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Abraham

Bible Dictionary

Abraham
(father of a multitude) was the son of Terah, and founder ofthe great Hebrew nation. (b.c. 1996-1822.) His family, a branchof the descendants of Shem, was settled in Ur of the Chaldees,beyond the Euphrates, where Abraham was born. Terah had twoother sons, Nahor and Haran. Haran died before his father in Urof the Chaldees, leaving a son, Lot; and Terah, taking with himAbram, with Sarai his wife and his grandson Lot, emigrated toHaran in Mesopotamia, where he died. On the death of hisfather, Abram, then in the 75th year of his age, with Sarai andLot, pursued his course to the land of Canaan, whither he wasdirected by divine command, (genesis 12:5) when he received thegeneral promise that he should become the founder of a greatnation, and that all the families of the earth should beblessed in him. He passed through the heart of the country bythe great highway to Shechem, and pitched his tent beneath theterebinth of Moreh. (genesis 12:6) Here he received in visionfrom Jehovah the further revelation that this was the landwhich his descendants should inherit. (genesis 12:7) The nexthalting-place of the wanderer was on a mountain between Betheland Ai, (genesis 12:8) but the country was suffering fromfamine, and Abram journeyed still southward to the richcornlands of Egypt. There, fearing that the great beauty ofSarai might tempt the powerful monarch of Egypt and expose hisown life to peril, he arranged that Sarai should representherself as his sister, which her actual relationship to him, asprobably the daughter of his brother Haran, allowed her to dowith some semblance of truth. But her beauty was reported tothe king, and she was taken into the royal harem. The deceptionwas discovered, and Pharaoh with some indignation dismissedAbram from the country. (genesis 12:10-20) He left Egypt withgreat possessions, and, accompanied by Lot, returned by thesouth of Palestine to his former encampment between Bethel andAi. The increased wealth of the two kinsmen was the ultimatecause of their separation. Lot chose the fertile plain of theJordan near Sodom, while Abram pitched his tent among thegroves of Mamre, close to Hebron. (genesis 13:1) ... Lot withhis family and possessions having been carried away captive byChedorlaomer king of Elam, who had invaded Sodom, Abram pursuedthe conquerors and utterly routed them not far from Damascus.The captives and plunder were all recovered, and Abram wasgreeted on his return by the king of Sodom, and by Melchizedekking of Salem, priest of the most high God, who mysteriouslyappears upon the scene to bless the patriarch and receive fromhim a tenth of the spoil. (genesis 14:1) ... After this thethrice-repeated promise that his descendants should become amighty nation and possess the land in which he was a strangerwas confirmed with all the solemnity of a religious ceremony.(genesis 15:1) ... Ten years had passed since he had left hisfather s house, and the fulfillment of the promise wasapparently more distant than at first. At the suggestion ofSarai, who despaired of having children of her own, he took ashis concubine Hagar, her Egyptian main, who bore him Ishmael inthe 86th year of his age. (genesis 16:1) ... [[36]Hagar;[37]Ishmael] But this was not the accomplishment of thepromise. Thirteen years elapsed, during which Abram still dweltin Hebron, when the covenant was renewed, and the rite ofcircumcision established as its sign. This most importantcrisis in Abram s life, when he was 99 years old, is marked bythe significant change of his name to Abraham, "father of amultitude;" while his wife s from Sarai became Sarah. Thepromise that Sarah should have a son was repeated in theremarkable scene described in ch. 18. Three men stood beforeAbraham as he sat in his tent door in the heat of the day. Thepatriarch, with true Eastern hospitality, welcomed thestrangers, and bade them rest and refresh themselves. The mealended, they foretold the birth of Isaac, and went on their wayto Sodom. Abraham accompanied them, and is represented as aninterlocutor in a dialogue with Jehovah, in which he pleaded invain to avert the vengeance threatened to the devoted cities ofthe plain. (genesis 18:17-33) In remarkable contrast withAbraham s firm faith with regard to the magnificent fortunes ofhis posterity stand the incident which occurred during histemporary residence among the Philistines in Gerar, whither hehad for some cause removed after the destruction of Sodom. Itwas almost a repetition of what took place in Egypt a few yearsbefore. At length Isaac, the long-looked for child, was born.Sarah s jealousy aroused by the mockery of Ishmael at the"great banquet" which Abram made to celebrate the weaning ofher son, (genesis 21:9) demanded that, with his mother Hagar,he should be driven out. (genesis 21:10) But the severest trialof his faith was yet to come. For a long period the history isalmost silent. At length he receives the strange command totake Isaac, his only son, and offer him for a burnt offering atan appointed place Abraham hesitated not to obey. His faith,hitherto unshaken, supported him in this final trial,"accounting that God was able to raise up his son, even fromthe dead, from whence also he received him in a figure."(hebrews 11:19) The sacrifice was stayed by the angel ofJehovah, the promise of spiritual blessing made for the firsttime, and Abraham with his son returned to Beersheba, and for atime dwelt there. (genesis 22:1) ... But we find him after afew years in his original residence at Hebron, for there Sarahdied, (genesis 23:2) and was buried in the cave of Machpelah.The remaining years of Abraham s life are marked by but fewincidents. After Isaac s marriage with Rebekah and his removalto Lahai-roi, Abraham took to wife Keturah, by whom he had sixchildren, Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbok and Shuah, whobecame the ancestors of nomadic tribes inhabiting the countriessouth and southeast of Palestine. Abraham lived to see thegradual accomplishment of the promise in the birth of hisgrandchildren Jacob and Esau, and witnessed their growth tomanhood. (genesis 25:26) At the goodly age of 175 he was"gathered to his people," and laid beside Sarah in the tomb ofMachpelah by his sons Isaac and Ishmael. (genesis 25:7-10)