Bible Dictionaries
Haran

Holman Bible Dictionary

(hay' ran) Personal and place name meaning, “mountaineer” or “caravan route.” Three men and an important city of northern Mesopotamia located on the Balik River. 1. Terah's son and Lot's father (Genesis 11:26-29 ,Genesis 11:26-29,11:31 ). 2 . Son of Caleb's concubine (1 Chronicles 2:46 ). 3 . Son of Shimei and a Levite (1 Chronicles 23:9 ). 4 . The city became Abraham's home (Genesis 11:31-32; Genesis 12:4-5 ) and remained home for his relatives like Laban (Genesis 27:43 ). Jacob went there and married (Genesis 28:10; Genesis 29:4 ). In the eighth century Assyria conquered it (2 Kings 19:12; Isaiah 37:12 ). It was a trade partner of Tyre (Ezekiel 27:23 ). Through excavations begun in the 1950s, the city was determined to have been established by the middle of the third millenium and was occupied through the Assyro-Babylonian period until Islamic times. The city was also a major center of worship for the moon god Sin. Its name is spelled differently from that of the men in Hebrew.

David M. Fleming