The story of Abraham is found in Genesis
11:26--25:11.
It began with Abraham’s migration from Ur
of the Chaldeans in ancient southern Babylonia. He and his family
moved north along the ancient trade routes and settled in the
flourishing trade centre of Haran. His name was then Abram, meaning "exalted father."
While living in Haran, at the age of 75,
Abram received a call from God. The LORD promised Abram that He
would make him and his descendants a great nation (Gen. 12:1-3).
This wonderful promise was beyond Abram's human comprehension.
Though his wife Sarai was childless (Gen. 11:30), Abram obeyed God.
He took his wife and his nephew, Lot, and went to the land that God
would show him.
Abram moved south along the trade routes
from Haran, through Shechem and Bethel to the land of Canaan. Canaan
was then populated and inhabited by a very pagan and hostile people
named Canaanites.
Canaan was the Promised Land that God would
ultimately give to Abram and his descendants. To inherit Canaan at
the point in time was indeed an act of faith for Abram. The
circumstances and problems were too insurmountable to overcome. But
Abram did not to lean unto his own understanding. He trusted in the
LORD completely with all of his heart.
Not long after, there was a severe famine
in the land of Canaan. And Abram moved to Egypt to dwell for a while
(Gen. 12:10-20). In Egypt, Abram introduced Sarai to the Egyptians
as his sister rather than as his wife in order to avoid trouble.
Sarai was very beautiful. She was taken into the Egyptian palace to
become the Pharaoh’s wife. The LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house
with great plagues because of Sarai. Sarai was then returned to
Abram.
Upon his return from Egypt, there was
strife over the pasturelands between the herdsmen of Abram and his
nephew, Lot. Abram and Lot went on separate ways (Gen. 13:8-9). Lot
settled in the Jordan River Valley, while Abram moved into Canaan.
After this split, God reaffirmed His promise to Abram:
"And
I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that
if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your
descendants also could be numbered" (Gen. 13:16)
Abram became very rich in livestock, in
silver and gold (Genesis 13:2). He had many servants and people
under his leadership. Thus he was known as Abram the Hebrew (Gen.
14:13). Lot was captured, and Abram rescued him (Gen. 14:14-17).
In Genesis 15, the LORD reaffirmed His
promise to Abram. The relationship between God and Abram should be
understood as a covenant relationship - the most common form of
contractual arrangement between individuals in the ancient world.
According to such an arrangement, individuals or groups agreed to
abide by certain conditions that governed their relationship to each
other.
In this case, Abram agreed to go to the
land that God would show him, and God agreed to make Abram a great
nation (Gen. 12:1-3). However, Abram became anxious about the
promise of a nation as he became advanced in age. The LORD thus
reaffirmed the earlier covenant again.
A common practice of that era among
heirless families was to adopt a slave who would inherit the
master's wealth and estate. Since Abram was childless, he proposed
to make a slave, Eliezer of Damascus, his heir (Gen. 15:2). But God
rejected this option and challenged Abram's faith.
God brought Abram out one night and said,
"Look
now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number
them. So shall your descendants be." (Gen. 15:5).
And Abram
believed in the LORD, and God accounted it to him for righteousness
(Gen. 15:6). The rest of chapter 15 was a ceremony between Abram and
God that was commonly used in that era to formalize a covenant (Gen.
15:7-21).
In Genesis 16, Sarai gave an Egyptian
maidservant, named Hagar, to Abram to bear him a child. This was
also a custom at the time. According to this custom, if the wife had
not had a male child by a certain time in the marriage, she was
obligated to provide a substitute, usually a slavewoman, to bear a
child to her husband. This would ensure that the family tree could
be continued. Hagar bore a son by Abram and named him Ishmael.
Although Ishmael was not the child that would carry on the Abrahamic
Covenant, he was nevertheless given a favorable blessing (Gen.
16:10-13; 17:20).
The most substantial account of the
covenant between Abraham and God was given in Genesis 17. This
covenant was extended to include all future generations of Abram. As
the sign of the covenant, Abram and all the male members of his
household were required to be circumcised (Gen. 17:10-14). It was
there and then Abram was renamed Abraham, meaning "father of a
multitude," and Sarai was renamed Sarah.
In Genesis 18-19, Abraham was pleading with
the LORD not to destroy the two evil cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
for the righteous ones' sake. But for the lack of righteousness in
both cities, they were destroyed. Lot's wife looked back, and became
a pillar of salt. Lot and his two daughters were rescued. Both
daughters of Lot slept with him and bore him children. One of the
sons was Moab, the father of the Moabites, and the other was
Ben-Ammi, the father of the Ammonites.
Before Isaac was born, God already named
him (Gen. 17:19). After Isaac was born to Sarah (Gen. 21:1-7), Sarah
was unhappy when Ishmael scoffed at Isaac. She asked Abraham to cast
both Hagar and Ishmael out of his family. Abram did that after the
LORD told him that they would have His protection and blessing.
Ishmael was not mentioned again until the death of Abraham (Gen.
25:9).
Abraham’s faith was put to the test
crucible when God commanded him to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac.
He was willing to give up his son in obedience to God. At the
climactic moment, the LORD intervened and Isaac was spared (Gen.
22:1-13). The LORD again reaffirmed the Abrahamic Covenant that the
descendants of Abraham would be as numerous as the stars of the
heavens as a result of Abraham's obedience (Gen. 22:16-18).
Sarah died at the age of 127 (Gen.
23:1-20). When Isaac was of marriageable age, Abraham did not want
Isaac to marry a daughter of the Canaanites. He feared that this
would introduce pagan practices into the Hebraic faith. Thus,
Abraham sent a senior servant to Haran, the city from which he came
from, to find a wife for Isaac. This mission was successful. Isaac
married Rebekah, the daughter of Abraham's brother, Laban (Gen.
24:1-67).
Abraham remarried and fathered six children
by Keturah (Gen. 25:1-6). He died at the age of 175. He was buried
besides Sarah in the cave of Machpelah (Gen. 25:7-11).
Written on:
7 January 2004
Source:
Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary