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The City of God

Chapter 15.--Of the Time of the Migration of Abraham, When, According to the Commandment of God, He Went Out from Haran.

When, after the record of the death of Terah, the father of Abraham, we next read, "And the Lord said to Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house," ¹ etc., it is not to be supposed, because this follows in the order of the narrative, that it also followed in the chronological order of events. For if it were so, there would be an insoluble difficulty. For after these words of God which were spoken to Abraham, the Scripture says: "And Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him. Now Abraham was seventy-five years old when he departed out of Haran." ² How can this be true if he departed from Haran after his father's death? For when Terah was seventy years old, as is intimated above, he begat Abraham; and if to this number we add the seventy-five years which Abraham reckoned when he went out of Haran, we get 145 years. Therefore that was the number of the years of Terah, when Abraham departed out of that city of Mesopotamia; for he had reached the seventy-fifth year of his life, and thus his father, who begat him in the seventieth year of his life, had reached, as was said, his 145th. Therefore he did not depart thence after his father's death, that is, after the 205 years his father lived; but the year of his departure from that place, seeing it was his seventy-fifth, is inferred beyond a doubt to have been the 145th of his father, who begat him in his seventieth year. And thus it is to be understood that the Scripture, according to its custom, has gone back to the time which had already been passed by the narrative; just as above, when it had mentioned the grandsons of Noah, it said that they were in their nations and tongues; and yet afterwards, as if this also had followed in order of time, it says, "And the whole earth was of one lip, and one speech for all." ³ How, then, could they be said to be in their own nations and according to their own tongues, if there was one for all; except because the narrative goes back to gather up what it had passed over? Here, too, in the same way, after saying, "And the days of Terah in Haran were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran," the Scripture, going back to what had been passed over in order to complete what had been begun about Terah, says, "And the Lord said to Abram, Get thee out of thy country," ⁴ etc. After which words of God it is added, "And Abram departed, as the Lord spake unto him; and Lot went with him. But Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed out of Haran." Therefore it was done when his father was in the 145th year of his age; for it was then the seventy-fifth of his own. But this question is also solved in another way, that the seventy-five years of Abraham when he departed out of Haran are reckoned from the year in which he was delivered from the fire of the Chaldeans, not from that of his birth, as if he was rather to be held as having been born then.

Now the blessed Stephen, in narrating these things in the Acts of the Apostles, says: "The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, and said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, and come into the land which I will show thee." ⁵ According to these words of Stephen, God spoke to Abraham, not after the death of his father, who certainly died in Haran, where his son also dwelt with him, but before he dwelt in that city, although he was already in Mesopotamia. Therefore he had already departed from the Chaldeans. So that when Stephen adds, "Then Abraham went out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charran," ⁶ this does not point out what took place after God spoke to him (for it was not after these words of God that he went out of the land of the Chaldeans, since he says that God spoke to him in Mesopotamia), but the word "then" which he uses refers to that whole period from his going out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelling in Haran. Likewise in what follows, "And thenceforth, when his father was dead, he settled him in this land, wherein ye now dwell, and your fathers," he does not say, after his father was dead he went out from Haran; but thenceforth he settled him here, after his father was dead. It is to be understood, therefore, that God had spoken to Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran; but that he came to Haran with his father, keeping in mind the precept of God, and that he went out thence in his own seventy-fifth year, which was his father's 145th. But he says that his settlement in the land of Canaan, not his going forth from Haran, took place after his father's death; because his father was already dead when he purchased the land, and personally entered on possession of it. But when, on his having already settled in Mesopotamia, that is, already gone out of the land of the Chaldeans, God says, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house," ⁷ this means, not that he should cast out his body from thence, for he had already done that, but that he should tear away his soul. For he had not gone out from thence in mind, if he was held by the hope and desire of returning,--a hope and desire which was to be cut off by God's command and help, and by his own obedience. It would indeed be no incredible supposition that afterwards, when Nahor followed his father, Abraham then fulfilled the precept of the Lord, that he should depart out of Haran with Sarah his wife and Lot his brother's son.

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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput XV: De tempore profectionis Abrahae, qua secundum praeceptum dei exiit de Charra.

Quod uero commemorata morte Tharae, patris Abraham, deinde legitur: et dixit dominus ad Abram: exi de terra tua et de cognatione tua et de domo patris tui et cetera, non, quia hoc sequitur in sermone libri, hoc etiam in rerum gestarum tempore sequi existimandum est. erit quippe, si ita est, insolubilis quaestio. post haec enim uerba dei, quae ad Abraham facta sunt, scriptura sic loquitur: et exiit Abram, quemadmodum locutus est ei dominus, et abiit cum eo Loth. Abram autem erat quinque et septuaginta annorum, cum exiit ex Charra. quomodo potest hoc esse uerum, si post mortem patris sui exiit de Charra? cum enim esset Thara septuaginta annorum, sicut supra intimatum est, genuit Abraham; cui numero additis septuaginta quinque annis, quos agebat Abraham, quando egressus est de Charra, fiunt anni centum quadraginta quinque. tot igitur annorum erat Thara, quando exiit Abraham de illa Mesopotamiae ciuitate; agebat enim annum aetatis suae septuagensimum quintum, ac per hoc pater eius, qui eum septuagensimo anno suo genuerat, agebat, ut dictum est, centensimum quadragensimum et quintum. non ergo inde post mortem patris, id est post ducentos quinque annos, quibus pater eius uixit, egressus est; sed annus de illo loco profectionis eius, quoniam ipsius septuagensimus quintus erat, procul dubio patris eius, qui eum septuagensimo suo anno genuerat, centensimus quadragensimus quintus fuisse colligitur. ac per hoc intellegendum est more suo scripturam redisse ad tempus, quod iam narratio illa transierat; sicut superius, cum filios filiorum Noe commemorasset, dixit illos fuisse in linguis et gentibus suis, et tamen postea, quasi hoc etiam in ordine temporum sequeretur: et erat, inquit, omnis terra labium unum et uox una omnibus. quomodo ergo secundum suas gentes et secundum suas linguas erant, si una erat omnibus, nisi quia ad illud quod iam transierat recapitulando est reuersa narratio? sic ergo et hic cum dictum esset: et fuerunt dies Tharae in Charra quinque et ducenti anni, et mortuus est Thara in Charra, deinde scriptura redeundo ad id, quod ideo praetermiserat, ut prius de Thara id quod incohatum fuerat conpleretur: et dixit, inquit, dominus ad Abram: exi de terra tua et cetera. post quae dei uerba subiungitur: et exiit Abram, quemadmodum locutus est illi dominus, et abiit cum eo Loth. Abram autem erat quinque et septuaginta annorum, cum exiit ex Charra. tunc itaque factum est, quando pater eius centensimum quadragensimum et quintum annum agebat aetatis; tunc enim fuit huius septuagensimus quintus. soluta est autem ista quaestio et aliter, ut septuaginta quinque anni Abrahae, quando egressus est de Charra, ex illo conputarentur, ex quo de igne Chaldaeorum liberatus, non ex quo natus est, tamquam tunc potius natus habendus sit. sed beatus Stephanus in actibus apostolorum cum ista narraret: deus, inquit, gloriae apparuit Abrahae patri nostro, cum esset in Mesopotamia, priusquam habitaret in Charra, et ait ad illum: exi de terra tua et de cognatione tua et de domo patris tui, et ueni in terram, quam tibi demonstrabo. secundum haec uerba Stephani non post mortem patris eius locutus est deus Abrahae, qui utique in Charra mortuus est, ubi cum illo et ipse filius habitauit, sed priusquam habitaret in eadem ciuitate, iam tamen cum esset in Mesopotamia. iam ergo exierat a Chaldaeis. quod itaque adiungit Stephanus: tunc Abraham egressus est de terra Chaldaeorum et habitauit in Charra, non quid sit factum, posteaquam locutus est illi deus - neque enim post illa dei uerba egressus est de terra Chaldaeorum, cum dicat ei locutum deum cum esset in Mesopotamia - , sed ad totum illud tempus pertinet quod ait: tunc, id est, ex quo egressus est a Chaldaeis et habitauit in Charra. item quod sequitur: et inde postquam mortuus est pater eius, conlocauit illum in terra hac, in qua uos nunc habitatis et patres uestri, non ait: postquam mortuus est pater eius, exiit de Charra; sed: inde hic eum conlocauit, postquam mortuus est pater eius. intellegendum est igitur locutum deum fuisse ad Abraham, cum esset in Mesopotamia, priusquam habitaret in Charra; sed eum in Charram peruenisse cum patre, retento apud se praecepto dei, et inde exisse septuagensimo et quinto suo, patris autem sui centensimo quadragensimo et quinto anno. conlocationem uero eius in terra Chanaan, non profectionem de Charra post mortem patris eius factam esse dicit, quia iam mortuus erat pater eius, quando emit terram, cuius ibi iam suae rei coepit esse possessor. quod autem iam in Mesopotamia constituto, hoc est iam egresso de terra Chaldaeorum, dicit deus: exi de terra tua et de cognatione tua et de domo patris tui, non ut corpus inde eiceret, quod iam fecerat, sed ut animum auelleret, dicitur. non enim exierat inde animo, si spe redeundi et desiderio tenebatur, quae spes et desiderium deo iubente ac iuuante et illo oboediente fuerat amputandum. non sane incredibiliter existimatur, cum postea secutus esset Nachor patrem suum, tunc Abraham praeceptum domini inplesse, ut cum Sarra coniuge sua et Loth filio fratris sui exiret de Charra.