NACHOR (Heb. Nahór). — Son of Thare and brother of Abraham (Gen. 11:26). He was the father of twelve sons, eight by Melcha, daughter of his brother Aran and sister of Lot, and four by another wife named Reumah: these were the founders or eponyms of as many Aramean tribes that settled west of the Euphrates, and some (such as Maachah [q.v.]) extended as far as the mountains of Gilead. Although no mention is made of him at the time of Abraham’s migration from Chaldea, Nachor followed his brother as far as Haran, which was later called “the city of Nachor” (Gen. 27:43) because he settled there with his family.
Abraham continued to maintain relations with Nachor even after they parted ways when he went to the land of Canaan (cf. ibid. 22:20), and later sought a wife for his son Isaac from the house of his brother (ibid. 24). From the same family Jacob took his two wives Leah and Rachel (ibid. 29). And when Jacob, after fleeing from Haran, reconciled with his uncle and father-in-law Laban, who was the son of Bethuel and grandson of Nachor, a covenant was made between them in the name “of the God of Abraham and the God of Nachor” (ibid. 31:53): from this passage some infer that Nachor, like his father Thare (cf. Gen. 24:2), may have been tainted with idolatry.