Genesis 11:31 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

They went forth from Ur—to go into Canaan—and came unto Haran— Terah, with his son Abram with Sarai, and his grandson Lot, leaving Nahor and his family behind, from what motive it doth not appear, probably from the call of God, Nehemiah 9:7, left Ur of the Chaldees, purposing to go into the land of Canaan; but the old man stopt short, and died in his two hundredth and fifth year at Haran, a city in the north-west parts of Mesopotamia, celebrated for the defeat of Crassus, situated on or near the Euphrates, directly in Terah's way to Canaan, about one and twenty miles distant from Ur. It is rendered in the Greek, Charran, Acts 7:2. Some think Terah gave it the name of Haran from his son, who died a little before; but Le Clerc supposes it comes from a word signifying "parched or burnt up," on account of the parched deserts in its neighbourhood. Ur is called of the Chaldees by way of anticipation, as this land was not so called till long after this period. Chaldaea, in Greek and Roman authors, denotes the country lying between Mesopotamia (and taking in part of it, especially those parts lying along the Tigris) to the north, Susiana to the east, the Persian Bay to the south, and Arabia Deserta to the west. Its capital city was Babylon, hence called the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, Isaiah 13:19. Ur lay in the eastern part of Mesopotamia, and is supposed to have been built by Ashur the son of Shem. The name of Ur, which in Hebrew denotes light or fire, is supposed to have been given to this city, either because the Chaldaeans were the first who studied astronomy and the motions of the celestial luminaries; or, most likely, because the sun, or fire, the great symbol of the sun, was worshipped there. For the sun appears to have been the most ancient object of false worship: hence, the Hebrew word for images, chamman, signifies temples or images of the sun; and hence, we are told by Maimonides and others, that the first object of the Chaldaean idolatry was fire, that is, most probably, the heavenly bodies primarily, and artificial fire, as their symbol. See Deuteronomy 4:19. Job 31:26.