Haran Hedged His Bets at the Furnace and Was Consumed

Terah used to gaze at the constellations. He saw in Haran's horoscope that he would be burned, and in Abraham's horoscope that the world would be filled from him. The nations of the world came in to our father Abraham. They said to him, "Whose are you?" He said to them, "Never will I abandon the Holy One, blessed be He, who is in heaven." Immediately they cast him into the fiery furnace. No watcher and no seraph and no angel went down with him, only the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself, as it is said, "I am the LORD who brought you out" (Genesis 15:7). Haran's heart was divided; he inclined toward his father's words. They came in to him and said, "Whose are you?" He said in his heart, "Abraham my brother is greater than I. If I see that he is saved, I will say I am of Abraham's side." Immediately they cast him into the fiery furnace, and he had not finished going down before the fire killed him. The king took him and cast him before his father, as it is said, "And Haran died in the presence of Terah his father" (Genesis 11:28). And Terah his father had rightly seen that the world would be filled from him, yet did not know whether through the men or through the women: Sarai was his daughter, as it is said, "the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah" (Genesis 11:29), and the whole world was filled from her.