| |
Bible scholars have many different views on the
same subject, and it is sometimes difficult to
gather a consensus. We've used a collection
of sources, cited at the end of Teaching the
Bible. Enjoy using these and other resources to
discover new and differing views of Abraham and
his family. Most of what we know about Abraham
is found in Gen. 11:26-25:8. Abram's name
was changed to Abraham when he was ninety-nine
years old. For ease of reading, Abraham will be
used throughout; likewise, Sarah instead of Sarai.
- Abraham is the tenth generation descendant
from Noah's son Shem.
- Abram means "exalted father." Abraham
means "father of many nations."
- Terah, Abraham's father, was a maker of idols.
Abraham took a stand against idols in his youth.
1
- Abraham and Sarah had the same father and
father-in-law. The prevailing thought of that
day was that being in the womb was a stronger
genetic connection and tie to the mother than
the father. You could marry a sibling from your
father but not from your mother.
- Sarah was disgraced in the eyes of Terah for
not producing a child, let alone a son.
- If a woman only had daughters, her husband
could divorce her.
- The journey from Ur to Haran was approximately
550 miles (about the same as from San Francisco
to San Diego)
- God's promises to Abraham:
- Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get
thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred,
and from thy father's house, unto a land
that I will shew thee: And I will make of
thee a great nation, and I will bless thee,
and make thy name great; and thou shalt
be a blessing: And I will bless them that
bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee:
and in thee shall all families of the earth
be blessed. Gen 12:1-3
- And Abram passed through the land unto
the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh.
And the Canaanite was then in the land.
And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said,
Unto thy seed will I give this land: and
there builded he an altar unto the Lord,
who appeared unto him. Gen 12:6,7
- And the Lord said unto Abram, after that
Lot was separated from him, Lift up now
thine eyes, and look from the place where
thou art northward, and southward, and eastward,
and westward: For all the land which thou
seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy
seed for ever. Gen 13:14,15
- After these things the word of the Lord
came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear
not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding
great reward. And Abram said, Lord God,
what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless,
and the steward of my house is this Eliezer
of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to
me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one
born in my house is mine heir. And, behold,
the word of the Lord came unto him, saying,
This shall not be thine heir; but he that
shall come forth out of thine own bowels
shall be thine heir. And he brought him
forth abroad, and said, Look now toward
heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able
to number them: and he said unto him, So
shall thy seed be. And he believed in the
Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
Gen 15:1-6
- As for me, behold, my covenant is with
thee, and thou shalt be a father of many
nations. Neither shall thy name any more
be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham;
for a father of many nations have I made
thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful,
and I will make nations of thee, and kings
shall come out of thee. And I will establish
my covenant between me and thee and thy
seed after thee in their generations for
an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto
thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I
will give unto thee, and to thy seed after
thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger,
all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting
possession; and I will be their God. Gen
17:4-8
- That in blessing I will bless thee, and
in multiplying I will multiply thy seed
as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand
which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed
shall possess the gate of his enemies; And
in thy seed shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed
my voice. Gen 22:17,18
- Nomadic living was an honored and highly respected
life style.
- Abraham was willing to listen to God and obey
Him.
- Adultery was considered more serious than
murder, so if a king wanted another man's wife,
he simply murdered her husband.2
- Sarah was so beautiful at age 60 that Abraham
told her to tell Abimelech (King of Gerar) that
they were brother and sister. (Gen 12:13;
20:2)
- Abraham was a peacemaker. He settled the dispute
between Lot's and his herdsmen. (Gen. 13:7-9)
- Abraham exemplified the finest traits of Oriental
culture. He was hospitable, generous, and courteous.
- Lot was taken prisoner during the invasion
of Chedorlaomer and his confederate kings. (Gen.
14:4-13)
- Abraham armed 318 of his servants and rescued
Lot.
- Abraham was a military leader and warrior.
(Gen. 14:14-16)
- Melchizedek was King of Salem (Jerusalem)
and a high priest.
- Melchizedek was recorded as having neither
mother nor father nor having a beginning or
an end of days. [Worth a thorough study!]
- God promised Abraham he would be a father
of nations, but when a child didn't arrive in
the first ten years, Sarah took things into
her own hands. She gave her handmaid, Hagar,
to Abraham to have a child. This tried the relationship
between God and Abraham and Sarah. (Gen.
16:1-3)
- When women selected surrogate mothers, as
Sarah selected Hagar, they stayed close to one
another. The woman who couldn't bear a child
tried to "feel" the experience of
the woman bearing the child, even to the degree
of sitting on the same birthing stool during
the delivery in order to share the pain and
experience the joy of giving birth. Sarah and
Hagar didn't appear to have this "close"
relationship.
- Ishmael was 14 years old when Isaac was born.
- Ishmael and Hagar were cast out when Isaac
was three years old because Sarah would not
share Isaac's birthright with Ishmael.
- Abraham was circumcised at ninety-nine years
of age. (Gen 17:10, 23-27) Ishmael was
circumcised at 13 and Isaac was 8 days old (the
set time for the ritual). All of Abraham's male
servants born in the house or bought were also
circumcised.
- Abraham bargained with God for Lot's safety.
(Gen. 18:24-32)
- Abraham broke with the current beliefs of
many gods and instituted worship of only one
God.
- Abraham had incredible patience with God.
- Abraham was a prophet. (Gen. 20:7)
- Abraham performed the first healing in the
Bible. (Gen. 20:17)
- Abraham perceived the evil of human sacrifice.3
(Gen. 22:1-18)
- The phrase "God did tempt Abraham"
(regarding sacrificing Isaac Gen.22:1)
meant test, try, prove, assay, "…much
as we test or assay precious metals to discover
their basic purity and consequent value."
4
- Abraham is the spiritual ancestor of the Jews,
Muslims, and Christians. 5
- Abraham was a wealthy man. 6
- Abraham was a distinguished adviser and citizen.
7
- Abraham was a man of authority who was benevolent,
not autocratic or tyrannical. 8
- The Bible accounts refer to Abraham as God's
friend. (II Chron. 20:7; Isa 41:8; James
2:23). Art
not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants
of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest
it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?
II Chron 20:7
- Abraham was trusting: "Abram's trust
in the promise and his move from Haran to Canaan
will certainly mean a new level of meaning and
life for him. But the God who commands and promises
will also change forever as well. Having made
promises, and being faithful to those promises,
means that God is now committed to a future
with the one who has faithfully responded. The
text describes not only human faithfulness,
but also divine faithfulness to promises made
to a specific family. God will never be the
same again. By his word, God has created a new
family…" 9
- Abraham married Keturah after Sarah died.
She bore him six sons. (Gen. 25:1-6)
- Abraham died at 175 years of age.
- Ishmael married an Egyptian woman and had
12 sons and one daughter. (Gen 25:16)
[Sounds like Jacob.]
- Ishmael's sons became chieftains of 12 tribal
groups. The sons of Ishmael became the ancestors
of the Arabs. 10
- Ishmael lived to 137 years of age.
- Abraham's only set of directions was to go
by faith. By
faith Abraham, when he was called to go out
into a place which he should after receive for
an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not
knowing whither he went. Heb 11:8
(Is that the reason some men don't ask for directions?)
Bruce Feiler, author of the best selling book
Abraham, concludes with: "…Abraham believes-against
all belief-that his children still crave God.
They still need the comfort of something greater
than themselves, still hold on to some gleam of
humanity, still dream of a moment when they stand
alongside one another and pray for their lost
father and for the legacy of peace among the nations
that was his initial mandate from heaven. This
Abraham is not Jew, Christian, or Muslim. He is
not flawless; he's not a saint. But he is himself,
the best vessel we've got, the father of all."
--GAL
|
