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Abraham 
 

Text:  father of a multitude, son of Terah, named (Gen. 11:27) before 
his older brothers Nahor and Haran, because he was the heir of the 
promises. Till the age of seventy, Abram sojourned among his kindred 
in his native country of Chaldea. He then, with his father and his 
family and household, quitted the city of Ur, in which he had hitherto 
dwelt, and went some 300 miles north to Haran, where he abode fifteen 
years. 

The cause of his migration was a call from God (Acts 7:2-4). There is 
no mention of this first call in the Old Testament; it is implied, 
however, in Gen. 12. While they tarried at Haran, Terah died at the 
age of 205 years. Abram now received a second and more definite call, 
accompanied by a promise from God (Gen. 12:1, 2); whereupon he took 
his departure, taking his nephew Lot with him, "not knowing whither he 
went" (Heb. 11:8). He trusted implicitly to the guidance of Him who 
had called him. Abram now, with a large household of probably a 
thousand souls, entered on a migratory life, and dwelt in tents. 
Passing along the valley of the Jabbok, in the land of Canaan, he 
formed his first encampment at Sichem (Gen. 12:6), in the vale or 
oak-grove of Moreh, between Ebal on the north and Gerizim on the 
south. 

Here he received the great promise, "I will make of thee a great 
nation," etc. (Gen. 12:2, 3, 7). This promise comprehended not only 
temporal but also spiritual blessings. It implied that he was the 
chosen ancestor of the great Deliverer whose coming had been long ago 
predicted (Gen. 3:15). Soon after this, for some reason not mentioned, 
he removed his tent to the mountain district between Bethel, then 
called Luz, and Ai, towns about two miles apart, where he built an 
altar to "Jehovah." He again moved into the southern tract of 
Palestine, called by the Hebrews the Negeb; and was at length, on 
account of a famine, compelled to go down into Egypt. This took place 
in the time of the Hyksos, a Semitic race which now held the Egyptians 
in bondage.

Here occurred that case of deception on the part of Abram which 
exposed him to the rebuke of Pharaoh (Gen. 12:18). Sarai was restored 
to him; and Pharaoh loaded him with presents, recommending him to 
withdraw from the country. He returned to Canaan richer than when he 
left it, "in cattle, in silver, and in gold" (Gen. 12:8; 13:2. Comp. 
Ps. 105:13, 14). 

The whole party then moved northward, and returned to their previous 
station near Bethel. Here disputes arose between Lot's shepherds and 
those of Abram about water and pasturage. Abram generously gave Lot 
his choice of the pasture-ground. (Comp. 1 Cor. 6:7.) He chose the 
well-watered plain in which Sodom was situated, and removed thither; 
and thus the uncle and nephew were separated. Immediately after this 
Abram was cheered by a repetition of the promises already made to him, 
and then removed to the plain or "oakgrove" of Mamre, which is in 
Hebron. He finally settled here, pitching his tent under a famous oak 
or terebinth tree, called "the oak of Mamre" (Gen.13:18). This was his 
third resting-place in the land. 

Some fourteen years before this, while Abram was still in Chaldea, 
Palestine had been invaded by Chedorlaomer, King of Elam, who brought 
under tribute to him the five cities in the plain to which Lot had 
removed. This tribute was felt by the inhabitants of these cities to 
be a heavy burden, and after twelve years they revolted. This brought 
upon them the vengeance of Chedorlaomer, who had in league with him 
four other kings. He ravaged the whole country, plundering the towns, 
and carrying the inhabitants away as slaves. 

Among those thus treated was Lot. Hearing of the disaster that had 
fallen on his nephew, Abram immediately gathered from his own 
household a band of 318 armed men, and being joined by the Amoritish 
chiefs Mamre, Aner, and Eshcol, he pursued after Chedorlaomer, and 
overtook him near the springs of the Jordan. They attacked and routed 
his army, and pursued it over the range of Anti-Libanus as far as to 
Hobah, near Damascus, and then returned, bringing back all the spoils 
that had been carried away. 

Returning by way of Salem, i.e., Jerusalem, the king of that place, 
Melchizedek, came forth to meet them with refreshments. To him Abram 
presented a tenth of the spoils, in recognition of his character as a 
priest of the most high God (Gen. 14:18-20). 

In a recently-discovered tablet, dated in the reign of the grandfather 
of Amraphel (Gen. 14:1), one of the witnesses is called "the Amorite, 
the son of Abiramu," or Abram. Having returned to his home at Mamre, 
the promises already made to him by God were repeated and enlarged 
(Gen. 13:14). "The word of the Lord" (an expression occurring here for 
the first time) "came to him" (15:1). He now understood better the 
future that lay before the nation that was to spring from him. Sarai, 
now seventy-five years old, in her impatience, persuaded Abram to take 
Hagar, her Egyptian maid, as a concubine, intending that whatever 
child might be born should be reckoned as her own.

Ishmael was accordingly thus brought up, and was regarded as the heir 
of these promises (Gen. 16). When Ishmael was thirteen years old, God 
again revealed yet more explicitly and fully his gracious purpose; and 
in token of the sure fulfilment of that purpose the patriarch's name 
was now changed from Abram to Abraham (Gen. 17:4, 5), and the rite of 
circumcision was instituted as a sign of the covenant. 

It was then announced that the heir to these covenant promises would 
be the son of Sarai, though she was now ninety years old; and it was 
directed that his name should be Isaac. At the same time, in 
commemoration of the promises, Sarai's name was changed to Sarah. On 
that memorable day of God's thus revealing his design, Abraham and his 
son Ishmael and all the males of his house were circumcised (Gen. 17). 

Three months after this, as Abraham sat in his tent door, he saw three 
men approaching. They accepted his proffered hospitality, and, seated 
under an oak-tree, partook of the fare which Abraham and Sarah 
provided. One of the three visitants was none other than the Lord, and 
the other two were angels in the guise of men. The Lord renewed on 
this occasion his promise of a son by Sarah, who was rebuked for her 
unbelief. Abraham accompanied the three as they proceeded on their 
journey. The two angels went on toward Sodom; while the Lord tarried 
behind and talked with Abraham, making known to him the destruction 
that was about to fall on that guilty city. The patriarch interceded 
earnestly in behalf of the doomed city. But as not even ten righteous 
persons were found in it, for whose sake the city would have been 
spared, the threatened destruction fell upon it; and early next 
morning Abraham saw the smoke of the fire that consumed it as the 
"smoke of a furnace" (Gen. 19: 1-28). 

After fifteen years' residence at Mamre, Abraham moved southward, and 
pitched his tent among the Philistines, near to Gerar. Here occurred 
that sad instance of prevarication on his part in his relation to 
Abimelech the King (Gen. 20). (See ABIMELECH.) 

Soon after this event, the patriarch left the vicinity of Gerar, and 
moved down the fertile valley about 25 miles to Beer-sheba. It was 
probably here that Isaac was born, Abraham being now an hundred years 
old. A feeling of jealousy now arose between Sarah and Hagar, whose 
son, Ishmael, was no longer to be regarded as Abraham's heir. Sarah 
insisted that both Hagar and her son should be sent away. This was 
done, although it was a hard trial to Abraham (Gen. 21:12). (See 
HAGAR; ISHMAEL.) 

At this point there is a blank in the patriarch's history of perhaps 
twenty-five years. These years of peace and happiness were spent at 
Beer-sheba. The next time we see him his faith is put to a severe test 
by the command that suddenly came to him to go and offer up Isaac, the 
heir of all the promises, as a sacrifice on one of the mountains of 
Moriah. 

His faith stood the test (Heb. 11:17-19). He proceeded in a spirit of 
unhesitating obedience to carry out the command; and when about to 
slay his son, whom he had laid on the altar, his uplifted hand was 
arrested by the angel of Jehovah, and a ram, which was entangled in a 
thicket near at hand, was seized and offered in his stead. From this 
circumstance that place was called Jehovah-jireh, i.e., "The Lord will 
provide." 

The promises made to Abraham were again confirmed (and this was the 
last recorded word of God to the patriarch); and he descended the 
mount with his son, and returned to his home at Beer-sheba (Gen. 
22:19), where he resided for some years, and then moved northward to 
Hebron. Some years after this Sarah died at Hebron, being 127 years 
old. Abraham acquired now the needful possession of a burying-place, 
the cave of Machpelah, by purchase from the owner of it, Ephron the 
Hittite (Gen. 23); and there he buried Sarah. 

His next care was to provide a wife for Isaac, and for this purpose he 
sent his steward, Eliezer, to Haran (or Charran, Acts 7:2), where his 
brother Nahor and his family resided (Gen. 11:31). The result was that 
Rebekah, the daughter of Nahor's son Bethuel, became the wife of Isaac 
(Gen. 24). Abraham then himself took to wife Keturah, who became the 
mother of six sons, whose descendants were afterwards known as the 
"children of the east" (Judg. 6:3), and later as "Saracens." 

At length all his wanderings came to an end. At the age of 175 years, 
100 years after he had first entered the land of Canaan, he died, and 
was buried in the old family burying-place at Machpelah (Gen. 
25:7-10). The history of Abraham made a wide and deep impression on 
the ancient world, and references to it are interwoven in the 
religious traditions of almost all Eastern nations. He is called "the 
friend of God" (James 2:23), "faithful Abraham" (Gal. 3:9), "the 
father of us all" (Rom. 4:16).