Abram

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

אברם , a high father; and ABRAHAM, אברהם father of a great multitude, the son of Terah, born at Ur, a city of Chaldea, A.M. 2008. The account of this eminent patriarch occupies so large a part of the book of Genesis, and stands so intimately connected with both the Jewish and Christian dispensations,—with the one by a political and religious, and with the other by a mystical, relation,—that his history demands particular notice. Our account may be divided into his personal history, and his typical, and mystic character.

I. Abraham's PERSONAL history.

1. Chaldea, the native country of Abraham, was inhabited by a pastoral people, who were almost irresistibly invited to the study of the motions of the heavenly bodies, by the peculiar serenity of the heavens in that climate, and their habit of spending their nights in the open air in tending their flocks. The first rudiments of astronomy, as a science, is traced to this region; and here, too, one of the earliest forms of idolatry, the worship of the host of heaven, usually called Tsabaism, first began to prevail. During the three hundred and fifty years which elapsed between the deluge and the birth of Abraham, this and other idolatrous superstitions had greatly corrupted the human race, perverted the simple forms of the patriarchal religion, and beclouded the import of its typical rites. The family of Abraham was idolatrous, for his "fathers served other gods beyond the flood," that is, the great river Euphrates; but whether he himself was in the early period of his life an idolater, we are not informed by Moses. The Arabian and Jewish legends speak of his early idolatry, his conversion from it, and of his zeal in breaking the images in his father's house; but these are little to be depended upon. Before his call he was certainly a worshipper of the true God; and that not in form only, but "in spirit and in truth." Whilst Abraham was still sojourning in Ur, "the God of glory" appeared to him, and said unto him, "Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred, and go into the land which I shall show thee;" and so firm was his faith in the providence and care of God, that although the place of his future abode was not indicated, nor any information given of the nature of the country, or the character of its inhabitants, he nevertheless promptly obeyed, and "went out, not knowing whither he went." Terah his father, Nahor his brother, and Lot his nephew, the son of Haran his deceased brother, accompanied him; a circumstance which indicates that if the family had formerly been idolatrous it had now received the faith of Abraham. They first migrated to Haran, or Charran, in Mesopotamia, a flat, barren region westward of Ur; and after a residence there of a few years, during which Terah had died, Abraham left Haran to go into Palestine, taking with him Sarah his wife, who had no child, and Lot, with his paternal property. Nahor appears to have been left in Haran. To this second migration he was incited also by a Divine command, accompanied by the promises of a numerous issue, that his seed should become a great nation, and, above all, that "in him all the families of the earth should be blessed; " in other words, that the Messiah, known among the patriarchs as the promised "seed of the woman," should be born in his line. Palestine was then inhabited by the Canaanites, from whom it was called Canaan. Abraham, leading his tribe, first settled at Sechem, a valley between the mountains Ebal and Gerizim, where God appeared to him and promised to give him the land of Canaan, and where, as in other places in which he remained any time, he built an altar to the Lord. He then removed to a hilly region on the north of Jericho; and as the pastures were exhausted, migrated southward, till a famine drove him into Egypt, probably the earliest, certainly the most productive, corn country of the ancient world.

2. Here it may be observed, that the migrations of Abraham and his sons show the manner in which the earth was gradually covered with people. In those ages some cities had been built, and the country to some extent about them cultivated; but wide spaces of unoccupied land lay between them. A part of society following therefore the pastoral life, led forth their flocks, and, in large family tribes, of which the parent was the head, uniting both the sovereign power and the priesthood in himself, and with a train of servants attached to the tribe by hereditary ties, pitched their camps wherever a fertile and unappropriated district offered them pasture. A few of these nomadic tribes appear to have made the circuit of the same region, seldom going far from their native seats; which would probably have been the case with Abraham, had he not received the call of God to depart to a distant country. Others, more bold, followed the track of rivers, and the sweep of fertile valleys, and at length some built cities and formed settlements in those distant regions; whilst others, either from attachment to their former mode of life, or from necessity, continued in their pastoral occupations, and followed the supplies afforded for their flocks by the still expanding regions of the fertile earth. Wars and violences, droughts, famines, and the constant increase of population, continued to impel these innumerable, but at first, small streams of men into parts still more remote. Those who settled on the sea coast began to use that element, both for supplying themselves with a new species of food, and as a medium of communication by vessels with other countries for the interchange of such commodities as their own lands afforded with those offered by maritime states, more or less distant. Thus were laid the foundations of commerce, and thus the maritime cities were gradually rendered opulent and powerful. Colonies were in time transported from them by means of their ships, and settled on the coasts of still more distant and fertile countries. Thus the migrations of the three primitive families proceeded from the central regions of Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria; and in succession they established numerous communities,—the Phenicians, Arabians, Egyptians, Ethiopians, and Lybians southward;—the Persians, Indians, and Chinese eastward;—the Scythians, Celts, and Tartars northward;—and the Goths, Greeks, and Latins westward, even as far as the Peruvians and Mexicans of South America, and the Indians of North America.

3. Abraham, knowing the dissolute character of the Egyptians, directed Sarah to call herself his sister, which she was, although by another mother; fearing that if they knew her to be his wife, they would not only seize her, but kill him. This circumstance indicates the vicious state of morals and government in Egypt at this early period. In this affair Abraham has been blamed for want of faith in God; but it was perhaps no more than an act of common prudence, as the Seraglio of the Egyptian monarch was supplied by any means, however violent and lawless. Sarah, upon the report of her beauty, was seized and taken into his harem; and God sent great plagues upon his house, which, from their extraordinary character, he concluded to be divine judgments. This led to inquiry, and on discovering that he was detaining another man's wife by violence, he sent her back, and dismissed Abraham laden with presents.

4. After the famine Abraham returned to Canaan, and pitched his tents between Bethel and Hai, where he had previously raised an altar. Here, as his flocks and herds, and those of Lot, had greatly increased, and strifes had arisen between their herdsmen as to pasturage and water, they peaceably separated. Lot returning to the plain of the Jordan, which before the destruction of Sodom was as "the garden of God," and Abraham to Mamre, near Hebron, after receiving a renewal of the promise, that God would give him the whole land for a possession. The separation of Abraham and Lot still farther secured the unmingled descent of the Abrahamitic family. The territories of the kings of the cities of the plain were a few years afterward invaded by a confederacy of the petty kings of the Euphrates and the neighbouring countries, and Lot and his family were taken prisoners. This intelligence being brought to Abraham, he collected the men of his tribe, three hundred and eighteen, and falling upon the kings by night, near the fountains of Jericho, he defeated them, retook the spoil, and recovered Lot. On his return, passing near Salem, supposed to be the city afterward called Jerusalem, he was blessed by its king Melchizedec, who was priest of the most high God; so that the knowledge and worship of Jehovah had not quite departed at that time from the Canaanitish nations. To him Abraham gave a tithe of the spoil. The rest he generously restored to the king of Sodom, refusing, in a noble spirit of independence, to retain so much as a "shoe lachet," except the portion which, by usage of war, fell to the young native sheiks, Aner, Eschal, and Mamre, who had joined him in the expedition.

5. After this he had another encouraging vision of God,   Genesis 15:1; and to his complaint that he was still childless, and that his name and property would descend to the stranger Eliezer, who held the next rank in his tribe, the promise was given, that he himself should have a son, and that his seed should be countless as the stars of heaven. And it is emphatically added, "He believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness." He was then fully assured, that he stood before God, a pardoned and accepted man, "whose iniquities were forgiven," and to whom "the Lord did not impute sin." Still the fulfilment of the promise of a son was delayed; and Sarah, perhaps despairing that it would be accomplished in her person, and the revelation which had been made merely stating that his son should be the fruit of Abraham's body, without any reference to her, she gave to him, according to the custom of those times, one of her hand-maids, an Egyptian, to be his secondary wife, who brought forth Ishmael. Children born in this manner had the privileges of legitimacy; but fourteen years afterward, when Abraham was a hundred years old, and Sarah ninety, the Lord appeared to him again, established his covenant with him and with his seed, changed his name to Abraham, "the father of many nations," promised that Sarah herself should bring forth the son to whom the preceding promises had referred; instituted circumcision as the sign of the covenant; and changed the name of his wife from Sarai, my princess, to Sarah, the princess, that is, of many people to descend from her.

6. At this time Abraham occupied his former encampment near Hebron. Here, as he sat in the door of his tent, three mysterious strangers appeared. Abraham, with true Arabian hospitality, received and entertained them. The chief of the three renewed the promise of a son to be born from Sarah, a promise which she received with a laugh of incredulity, for which she was mildly reproved. As Abraham accompanied them toward the valley of the Jordan, the same divine person, for so he manifestly appears, announced the dreadful ruin impending over the licentious cities among which Lot had taken up his abode. No passage, even in the sacred writings, exhibits a more exalted view of the divine condescension than that in which Abraham is seen expostulating on the apparent injustice of involving the innocent in the ruin of the guilty: "Shall the city perish, if fifty, if forty-five, if forty, if thirty, if twenty, if ten righteous men be found within its walls?" "Ten righteous men shall avert its doom." Such was the promise of the celestial visitant; but the guilt was universal, the ruin inevitable; and the violation of the sacred laws of hospitality and nature, which Lot in his horror attempted to avert by the most revolting expedient, confirmed the justice of the divine sentence.

7. Sarah having conceived, according to the divine promise, Abraham left the plain of Mamre, and went south to Gerar, where Abimelech reigned; and again fearing lest Sarah should be forced from him, and himself be put to death, her beauty having been, it would appear, preternaturally continued, notwithstanding her age, he here called her, as he had done in Egypt, his sister. Abimelech took her to his house, designing to marry her; but God having, in a dream, informed him that she was Abraham's wife, he returned her to him with great presents. This year Sarah was delivered of Isaac; and Abraham circumcised him, according to the covenant stipulation; and when he was weaned, made a great entertainment. Sarah, having observed Ishmael, son of Hagar, mocking her son Isaac, said to Abraham, "Cast out this bondwoman and her son, for Ishmael shall not be heir with Isaac." After great reluctance, Abraham complied; God having informed him that this was according to the appointments of his providence, with respect to future ages. About the same time, Abimelech came with Phicol, his general, to conclude an alliance with Abraham, who made that prince a present of seven ewe lambs out of his flock, in confirmation that a well he had opened should be his own property; and they called the place Beer-sheba, or "the well of swearing," because of the covenant there ratified with oaths. Here Abraham planted a grove, built an altar, and for some time resided   Genesis 21:21 .

8. More than twenty years after this, (A.M. 2133,) God, for the final trial and illustration of Abraham's faith, directed him to offer up his son Isaac. Abraham took his son, and two servants, and went toward Mount Moriah. When within sight of the mountain, Abraham left his servants, and ascended it with his son only; and there having bound him, he prepared for the affecting sacrifice; but when he was about to give the blow, an angel from heaven cried but to him, "Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing to him. Now I know that thou fearest God, since thou hast not withheld thine only son from me." Abraham, turning, saw a ram entangled in the bush by his horns; and he offered this animal as a burnt- offering, instead of his son Isaac. This memorable place he called by the prophetic name, Jehovah-jireh, or the Lord will see —or provide,   Genesis 22:1-14 , having respect, no doubt, to the true sacrifice, which, in the fulness of time, was to be offered for the whole world upon the same mountain.

9. Twelve years afterward, Sarah, wife of Abraham, died in Hebron. Abraham came to mourn and to perform the funeral offices for her. He addressed the people at the city gate, entreating them to allow him to bury his wife among them; for, being a stranger, and having no land of his own, he could claim no right of interment in any sepulchre of that country. He, therefore, bought of Ephron, one of the inhabitants, the field of Machpelah, with the cave and sepulchre in it, at the price of four hundred shekels of silver, about forty-five pounds sterling. And here Abraham buried Sarah, with due solemnities, according to the custom of the country, Genesis 23. This whole transaction impressively illustrates the dignity, courtesy, and honour of these ancient chiefs; and wholly disproves the notion that theirs was a rude and unpolished age.

10. Abraham, having grown old, sent Eliezer, his steward, into Mesopotamia, with directions to obtain a young woman of his own family, as a wife for his son Isaac. Eliezer executed his commission with fidelity, and brought back Rebecca, daughter of Bethuel, grand-daughter of Nahor, and, consequently, Abraham's niece, whom Isaac married. Abraham afterward married Keturah; by whom he had six sons, Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah; who became heads of different people, which dwelt in Arabia, and around it. He died, aged a hundred and seventy-five years, and was buried, with Sarah his wife, in the cave of Machpelah, which he had purchased of Ephron, Genesis 24, 25, A.M. 2183, before Christ, 1821.

II. From the personal history of Abraham we may now proceed to the consideration of the TYPICAL circumstances which were connected with it.

1. Abraham himself with his family may be regarded as a type of the church of God in future ages. They indeed constituted God's ancient church. Not that many scattered patriarchal and family churches did not remain: such was that of Melchizedec; and such probably was that of Nahor, whom Abraham left behind in Mesopotamia. But a visible church relation was established between Abraham's family and the Most High, signified by the visible and distinguishing sacrament of circumcision, and followed by new and enlarged revelations of truth. Two purposes were to be answered by this,— the preservation of the true doctrine of salvation in the world, which is the great and solemn duty of every branch of the church of God,—and the manifestation of that truth to others. Both were done by Abraham. Wherever he sojourned he built his altars to the true God, and publicly celebrated his worship; and, as we learn from St. Paul, he lived in tents in preference to settling in the land of Canaan, though it had been given to him for a possession, in order that he might thus proclaim his faith in the eternal inheritance of which Canaan was a type; and in bearing this testimony, his example was followed by Isaac and Jacob, the "heirs with him of the same promise," who also thus "confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims," and that "they looked" for a continuing and eternal city in heaven. So also now is the same doctrine of immortality committed to the church of Christ; and by deadness to the world ought its members to declare the reality of their own faith in it.

2. The numerous natural posterity promised to Abraham was also a type of the spiritual seed, the true members of the church of Christ, springing from the Messiah, of whom Isaac was the symbol. Thus St. Paul expressly distinguishes between the fleshly and the spiritual seed of Abraham; to the latter of which, in their ultimate and highest sense, the promises of increase as the stars of heaven, and the sands of the sea shore, are to be referred, as also the promise of the heavenly Canaan.

3. The intentional offering up Isaac, with its result, was probably that transaction in which Abraham, more clearly than in any other, "saw the day of Christ, and was glad." He received Isaac from the dead, says St. Paul, "in a figure." This could be a figure of nothing but the resurrection of our Lord; and, if so, Isaac's being laid upon the altar was a figure of his sacrificial death, scenically and most impressively represented to Abraham. The place, the same ridge of hills on which our Lord was crucified; the person, an only son, to die for no offence of his own; the sacrificer, a father; the receiving back, as it were, from death to life; the name impressed upon the place, importing, "the Lord will provide," in allusion to Abraham's own words to Isaac, "the Lord will provide a lamb for a burnt-offering;" all indicate a mystery which lay deep beneath this transaction, and which Abraham, as the reward of his obedience, was permitted to behold. "The day" of Christ's humiliation and exaltation was thus opened to him; and served to keep the great truth in mind, that the true burnt-offering and sacrifice for sin was to be something higher than the immolation of lambs, and bulls, and goats,—nay, something more than what was merely human.

4. The transaction of the expulsion of Hagar was also a type. It was an allegory in action, by which St. Paul teaches us to understand that the son of the bondwoman represented those who are under the law; and the child of the freewoman those who by faith in Christ are supernaturally begotten into the family of God. The bondwoman and her son being cast out, represented also the expulsion of the unbelieving Jews from the church of God, which was to be composed of true believers of all nations, all of whom, whether Jews or Gentiles, were to become "fellow heirs."

III. But Abraham appears before us invested with a MYSTIC character, which it is of great importance rightly to understand.

1. He is to be regarded as standing in a federal or covenant relation, not only to his natural seed, but specially and eminently to all believers. "The Gospel," we are told by St. Paul, "was preached to Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed." "Abraham believed in God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness;" in other words, he was justified. A covenant of gratuitous justification through faith was made with him and his believing descendants; and the rite of circumcision, which was not confined to his posterity by Sarah, but appointed in every branch of his family, was the sign or sacrament of this covenant of grace, and so remained till it was displaced by the sacraments appointed by Christ. Wherever that sign was it declared the doctrine, and offered the grace, of this covenant—free justification by faith, and its glorious results—to all the tribes that proceeded from Abraham. This same grace is offered to us by the Gospel, who become "Abraham's seed," his spiritual children with whom the covenant is established, through the same faith, and are thus made "the heirs with him of the same promise."

2. Abraham is also exhibited to us as the representative of true believers; and in this especially, that the true nature of faith was exhibited in him. This great principle was marked in Abraham with the following characters:—An entire unhesitating belief in the word of God;—an unfaltering trust in all his promises;—a steady, regard to his almighty power, leading him to overlook all apparent difficulties and impossibilities in every case where God had explicitly promised;—and habitual and cheerful and entire obedience. The Apostle has described faith in   Hebrews 11:1; and that faith is seen living and acting in all its energy in Abraham.

A few miscellaneous remarks are suggested by some of the circumstances of Abraham's history:—

1. The ancient method of ratifying a covenant by sacrifice is illustrated in the account given in   Genesis 15:9-10 . The beasts were slain and divided in the midst, and the persons covenanting passed between the parts. Hence, after Abraham had performed this part of the ceremony, the symbol of the Almighty's presence, "a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp, passed between the pieces,"   Genesis 15:18 , and so both parties ratified the covenant.

2. As the beauty of Sarah, which she retained so long as quite to conceal her real age from observers, attracted so much notice as to lead to her forcible seizure, once by Pharaoh in Egypt, and again by Abimelech in Palestine, it may appear strange, that, as in the east women are generally kept in seclusion, and seldom appear without veils, she exposed herself to observation. But to this day the Arab women do not wear veils at home in their tents; and Sarah's countenance might have been seen in the tent by some of the officers of Pharaoh and Abimelech, who reported her beauty to their masters.

3. The intentional offering up of Isaac is not to be supposed as viewed by Abraham as an act sanctioned by the Pagan practice of human sacrifice. The immolation of human victims, particularly of that which was most precious, the favourite, the first-born child, appears to have been a common usage among many early nations, more especially the tribes by which Abraham was surrounded. It was the distinguishing rite among the worshippers of Moloch; at a later period of the Jewish history, it was practised by a king of Moab; and it was undoubtedly derived by the Carthaginians from their Phenician ancestors on the shores of Syria. Where it was an ordinary usage, as in the worship of Moloch, it was in unison with the character of the religion, and of its deity. It was the last act of a dark and sanguinary superstition, which rose by regular gradation to this complete triumph over human nature. The god, who was propitiated by these offerings, had been satiated with more cheap and vulgar victims; he had been glutted to the full with human suffering and with human blood. In general it was the final mark of the subjugation of the national mind to an inhuman and domineering priesthood. But the Mosaic religion held human sacrifices in abhorrence; and the God of the Abrahamitic family, uniformly beneficent, had imposed no duties which entailed human suffering, had demanded no offerings which were repugnant to the better feelings of our nature. The command to offer Isaac as a "burnt offering," was for these reasons a trial the more severe to Abraham's faith. He must therefore have been fully assured of the divine command; and he left the mystery to be explained by God himself. His was a simple act of unhesitating obedience to the command of God; the last proof of perfect reliance on the certain accomplishment of the divine promises. Isaac, so miraculously bestowed, could be as miraculously restored; Abraham, such is the comment of the Christian Apostle, "believed that God could even raise him up from the dead."

4. The wide and deep impression made by the character of Abraham upon the ancient world is proved by the reverence which people of almost all nations and countries have paid to him, and the manner in which the events of his life have been interwoven in their mythology, and their religious traditions. Jews, Magians, Sabians, Indians, and Mohammedans have claimed him as the great patriarch and founder of their several sects; and his history has been embellished with a variety of fictions. One of the most pleasing of these is the following, but it proceeds upon the supposition that he was educated in idolatry: "As Abraham was walking by night from the grotto where he was born, to the city of Babylon, he gazed on the stars of heaven, and among them on the beautiful planet Venus. ‘Behold,' said he, within himself, ‘the God and Lord of the universe!' but the star set and disappeared, and Abraham felt that the Lord of the universe could not thus be liable to change. Shortly after, he beheld the moon at the full: ‘Lo,' he cried, ‘the Divine Creator, the manifest Deity!' but the moon sank below the horizon, and Abraham made the same reflection as at the setting of the evening star. All the rest of the night he passed in profound rumination; at sunrise he stood before the gates of Babylon, and saw the whole people prostrate in adoration. ‘Wondrous orb,' he exclaimed, ‘thou surely art the Creator and Ruler of all nature! but thou, too, hastest like the rest to thy setting!—neither then art thou my Creator, my Lord, or my God!'"

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

The great father of the faithful, whose history is so dear to the church in all ages, and whose faith so illustrious, as to have procured for him this most honourable title. The memoirs of this friend of God, as he is called, ( 2 Chronicles 20:7 and  James 2:23.) begin at  Genesis 11:26, and run through the whole of Scripture, like a golden thread, from end to end. The distinguishing honour put upon this man, in depositing the covenant in his seed; and the change of name thereupon both in him and his wife, are most striking events, and on every account meriting the most particular attention. Concerning the cause of the former, we can form no certain conclusions upon it. There are indeed no grounds to form any data upon. All must be referred unto the eternal purposes of JEHOVAH, "who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will and pleasure." Concerning the latter, we can trace somewhat very sweet and interesting, of the Lord's approbation of his servants, both in the man and his wife, by the change of name. I shall beg to offer a short observation upon it.

The original name of Abram was truly honourable, meaning, in the compound of the word Ab, father, and Ram, exalted; a father of eminency or exaltation. But when the Lord added the Ha to it, and made it Abraham, this became still more honourable; for his name now, in the literal sense of it, was, a father of many nations. And all this became greatly increased in point of honour, on account of the covenant entailed on Abraham's seed, even Christ, (See  Galatians 3:16.) from whom, and in whom, all the nations of the earth were to be blessed.

But there is yet. another purpose which the Lord accomplished in the display of the riches of his grace, by this change of name: and which, if I mistake not, (the Lord pardon me if I err) seems to have been the Lord's great design, in this act of mercy and favour shewn both to the patriarch and his wife; namely, by this alteration, or rather addition given to each; by one of the letters which form the incommunicable name of JEHOVAH. By this express act of divine grace, Abraham and Sarah, both possessed in their name an everlasting symbol, or token of JEHOVAH'S glorious favour. And I am the more inclined to this belief, because, in the instance of Jeconiah, in an after age of the church, the Lord manifested his displeasure to this man, by taking from his name one of those distinguishing letters of JEHOVAH, and calling him Coniah, a "despised broken idol." (Compare  Jeremiah 23:24-30, with  1 Chronicles 3:16.) I beg the reader to observe, that I do not presume to speak decidedly on a point of so high a nature; I only propose the thought, and that with the most profound reverence.

May I not venture to suggest, that perhaps it was on this account, of the honour done to their father Abraham's name, by taking into it a part of JEHOVAH'S, that the children of Abraham, in every age of the church, have been so anxious to call their descendants by names, which either took in some of the letters of JEHOVAH'S name, or had an allusion to the Lord. This is so visible a feature, in almost all the Jewish names of the Old Testament, that we meet with very few among the pious Israelites where this respect is not had, in the choice of their children's names, through the whole Bible.

I cannot dismiss these observations on Abraham's name until that I have requested the reader to connect with the review, the sweet consideration, that all true believers in Jesus take part in the same. They have a new name given them, as well as Abraham their father, when, like him, they are by regeneration made "new creatures in Christ Jesus." They are interested in all the rich promises of God in Christ; and being Christ's children, by adoption and by grace: then are they "Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." I pray the reader to turn to the following Scriptures by way of confirmation.  Revelation 2:17;  2 Corinthians 5:17;  Galatians 3:7-29;  Romans 4:16.

I know not how to turn away from this subject, concerning our great father Abraham, who in any, and in every view, opens a constant source for improvement, without offering a short observation more, in respect to that circumstance in his life, when compelled by famine to go down into Egypt, he begged Sarah to call herself his sister, and not his wife. We have the account of it in its own beautiful simplicity related to us,  Genesis 12:9-20. I beg the reader to turn to the Scripture and peruse it over. And when he hath so done I request him to attend to a short observation which I would offer upon Abraham's conduct, in this particular.

It certainly doth, in the first view of things, appear strange, that the great father of the faithful should have had upon this occasion his faith so slender, that he became alarmed for the safety of his wife's chastity, when he had before this, at the call of God, come out from his father's house, "not knowing whither he went." ( Hebrews 11:8.) He had strength of faith to trust God for every thing respecting himself; yea afterwards, even to the offering up his only son: and yet he could not, when driven by famine into Egypt, trust to God's watchful care over Sarah. But we shall discover, that in this instance of danger respecting his beloved Sarah, humanly speaking, there was no possibility of her escaping with her chastity, unless the Lord accomplished her deliverance by a miracle. Sarah was exceedingly fair, we are told, and her beauty would soon be known (as we find it was) to the prince of the country, on their arrival at Egypt. Instantly she would be seized upon for Pharaoh's haram. And this was literally the case. In vain would be Abraham's remonstrances, or the humblest petitions. If he had said, She is my wife, his death would have immediately followed. But if he said, She is my sister, his life would be spared. And in this case, even then nothing short of the Lord's interposition could restore to him his beloved Sarah again. This therefore he hoped. And here Abraham's faith became as illustrious as before. The patriarch had grounds to hope it. Necessity, and not choice, had driven him down into Egypt, that he might not perish by the famine. And being in the path of duty, and no doubt, constantly in the path of faith and prayer; the whole terminated at length to the divine glory, and to his faithful servant's happiness. And when Sarah was taken, and separated from him: when no possibility of communication between Sarah and her husband was found: locked up in the haram of Pharaoh, from whence there could be no escape, (according to the custom of those Eastern courts, during the life of the prince, the women of the haram being confined there never to get out,) here was a season for the exercise of faith, and for the display of the Lord's favour to his servants. And the way the Lord wrought on the occasion, is as remarkable, in proof of his interposition, as the patriarch's faith in exercise. "The Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues, because of Sarah Abraham's wife." ( Genesis 12:17.) And so the Lord overruled the visitation, as to give a voice to the rod, and cause the prince very gladly to give up Sarah, unviolated, to her husband. So that when the whole subject is properly considered and taken into one complete view, so far was the faith of the patriarch from being lessened by the exercise, as in the first blush of the history it seemed to appear, that by the means Abraham adopted, he still threw himself with confidence on the Lord, to save his beloved Sarah from ruin, and his life from danger; and without this trust in the Lord, and dependence on the Lord's interposition, Abraham could not but well know, that whether he had called Sarah, sister, or wife, the peril was the same.

If it be said, (as it has been said) but wherefore did the great father of the faithful make use of a falsehood in this instance? might he not have told the truth, and with more confidence still looked up to God for the issue? To which I answer. Certainly, truth at all times, and upon all occasions, is most closely and faithfully to be followed up, leaving it with the Lord to make all things minister to his own glory, and to his people's welfare. But it should be observed, that though upon this occasion, the patriarch did not tell the whole truth, he told no falsehood. Sarah was his sister, as well as his wife. If the reader will turn to the twentieth chapter of Genesis, and peruse a similar situation, into which Abraham and Sarah were afterwards brought at Gerar, he will there behold the patriarch's modest apology for calling his beloved Sarah his sister, rather than his wife. When Abimelech, the king of Gerar, remonstrated with Abraham for calling Sarah sister, and not wife, and said, "What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?" Abraham answered, "Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake. And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother: and she became my wife." ( Genesis 20:10-12.)

But what I am more particularly earnest to impress upon the reader's mind, respecting this history of Abraham, (and indeed the sole purpose for which I have introduced the subject in this place) is, that the act itself was founded in faith and reliance upon the Lord. The patriarch had not recourse to mere human policy, without first throwing himself on divine aid. Abraham was well aware of his critical situation. He knew the danger to which both himself and Sarah would be exposed. He therefore used what he thought the best human means: but he certainly was all the while relying by ardent faith on the Lord. And let it be remembered, that in those journies the patriarch was prosecuting, they were by the Lord's command, and not Abraham's pleasure. So that the same faith which first prompted him, at the call of God, to leave his own country, and his father's house, and, as the Holy Ghost testifies of him, "by faith he went out, not knowing whither he went;" ( Hebrews 11:8.) the same perfect reliance upon the Lord went with him all the way. How beautifully the patriarch accounts for this, as well as his whole conduct in calling Sarah his sister, and she calling him brother, in the close of his apology to Abimelech! "It came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto her, This is the kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; At every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother." ( Genesis 20:13.) What a sweet and interesting tale the whole forms! I beg the reader's pardon, for the length I have made of it; and shall now leave it to his own judgment, under the hope of divine teaching concerning it, from the Lord.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Abram ( Â'Bram ), High Father, afterwards named Abraham ( Â'Bra-Ham ), Father Of A Multitude,  Genesis 17:4-5, the great founder of the Jewish nation, as well as of the Ishmaelites and other Arabian tribes.  Genesis 25:1-34. He was a son of Terah, a descendant of Shem, and a brother of Nahor and Haran, and was born in Ur, a city of Chaldea.  Genesis 11:27-28. Here he lived 70 years, when at the call of God he left his idolatrous kindred,  Joshua 24:2;  Joshua 24:14, and removed to Haran, in Mesopotamia,  Acts 7:2-4, accompanied by his father, his wife Sarai, his brother Nahor, and his nephew Lot. Here, a few years after, Terah died. Abram's proper history now begins. He was commanded to go into Canaan, receiving at the time a two-fold promise, that his seed should become a vast multitude, and that through them all the families of the earth should be blessed. Abram was become a wealthy chief, and, with the servants and the substance that belonged to him, accompanied by his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot, he entered Canaan. 12:1-5. The country was already occupied by descendants of Ham. He passed through the heart of the country by the great highway to Shechem, and pitched his tent by the oak of Moreh.  Genesis 12:6. Here he received in vision from Jehovah the further revelation that this was the land which his descendants should inherit. Removing from Moreh he pitched on a mount to the east of Bethel, and journeying south he went down into Egypt (famine then afflicting Canaan), establishing there the first link of that mysterious chain which so long, through almost all their history, bound the chosen people for discipline and for warning to the Egyptians. But here, alas! Abram's faith wavered. 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. He was rescued by God's providence from the false position in which he had placed himself, and enriched by Pharaoh he returned to Canaan.  Genesis 12:10-20. Abram was wealthy; and Lot was wealthy too. Had the land been empty, they might very well have extended their encampments in it. But the Canaanites and Perizzites were there too; and therefore uncle and nephew must separate. From a hill near Bethel, which it is said may still be identified, Abram and Lot surveyed the country; and Lot, having his choice allowed him, selected the rich valley of the Jordan for his abode, careless what kind of associates he would thus meet with; while Abram, with the renewed assurance that Canaan should be given to his seed, went southward to Mamre and dwelt there. Lot was soon involved in the disasters of the neighborhood he had chosen. He was made prisoner in the irruption of an eastern monarch, of whom something, it is said, is yet to be dimly traced In the deciphered Assyrian inscriptions (see Assyria and Lot). Abram resolved to attempt his nephew's rescue. On his victorious return he received the blessing of Melchizedek. But Abram's faith began to be sorely tried. The promise was to him in his seed; and as yet he had no child. Years rolled on; and the likelihood of his having offspring grew less and less. The promise was therefore repeated: Abram believed it. And now, because his faith held on, not only when accomplishment seemed easy, but when it was delayed and seemed most difficult, well-nigh impossible, now, when there was the word alone, the bare promise, with no outward confirmation, and Abram still believed, God "counted it to him for righteousness." The trial of his faith was very, very precious, "much more precious than of gold that perisheth."  1 Peter 1:7. And then there was a symbol vouchsafed him, and larger promise that his posterity should possess the whole extent of country between the river of Egypt and the Euphrates. Sarai's faith, however, faltered; and, as the promise was not yet announced that the holy seed should come from Sarai's womb; she gave her husband her Egyptian maid, intending to adopt her child. Abram then had a son, Ishmael; but He was not the heir of promise. Thirteen years passed on, perhaps spent at Mamre: and the purposes of God were ripening. The covenant was now made more definite: Sarai was included in the promise; the names of the pair were changed to Abraham and Sarah; and the sign of circumcision was added, to be a token throughout all generations that God had been with and was blessing Abraham his friend. But there must be delay and trial still. The Lord held again mysterious conference with Abraham, before Sodom was destroyed, and Abraham, perhaps in consequence of that catastrophe, journeyed south-west into the land of the Philistines at Gerar; and there the evil step in Egypt was repeated. At length God's time was come; and Sarah bare Abraham a son (probably at Gerar) in his old age. And then indeed there was joy; the promise long waited for being now fulfilled. The name given to the child, Isaac (Laughter or Sporting), indicated this. Once Sarah had laughed incredulously at the idea of her having a son, and Abraham had laughed too, his faith, strong as it was, being then inclined to fix on Ishmael as the heir of his name and blessing. Gen. chaps. 13-20. But now the happy parents laughed with thankful joy; and all their friends that heard the tidings laughed and rejoiced with them.  Genesis 21:1-7. There was a feast made when Isaac was weaned; yet the mirth of that feast was dashed with heaviness. The son of the bondwoman, jealous perhaps of Isaac's happier lot, was discovered mocking; and Sarah insisted that he and his mother Hagar should be banished from the encampment. It was very grievous to Abraham; but God commanded him to yield; and Hagar and Ishmael went forth, a sign of the call of the Gentiles, and proving the best means of fulfilling the promise that Ishmael should become a great nation.  Genesis 21:8-21;  Galatians 4:22-31. There were some petty troubles from Abimelech in the patriarch's life, but with this exception nothing is recorded of the space of perhaps 25 years. His residence was now at Beer-sheba. And then came a strange and crushing trial. To comprehend it, we must bear in mind that Abraham lived among idolaters, who ruthlessly made their children pass through the fire.  Leviticus 18:21;  Leviticus 18:24-25;  Deuteronomy 18:9-10. Many a time must Abraham have seen from afar the smoke of sacrifices, and known that human victims were offered there. And his heart must have glowed when he remembered that His God required no such homage; and perhaps he had to stand the scoff of those around, that he had chosen a very easy religion, demanding not the self-denying obedience which theirs did. For, surely, though they practiced these cruel abominations, many hearts among them must have bled as their dearest were taken as victims; and though they yielded to the stern law it must have been with grief and bitter tears. Their obedience, then, they would say, was far deeper and more meritorious than Abraham's easy service. But then came the command, "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac whom thou lovest... and offer him for a burnt-offering." It was not merely the laceration of domestic ties, not only the apparent blight of the promise so long waited for and then fulfilled—the whole basis of his trust seemed overturned, the character of the God he worshipped changed, his religion no better than that of the surrounding tribes. Imagination cannot conceive a harder trial. But 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."  Hebrews 11:19. The sacrifice was stayed by the angel of Jehovah, the promises were again confirmed to him, the spiritual blessings in them being prominently exhibited; and, with gratitude which even the sacred historian does not attempt to describe, Abraham returned to Beer-sheba. This great event was the most wonderful in the patriarch's life. Then it was, no doubt, that his eye was opened to perceive in the dim future another sacrifice, of a dearer Son yielded by a higher Father (and probably on or near that very spot), a sacrifice actually consummated, by the virtue of which a propitiation of world-wide virtue was effected. The rest of Abraham's history is comparatively scanty. He seems to have removed from Beer-sheba to Kirjath-arba or Hebron; and there Sarah died when he was 137. He purchased for her sepulchre the field and cave of Mach-pelah from the princes of the land, for the exorbitant price of 400 shekels of silver. The bargain with Ephron is very characteristic of eastern manners to the present day. Some, misled by Ephron's courteous speech, have fancied that he really intended to offer his field to Abraham for a gift. But this is from sheer ignorance of Oriental habits. Ephron was a shrewd man, who well knew how to drive a bargain; and a good one he made for himself.  Genesis 23:1-20. Abraham then took care that his son Isaac should not marry into the idolatrous famines around. And next there is the strange record that he had another wife, and children by her; and even "concubines" are mentioned. Keturah was a secondary or inferior wife, not given to the patriarch by Sarah, as Hagar was. It may be, therefore, that, though the fact is noted so late, the children had been born much earlier. But we can hardly arrive at certainty on this matter. Be it as it may, Abraham sent away his other sons with gifts into the east, that they might not interfere with Isaac, to whom his great inheritance belonged. And then he died, 175 years old, having seen Isaac's sons, and was buried by Isaac and Ishmael in the cave of Machpelah, where perchance his bones may still be lying. Such briefly is the story of this father of the faithful, from whom the precious seed descended, and into whose bosom the faithful dead are said to have been conveyed.  Luke 16:22. His faith we are to follow: his good example we should diligently imitate.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Genesis 11:26-17:4Abraham

Smith's Bible Dictionary

A'bram. (A High Father). The earlier name of Abraham.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Abraham

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

High father, afterwards named Abraham.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

See ABRAHAM.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

(See Abraham).

Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia

1. Birth . He was born in Ur of the Chaldees, and was a direct Descendant of Shem ( Genesis 11:10-32 ).
2. Date . There is a difficulty in the chronology at this point. Compare  Genesis 11:26,32;  Genesis 12:4,5;  Acts 7:1-4 . My solution of this question is the only one that will harmonize with all the facts and dates presented In the book of Genesis. When you reflect that it was customary in Those ages, in the development of God's plan, to displace the elder With the younger, the matter becomes plainer. This was so with
   1. Cain and Abel ( Genesis 4:1-7,25 ).
   2. Isaac and Ishmael ( Genesis 16:1,2,16;  Genesis 17:18-21;  Genesis 21:1-5 ).
   3. Jacob and Esau ( Genesis 25:19-26 ).
   4. Ephraim and Manasseh ( Genesis 48:14-19 ).

   Abram was the youngest, for he was only seventy-five years old when his Father died (  Genesis 11:32;  Genesis 12:4;  Acts 7:1-5 ). Therefore  Genesis 11:26; that Terah was seventy years old when his first son was born; and from Other considerations enumerated above, he was about one hundred thirty Years when Abram was born. Sarah was Abram's half-sister ( Genesis 20:12 ), doubtless born of Terah's second marriage. There was only a difference Of ten years in their ages ( Genesis 17:17 ). If Abram has been Terah's firstborn, he would have been one hundred thirty-five when Terah died, And it would be necessary to to change the figures in reference to Sarah and make her one hundred twenty-five at this time! Further, it Is stated that Abram had been eleven years in Canaan when Ishmael was Born ( Genesis 16:1-16 ). This would have made Sarah (125 + 11 = 136) one hundred thirty-six at Ishmael's birth. Isaac was born fourteen years After Ishmael ( Genesis 16:16;  Genesis 21:1-5 ), hence this would have given Isaac no chance to have been born, for Sarah only lived one hundred Twenty-seven years ( Genesis 23:1 )! We therefore conclude that Abram was born two thousand eight years after the creation of Adam ( Genesis 5:3-32;  Genesis 7:6,11;  Genesis 11:1-26 ).

3. His Call . The Lord first spoke to him in Ur of Chaldees ( Genesis 12:1;  Acts 7:1-5 ).
4. The Promises . God gave him two great promises,
   1. that he would make of him a great nation, bless him, make his name great, make him a blessing, bless those who blessed him, and curse those who cursed him;
   2. that in him should all families of the earth be blessed ( Genesis 12:1-3 ).

   These promises were subsequently renewed on Mount Moriah (  Genesis 22:1-18 ). These promises were subsequently fulfilled in,

   1. the covenant dedicated at Mount Sinai ( Exodus 24:1-8 ),
   2. the new covenant ( Galatians 4:22-31 ).

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

the original name ( Genesis 17:5) of ABRAHAM (See Abraham)

(q.v.).