“The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac. (Genesis 31:53)
We include this description as a contrast. Jacob specifically does not swear by either the God of Abraham or the God of Nahor! While the same generic term for deity, “elohim,” is used in both cases, it is highly questionable that Nahor’s god was the same as Abraham’s God. This is an important distinction in view of the monotheism of the Abrahamic faith being established. There has always and only been one true God; Jacob was challenged to take an oath to an ambiguous “god.” He refuses.
Abraham and Nahor were brothers, whose ancestral line can be traced from Adam and Eve through Noah and his son Shem (there are a total of 10 generations between Noah and Abraham). Some time after the Noahic flood, God scattered the human race at the Tower of Babel through the confusion of languages; it is not hard to imagine the divergent imaginations of deity that would ensue, and the evolution of humanity away from God to idols.
God called Abraham out of the city of Ur (near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers at the Persian Gulf in present-day Iraq). We learn later from Joshua: “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods’” (Josh 24:2).
So Abraham’s background and upbringing was among idol worshippers, and by implication or association, he, too, probably had been an idol worshipper. But God revealed Himself to Abraham while still in Ur with the result that the man who would become the patriarch of future Israel stepped out in faith and headed for the land promised to him: “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going” (Heb 11:8). We have no record of Nahor believing in the God Abraham had come to obey. In fact, Nahor was left behind in Haran, the temporary stopping place, when God fleshed out the three-fold promise to Abraham (Gen 12:1-4) and renewed the command to continue on.
Back to our passage for today, lest there be any confusion that they worshipped the same god, or two different gods on an equal plane, Jacob made clear to Laban that his theology rested with allegiance to the God of his father Isaac, which was, in fact, the God of Abraham. His God was not just Abraham’s God (ambiguous as that may have been to Laban), but the God of Isaac.
Lord, help me know You and defend against false misrepresentations of You.
Thank you. I disagree with the NIV that uses a capital G for the god of Nahor, the god of their father. If he was making a synonymous connection, it would have read more like, “The god of Abraham and Nahor, the god of their father.” I believe (as you brought up) that Jacob picked up on the ambiguity of Laban’s remark, which is why he swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.
This is about the only commentary I’ve read that identifies that Nahor and Abraham may have had the same dad, but they did not serve the same deity. Again, thank you.
Interesting that all the major English translations use capital G for the “god” of Nahor, except the NET bible (NIV, NASB, ESV, NKJV, KJV). Of course, that is an interpretive issue and not a translation issue, since as the article pointed out, the word elohim was used for both Abraham and Nahor’s “G/god.” And the Hebrew text does not use capitalization. In other words, the original Hebrew text does not distinguish linguistically between the two. But the interpretation still stands, as you agree with. Nahor was most likely not worshipping the true God who revealed himself to Abraham. Thanks for your feedback. Chuck
Thanks so much for your interpretation. The narrative in Joshua and the words used by Jacob, the “Fear of his father Isaac”, seems to make it very clear that Jacob and Laban had two different G/gods and Jacob recognized the difference in the G/gods they worshipped. Thanks so much for the clarification and encouragement.
Thanks for your feedback.