Number of Children of Haran in Genesis

Haran, one of Terah's three sons, is identified in Genesis as the father of Lot, Milcah, and Iscah ^{[1, 3, 4]}. Genesis 11:27 states, "Haran hath begotten Lot" ^[3]. Milcah is further identified as Haran's daughter when she marries her uncle Nahor, Haran's brother ^{[4, 7]}. The text also mentions Iscah as Haran's daughter ^[4].

Haran was born in Ur of the Chaldees and died there while his father, Terah, was still alive ^{[4, 5]}. Terah later took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (son of Haran), and his daughter-in-law Sarai from Ur of the Chaldees, intending to go to Canaan, but they settled in Haran ^{[2, 6]}.

Some interpretations emphasize the significance of these children. John Gill notes that the genealogy of Terah, though short, highlights his three sons—Abram, Nahor, and Haran—and Haran's three children: Lot, Milcah, and Iscah. This lineage is presented primarily for the sake of Abram and his descendants ^[8]. The Midrash Rabbah also discusses Haran's children, particularly Milcah and Iscah, in relation to the ages of Terah's sons and their marriages ^[9]. Ramban (Nachmanides) highlights Milcah's children as a significant tiding for Abraham, noting that his brother Nahor had many children through Haran's daughter ^[10].

While Genesis 11:26 lists Abram, Nahor, and Haran as Terah's sons, some traditions, like Easton's Bible Dictionary, also include Sarah as Terah's daughter ^[6]. However, the biblical text explicitly names Lot, Milcah, and Iscah as Haran's children ^[4].

Sources

Genesis “Genesis 11:26 (LEB) — When Terah had lived seventy years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.”
Genesis “Genesis 11:31 (BSB) — And Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai the wife of Abram, and they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan. But when they arrived in Haran, they settled there.”
Genesis “Genesis 11:27 (YLT) — And these <FI>are<Fi> births of Terah: Terah hath begotten Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran hath begotten Lot;”
Smith's Bible Dictionary “Smith's Bible Dictionary: Haran — (a mountaineer). + The third son of Terah, and therefore youngest brother of Abram. (Genesis 11:26) (B.C. 1926.) Three children are ascribed to him--Lot, vs. (Genesis 11:27,31) and two daughters, viz., Milcah, who married her uncle Nahor, ver. (Genesis 11:29) and Iscah. ver. (Genesis 11:29) Haran was born in Ur of the Chaldees, and he died there while his father was still living. ver. (Genesis 11:28) + A Gershonite Levite in the time of David, one of the family of Shimei. (1 Chronicles 23:9) + A son of the great Caleb by his concubine Ephah. (1 Chronicles 2:46”
Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Haran — (1.) Heb. haran; i.e., "mountaineer." The eldest son of Terah, brother of Abraham and Nahor, and father of Lot, Milcah, and Iscah. He died before his father (Gen. 11:27), in Ur of the Chaldees. (2.) Heb. haran, i.e., "parched;" or probably from the Accadian charana, meaning "a road." A celebrated city of Western Asia, now Harran, where Abram remained, after he left Ur of the Chaldees, till his father Terah died (Gen. 11:31, 32), when he continued his journey into the land of Canaan. It is called "Charran" in the LXX. and in Acts 7:2. It is called the "city of”
Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Terah — The wanderer; loiterer, for some unknown reason emigrated with his family from his native mountains in the north to the plains of Mesopotamia. He had three sons, Haran, Nahor, and Abraham, and one daughter, Sarah. He settled in "Ur of the Chaldees," where his son Haran died, leaving behind him his son Lot. Nahor settled at Haran, a place on the way to Ur. Terah afterwards migrated with Abraham (probably his youngest son) and Lot (his grandson), together with their families, from Ur, intending to go with them to Canaan; but he tarried at Haran, where he spent ”
Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, CHAPTER 6, section 5: of the Chaldeans, called Ur; and his monument is shown to this day. These married their nieces. Nabor married Milcha, and Abram married Sarai. Now Terah hating Chaldea, on account of his mourning for Ilaran, they all removed to Haran of Mesopotamia, where Terah died, and was buried, when he had lived to be two hundred and five years old; for the life of man was already, by degrees, diminished, and became shorter than before, till the birth of Moses; after whom the term of human life was one hundred and twenty years, God determini”
Genesis (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Genesis 11:22: Now these are the generations of Terah,.... Or the genealogy of his posterity, which is a very short one; for it only gives an account of his three sons as before: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran: and of three grand children, Lot, Milcah, and Iscah, the children of Haran; and chiefly for the sake of Abram it is given, and indeed the above genealogy of Shem, which ends with him; and of whom and whose posterity the remaining part of this book of Genesis treats: and Haran begat Lot: of whom we have some further account in Gen 13:1.”
Midrash Rabbah (Jewish (Rabbinic)) “Midrash Rabbah, Bereishit Rabbah 38:14: “Abram and Naḥor took wives for themselves; the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai and the name of Naḥor’s wife was Milka, daughter of Haran, father of Milka, and the father of Yiska” (Genesis 11:29). “Abram and Naḥor took wives for themselves” – Abram was one year older than Naḥor and Naḥor was one year older than Haran. Consequently, Abraham was two years older than Haran. Allow one year for the pregnancy of Milka and one year for the pregnancy of Yiska, Haran begot children at the age of six years, 34 Abraham was two years older than Haran and ten years o”
Sefaria (Jewish (Kabbalistic/Philosophical)) “Ramban (Nachmanides) on Genesis 22:20: BEHOLD, MILCAH, SHE ALSO HATH BORN CHILDREN. Since Milcah was the daughter of his brother Haran, 390 Above, 11:29. this was a tiding to Abraham that his older brother Nahor 391 Ibid. , Verse 28. had been visited with many children from the daughter of his dead brother Haran. 392 Abraham was older than Nahor for Scripture says, Abram, Nahor, and Haran, (ibid. , Verse 27). Since Nahor was older than Haran, Ramban refers to him as “the older” brother. Now from the text of Scripture it would appear that Abraham had no knowledge of any of them except on that d”

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