Genesis 11:26-28

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

²⁶After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of [at different times], ^[a]Abram and Nahor and Haran, [his firstborn].

²⁷Now this is the history of the descendants of Terah. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot.

²⁸Haran died before his father Terah [died] in the land of his birth, in ^[b]Ur of the Chaldees.

Genesis 11:26 Abram is only mentioned first by way of dignity. Noah’s sons also are given as “Shem, Ham, and Japheth” in Gen. 5:32, although Shem was not the oldest, but for dignity is named first, as is Abram here (Adam Clarke, The Holy Bible with A Commentary).
Genesis 11:28 Abram’s home town was Ur of the Chaldees. As the result of extensive archaeological excavations there by C. Leonard Woolley in 1922-34, a great deal is known about Abram’s background. Space will not permit more than a glimpse at excavated Ur, but a few items will show the high state of civilization. The entire house of the average middle-class person had from ten to twenty rooms and measured forty to fifty-two feet; the lower floor was for servants, the upper floor for the family, with five rooms for their use; additionally, there was a guest chamber and a lavatory reserved for visitors, and a private chapel. A school was found and what the students studied was shown by the clay tablets discovered there. In the days of Abram the pupils had reading, writing, and arithmetic as today. They learned the multiplication and division tables and even worked at square and cube root. A bill of lading of about 2040 b.c. (about the era in which Abram is believed to have lived) showed that the commerce of that time was far-reaching. Even the name “Abraham” has been found on the excavated clay tablets (J.P. Free, Archaeology and Bible History).