, tamquam eum non duxerit se cum. nam ita narratur: et sumpsit Thara Abram filium suum et Loth filium Arran, filium filii sui, et Saram nurum suam uxorem Abram filii sui, et eduxit illos de regione Chaldaeorum ire in terram Chanaan; et uenit in Charran et habitauit ibi. nusquam hic nominatus est Nachor et uxor eius Melcha. sed inuenimus postea, cum seruum suum mitteret Abraham ad accipiendam uxorem filio suo Isaac, ita scriptum: et accepit puer decem camelos de camelis domini sui et de omnibus bonis domini sui se cum, et exsurgens profectus est in Mesopotamiam in ciuitatem Nachor. isto et aliis sacrae huius historiae testimoniis ostenditur etiam Nachor frater Abrahae exisse de regione Chaldaeorum sedesque constituisse in Mesopotamia, ubi cum patre suo habitauerat Abraham. cur ergo eum scriptura non commemorauit, quando ex gente Chaldaea cum suis profectus est Thara et habitauit in Mesopotamia, ubi non solum Abraham filius eius, uerum etiam Sarra nurus et Loth nepos eius commemorantur, quod eos duxerit se cum? cur putamus nisi forte quod a paterna et fraterna pietate desciuerat et superstitioni adhaeserat Chaldaeorum et postea inde siue paenitendo siue persecutionem passus, quod suspectus haberetur, et ipse emigrauit? in libro enim qui inscribitur Iudith, cum quaereret Holofernes, hostis Israelitarum, quaenam illa gens esset, utrum aduersus eam bellandum fuisset, sic ei respondit Achior dux Ammanitarum: audiat dominus noster uerbum de ore pueri sui, et referam tibi ueritatem de populo, qui habitat iuxta te montanam hanc, et non exibit mendacium de ore serui tui. haec enim progenies populi est Chaldaeorum, et antea habitauerunt Mesopotamiam, quia noluerunt sequi deos patrum suorum, qui fuerunt in terra Chaldaeorum gloriosi, sed declinauerunt de uia parentum suorum et adorauerunt deum caeli, quem cognouerunt, et proiecerunt eos a facie deorum suorum et fugerunt Mesopotamiam et habitauerunt ibi dies multos. dixitque illis deus eorum, ut exirent de habitatione sua et irent in terram Chanaan, et illic habitauerunt, et cetera, quae narrat Achior Ammanites. unde manifestum est domum Tharae persecutionem passam fuisse a Chaldaeis pro uera pietate, qua unus et uerus ab eis colebatur deus.