Chizuk Emunah (Pt 2) Under the Microscope: Chapter 61

Acts 7:4, "Then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Charran, and from thence, when his father was dead, they brought him into this land wherein ye now dwell." We have already pointed out that this statement of Abraham's departure from Charran, after the death of his father, is erroneous. It is true that the death of Therah, though happening after the departure of Abraham, is mentioned before it; but that is the frequent mode of Scripture narrative. In the same way we find the death of Isaac recorded before the selling of Joseph, although a brief calculation would show that he survived thirteen years after the selling of his grandson. 

Here, Troki is quoting Stephen's speech in Acts. Remember that the accuracy of the New Testament only requires that Luke recorded Stephen's speech correctly. Critics will point out that the Holy Spirit came upon Stephen, but this is also not quite accurate. Acts states that "Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people." After doing these signs and wonders, Stephen was caught and arrested. When Stephen was brought before the council, "all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel."

None of this guarantees the accuracy of Stephen's speech. Stephen was a spiritual man, but having a face like an angel is not the same as saying that the Holy Spirit spoke through him. Any inaccuracies in Stephen's speech are no blight on the New Testament, just as inaccurate statements by Job's friends are not evidence of error in Tanakh. There is no need, then, to defend Stephen for accuracy. Still, an educated Jew like Stephen was not the kind of person to make blatant errors.

Philo also ignores this same calculation in his Migration of Abraham, Chapter 33:

And "Abraham," says Moses, "was seventy-five years of age, when he departed out of Charren." Now concerning the number of seventy-five years (for this contains a calculation corresponding to what has been previously advanced,) we will enter into an accurate examination hereafter. But first of all we will examine what Charran is, and what is meant by the departure from this country to go and live in another.  Now it is not probable that any one of those persons who are acquainted with the law are ignorant that Abraham had previously migrated from Chaldaea when he came to live in Charran. But after his father died he then departed from this land of Chaldaea, so that he has now migrated from two different places.

Philo also rejects the notion that Abraham took Terah with him. According to Philo, Terah died and then Abraham left Haran. Regardless of whether Philo was right, his rejection of this calculation was a deliberate decision. We should not make the mistake that Shmuley Boteach makes and try to read the Mishnah and Talmud into Second Temple Judaism. To do so is just to commit a fallacy of anachronism.