THARÉ (Heb. Térah, Septuagint Θάξα, Θάξα). - Father of Abraham and of his two brothers Nachor and Aran, who are therefore collectively called by some historians Terahites. With Abraham, Sarai, Lot (v.) he emigrated Haran (v.), where he died (Gen. 11, 26-27.31; Lk. 3, 34).
With the abandonment of Ur and the migration toward the Mediterranean lands, the Terahites moved into the regions that were later to be the setting of the glorious history of Abraham’s descendants. Hence the importance of T. Genesis specifies the reason for the migration. Jewish tradition (Iud. 5,7 sg.) suggests that the emigrants were in fact compelled to flee because they were monotheists and did not adhere to the local Chaldean cults; assuming that this information concerns all the emigrant Terahites and T. himself, the statement in Acts 24,2, that the “forefathers” of the Hebrew people, among whom T. is expressly named, “served other gods,” must be understood as referring to an earlier period. Traces of paganism are also found later among the Terahites who remained in Chaldea (Gen. 31, 19; 35,2).
A locality in the desert, mentioned in Num. 33, 27, bears the same name (Heb. Térah, Septuagint Tazáh).