CITY OF HARAN.
WHEN Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees to go to a land, which the Lord would show him, his father and others of his relatives went with him. He stopped with them in his journey, at Haran, a city of Mesopotamia, where he dwelt until his father died.
Abraham, by the command of the Lord, then went on his way to the land of Canaan, but his brother Nahor remained at Haran. Years afterward, when Abraham would take a wife for his son Isaac, he sent his faithful servant, Eliezer, back to the "city of Nahor," which is the same as Haran, to get a woman from among his own kindred; and the servant returned with Rebekah, the granddaughter of Abraham's brother.
Years passed again; and the sons of Isaac, now grown to manhood, quarreled because of the stolen birthright; and the mother, Rebekah, anxious to shield her favorite son from the wrath of his brother Esau, sent Jacob away to her brother Laban, who still dwelt at Haran.
(Genesis 27:43.)
Here Jacob married the two daughters of Laban, and here he lived for twenty years, until he returned with his wives and children and cattle into the land, which the Lord had promised to Abraham and to his descendants.
Haran was situated on a small stream, which flows into the River Euphrates. It was in ancient times an important and flourishing city, and here were fought some famous battles in the days of old.
But, like many other Oriental cities, it has gone to decay. Our picture shows all that remains of this once rich city. No one now lives in the place, but wandering Arabs frequently visit the spot on account of the delicious water to be found there. The tower, so conspicuous among the ruins, is seventeen and a half feet square at the base, and what remains of it is one hundred and two feet high. It may be seen by those traveling, over the plain, for fifty miles around. What it was built and used for is not known. The place is called Charran in the New Testament, and the Arabs still call it Harran.
E. B.
