There is an apparent discrepancy between the speech of Stephen in Acts and the account of Abraham in Genesis. Stephen said that Abraham left Haran when his father died. Genesis 11:32 says Terah died at the age of 205. Genesis 12:4 says that Abraham was 75 when he left Haran, and Genesis 11:26 says that 'Terah lived 70 years and became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.'

If we just had Genesis to look at, then the comment about Terah dying at the age of 205 could very easily just be a parenthetical comment and not a chronological comment. But Stephen obviously took it chronologically. But the numbers then do not add up.

Commentators have proposed a few ideas as to how to resolve this problem:

• Stephen was following a tradition found in the works of Philo and the Samaritan Pentateuch.
• The listing of Terah's sons is not in order of birth, nor does it imply that they were all born when Terah was 70 as they would then have been triplets, no instance of which is recorded anywhere else in Scripture. Sons are not always listed in order of birth but rather in order of importance, such as Noah's sons in Genesis 5:32. Then it is possible that Abraham was the youngest being born when Terah was 130. Haran did die first making it then likely that he was the eldest and Isaac married Rebecca, the grand-daughter of Nahor by the youngest son of 8 (Gen. 22:22).

But this last answer, probably the best, raises another issue. If Terah was 130 years old when he fathered Abraham, why would Abraham think it extraordinary that he would have a son at the age of 99, though he certainly would have known of older men in his history that have had children? Also, why would Abraham think 99 was so 'old' when his father was 205 when he died. Abraham would have been middle-aged and middle-aged men today certainly can father children.

What's the answer to this? The answer is, that Abraham's comments are made in light of him not having had children in the previous 100 years, so in effect it is like saying, 'After 100 years of infertility I will now have a child?' The comment is relative to Abraham himself, not his contemporaries, and the texts refer to him in the context of his historical infertility.

Problem: Genesis 11:26 states, “Now Terah lived seventy years, and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran.” In Acts 7:4 Stephen states that Abraham did not leave Haran until after Terah, his father, died. Genesis 11:32 says that Terah died at 205 years of age. If Abraham was born when Terah was 70, and did not leave for Canaan until Terah died at 205, that would make Abraham 135 years old when he left Haran to travel to Canaan. However, Genesis 12:4 states, “And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.” How old was Abraham when he left Haran? Was he 75 or was he 135?

Solution: Abraham was 75 years old when he left Haran. Although it was customary to list the names of sons from the oldest to the youngest, this practice was not always followed. Genesis 11:26 does not say that Terah was 70 years old when Abraham was born. Rather it states that Terah lived for 70 years before he had any sons, then he had three sons, Abraham, Nahor, and Haran. Haran was probably the oldest son of Terah, indicated by the fact that he was the first to die (Gen. 11:28). Nahor was probably the middle son, and Abraham was the youngest. Abraham was listed first because he was the most prominent of Terah’s sons. Since Abraham was 75 when he left Haran, this would mean that he was born when Terah was 130 years old.