Difference between revisions of "Abraham"

<p> Originally called Abram, [[Abraham]] received his new name from God in confirmation of God’s promise that he would be father of a multitude of people (&nbsp;Genesis 17:5-7). In fulfilment of this promise, Abraham became the physical father of the [[Israelite]] nation (&nbsp;Matthew 3:9; &nbsp;John 8:37). Because he accepted God’s promise by faith, he is also the spiritual father of all who accept God’s promises by faith, regardless of their nationality. As God in his grace declared Abraham righteous, so he declares righteous all who trust in him (&nbsp;Genesis 15:6; &nbsp;Romans 4:11). </p> <p> ''' <span''' </p>

<p> Abraham ("father of a multitude".) Up to &nbsp;Genesis 17:4-5, his being sealed with circumcision, the sign of the covenant, ABRAM (father of elevation). Son of Terah, brother of [[Nahor]] and Haran. Progenitor of the Hebrew, Arabs, Edomites, and kindred tribes; the ninth in descent from Shem, through Heber. [[Haran]] died before Terah, leaving [[Lot]] and two daughters, [[Milcah]] and Iscah. Nahor married his niece Milcah: Abraham Iscah, i.e. Sarai, daughter, i.e. granddaughter, of his father, not of his mother (&nbsp;Genesis 20:12). Ur, his home, is the modern Mugheir, the primeval capital of Chaldaea; its inscriptions are probably of the 22nd century B.C. The alphabetical [[Hebrew]] system is Phoenician, and was probably brought by Abraham to Canaan, where it became modified. Abraham, at God's call, went forth from [[Ur]] of the [[Chaldees]] (&nbsp;Genesis 11:31-12). </p> <p> In Haran [[Terah]] died. The statement in &nbsp;Genesis 11:26, that Terah was 70 when he begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran, must apply only to the oldest, Haran. His being oldest appears from the fact that his brothers married his daughters, and that [[Sarai]] was only ten years younger than Abraham (&nbsp;Genesis 17:17); the two younger were born subsequently, Abram, the youngest, when Terah was 130, as appears from comparing &nbsp;Genesis 11:31 with &nbsp;Genesis 12:4; &nbsp;Acts 7:3-4; "before he dwelt in [[Charran]] Ηaran , while he was in Mesopotamia," in his 60th year, at Ur he received his first call: "Depart from thy land, to a land which I will show thee" (as yet the exact land was not defined). In Haran he received a second call: "Depart from thy father's house unto THE land (Heb., &nbsp;Genesis 12:1( which I will show thee;" and with it a promise, temporal (that God would bless him, and make him founder of a great nation) and spiritual (that in him all families of the earth should be blessed). </p> <p> The deluge, the revelation to Noah, and the [[Babel]] dispersion had failed to counteract the universal tendency to idolatrous apostasy, obliterating every trace of primitive piety. God therefore provided an antidote in separating one family and nation to be the repository of His truth against the fullness of time when it should be revealed to the whole world. From &nbsp;Joshua 24:2; &nbsp;Joshua 24:14-15, it appears Terah and his family served other gods beyond the Euphrates. Silly traditions as to Terah being a maker of idols, and Abraham having been east into a fiery furnace by [[Nimrod]] for disbelief in idols, were drawn from this Scripture, and from Ur ("fire"). The second call additionally required that, now when his father was dead and filial duty had been discharged, after the stay of 15 years in Haran, he should leave his father's house, i.e. his brother Nahor's family, in Haran. The call was personally to himself. </p> <p> He was to be isolated not only from his nation but from his family. Lot, his nephew, accompanied him, being regarded probably as his heir, as the promise of seed and the specification of his exact destination were only by degrees unfolded to him (&nbsp;Hebrews 11:8). [[Nicolaus]] of [[Damascus]] ascribed to him the conquest of Damascus on his way to Canaan. [[Scripture]] records nothing further than that his chief servant was [[Eliezer]] of Damascus; he pursued [[Chedorlaomer]] to Hobah, on the left of Damascus, subsequently (&nbsp;Genesis 14:15), Abraham entered [[Canaan]] along the valley of the Jabbok, and encamped first in the rich [[Moreh]] valley, near Sichem, between mounts [[Ebal]] and Gerizim. There he received a confirmation of the promise, specifying "this land" as that which the original more general promise pointed to. Here therefore he built his first altar to God. The unfriendly attitude of the [[Canaanites]] induced him next to move to the mountain country between [[Bethel]] and Ai, where also he built an altar to Jehovah, whose worship was fast passing into oblivion in the world. </p> <p> [[Famine]] led him to Egypt, the granary of the world, next. The record of his unbelieving cowardice there, and virtual lie as to Sarai (See ABIMELECH) is a striking proof of the candor of Scripture. Its heroes' faults are not glossed over; each saint not only falls at times, but is represented as failing in the very grace (e.g. Abraham in faith) for which he was most noted. Probably the [[Hyksos]] (akin to the Hebrew), or shepherds' dynasty, reigned then at Memphis, which would make Abraham's visit specially acceptable there. On his return his first visit was to the altar which he had erected to [[Jehovah]] before his fall (compare &nbsp;Genesis 13:4 with &nbsp;Hosea 2:7; &nbsp;Revelation 2:5). The greatness of his and Lot's substance prevented their continuing together. The promise of a direct heir too may have influenced Lot, as, no longer being heir, to seek a more fixed home, in the region of Sodom, than he had with Abraham, "dwelling in tents." Contrast the children of the world with the children of God (&nbsp;Hebrews 11:9-10; &nbsp;Hebrews 11:18-16). His third resting place was Mamre, near [[Hebron]] ("association", namely, that of Abraham, Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner; next called [[Kirjath]] Arba; then it resumed its old name, Hebron, the future capital of Judah). This position, communicating with Egypt, and opening on the pastures of Beersheba, marks the greater power of his retinue now, as compared with what it was when he encamped in the mountain fastness of Ai. </p> <p> [[Fourteen]] years previously Chedorlaomer, king of [[Elam]] (the region S. of Assyria, E. of Persia, Susiana), the chief sovereign, with Amrephar of [[Shinar]] (Babylon), [[Arioch]] of [[Ellasar]] (the [[Chaldean]] Larissa, or Larsa, half way between Ur, or Mugheir, and Erech, or Warka, in Lower Babylonia), and Tidal, king of nations, attacked [[Bera]] of Sodom, [[Birsha]] of Gomorrah, [[Shinab]] of Admah, and [[Shemeber]] of Zeboiim, and the king of [[Bela]] or Zoar, because after twelve bears of subordination they "rebelled" (Genesis 14). [[Babylon]] was originally the predominant power; but a recently deciphered [[Assyrian]] record states that an Elamitie king, Kudur Nakhunta, conquered Babylon 2296 B.C. Kudur Mabuk is called in the inscriptions the "ravager of Syria," so that the Scripture account of Chedorlaomer (from Lagsmar , a goddess, in Semitic; answering to Μabuk in Hamitic) exactly tallies with the monumental inscriptions which call him Αpda martu , "ravager," not conqueror, "of the West." Abraham, with 318 followers, and aided by the [[Amorite]] chiefs, Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner, overtook the victorious invaders near Jordan's springs, and attacked them by night from different quarters and routed them, and recovered Lot with all the men and the goods carried off. </p> <p> His disinterestedness was evinced in refusing any of the goods which [[Arabian]] war usage entitled him to, lest the king of worldly [[Sodom]] should say, "I have made Abraham rich" (compare &nbsp;Esther 9:15-16; &nbsp;2 Kings 5:16; contrast Lot, &nbsp;Genesis 13:10-11). Melchizedek, one of the only native princes who still served Jehovah, and was at once king and priest, blessed Abraham in the name of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed God in Abraham's name, by a beautiful reciprocation of blessing, and ministered to him bread and wine; and Abraham "gave him tithes of all." Immediately after Abraham had refused worldly rewards Jehovah in vision said, "I am ... thy exceeding great reward." The promise now was made more specific: Eliezer shall not be thine heir, but "he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels ... Tell if thou be able to number the stars; so shall thy seed be." His faith herein was called forth to accept what was above nature on the bore word of God; so "it (his faith) was counted to him for righteousness" (Genesis 15). </p> <p> Hence he passes into direct covenant relation with God, confirmed by the sign of the burning lamp (compare &nbsp;Isaiah 62:1) passing between the divided pieces of a heifer, she goat, and ram, and accompanied by the revelation that his posterity are to be afflicted in a foreign land 400 years, then to come forth and conquer Canaan when the iniquity of the [[Amorites]] shall be full. The earthly inheritance was to include the whole region "from the river of [[Egypt]] unto the ... river Euphrates," a promise only in part fulfilled under David and [[Solomon]] (&nbsp;2 Samuel 8:3; &nbsp;2 Kings 4:21; &nbsp;2 Chronicles 9:26). [[Tyre]] and [[Sidon]] were never conquered; therefore the complete fulfillment remains for the millennial state, when "the meek shall inherit the land," and &nbsp;Psalms 72:8-10 shall be realized; compare &nbsp;Luke 20:37. The taking of [[Hagar]] the Egyptian, Sarai's maid, at the suggestion of Sarai, now 75 years old, was a carnal policy to realize the promise in Ishmael. </p> <p> Family quarreling was the inevitable result, and Hagar fled from Sarai, who dealt hardly with her maid when that maid despised her mistress. Abraham in his 99th year was recalled to the standing of faith by Jehovah's charge, "Walk before Me and be thou perfect" (Genesis 17). God then gave circumcision as seal of the covenant of righteousness by faith, which he had while yet uncircumcised (Romans 4). His name was changed at circumcision from [[Abram]] to Abraham (father of many nations), to mark that the covenant was not to include merely his seed after the flesh, the Israelites, but the numerous [[Gentile]] nations also, who in his Seed, Christ, should be children of his faith (Galatians 3). Sarai (my princess, or "nobility," Gesenius) became [[Sarah]] (princess) no longer queen of one family, but spiritually of all nations (&nbsp;Galatians 3:16). The promise now advances a stage further in explicitness, being definitely assigned to a son to be born of Sarah. </p> <p> Its temporal blessings [[Ishmael]] shall share, but the spiritual and everlasting with the temporal are only to be through Sarah's son. Sarah laughed. more from joy though not without unbelief, as her subsequent laugh and God's rebuke imply (&nbsp;Genesis 18:12-15). Now first, Jehovah, with two ministering angels, reveals Himself and His judicial purposes (Genesis 18) in familiar intercourse with Abraham as "the friend of God" (&nbsp;John 15:15; &nbsp;Psalms 25:14; &nbsp;2 Chronicles 20:7; &nbsp;James 2:23; &nbsp;Amos 3:7), and accepts his intercession to a very great extent for the doomed cities of the plain. The passionate intercession was probably prompted by feeling for his kinsman Lot, who was in Sodom, for he intercedes only for Sodom, not also for Gomorrah, an undesigned propriety, a mark of genuineness. This epiphany of God contrasts in familiarity with the more distant and solemn manifestations of earlier and later times. </p> <p> Loving confidence takes the place of instinctive fear, as in man's intercourse with God in Eden; [[Moses]] similarly (&nbsp;Exodus 33:11; &nbsp;Numbers 12:8); Peter, James, and John on the mount of transfiguration (Matthew 17). A mile from Hebron stands a massive oak, called "Abraham's oak." His abode was "the oaks of Mamre" (as &nbsp;Genesis 18:1 ought to be translated, not "plains".) A terebinth tree was supposed in Josephus' time to mark the spot. It stood within the enclosure, "Abraham's house." Isaac's birth, beyond nature, the type of Him whose name is [[Wonderful]] (&nbsp;Luke 1:35-37, and contrast Mary's joy with Sarah's half incredulous laugh and Zacharias' unbelief, &nbsp;Luke 1:38; &nbsp;Luke 1:45-47; &nbsp;Luke 1:20), was the first grand earnest of the promise. Ishmael's expulsion, though painful to the father who clung to him (&nbsp;Genesis 17:18), was needed to teach Abraham that all ties must give way to the one great end. The full spiritual meaning of it, but faintly revealed to Abraham, appears in &nbsp;Galatians 4:22-31. </p> <p> When [[Isaac]] was 25 years old the crowning trial whereby Abraham's. faith was perfected took place (&nbsp;James 2:21-23). Still it was his faith, not his work, which was "imputed to him for righteousness"; but the faith that justified him was evinced, by his offering at God's command his son, to be not a dead but a living "faith that works by love." Paul's doctrine is identical with James's (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 13:2; &nbsp;Galatians 5:6). The natural feelings of the father, the divine promise specially attached to Isaac, born out of due time and beyond nature, a promise which seemed impossible to be fulfilled if Isaac were slain, the divine command against human bloodshedding (&nbsp;Genesis 9:5-6), —all might well perplex him. But it was enough for him that God had commanded; his faith obeyed, leaving confidently the solution of the perplexities to God, "accounting that God was able to raise Isaac even from the dead" (&nbsp;Hebrews 11:19), "from whence he received him in a figure." The "figure" was: Isaac's death (in Abraham's intention) and rescue from it (&nbsp;2 Corinthians 1:9-10) vividly represented Christ's death and resurrection on the "third" day (&nbsp;Genesis 22:4). </p> <p> The ram's substitution represented Christ's vicarious death: it was then that Abraham saw Christ's day and was glad (&nbsp;John 8:56). The scene was [[Moriah]] (i.e. chosen by Jehovah); others suppose Moreh, three days' journey from Beersheba. His faith was rewarded by the original promises being now confirmed by Jehovah's oath by Himself (&nbsp;Hebrews 6:13; &nbsp;Hebrews 6:17); and his believing reply to his son, "God will provide Himself a lamb," received its lasting commemoration in the name of that place, Jehovah Jireh, "the Lord will provide." His giving up his only and well beloved son (by Sarah) typifies the Father's not sparing the Only [[Begotten]] Son who is in the bosom of the Father, in order that He might spare us. Sarah died at Kirjath Arba, whither Abraham had returned from Beersheba. The only possession he got, and that, by purchase from the Hittites, was a burying place for Sarah, the cave of Machpelah, said to be under the mosque of Hebron. </p> <p> His care that he and his should be utterly separated from idolatry appears in his strict charge to Eliezer as to the choice of Isaac's wife, not to take a [[Canaanite]] woman nor yet to bring his son back to Abraham's original home. Abraham being left alone at Isaac's marriage, and having his youthful vigor renewed at Isaac's generation, married Keturah. The children by her, [[Midian]] and others, he sent away, lest they should dispute the inheritance with Isaac after his death. He died at 175 years, Isaac and Ishmael joining to bury him beside Sarah. Through his descendants, the Arabs, Israelites, and descendants of Midian, "children of the East," Abraham's name is still widely known in Asia. As "father of the faithful," who left home and all at the call of God, to be a sojourner in tents, he typifies Him who at the Father's call left His own heaven to be a homeless stranger on earth, and to sacrifice Himself, the unspeakably precious Lamb, for us: "the Word tabernacled Greek &nbsp;John 1:14 among us." </p>

<p> <b> ABRAHAM. </b> —It is noteworthy that while in the Synoptic [[Gospels]] references to the patriarch Abraham are comparatively frequent, and his personality and relation to [[Israel]] form part of the historical background which they presuppose, and of the thoughts and conceptions which are their national inheritance, in the [[Gospel]] of St. John his name does not appear except in ch. 8. In the Synoptists he is the great historical ancestor of the Jews, holding a unique place in their reverence and affections; he is their father, as they are each of them his children (&nbsp;Matthew 3:9 || &nbsp;Luke 3:8, &nbsp;Luke 13:16; &nbsp;Luke 16:24; &nbsp;Luke 16:30; &nbsp;Luke 19:9). To this the introductory title of St. Matthew’s Gospel testifies; it is ‘the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, <i> the son of Abraham </i> .’ And in the genealogical record that follows, his name stands at the head (&nbsp;Matthew 1:2), and through equally graduated stages,—epochs marked by the name of Israel’s most famous king, and by the nation’s most bitter humiliation (&nbsp;Matthew 1:17),—the ascent of the Christ is traced to the great fountain and source of all [[Jewish]] privilege and life. It is otherwise in the genealogy of St. Luke; and the difference indicates the different standpoints of Jewish and Gentile thought. Here the historian records no halting-places in his genealogy, but carries it back in an uninterrupted chain, of which the patriarch Abraham forms but one link (&nbsp;Luke 3:34), to its ultimate source in God. See art. Genealogies. </p> <p> Other references in the Synoptists are on the same plane of thought, and presuppose a prevalent and accepted faith, which not only knew Abraham as the forefather and founder of their national life in the far-off ages of the past, but realized that in some sort or other he was still alive; and it was believed that to be with him, to be received into his bosom (&nbsp;Luke 16:22) was the highest felicity that awaited the righteous man after death. Both St. Matthew and St. Mark bear emphatic testimony to this belief, in their narrative of the incident of our Lord’s solution of the dilemma presented by the [[Sadducees]] with their tale of the seven brothers. Jesus quotes &nbsp;Exodus 3:6 in proof of the fact of the patriarchs’ resurrection and continued existence (&nbsp;Matthew 22:32 || &nbsp;Mark 12:26, &nbsp;Luke 20:37), inasmuch as the [[Divine]] sovereignty here asserted over Abraham, Isaac, and [[Jacob]] necessarily implies the conscious life of those who are its subjects. In the Songs of [[Mary]] and Zacharias, again (&nbsp;Luke 1:46-55; &nbsp;Luke 1:68-79), Abraham is the forefather of the race, the recipient of the Divine promises (confirmed by an oath, &nbsp;Luke 1:73) of mercy and goodwill to himself and his descendants (cf. &nbsp;Galatians 3:16; &nbsp;Galatians 3:18, &nbsp;Hebrews 6:13, &nbsp;Acts 7:17, &nbsp;Romans 4:13); and his name is a pledge that the same mercy will not overlook or cease to care for his children (&nbsp;Luke 1:55). And, finally, to be with Abraham and his great sons, to ‘sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven’ (&nbsp;Matthew 8:11), is the desire and reward of the faithful Israelite. This reward, however, Christ teaches, is not confined to the Jews, the sons of Abraham according to the flesh, still less is it one to which they have any right by virtue of the mere fact of physical descent from him; it is one that will be enjoyed by ‘many’ faithful ones from other lands, even to the exclusion of the ‘sons of the kingdom,’ if they prove themselves, like His present opponents, faithless and unworthy (&nbsp;Luke 13:28). </p> <p> The expression ‘ <b> Abraham’s bosom </b> ’ (&nbsp;Luke 16:22) or ‘bosoms’ (&nbsp;Luke 16:23)* [Note: The plural form is frequently used by the Greek Fathers, e.g. Chrys. Hom. XL in Gen.: τάντες οἱ δικαιοι … εὐχῆς ἔργον ποιοῦνται εἰς τοῦς κόλτους τοῦ τατριἀρχου καταντῆσαι.] is hardly to be understood as conveying the idea of an eminent or unusual degree of happiness. It is practically equivalent to ‘Paradise.’ And the new condition of blessedness in which [[Lazarus]] finds himself is pre-eminent only in the sense that it is so striking a reversal of the relations previously existing between Dives and himself. The parable says nothing of any superior piety or faith exhibited by Lazarus, which might win for him a more exalted position than others. As far as his present and past are concerned, it but sets forth retributive justice redressing for him and Dives alike the unequal balance of earth. ‘Abraham’s bosom,’ like the [[Hades]] in which the rich man lifts up his eyes, is part of the figurative or pictorial setting of the parable, and indicates no more than a haven of repose and felicity, the home and resting-place of the righteous with Abraham, who is the typical example of righteousness. The parable is on the plane of popular belief, and of set purpose employs the imagery which would be most familiar and intelligible to the hearers.† [Note: On the phrase ‘Abraham’s bosom,’ see Trench, Parables13, p. 461 ff., and the references there given; Lightfoot, Horae Heb. et Talm. iii. p. 167 ff.; Stevens, [[Theology]] of the New Testament, p. 82; Meyer, and the commentators, in loc. Cf. also Salmond in Hastings’ DB i. 17b f.] </p> <p> In conformity with the general character of St. John’s Gospel, the references to Abraham there would seem to imply a more mystical, less matter of fact and as it were prosaic manner of regarding the great patriarch. He is spoken of in the 8th chapter alone, in the course of a discussion with Jews who are said to be believers in Jesus (&nbsp;John 8:31). Here also Abraham is the father of the Jews, and they are his children, his seed (&nbsp;John 8:37; &nbsp;John 8:39; &nbsp;John 8:56); and this position they claim with pride (&nbsp;John 8:33; &nbsp;John 8:39; &nbsp;John 8:53). It is a name and position, however, which Christ declares is belied by their conduct, in that, though nominally Abraham’s seed, they do not Abraham’s works, in particular when they conceive and plot the death of an innocent man (&nbsp;John 8:39-40). To the charge itself they have no answer, except to reassert their sonship, in this instance of God Himself (&nbsp;John 8:41 f.), and to repeat the offensive imputation of demoniacal possession (&nbsp;John 8:42). But with almost startling abruptness, taking advantage of a phrase quietly introduced, which they interpret to imply freedom from physical death for those who accept Christ’s teaching, they interrupt with the assertion that Abraham died ‘and the prophets’ (&nbsp;John 8:52), in apparent contradiction to the tenor and assumption of the language which a moment before they had employed. Probably they meant no more than that he and they, like all other men, had passed through the gate of death which terminates life on earth; and were more intent on gaining a dialectic advantage than on weighing the implications of their own words. But, in spite of them, for the few moments that are left the discourse preserves the high level of other-worldliness, to which Christ’s last words have raised it; and gives occasion for one of the most striking and emphatic assertions in which He is recorded to have passed beyond the boundaries and limitations of mere earthly experience. Abraham has seen His day (&nbsp;John 8:56). And by silence He concedes and affirms the half-indignant, half-contemptuous and protesting question of the Jews; He has seen Abraham, and is greater even than their father (&nbsp;John 8:53; &nbsp;John 8:57). The climax is reached in &nbsp;John 8:58,—in a brief sentence, which, if it did not bear so evidently the stamp of simplicity and truth, would be said to have been constructed with the most consummate skill and the finest touch of artistic feeling and insight. ‘Before Abraham came into being,’—the speaker gathers up and utilizes Jewish belief in its past and reverence for its head,—‘I am.’ Abraham ἐγένετο; Christ <i> is </i> . Thus was conveyed the answer to their question, ‘Art thou greater?’ (&nbsp;John 8:53); and thus was reasserted with emphasis the measureless distance between Himself and the greatest of the Jews, and <i> a fortiori </i> , as it would appear to the company around, of the whole human race. </p> <p> It is remarkable and suggestive that in the only notice of the patriarch Jacob that is contained in the Fourth Gospel, ch. &nbsp;John 4:5 f., &nbsp;John 4:12, the same question is addressed by the woman of [[Samaria]] to Christ: ‘Art thou greater than our father Jacob,’—the Dispenser of the new water with its marvellous properties than the actual giver of the well? It was natural and inevitable that one of the questions that more particularly forced itself upon the attention of His contemporaries should be the relation of the Teacher, who had arisen in their midst and who claimed so great things, not only to the earlier prophets, but to the patriarchs and ancestors of the Jewish nation. See further art. Jacob. </p> <p> The figure of Abraham, therefore, in the Gospels is idealized, and invested with a simple grandeur as the head and founder of the race in the indistinct ages of the past, to whom are owing its present privileges, and around whom gather its future hopes. There is, however, no indication of hero-worship, as in the case of the more or less mythical ancestors of other peoples. This conception, moreover, apart from St. John’s Gospel, is purely patriarchal. The characteristic [[Pauline]] presentation of Abraham as the father of the faithful in a moral and spiritual sense, as the type and pattern of all righteousness and obedience, as it is developed in the [[Epistles]] to the Romans and Galatians, is absent (cf. also &nbsp;Hebrews 11:8 ff., &nbsp;James 2:21; &nbsp;James 2:23). References to the details of his history are not indeed wanting in the remaining books of the New Testament, but they are all, as it were, with a moral and didactic purpose: &nbsp;Galatians 4:22, the two covenants; &nbsp;Hebrews 7:1 ff., Abraham and Melchizedek; &nbsp;Romans 4:18 f. and &nbsp;Hebrews 11:8; &nbsp;Hebrews 11:17, faith exhibited in the abandonment of his fatherland, in the birth and offering up of Isaac; &nbsp;Acts 7:2; &nbsp;Acts 7:16, the same abandonment of his country and the purchase of a tomb from the sons of [[Emmor]] in Sychem; cf. &nbsp;1 Peter 3:6, with a possible reference to &nbsp;Genesis 18:12. </p> <p> Later Hebrew literature discussed especially this aspect of his character, and the historical view was superseded by the ethical or theological. Cf., for example, <i> Pirke Aboth </i> v. 4, of the ten testings or trials (נסיונוח) of Abraham, and Taylor, loc.; ‘Testament of Abraham,’ ed. M. R. James, and Studies, ii. 2. </p> <p> Literature.—The authorities cited above, with articles on ‘Abraham’ in [[Bible]] Dictionaries, and the Commentaries. </p> <p> A. S. Geden. </p>

<p> <i> The Old [[Testament]] </i> . This man, whose name may mean "the father is exalted, " was the first of the great patriarchs of Israel. In the ancient Near East a patriarch was the leader or ancestor of a family, but Abraham exceeded this status by becoming the progenitor of one specific nation, the Hebrews, as well as of other peoples. The story of his life (&nbsp;Genesis 11:27b-25:12 ) appears to comprise one of eleven Mesopotamian tablets underlying Genesis, and in typical fashion probably had a title ("Abram, Nahor and Haran, 11:27b) and a concluding colophon "these are the generations of" (KJV), that is, "family histories of" (25:12). The material was apparently compiled in the time of Isaac at Beer Lahai Roi (&nbsp;Genesis 25:11 ), the finished unit probably comprising a group of smaller tablets linked in a series. </p> <p> The date of Abraham's birth in Ur "of the Chaldees" (i.e., southern Ur) is not known, but can be computed roughly from archeological evidence at Bab-edh-Dhra, near Sodom. The latter was destroyed about 1900 b.c. No monuments to him have survived, but discoveries at Mari, Nuzi, and elsewhere have shown that his activities were consistent with Middle Bronze [[Age]] Mesopotamian life (ca. 2000-1500 b.c.). As such, Abraham emerged from a background of high culture, and was not the illiterate shepherd envisaged by some nineteenth-century literary critics. </p> <p> Abraham is of profound religious significance because he was the historic ancestor of the twelve tribes, the "seed of Abraham, " who regularly described their God as "the God of Abraham." By virtue of being children of divine promise (&nbsp;Genesis 12:2 ), the [[Israelites]] were living proof of God's existence and power in human society. This general promise was made specific by means of a covenant between God and Abraham (&nbsp;Genesis 15:8-18; &nbsp;17:1-14 ), which provided the offspring of the patriarch with a large tract of territory. Abraham was to father many nations (&nbsp;Genesis 17:5 ), and the covenant that was to be established with him and his seed was to be perpetual in nature. </p> <p> The idea of a covenant, or binding agreement between two parties, was already familiar in the early Middle Bronze Age, and by mutual agreement involved penalties if one of the participants defaulted. It was normally marked by some form of ritual (&nbsp;Genesis 15:9-17 ), which emphasized the solemnity and significance of the occasion. Abraham was instructed to keep the covenant obligations, and as a material token the institution of circumcision was imposed upon him and his descendants. When performed, this procedure constituted formal indication of membership within the Israelite community. </p> <p> Although coming from a background of polytheism and idolatry at Ur, Abraham had been reared in the faith of the one true God by his father Terah. But when he received the Lord's call at a mature stage of his life, he recognized that he had been chosen to implement a specific part of God's plan for human destiny. He was not to fulfill it alone, because the Lord undertook to go with him (&nbsp;Genesis 12:4 ). He was required to be consistently obedient to God's will, however difficult that might be, and to trust without question the guidance he would receive against the background of the covenant framework. It should be noted that Abraham was not asked to be obedient as a condition of the covenant. Rather, his response in faith was based upon what he already knew about the God of his ancestors, and was thus a matter of free choice. The importance of strict obedience to the Lord's injunctions assumes early prominence in Old Testament theology. Put simply, without unquestioning submission to God's stipulations there could be neither fellowship with the Lord nor blessings poured out upon the covenant people. </p> <p> The continuing faith Abraham had can be illustrated by reference to four specific occasions in his life. The first was God's command to leave both family and homeland and migrate to a strange country (&nbsp;Genesis 12:1 ). The severing of emotional ties was bound to be costly, yet Abraham went forward without once questioning God's directives, believing instead in God's power to fulfill his promises. </p> <p> The second occasion actually completed the first, consisting of Abraham's parting company with his nephew Lot (&nbsp;Genesis 13:1-16 ) because of friction between their herdsmen. Although doubtless distressed at withdrawing from a relative, Abraham behaved generously in allowing Lot to choose the territory that he preferred (&nbsp;Genesis 13:8-11 ), whereupon God renewed his promises of land and offspring to the childless Abraham. </p> <p> The third was yet another occasion when the covenant was confirmed, this time in greater detail (&nbsp;Genesis 17:1-27 ). God promised Abraham a son who would be named Isaac (&nbsp;Genesis 17:16 ), and who would be the inheritor of the everlasting covenant (&nbsp;Genesis 17:19,21 ). It seems that Abraham assumed that Ishmael was to function in that capacity, but when this was denied he acknowledged the Lord's will obediently, and awaited in faith the fulfillment of the promise that all the nations of the earth would be blessed in him (&nbsp;Genesis 18:18 ). </p> <p> Perhaps the most serious test of Abraham's obedience and faith came when God ordered him to offer up in sacrifice the very one through whom the covenant was to be perpetuated: his son Isaac (&nbsp;Genesis 22:1-2 ). Dutifully and without questioning, Abraham followed the ritual procedure, and at the climactic moment God intervened on behalf of Isaac (&nbsp;Genesis 22:11 ), stating that Abraham had passed the divinely imposed test of submission and faith (&nbsp;Genesis 22:12 ). For such implicit obedience Abraham was to become an example of covenant fidelity. In &nbsp;2 Chronicles 20:7 (cf. &nbsp; James 2:23 ) Abraham is described as the "friends" of God. As late as New Testament times, he and Sarah were lauded as people who lived and died in an attitude of faith (&nbsp;Hebrews 11:8-18 ). </p> <p> <i> The New Testament </i> If God's plan for human salvation was to be implemented, the Lord had to be able to trust those whom he called and empowered for this task. Only after testing under difficult conditions did the relative trustworthiness of the servant become apparent. In Abraham's case, his unwavering faith accomplished the fulfillment of the covenant promises in terms of a great nation that would honor him through the centuries as "their father" (&nbsp; John 8:39; &nbsp;Romans 4:16 ). This privilege, however, was not to be restricted to the Jews, but was also shared by adherents to the world religions of [[Christianity]] and Islam. </p> <p> The prophecy whereby all human families would be blessed (or "bless themselves") came to fruition in the work of Jesus Christ, the [[Messiah]] of God, who was the long-promised descendant of Abraham (&nbsp;Matthew 1:1; &nbsp;Galatians 3:16 ). His atoning death broke the power of sin over human beings and enabled them to be reconciled to God through penitence and faith. The saving work of Christ ushered in the new covenant prophesied by Jeremiah (31:31) and was given definitive shape in the [[Christian]] church, a body of believers committed to serve Jesus as king and lord through Acts of obedience and faith. This privileged group is blessed by the assurance of God's love and his saving power that sustain all who trust in him. But while being a recipient of blessing, the Christian church is commanded to fulfill covenant responsibilities (&nbsp;Matthew 28:14 ) in a manner unknown to the covenant people of Old Testament times. It is by this means, however, that the Abrahamic blessings come into effect when both Jewish and Gentile sinners find forgiveness and spiritual rebirth in Christ through the proclamation of the gospel. </p> <p> The Christian faith thus stands in an unbroken chain of spirituality that has come down through the ages. The new covenant on which the Christian church is founded is based upon an individual's relationship with God in Christ, and not upon the response of a group such as a tribe to the Lord's commands. The atoning work of Christ on Calvary, achieved by a man as fully obedient to God's commands (&nbsp;Philippians 2:8 ) as Abraham ever was, has released a flood of divine grace upon an undeserving world, and has brought the blessed fruit of the Spirit (&nbsp;Galatians 5:22-23 ) into the believer's life. </p> <p> Paul stressed that the children of God by faith in Jesus were in fact members of Abraham's offspring, and thus heirs according to the promise (&nbsp;Galatians 3:26-29 ). Thus [[Christians]] can speak confidently of Abraham as "the father of the faithful, " and praise a merciful God because it was through his fidelity in remote ages that our eternal salvation has become an actuality. Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and others are no longer shadowy images which, in an earlier age of biblical criticism, were often dismissed as legendary or even mythological. Instead, the participants in the Abrahamic covenant are seen as real persons with whom modern Christians are privileged to join in witness to God's power and his plan of salvation through Christ. While Christians can rejoice in the realization that the blessings of Abraham's covenant have become their very own, it is important for them to remember that, as Jesus taught, the true children of Abraham perform the deeds of Abraham (&nbsp;John 8:39 ). </p> <p> Dynamic though Abraham's covenant was, sheer physical descent from the revered patriarch did not of itself guarantee an individual's salvation, as John the [[Baptist]] pointed out (&nbsp;Matthew 3:9 ). Nor did it imply that there were no unbelievers in ancient Israel (&nbsp;Romans 9:6 ). Only those members whose lives manifested the obedience and trust of the patriarch would participate in covenant blessings. The man who for Paul was the exemplar of faith (&nbsp;Romans 4:16-22; &nbsp;Galatians 3:6-12 ) was understood by James to demonstrate that justification by faith is proved in works that issue from such a faith (&nbsp;James 2:20-24 ). The emphasis, however, is upon the genuine nature of the faith rather than such deeds as may result. </p> <p> R. K. Harrison </p> <p> <i> See also </i> [[Israel]] </p> <p> <i> Bibliography </i> . G. Bush, <i> Notes on [[Genesis]] </i> ; D. Kidner, <i> Genesis </i> ; K. A. Kitchen, <i> [[Ancient]] Orient and Old Testament </i> ; F. B. Meyer, <i> Abraham: The [[Obedience]] of Faith </i> ; C. F. Pfeiffer, <i> The Patriarchal Age </i> ; A. R. Millard and D. J. Wiseman, <i> Essays on the Patriarchal Narratives </i> . </p>

<p> '''A'braham.''' (father of a multitude). Abraham was the son of Terah, and founder of the great Hebrew nation. (B.C. 1996-1822). His family, a branch of the descendants of Shem, was settled in Ur of the Chaldees, beyond the Euphrates, where Abraham was born. Terah had two other sons, Nahor and Haran. Haran died before his father in Ur of the Chaldees, leaving a son, Lot; and Terah, taking with him Abram, with Sarai his wife and his grandson Lot, emigrated to Haran in Mesopotamia, where he died. </p> <p> On the death of his father, Abram, then in the 75th year of his age, with Sarai and Lot, pursued his course to the land of Canaan, whither he was directed by divine command, &nbsp;Genesis 12:5, when he received the general promise that he should become the founder of a great nation, and that all the families of the earth should be blessed in him. He passed through the heart of the country by the great highway to Shechem, and pitched his tent beneath the terebinth of Moreh. &nbsp;Genesis 12:6. Here he received in vision from '''Jehovah''' the further revelation that this was the land which his descendants should inherit. &nbsp;Genesis 12:7. </p> <p> The next halting-place of the wanderer was on a mountain between Bethel and Ai, &nbsp;Genesis 12:8, but the country was suffering from famine, and Abram journeyed still southward to the rich corn lands of Egypt. There, fearing that the great beauty of Sarai might tempt the powerful monarch of Egypt and expose his own life to peril, he arranged that Sarai should represent herself as his sister, which her actual relationship to him, as probably the daughter of his brother Haran, allowed her to do with some semblance of truth. But her beauty was reported to the king, and she was taken into the royal harem. The deception was discovered, and Pharaoh with some indignation dismissed Abram from the country. &nbsp;Genesis 12:10-20. </p> <p> He left Egypt with great possessions, and, accompanied by Lot, returned by the south of Palestine to his former encampment between Bethel and Ai. The increased wealth of the two kinsmen was the ultimate cause of their separation. Lot chose the fertile plain of the [[Jordan]] near Sodom, while Abram pitched his tent among the groves of Mamre, close to Hebron. &nbsp;Genesis 13:1. </p> <p> Lot with his family and possessions having been carried away captive by Chedorlaomer king of Elam, who had invaded Sodom, Abram pursued the conquerors and utterly routed them not far from Damascus. The captives and plunder were all recovered, and Abram was greeted on his return by the king of Sodom, and by [[Melchizedek]] king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who mysteriously appears upon the scene to bless the patriarch and receive from him a tenth of the spoil. &nbsp;Genesis 14:1. </p> <p> After this, the thrice-repeated promise that his descendants should become a mighty nation and possess the land in which he was a stranger was confirmed with all the solemnity of a religious ceremony. &nbsp;Genesis 15:1. Ten years had passed since he had left his father's house, and the fulfillment of the promise was apparently more distant than at first. At the suggestion of Sarai, who despaired of having children of her own, he took as his concubine Hagar, her Egyptian main, who bore him Ishmael in the 86th year of his age. &nbsp;Genesis 16:1. See '''Hagar; Ishmael''' . </p> <p> But this was not the accomplishment of the promise. [[Thirteen]] years elapsed, during which Abram still dwelt in Hebron, when the covenant was renewed, and the rite of circumcision established as its sign. This most important crisis in Abram's life, when he was 99 years old, is marked by the significant change of his name to Abraham, "father of a multitude;" while his wife's from Sarai became Sarah. </p> <p> The promise that Sarah should have a son was repeated in the remarkable scene described in Genesis 18. Three men stood before Abraham as he sat in his tent door in the heat of the day. The patriarch, with true Eastern hospitality, welcomed the strangers, and bade them rest and refresh themselves. The meal ended, they foretold the birth of Isaac, and went on their way to Sodom. Abraham accompanied them, and is represented as an interlocutor in a dialogue with '''Jehovah''' , in which he pleaded in vain to avert the vengeance threatened to the devoted cities of the plain. &nbsp;Genesis 18:17-33. </p> <p> In remarkable contrast with Abraham's firm faith with regard to the magnificent fortunes of his posterity stand the incident which occurred during his temporary residence among the [[Philistines]] in Gerar, whither he had for some cause removed after the destruction of Sodom. It was almost a repetition of what took place in Egypt a few years before. 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 of her son, &nbsp;Genesis 21:9 demanded that, with his mother Hagar, he should be driven out. &nbsp;Genesis 21:10. </p> <p> But the severest trial of his faith was yet to come. For a long period the history is almost silent. At length he receives the strange command to take Isaac, his only son, and offer him for a Burnt [[Offering]] at an 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 from the dead, from whence also he received him in a figure." &nbsp;Hebrews 11:19. The sacrifice was stayed by the angel of '''Jehovah''' , the promise of spiritual blessing made for the first time, and Abraham with his son returned to Beersheba, and for a time dwelt there. &nbsp;Genesis 22:1. </p> <p> But we find him after a few years in his original residence at Hebron, for there Sarah died, &nbsp;Genesis 23:2, and was buried in the cave of Machpelah. The remaining years of Abraham's life are marked by but few incidents. After Isaac's marriage with [[Rebekah]] and his removal to Lahai-roi, Abraham took to wife Keturah, by whom he had six children, Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbok and Shuah, who became the ancestors of nomadic tribes inhabiting the countries south and southeast of Palestine. </p> <p> Abraham lived to see the gradual accomplishment of the promise in the birth of his grandchildren Jacob and Esau, and witnessed their growth to manhood. &nbsp;Genesis 25:26. At the goodly age of 175, he was "gathered to his people," and laid beside Sarah in the tomb of Machpelah by his sons Isaac and Ishmael. &nbsp;Genesis 25:7-10. </p>

<p> &nbsp;Genesis 24:2 (c) In this passage Abraham is a type of the Father who sent His servant (the Spirit) to obtain a bride (Rebecca) for his son Isaac. The servant represents the Holy Spirit, and Isaac represents the Lord JESUS CHRIST. Of course, Abraham represents GOD the Father. Rebecca. represents the Church. The Holy Spirit knocks at the heart's door, tells of the loveliness, the riches and the glory of the Son of GOD, and thus wins the stranger and makes him willing to leave his old haunts and companions to live for and with JESUS CHRIST, the Son. </p> <p> &nbsp;Romans 4:3 (c) He is a type of the true believer from the standpoint of "faith." </p> <ul> <li> He was called out of idolatry by GOD, and so are we. </li> <li> He took the path of separation, and so should we. </li> <li> He obeyed GOD, and walked in a path of obedience, as we should do. </li> <li> He believed GOD about the "seed" (CHRIST), so do we. </li> <li> He was made righteous through believing in CHRIST. So are we. </li> </ul> <p> GOD revealed His secrets to Abraham, the man of faith, and so He does today to those who believe His Word. </p> <p> Abraham was the father of the faithful, and we too who believe GOD should have spiritual children who have faith as we have. </p>

<p> Ab´raham (father of a multitude), the founder of the Hebrew nation. Up to &nbsp;Genesis 17:4-5, he is uniformly called Abram (father of elevation, or high father); and this was his original name; but the extended form, which it always afterwards bears, was given to make it significant of the promise of a numerous posterity which was at the same time made to him. </p> <p> Abraham was a native of Chaldea, and descended, through Heber, in the ninth generation, from Shem the son of Noah. His father was Terah, who had two other sons, Nahor and Haran. Haran died prematurely 'before his father,' leaving a son Lot, and two daughters, Milcah and Iscah. Lot attached himself to his uncle Abraham; Milcah became the wife of her uncle Nahor; and Iscah, who was also called Sarai, became the wife of Abraham (&nbsp;Genesis 9:26-29) [SARAH]. </p> <p> Abraham was born A.M. 2008, B.C. 1996 (Hales, A.M. 3258, B.C. 2153), in 'Ur of the Chaldees' (&nbsp;Genesis 11:28). </p> <p> Although he is, by way of eminence, named first, it appears probable that he was the youngest of Terah's sons, and born by a second wife, when his father was 130 years old. Terah was seventy years old when the eldest son was born (&nbsp;Genesis 11:32; &nbsp;Genesis 12:4; &nbsp;Genesis 20:12); and that eldest son appears to have been Haran, from the fact that his brothers married his daughters, and that his daughter Sarai was only ten years younger than his brother Abraham (&nbsp;Genesis 17:17). Abraham was 60 years old when the family quitted their native city of Ur, and went and abode in Charran. The reason for this movement does not appear in the Old Testament; but it is mentioned in &nbsp;Acts 7:2-4 : 'The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was (at Ur of the Chaldees) in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, and said unto him, Depart from thy land, and from thy kindred, and come hither to a land which Iswill shew thee. Then departing from the land of the Chaldees, he dwelt in Charran.' This first call is not recorded, but only implied in Genesis 12, and it is distinguished by several pointed circumstances from the second, which alone is there mentioned. Accordingly Abraham departed, and his family, including his aged father, removed with him. They proceeded not at once to the land of Canaan, but they came to Charran, and tarried at that convenient station for fifteen years, until Terah died, at the age of 205 years. Being free from his filial duties, Abraham, now 75 years of age, received a second and more pointed call to pursue his destination: 'Depart from thy land, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land which I will shew thee' (&nbsp;Genesis 12:1). This second call required the patriarch to isolate himself, not only from his country, but from his family. He however took with him his nephew Lot, whom, having no children of his own, he appears to have regarded as his heir, and then went forth 'not knowing whither he went' (&nbsp;Hebrews 11:8), but trusting implicitly to the Divine guidance. </p> <p> When Abraham arrived in the land of Canaan, he found it occupied by the Canaanites in a large number of small independent communities, which cultivated the districts around their several towns. The country was however but thinly peopled; and, as in the more recent times of its depopulation, it afforded ample pasture-ground for the wandering pastors. In their eyes Abraham must have appeared one of that class. In Mesopotamia, though the family had been pastoral, they had dwelt in towns and houses, and had sent out their flocks and herds under the care of shepherds. But the migratory life to which Abraham had now been called, compelled him to take to the tent-dwelling form of pastoral life. The rich pastures in that part of the country tempted Abraham to form his first encampment in the vale of Moreh, which lies between the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim. Here the strong faith which had brought the childless man thus far from his home was rewarded by the grand promise from God:—'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 them that curse thee: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed' (&nbsp;Genesis 12:2-3). It was further promised that to his posterity should be given the rich heritage of that beautiful country into which he had come (&nbsp;Genesis 12:7). The implied condition on his part was, that he should publicly profess the worship of the true God, and accordingly 'he built there an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.' He soon after removed to the district between Bethel and Ai, where he also built an altar to that 'Jehovah' whom the world was then hastening to forget. His farther removals tended southward, until at length a famine in Palestine compelled him to withdraw into Egypt, where corn abounded. Here his apprehension that the beauty of his wife Sarai might bring him into danger with the dusky Egyptians, overcame his faith and rectitude, and he gave out that she was his sister. As he had feared, the beauty of the fair stranger excited the admiration of the Egyptians, and at length reached the ears of the king, who forthwith exercised his regal right of calling her to his harem, and to this Abraham, appearing as only her brother, could offer no resistance. As, however, the king had no intention to act harshly in the exercise of his privilege, he loaded Abraham with valuable gifts, suited to his condition, consisting chiefly of slaves and cattle. These presents could not have been refused by him without an insult which, under all the circumstances, the king did not deserve. A grievous disease inflicted on Pharaoh and his household relieved Sarai from her danger, by revealing to the king that she was a married woman; on which he sent for Abraham, and, after rebuking him for his conduct, restored his wife to him, and recommended him to withdraw from the country. He accordingly returned to the land of Canaan, much richer than when he left it 'in cattle, in silver, and in gold' (&nbsp;Genesis 12:8; &nbsp;Genesis 13:2). </p> <p> Lot also had much increased his possessions: and soon after their return to their previous station near Bethel, the disputes between their respective shepherds about water and pasturage soon taught then: that they had better separate. The recent promise of posterity to Abraham himself, although his wife had been accounted barren, probably tended also in some degree to weaken the tie by which the uncle and nephew had hitherto been united. The subject was broached by Abraham, who generously conceded to Lot the choice of pasture-grounds. Lot chose the well-watered plain in which Sodom and other towns were situated, and removed thither [LOT], Immediately afterwards the patriarch was cheered and encouraged by a more distinct and formal reiteration of the promises which had been previously made to him, of the occupation of the land in which he lived by a posterity numerous as the dust. Not long after, he removed to the pleasant valley of Mamre, in the neighborhood of Hebron (then called Arba), and pitched his tent under a terebinth tree (Genesis 13). </p> <p> It appears that fourteen years before this time the south and east of Palestine had been invaded by a king called Chedorlaomer, from beyond the Euphrates, who brought several of the small disunited states of those quarters under tribute. Among them were the five cities of the Plain of Sodom, to which Lot had withdrawn. This burden was borne impatiently by these states, and they at length withheld their tribute. This brought upon them a ravaging visitation from Chedorlaomer and four other (perhaps tributary) kings, who scoured the whole country east of the Jordan, and ended by defeating the kings of the plain, plundering their towns, and carrying the people away as slaves. Lot was among the sufferers. When this came to the ears of Abraham, he immediately armed, such of his slaves as were fit for war, in number 318, and being joined by the friendly Amoritish chiefs, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, pursued the retiring invaders. They were overtaken near the springs of the Jordan; and their camp being attacked on opposite sides by night, they were thrown into disorder, and fled. Abraham and his men pursued them as far as the neighborhood of Damascus, and then returned with all the men and goods which had been taken away. When the victors had reached 'the king's dale' on their return, they were met by several of the native princes, among whom was Melchizedek, king of Salem, which is generally supposed to have been Jerusalem. He was one of the few native princes, if not the only one, who retained the knowledge and worship of 'the Most High God,' whom Abraham served. This circumstance created a peculiar relation between the king and the patriarch, which the former recognized by bringing forth 'bread and wine,' and probably other refreshments to Abraham, and which the latter acknowledged by presenting to Melchizedek a tenth of the spoils. By strict right, founded on the war usages which still subsist in Arabia, the recovered goods became the property of Abraham, and not of those to whom they originally belonged. This was acknowledged by the king of Sodom, who met the victors in the valley near Salem. He said, 'Give me the persons, and keep the goods to thyself.' But with becoming pride and disinterestedness Abraham answered, 'I have lifted up mine hand [i.e.I have sworn] unto Jehovah, the most high God, that I will not take from a thread even to a sandal-thong, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich' (Genesis 14). </p> <p> Soon after his return to Mamre the faith of Abraham was rewarded and encouraged, not only by a more distinct and detailed repetition of the promises formerly made to him, but by the confirmation of a solemn covenant contracted, as nearly as might be, 'after the manner of men' [COVENANTS] between him and God. It was now that he first understood that his promised posterity were to grow up into a nation under foreign bondage; and that, in 400 years after (or, strictly, 405 years, counting from the birth of Isaac to the Exodus), they should come forth from that bondage as a nation, to take possession of the land in which he sojourned (Genesis 15). </p> <p> After ten years' residence in Canaan (B.C. 1913), Sarai, being then 75 years old, and having long been accounted barren, chose to put her own interpretation upon the promised blessing of a progeny to Abraham, and persuaded him to take her woman slave Hagar, an Egyptian, as a secondary or concubine wife, with the view that whatever child might proceed from this union should be accounted her own [HAGAR]. The son who was born to Abraham by Hagar, and who received the name of Ishmael [ISHMAEL], was accordingly brought up as the heir of his father and of the promises (Genesis 16). Thirteen years after (B.C. 1900), when Abraham was 99 years old, he was favored with still more explicit declarations of the Divine purposes. He was reminded that the promise to him was that he should be the father of many nations; and to indicate this intention his name was now changed (as before described) from Abram to Abraham. The Divine Being then solemnly renewed the covenant to be a God to him and to the race that should spring from him; and in token of that covenant directed that he and his should receive in their flesh the sign of circumcision [CIRCUMCISION]. Abundant blessings were promised to Ishmael; but it was then first announced, in distinct terms, that the heir of the special promises was not yet born, and that the barren Sarai, then 90 years old, should twelve months thence be his mother. Then also her name was changed from Sarai to Sarah (the princess); and to commemorate the laughter with which the prostrate patriarch received such strange tidings, it was directed that the name of Isaac (laughing) should be given to the future child. The very same day, in obedience to the Divine ordinance, Abraham himself, his son Ishmael, and his house-born and purchased slaves were all circumcised (Genesis 17). </p> <p> Three months after this, as Abraham sat in his tent door during the heat of the day, he saw three travelers approaching, and hastened to meet them, and hospitably pressed upon them refreshment and rest. They assented, and under the shade of a terebinth tree partook of the abundant fare which the patriarch and his wife provided. From the manner in which one of the strangers spoke, Abraham soon gathered that his visitants were no other than the Lord himself and two attendant angels in human form. The promise of a son by Sarah was renewed: and when Sarah herself, who overheard this within the tent, laughed inwardly at the tidings, which, on account of her great age, she at first disbelieved, she incurred the striking rebuke, 'Is anything too hard for Jehovah?' The strangers then addressed themselves to their journey, and Abraham walked some way with them. The two angels went forward in the direction direction of Sodom, while the Lord made known to him that, for their enormous iniquities, Sodom and the other 'cities of the plain' were about to be made signal monuments of his wrath and of his moral government. Moved by compassion and by remembrance of Lot, the patriarch ventured, reverently but perseveringly, to intercede for the doomed Sodom; and at length obtained a promise that, if but ten righteous men were found therein, the whole city should be saved for their sake. Early the next morning Abraham arose to ascertain the result of this concession: and when he looked towards Sodom, the smoke of its destruction, rising 'like the smoke of a furnace,' made known to him its terrible overthrow [SODOM]. Almost immediately after, Abraham removed into the territories of Abimelech, king of Gerar, where, by a most extraordinary infatuation and lapse of faith, he allowed himself to stoop to the same prevarication in denying his wife, which, twenty-three years before, had occasioned him so much trouble in Egypt [ABIMELECH]. </p> <p> The same year Sarah gave birth to the long-promised son; and, according to previous direction, the name of Isaac was given to him [ISAAC]. This greatly altered the position of Ishmael, and appears to have created much ill-feeling both on his part and that of his mother towards the child; which was in some way manifested so pointedly, on occasion of the festivities which attended the weaning, that the wrath of Sarah was awakened, and she insisted that both Hagar and her son should be sent away. This was a very hard matter to a loving father; and Abraham was greatly distressed; but being apprised in a dream that this demand was in accordance with the Divine intentions respecting both Ishmael and Isaac, he, with his habitual uncompromising obedience, hastened them away early in the morning, with provision for the journey. Their adventures belong to the article Hagar. </p> <p> When Isaac was about 25 years old (B.C. 1872) it pleased God to subject the faith of Abraham to a severer trial than it had yet sustained, or than has ever fallen to the lot of any other mortal man. He was commanded to go into the mountainous country of Moriah (probably where the temple afterwards stood), and there offer up in sacrifice the son of his affection, and the heir of so many hopes and promises, which his death must nullify. But Abraham's 'faith shrunk not, assured that what God had promised he would certainly perform, and that he was able to restore Isaac to him even from the dead' (&nbsp;Hebrews 11:17-19), and he rendered a ready, however painful, obedience. Assisted by two of his servants, he prepared wood suitable for the purpose, and without delay set out upon his melancholy journey. On the third day he descried the appointed place; and informing his attendants that he and his son would go some distance farther to worship, and then return, he proceeded to the spot. To the touching question of his son respecting the victim to be offered, the patriarch replied by expressing his faith that God himself would provide the sacrifice; and probably he availed himself of this opportunity of acquainting him with the Divine command. Isaac submitted patiently to be bound and laid out as a victim on the wood of the altar, and would most certainly have been slain by his father's up-lifted hand, had not the angel of Jehovah interposed at the critical moment to arrest the fatal stroke. A ram which had become entangled in a thicket was seized and offered; and a name was given to the place (Jehovah-Jireh—'the Lord will provide') alluding to the believing answer which Abraham had given to his son's inquiry respecting the victim. The promises before made to Abraham were again confirmed in the most solemn manner (comp. &nbsp;Hebrews 6:13; &nbsp;Hebrews 6:17). The father and son then rejoined their servants, and returned rejoicing to Beersheba (&nbsp;Genesis 23:19). </p> <p> Eight years after (B.C. 1860) Sarah died at the age of 120 years, being then at or near Hebron. This loss first taught Abraham the necessity of acquiring possession of a family sepulchre in the land of his sojourning. His choice fell on the cave of Machpelah [MACHPELAH], and after a striking negotiation with the owner in the gate of Hebron, he purchased it, and had it legally secured to him. This was the only possession he ever had in the Land of Promise (Genesis 23). The next care of Abraham was to provide a suitable wife for his son Isaac. It has always been the practice among pastoral tribes to keep up the family ties by intermarriages of blood-relations: and now Abraham had a further inducement in the desire to maintain the purity of the separated race from foreign and idolatrous connections. He therefore sent his aged and confidential steward Eliezer, under the bond of a solemn oath to discharge his mission faithfully, to renew the intercourse between his family and that of his brother Nahor, whom he had left behind in Charran. He prospered in his important mission [ISAAC], and in due time returned, bringing with him Rebekah, the daughter of Nahor's son Bethuel, who became the wife of Isaac, and was installed as chief lady of the camp, in the separate tent which Sarah had occupied (Genesis 24). [[Sometime]] after Abraham himself took a wife named Keturah, by whom he had several children. These, together with Ishmael, seem to have been portioned off by their father in his lifetime, and sent into the east and south-east, that there might be no danger of their interference with Isaac, the divinely appointed heir. There was time for this: for Abraham lived to the age of 175 years, 100 of which he had spent in the land of Canaan. He died in B.C. 1822 (Hales, 1978), and was buried by his two eldest sons in the family sepulchre which he had purchased of the Hittites (&nbsp;Genesis 25:1-10). </p>