The City of God, Volume IIAugustine, of Hippo, Saint
ReligionChristian
The City of God, Volume II
Augustine, of Hippo, Saint
Apologetics -- Early works to 1800; Kingdom of God -- Early works to 1800
On Terah's death in Mesopotamia, where he is said to have lived 205
years, the promises of God made to Abraham now begin to be pointed
out; for thus it is written: "And the days of Terah in Haran were
two hundred and five years, and he died in Haran."[256] This is not
to be taken as if he had spent all his days there, but that he there
completed the days of his life, which were two hundred and five
years: otherwise it would not be known how many years Terah lived,
since it is not said in what year of his life he came into Haran; and
it is absurd to suppose that, in this series of generations, where it
is carefully recorded how many years each one lived, his age was the
only one not put on record. For although some whom the same Scripture
mentions have not their age recorded, they are not in this series, in
which the reckoning of time is continuously indicated by the death
of the parents and the succession of the children. For this series,
which is given in order from Adam to Noah, and from him down to
Abraham, contains no one without the number of the years of his life.
15. _Of the time of the migration of Abraham, when, according
to the commandment of God, he went out from Haran._
When, after the record of the death of Terah, the father of Abraham,
we next read, "And the Lord said to Abram, Get thee out of thy
country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house,"[257]
etc., it is not to be supposed, because this follows in the order of
the narrative, that it also followed in the chronological order of
events. For if it were so, there would be an insoluble difficulty.
For after these words of God which were spoken to Abraham, the
Scripture says: "And Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him;
and Lot went with him. Now Abraham was seventy-five years old when he
departed out of Haran."[258] How can this be true if he departed from
Haran after his father's death? For when Terah was seventy years old,
as is intimated above, he begat Abraham; and if to this number we add
the seventy-five years which Abraham reckoned when he went out of
Haran, we get 145 years. Therefore that was the number of the years
of Terah, when Abraham departed out of that city of Mesopotamia;
for he had reached the seventy-fifth year of his life, and thus
his father, who begat him in the seventieth year of his life, had
reached, as was said, his 145th. Therefore he did not depart thence
after his father's death, that is, after the 205 years his father
lived; but the year of his departure from that place, seeing it was
his seventy-fifth, is inferred beyond a doubt to have been the 145th
of his father, who begat him in his seventieth year. And thus it is
to be understood that the Scripture, according to its custom, has
gone back to the time which had already been passed by the narrative;
just as above, when it had mentioned the grandsons of Noah, it said
that they were in their nations and tongues; and yet afterwards, as
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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