Abraham is the first patriarch listed in the Book of Genesis. It would be through him that Jesus would come to this earth and live a blameless life and then die for our sins.
Despite Abraham being a great man of faith, he had many flaws, and it would take God saving him multiple times to preserve the line.
He came from the line of Shem, who was the blessed son of Noah after the flood.
His father's name was Terah, and he was living in modern-day Iran at the time of Abraham.
Jump to:
- 1. He was Called by God
- 2. Hagar Joined Abraham's Household After He Lied to Pharoah
- 3. God Blessed Abraham and Made Him Wealthy
- 4. God Used Him To Rescue Lot
- 5. God Promises Abraham a Son
- 6. God Blesses Hagar and Ishmael
- 7. God Changed Abraham's Name
- 8. God Visits Abraham and Predicts A Son
- 9. Abraham Saves a Lot Again
- 10. God Fulfills His Promise of a Son to Abraham
- 11. Abraham Sent Ishmael Away
- 12. God Tells Abraham To Sacrifice Isaac
- 13. God Provides a Tomb For Sarah
- 14. Abraham Finds His Son a Wife
- 15. Abraham Married Again
- 16. All of His Sons Became Nations
- 17. Abraham was Buried by Isaac and Ishmael
- 18. Abraham is a Major Character in Thre Religions
- 19. Abraham is Listed in Hebrews 11.
1. He was Called by God
Abraham was called by God to leave his native country and father's family, and he followed.
The key here is that God called Abraham, and Abraham did not find God on his own. He was living life just as anyone in his culture would have been doing, and God, in his sovereignty, chose Abraham to be the father of his nation.
Also Read: Abraham and Sarah Family Tree
He chose Abraham, who was from the line of Shem (God had already blessed his line). At the time, Abraham would not have known the God he was going to serve and would have probably been a pagan, just like his father and brothers.
After receiving the call, he obeyed.
2. Hagar Joined Abraham's Household After He Lied to Pharoah
When Abraham traveled through Egypt, he and his wife concocted a plan to say that his wife was his sister. He did this as an act of self-preservation because he was afraid that Pharoah would see his wife and take her for himself and leave Abraham a dead man.
Pharoah did see Sarah and then tried to take her for his wife. Abraham obliged and quickly gave Pharoah his wife, but God then stepped in and stopped everything.
Pharoah gave Sarah back to Abraham and chastised him for lying. He also gifted Abraham many presents, which included Egyptian servants. Within these servants would have been Hagar.
Hagar would eventually become the second wife of Abraham and the mother of Ishmael.
3. God Blessed Abraham and Made Him Wealthy
He was not a technical sheik, but it is a good word to describe his wealth.
When he arrived in another country, he would immediately draw the attention of the leaders due to his entourage and wealth.
When we first meet Abraham, he is living near his father in the city of Ur.
God shows up and tells him to move because he is going to make him a great nation. He kept his promise, and Abraham would become one of the wealthiest men in the world at that time.
Even when Abraham disobeyed the Lord, he would still end up blessed financially. His actions had unintended consequences, but God always blessed him.
4. God Used Him To Rescue Lot
When I visualize Abraham and see him as an old man who is waiting for a son, but the Bible speaks of him throughout his life.
He traveled through the land of Canaan with his nephew Lot. He and his nephew became so wealthy that they needed to separate. After Lot chose the land he desired, Abraham settled on his. It would not be long until Lot was in trouble.
His nephew was captured, and it would be up to Abraham to rescue him.
He mobilized his men and spoke with the surrounding cities to launch an attack. He and his 300 men defeated their adversaries and rescued Lot.
This would not be the only time that Abraham rescued Lot.
5. God Promises Abraham a Son
When Abraham was first called by God, the Lord said he would "Make him a great nation," but as Abraham grew older and acquired more wealth, he did not have an heir for his wealth.
In confusion, Abraham prayed and asked the Lord why he had not been given an heir. He was now an older man as was his wife, but still no son.
The Lord then made a promise to Abraham and said that he would give him a son and that his wealth would not be given to someone else in his household.
The son that would eventually come would also continue Abraham's line that would eventually lead to Jesus.
6. God Blesses Hagar and Ishmael
God promised Abraham a son, but his wife began to overthink God's promise and believe that perhaps the Lord was not talking about her but about someone else.
This leads to a discussion between Abraham and his wife to have Abraham marry and sleep with Sarah's slave, Hagar.
Hagar was given to Abraham in Egypt and traveled with him throughout his life. Sarah then elevated her status from slave to secondary wife in order for Abraham to sleep with her.
He did so, and Hagar had a son who was named Ishmael. Although she was technically the wife of Abraham, she did not outrank Sarah in the household, and she would considered a "slave wife."
While pregnant with Ishmael, Hagar was mistreated by Sarah and eventually fled from her "master." It was during this time that God showed up and rescued Hagar and promised that her son would become a great nation.
She then returned to Abraham and his household.
The Arab population now traces their ancestry back to Ishmael.
7. God Changed Abraham's Name
Although throughout this article, I have only written the name Abraham, his name was originally Abram.
As God did throughout the Bible, he often changes someone's name to signify a new beginning. This began with Abraham and will be seen throughout the Old and New Testaments.
When he changed Abram's name to Abraham, he also changed Sarai's name to Sarah.
This showed that despite Abraham and Sarah's own plans that would have messed up God's original plan, he was still going to use them.
He would create a new covenant with Abraham that would lead to a new nation.
8. God Visits Abraham and Predicts A Son
One of the trends throughout the Bible is that God does things in a way that only he is allowed to get credit for.
He uses the most unlikely people to perform his tasks, and in this case, he predicts that Abraham will finally receive a son while he is an old man.
the news was met with such shock that Sarah laughed when she overheard. Regardless, he said that within a year of his visit, they would have a son.
A year passed and a son was born.
His name would be called Isaac, which means laughter because God always gets the last laugh.
9. Abraham Saves a Lot Again
Abraham had already saved Lot once when he was kidnapped. This time, he would save him with a warning of coming destruction.
Lot and his family lived in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and due to their evil ways, the Lord told Abraham he was going to destroy the cities.
Abraham negotiates with the Lord to find righteous people so that God would spare the city. Despite his efforts, he does not find a single person, and the cities are destroyed.
Lot was given a warning and escorted out of the cities prior to its destruction.
10. God Fulfills His Promise of a Son to Abraham
Despite Abraham and Sarah's lack of faith that God would give them a child and despite their trying to make their own way, God fulfilled his promise to them by giving them a son.
This was the promised son of Abraham, and despite God's blessing, Ishmael he was not recognized as the legitimate heir of Abraham.
Jesus would come through the line of Isaac.
11. Abraham Sent Ishmael Away
Everything with Ishmael comes to a head in Genesis 21 when Isaac is weaned.
Abraham threw a large celebration the day that Isaac was weaned, and during the celebration, Sarah became angry with Ishmael due to him laughing.
The apostle Paul says in the New Testament that Ishmael was mocking Isaac.
Sarah asks that Abraham send Hagar and Ishmael away. Abraham loved Ishmael and did not want to do that, but God stepped in and reassured Abraham that he would also make Ishmael a great nation because he came from Abraham.
Reluctantly, he rose early in the morning and sent Hagar and Ishmael away. The bond with Ishmael always remained.
Most likely, Abraham never saw Ishmael again, but when he died, Ishmael returned to help bury his father.
12. God Tells Abraham To Sacrifice Isaac
In one of the most odd requests in the Bible, God tells Abraham to sacrifice his promised son.
There is no record of human sacrifice ever being allowed in the Bible, but this would have been common in pagan practices during this day.
Abraham never seems to question God's command, and he takes Isaac to the place of sacrifice. He gets so far as to get ready to plunge the knife into Isaac when his arm is stopped, and a sacrifice is provided.
This act would validate Abraham's faith.
Later, Jesus would reference the act and say that "Abraham would have rejoiced" if he had seen Christ. This was symbolic of the sacrifice that God provided for us through Jesus.
13. God Provides a Tomb For Sarah
When Sarah died, it brought great sadness to Abraham, and since he lived in a foreign land, he did not have a place to bury his dead.
He went to Ephron, who was a leader of the Hittites, and requested a place to bury his dead. He stated that he was a sojourner in the land and did not have a place to call his own.
After being told he could have it for free, Abraham paid a hefty price to bury his beloved wife.
This burial site is now called the Cave of the Patriarchs and is home to the tombs of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Leah.
14. Abraham Finds His Son a Wife
As a sojourner, it became clear to Abraham that he would not be able to find a suitable wife for his son to carry on the faith. He sends a loyal servant to the country where Abraham was from to find a wife.
Abraham sent his servant to his relatives in the city of Nahor to find a wife for his son Isaac. The servant came to a well and prayed to God for guidance.
He asked God to show him the woman who would be Isaac's wife by having her give him and his camel water.
As the servant was praying, a beautiful young woman named Rebekah came to the well. She not only gave the servant a drink, but she also watered his camels.
The servant knew that this was the woman God had chosen for Isaac.
The servant returned to Abraham with Rebekah, and she was married to Isaac.
15. Abraham Married Again
First, there was Sarah...while there was Sarah, there was Hagar...then after Sarah died, there was Keturah.
Old man Abraham married again after the death of his wife, and it was during this marriage that we see it was definitely Sarah who was barren.
there are some questions regarding her status in the home of Abraham, but what is clear is that she and Abraham had other children.
Their sons include Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.
These children did not share in the same blessing as Isaac, but they were still blessed by their father, and each became a nation.
In the book of Exodus, Moses marries a Midianite who seems to share his beliefs.
16. All of His Sons Became Nations
One of the promises that God gave Abraham was that he would be the father of many nations.
If Abraham had listened to God and not veered off the path, then the Lord would have given him Isaac, and that would have become Israel.
This would have meant that Ishmael would not have been born, but she was born, and God also made him a great nation.
The way Isaac and Ishmael were conceived made them rivals, and although they seemed to get along when they aged, their descendants did not. Ishmael would become the father to some Arab nations, which would also have twelve tribes.
The later sons of Abraham also became nations. They were conceived after Isaac was married. These nations would not rival Israel.
Abraham loved each of his sons, and with his later sons, he sent them away with gifts. He blessed them but made sure that they would not compete with his promised son Isaac.
17. Abraham was Buried by Isaac and Ishmael
One of the more endearing pictures in the Book of Genesis is the death of Abraham.
When he died, word was sent to Ishmael. It would have probably been sent from Isaac to his older brother to let him know the fate of their father.
Ishmael had been sent away and it is unclear if he ever saw Abraham again.
What is clear is that Ishmael loved his father and returned to help his brother bury him. He would have buried him in the same cave as Isaac's mother, Sarah, and afterward returned to his country.
Ishmael would have 12 sons and a daughter. His daughter would marry Esau, who was the son of Isaac.
The marriage between Esau and Ishmael's daughter grieved his mother.
18. Abraham is a Major Character in Thre Religions
Judaism, Islam, and Christianity all agree on one thing, and that is Abraham existed.
Abraham had two sons. Isaac would be the promised son that Judaism and Christianity recognize, while Ishmael would be the son that Islam recognizes.
Christianity and Judaism divide at the point Jesus comes from the line of Abraham. Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God, while Jews believe him to be similar to Isaiah or Zachariah.
Islam also elevates Jesus to great prophet status but nothing more.
Each of these divisions can be traced back to Abraham, who had much faith in the Lord, but his mistakes led to divisions that are still felt today.
19. Abraham is Listed in Hebrews 11.
Hebrews 11 is often known as the Hall of Faith, and Abraham is given the largest write-up.
Hebrews 11 says this about Abraham:
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
After a short interlude, the author would again reference Abraham.
He is considered the father of the Christian faith.