Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Shoshanna Walker <rosewalk AT concentric.net>]

It is the consensus (unanimous as far as I know) among Chazal, that 
these refer to the people who he "converted" to the knowledge of G-d. 
It is beyond belief that this could be construed as slaves.

Shoshanna


> Genesis 12: 5 tells us that certain people came with  Abraham and Lot from
> Harran to Canaan, who almost certainly were not members of  the 
> immediate family
> of Abraham or Lot:  "the souls that they had gotten in Haran".  Are these
> people "slaves", who had been  "bought" by Abraham and Lot in Harran?  Or,
> rather, are these people distant relatives of Abraham's father, 
> whose  families were
> the social equals of Abraham's father's family, and who were on a  long
> caravan trip out to Mesopotamia with Abraham's father's family as 
> security  guards?
> Here is the JPS1917 translation of Genesis 12:  5: