Abraham - 175 yrs (jan 1, 1996 BC – jan 1, 1821 BC)

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7 This is the length of Abraham’s life: 175 years. 8 He took his last breath and died at a good old age, old and contented -- Genesis 25:7-8 (CSB)

So it is at this point we need to establish when Abram was born!

Gen 11/27 reads: 27 "These are the family records of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran"
So was Abram the eldest as he is mentioned first?
I don't believe so, based on the following points:
**Terah is recorded as being 70 years of age when he (started to) father Abram, Nahor and Haran. Gen 11/ 26. No evidence is provided to suggest they were triplets.

** Given that the length of peoples lives were substantially shortened from after the flood, we need of necessity to condition our minds differently as to their reproduction periods. Everything has to be more condensed with less years to 'throw around'.

**Haran is recorded as bearing three children, Lot, Milcah and Iscah, and Nahor is recorded as marrying his niece. Now either she was a child bride or Nahor was born roughly consecutively with Milcah (give or take 10 years - consider the 'acceptable' difference between Abram and Sarai's years) which possibly made him the youngest brother of the three with Haran the eldest and probably Abram in the middle.

**Even although lives were considerably shorter by this stage, it seems as though, for undisclosed reasons, that Haran died earlier than he should have, all things being equal. He certainly died before his father Terah (11/28) leaving possibly Lot, the eldest, Milcah, the most vulnerable and Iscah under the care of Terah. Lot is taken under Abram and Terah's wing, Milcah is married off to Nahor who maybe also cares for Iscah as they all stayed in Ur when Terah, Abram and Lot headed for Canaan.
31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran’s son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. -- Genesis 11:31 (CSB)

**On the families journey to Canaan, they establish camp in the north and probably name the area after Terah's deceased son Haran, in remembrance. They were clearly there some time as as they established family and commerce and wealth, (Gen 12/5) but this was as far as Terah went. He died there at age 205 years.

**Now, it seems to me that Abram was in the wings all the time just sojourning in Haran. He knew it wasn't his final destination but was respecting his father Terah's wishes who just wanted to die in the place he named after his 'eldest son' after presiding over the accumulation of possessions for his family.
Gen 11/31 clearly states that Terah's first intention was to go to Canaan, yet he got waylaid at Haran. Abram would have also know of Terah's first intention and probably was even the instigator within the family to leave Ur.
This is seen in the words of Gen 12/1 where Yahweh has said to Abram:
Go from your land,
your relatives,
and your father’s house
to the land that I will show you. -- Genesis 12:1 (CSB)
Agreed, that that visitation could have happened at Haran, however Haran was not their original 'land'. Nevertheless, Terah's death in Haran proved to be the catalyst to 'move Abram on' to the land that I will show you,
4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.
5 He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated, and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan. -- Genesis 12:4-5 (CSB) (their original destination)

**Now, the most obvious of points remains and that is if Terah died in Haran at 205 years of age and Abram subsequently left Haran at 75 years of age, then 205 - 75 = 130 which was the age of Terah when Abram was born. This provides a ridiculously easy 60+ year period in which to father Haran, Abram and Nahor, 3 children to be born to Haran, Milcah of good age to marry Nahor, travel to Haran and establish good roots before Abram leaves for Canaan at age 75.
Possibly Nahor was the middle son of the three mentioned and Abram the youngest! The years and timing still allows for a minimum of 60 years for all that to happen which is totally possible.

So, the final question still remaining is:
Why was Abram mentioned first of the brothers?

I believe the answer lies in the succession planning. Yahweh's purpose was with Abram for he says "I will make YOU into a great nation,
I will bless YOU,
I will make YOUR name great,
and YOU will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless YOU,
I will curse anyone who treats YOU with contempt,
and all the peoples on earth
will be blessed through YOU. -- Genesis 12:2-3 (CSB)

Unless Abram had left the family in Ur he would not have received the right of firstborn as he was not the eldest. This was clearly a rite which had grown over the years but one which God had thwarted previously in Shem. The lineage or family record is shown through Shem (Gen 11/10) even though Japheth was the eldest (10/21) and Ham was the youngest (9/24-25)

Likewise, Arphaxad was possibly not the eldest (10/22) and certainly not Isaac and Jacob.
What is happening here is a clear pattern for Yahweh on his inspired writ to point out the 'faithful' names through which the ultimate Messiah's lineage would travel, and it did not depend on birthrights, but on faithfulness and this was clearly shown to us in the life of Abram whose life was shown to us as an example of faithfulness and has been styled 'the father of the faithful'.
However, faith in God did not start at Abram but goes back a lot further as revealed in Hebrews 11.

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