Terach's 3 sons
This is something that I actually thought of years ago. However, this year, the ages listed in the text and Rabbi Kamenetsky's take in his perush on Torah, Emes L'Yaakov both struck me as major supports to my argument.
The key pesukim are 11:10- 11:29. That covers descendants of Shem to Terach's sons and Avrams's marriage to his niece. Shem was 100 when he begat Arpachshad, two years after the Flood .
While Shem was 100 at the birth of this son, Arpachshad was only 35 when his son, Shelah, was born. Shelah was only 30 when he had Ever. Ever was 34 when he had Peleg. Peleg was 30 when he had Reu. Reu was 32 when he had Serug. Serug was 30 when he had Nahor. Nahor, was younger yet -- 29 -- when he had Terach.
The key pesukim are 11:10- 11:29. That covers descendants of Shem to Terach's sons and Avrams's marriage to his niece. Shem was 100 when he begat Arpachshad, two years after the Flood .
While Shem was 100 at the birth of this son, Arpachshad was only 35 when his son, Shelah, was born. Shelah was only 30 when he had Ever. Ever was 34 when he had Peleg. Peleg was 30 when he had Reu. Reu was 32 when he had Serug. Serug was 30 when he had Nahor. Nahor, was younger yet -- 29 -- when he had Terach.
In contrast, Terach is said to have come to fatherhood extremely late; the age at which he is said to have his three sons: Avram, Nahor, and Haran is 70.
That is particularly striking in light of the many generations before him in which somewhere around 30 -- give or take -- is the age of fatherhood. And I don't recall any commentator offering some explanation like Rashi does about Noach's fatherhood being delayed until 500.
Add to that what we know about Avraam being 10 years older than his wife who was also his niece. It's not a huge age difference for an uncle to have, but it requires some unusual contortions to work out if we say that he married the daughter of a younger brother.
That is particularly striking in light of the many generations before him in which somewhere around 30 -- give or take -- is the age of fatherhood. And I don't recall any commentator offering some explanation like Rashi does about Noach's fatherhood being delayed until 500.
Add to that what we know about Avraam being 10 years older than his wife who was also his niece. It's not a huge age difference for an uncle to have, but it requires some unusual contortions to work out if we say that he married the daughter of a younger brother.
Sure, Avram is listed first among the sons of Terach, but I contend that it doesn't mean he was born first -- only that he was the point of counting off the generations, which fits perfectly with Avos 5:2. Likely Terach was 70 when Avram was born but significantly younger when Haran was born, which is why Haran was able to grow up, marry, and have a daughter that was just 10 years younger than her uncle Avram.
There is clear precedent in the Torah for this as Shem is always mentioned first for Noach's 3 sons means that he was the first-born, when the textual references, including the fact that he is explicitly said to have only turned 100 two years after the Flood -- when we know that Noach started having his sons 100 years before the flood, shows.
In fact, R' Kamenetsy commenting first on 11:10 and reflecting back on what he said in 4:25 and 5:28 states that all the sons mentioned, going back from the generational tracking from Sheth are not necessarily the eldest. Rather the sons named in the 10 generations that lead to Noach and, in turn, to the next 10 generations that lead Avraham are the those who carry those lines on, regardless of birth order. As proof, he points out that Shem's son mentioned here is not the eldest but Shem's third son.
While he does not extend this to saying that Avram was not the bechor, it makes perfect sense in light of the shift from having children at 30 to 70 . Furthermore, making it work out to have a niece just 10 years younger from a younger brother -- which one would be forced into if it is assumed that Avram was the oldest -- would only work if Haran had child when he was under the age of 10. While Chazal do say that this did happen at times, it is out of the norm set by the delineated generations in which the men are around 30 when they have sons.
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There is clear precedent in the Torah for this as Shem is always mentioned first for Noach's 3 sons means that he was the first-born, when the textual references, including the fact that he is explicitly said to have only turned 100 two years after the Flood -- when we know that Noach started having his sons 100 years before the flood, shows.
In fact, R' Kamenetsy commenting first on 11:10 and reflecting back on what he said in 4:25 and 5:28 states that all the sons mentioned, going back from the generational tracking from Sheth are not necessarily the eldest. Rather the sons named in the 10 generations that lead to Noach and, in turn, to the next 10 generations that lead Avraham are the those who carry those lines on, regardless of birth order. As proof, he points out that Shem's son mentioned here is not the eldest but Shem's third son.
While he does not extend this to saying that Avram was not the bechor, it makes perfect sense in light of the shift from having children at 30 to 70 . Furthermore, making it work out to have a niece just 10 years younger from a younger brother -- which one would be forced into if it is assumed that Avram was the oldest -- would only work if Haran had child when he was under the age of 10. While Chazal do say that this did happen at times, it is out of the norm set by the delineated generations in which the men are around 30 when they have sons.
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