Abraham's Family
We can get to know Abraham’s family better by learning the meaning of each one’s name.*
- Terah- his name is of uncertain derivation but perhaps relates the concept of “Turning” and “Wandering.” If so, it was prophetic since he turned from Ur and traveled as far as Haran (the place).
- Haran- (the person) - “Strong, enlightened” - perhaps to announce a firstborn.
- Nahor- “piercer” - also, a family name-Terah’s father’s name.
- Abram, Abraham - following is the note on these names from the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament:
Among the OT’s proper nouns that employ the element ‘ab, the most famous is Abraham, though at his call he bore the shorter name, Abram...Literally, “Father [God] (is) lofty.” But when Yahweh established his covenant with Abram (17:1-2), he said, “Your name will be Abraham (’abraham), for I will make you the father of a multitude of nations” (v 5). Some propose that the root raham is no more than a variant of rum “to be lofty”... But in light of the known Arabic noun ruhamun, “multitude”...the change in meaning which the verse itself teaches should be upheld. It thereby shifts the application of ab from God to Abraham, who hereafter becomes “father” of the faithful, both in respect to his subjective attitude (of faith, Gal 3;7; Rom 4:16) and his objective inheritance (of righteousness, Gal 3:29, Rom 4: 11, 13). (page 6, Vol I)
A long but worthwhile explanation, is it not?
- Milcah- “Queen”
- Iscah- “To watch; observant”
- Sarai, Sarah - From “Jah is prince” to “Princess-royal lady,” for “Kings of people shall be of her,”( Gen. 17:16b) a similar name change to Abraham’s.
Now let us pay special attention to the meaning of Lot:
- Lot - “dark colored; concealed.”
Considering that his sister Milcah’s name meant “queen,” why was he not named “king”? “Sarai” proclaimed the eminence of the Lord, “Jah is prince.” Why did Lot’s name not glorify God?
Who was his mother? Was she a large woman who could conceal her pregnancy until the sixth or seventh month so that when he was born his father laughingly named him “Lot”? Was she a concubine, not equal to Haran’s wife in position? Was her skin extremely dark colored? Idle curiosity.
Lot’s name is found in only one other place in the Bible, in Isaiah 25:7, 8: “On this mountain he will destroy the shroud (lot) that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces, he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.”
The word “shroud” is “lot,” meaning an envelope or covering. One could picture the dark head covering of a mourner. This is a prophecy that the mourning garb of the nations will be removed on Mt. Zion at the second coming of Christ.
Why was Lot so named? Should we consider Lot’s name as a portent that his life ought to be hidden from view because of fathering his own grandchildren while drunk? These boys became nations which worshipped gods who demanded child sacrifice, perhaps an inevitable result of their inglorious origins, and the nations became a snare to God’s people, Israel.
No, Lot’s life should not hidden from view nor mournfully covered more than any other sinner’s. Whatever his name may have meant, it was not that he should be cloaked and hidden from posterity. Far from it. We could better call him “concealed” because his story is a buried treasure in Scripture: a constellation of diamonds which must be diligently searched out and then carefully cut, as all Scripture must be “rightly divided,” or as newer versions state, “correctly handled.”
*Information from the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, © 1980, The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago.