Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Abraham

Did you mean: Abraham (Religious Figure / Biblical Figure), Abraham, Plains of (geographical area, Canada), Abraham, Abrahám, F. Murray Abraham (Actor, Drama/Comedy), Karl Abraham More...

 
Who2 Biography: Abraham, Religious Figure / Biblical Figure
 

  • Born: Between 2000 B.C. and 1500 B.C.
  • Birthplace: Ur, Babylonia
  • Died: Between 2000 B.C. and 1500 B.C.
  • Best Known As: Patriarch of Judaism, Christianity and Islam

Name at birth: Abram

Three world religions honor Abraham as their ancient patriarch and a model of faith in one God. In Judaism the 12 tribes of Israel trace their lineage to Abraham through his son Isaac and grandson Jacob. In Christian scriptures he is a spiritual ancestor, "justified by faith." In Islam's Koran he and another son, Ishmael, build the sacred site at Mecca, which remains the holiest destination for the world's Muslims, by decree of Allah through Muhammad. The biblical book Genesis describes Abram's birth in Ur (near modern Nasiriyah, Iraq), his marriage to Sarai, and God's promise to make of him "a great nation." God sends them on a long, dramatic, Middle Eastern journey, eventually renaming them Abraham and Sarah and periodically giving Abraham guidance and commands. The hardest of these is to offer Isaac as a human sacrifice; an angel stops Abraham at the last minute.

In Genesis, Abraham is 86 when Ishmael is born to the young servant Hagar, given to him as a second wife by the childless Sarah. Abraham is 100 and Sarah over 90 when they miraculously give birth to Isaac; Hagar and Ishmael are then sent away. After Sarah's death, Abraham has six children by a third wife, Keturah. At age 175, he dies and is buried in Macpelah, near modern Hebron, West Bank... There is no historical evidence of Abraham's life, other than that in religious scriptures and commentaries.

Search unanswered questions...
Enter a word or phrase...
All Community Q&A Reference topics
 
Biography: Abraham
Top

The patriarch Abraham (c. 1996 BC-1821 BC) started with humble beginnings as a son of Ur. Abraham is now regarded as one of the most influential people in all of history. The world's three largest monotheistic religions - in fact possibly monotheism itself - found their beginnings with him. Over 3 billion people in the modern world cite Abraham as the "father" of their religion. Abraham was promised by his God descendants as numerous as the stars of the sky, but today two branches of his family, the Jews and the Muslims, continue to battle for his birthright.

Birth of a Patriarch

In the Torah, Abraham's story is found in Lekh Lekha. In the Bible, it is the same, in Genesis, but is also commented on in the New Testament. In the Koran, Abraham can be found mentioned throughout, revered as one of the great prophets of the Muslim faith. In all three holy books, and in all three faiths, Abraham is revered as a father and a founder. The Bible calls him "our spiritual faith." Archaeology knows him as literally impossible to trace. History calls him the father of monotheism and originator of a great battle - spanning centuries - for pride and a little place: the land of Israel.

Abraham was born Abram, son of Terah, at the beginning of the second millennium BC in Ur, the capital of Mesopotamia at the height of its splendor as a highly developed ancient world. According to Jewish tradition, he was the son of an idol maker and smashed all of his fathers idols - except one - in a story that foreshadows his devotion to one God. The Koran tells of a time when Abram confronts his father about his idol worship and is condemned to burn in a furnace by King Nimrod of Babylon, but God protected him. His family left Ur - in modern day Iraq - to travel northwest along the trade route and the Euphrates River to the city of Haran. Abram settled down in Haran - in modern day Israel - with his family. He married Sarai and entered into a lifelong partnership with her. At the time, Haran - as well as all the neighboring cities and countries - was a land devoted to polytheism.

Abraham's Calling

Abram was in Haran at age 75 when he got the call from God to leave his home and family behind and follow God into a strange land that He would give him. Time quoted Thomas Cahill, author of The Gifts of the Jews, calling the move "a complete departure from everything that has gone before in the evolution of culture and sensibility." Abram took his wife, his nephew, Lot, and his possessions and departed. Abram moved south into the land of Canaan, a land inhabited by a warrior people called the Canaanites. He settled temporarily in Shechem and Beth-el. God told Abraham his descendants would inherit the Canaanite land.

Egyptian Layover

A famine in the land forced Abram and his people to move on to Egypt. Fearful that Pharoah would kill Abram for his beautiful wife, Abram asked Sarai to pretend she was his sister instead. Pharoah noted Sarai and took her as a concubine. For this, God struck the Pharoah with a plague and revealed Sarai's true identity. Angry with Abram, Pharoah returned Sarai and asked them to leave Egypt. Abram left with carts of wealth.

Renewal of Abraham's Calling

Abram returned to Canaan with Lot and Sarai, but Lot and Abram had a dispute over grazing land for their herds. Breaking with tradition, Abram allowed Lot - the younger of the two - to chose the land he would take. Lot chose the fertile plain to the east, and Abram took the hills to the west. Lot's land included the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. After Abram was again settled, God came to Abram and renewed his promise; that Abram would inherit for his descendants all the land he could see in every direction.

Lot moved to Sodom and was captured when local tribes attacked the city. Abram - who had grown wealthy and distinguished - armed his men and pursued Lot's kidnappers, regaining Lot and his possessions. Again God affirmed his promises to Abram, Abram now being well advanced in years and without offspring. God reaffirmed that He would give the land from the Nile to the Euphrates to Abram's descendants, but only after they had spent 400 years as slaves.

The First Son

With God having more than once affirmed his promise of numerous progeny to Abram, Sarai made a suggestion. In the ancient world, it was a custom to offer a substitute to bear a child to ensure the continuation of the family. Sarai offered her Egyptian handmaid, Hagar, to Abram to bear them a child. Abram consented, and at the age of 86 Hagar bore him a son, Ishmael.

The Second Son

Thirteen years after the birth of Ishmael, God once again appeared to Abram and renewed His covenant with Abram through the sign of circumcision and even expanded the promises: if Abram would "walk before [the LORD] and be upright" then God would make Abram the "father of a multitude of nations." God changed Abram's name to Abraham, which means "the father of many nations," and He changed Sarai's name to Sarah, meaning "princess." God also revealed that the promises would not come to Abraham through Ishmael, but through another son that would be born to Sarah in a years' time. Abraham laughed at this seemingly absurd promise, because Abraham was 99 at the time and Sarah was 89. When Abraham laughed, God said the boy's name would be Isaac, which means "he laughs."

God came again to speak to Abraham, in the guise of a traveler with companions (who were two angels). They were on their way to Sodom to destroy the city for its wickedness. Abraham boldly bargained with God on behalf of Lot, and because of Abraham's favor, God relented: if there were just ten righteous people in Sodom, God would not destroy it. During God's and the angels' visit, Abraham served them Bedouin hospitality: a goat, water, and other food. Later, God could not find even ten righteous in Sodom, but spared Lot's family by warning them to leave before he destroyed the city. Lot's wife was turned to a pillar of salt when she turned to view Sodom as she fled.

A year later, Sarah gave birth to Isaac. Sarah grew increasingly jealous of Hagar and Ishmael, and Abraham relented to allow Sarah to send them out into the wilderness. God saved Hagar and Ishmael and promised Ishmael would also father a great nation through 12 sons, assumed by tradition to be the 12 Arab tribes. According to Christian and Jewish scripture, God stipulated, though, that the covenant would flow through Isaac's line. In Talmudic tradition, Ishmael was later down-played, cast as a bully to younger brother Isaac. According to the Koran, Hagar and Ishmael made a journey to Mecca where they build a home and Abraham often visited them.

The Offering

According to Judaism and Christianity, Isaac is the son whom the offering story is about. According to Islamic interpretation, Ishmael is the son in the story. Either way, Abraham was asked in a test of faith by God to take one of his sons onto Mount Moriah and sacrifice him as a burnt offering. At the time, children were often sacrificed as burnt offerings to a variety of deities. Abraham submitted, despite the fact that he "loved" his son. He took the son up on the mountain and prepared to sacrifice him. At the last moment, God told him to stay his hand and a ram appeared in the bushes. Abraham and his son slayed the ram as an offering, instead. God reiterated His promises to Abraham again, at this point, and made the covenant binding. Because Abraham had faith in the One God, God showed Himself different from other gods who desired human sacrifice and started His history with a people: the Jews or the Muslims. Christianity also lays claim to this story as the fore-shadowing of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Death of a Patriarch

After Sarah died, two things happened. The Koran tells the story of Abraham and Ishmael making a journey to retrieve the Kaaba - Islam's great shrine - from the sands. Also, Abraham sent a servant to find a suitable wife for Isaac among Abraham's relatives. The servant returned with Rebekah and Rebekah married Isaac and had Esau and Jacob. The Jewish covenant would pass down through Jacob, who would have twelve sons who would become the twelve tribes of Israel. Likewise, Jacob's sons would include Joseph and Judah, and the birthright would continue through Joseph and the scepter through Judah, which is important for the establishing of Jesus Christ in the line of the covenant.

Abraham married Keturah and had six more sons. Abraham died at 175 years old and was buried in a cave in Hebron with Sarah, before he could inherit the land of Canaan. Both Isaac and Ishmael attended the funeral.

His Descendants Today

The five repetitions of daily Muslim prayer begin and end with reference to Abraham. Several rituals during the hajj - the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca - throw back to Abraham's life. The Jews feature the story of Abraham nearly sacrificing Isaac during their New Year celebrations. Christian children around the world sing "Father Abraham had many sons… . And I am one of them and so are you." Pope John Paul II spent a lifetime dreaming of walking the steps of Abraham's journey and has a special place in his heart for the Biblical Abraham.

There has been a trend in the 1990s and 2000s to use Abraham as a figure and tool for reconciliation. Interfaith activists have scheduled Abraham lectures, Abraham speeches, and Abraham "salons" worldwide. Bruce Feiler's Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths was published to a welcome reception. David Van Biema in Time notes, "It is a staple premise of the interfaith movement, which has been picking at the problem since the late 1800s, that if Muslims, Christians, and Jews are ever to respect and understand one another, a key road leads through Abraham." But Biema also says, "He is like a father who has left a bitterly disputed will" and points out that Abraham's story has at its core a theme of exclusivity.

The Israeli settler movement is largely fueled by the concept that Abraham's covenant with God grants the Jewish people the Holy Land. Meanwhile, Christians misused passages on Abraham written by Paul in the New Testament to encourage anti-Semitism and possibly the Crusades. There are also discrepancies about which of his sons did what. The Muslims and Jews have two totally different stories on which son was exalted and inherited the birthright. The Koran also claims that Abraham was the first Muslim, not a Jewish prophet. Biema says, "His story constitutes a kind of multifaith scandal, a case study for monotheism's darker side." Tad Szulc says in National Geographic, "The important thing, we are told, is to assess the meaning and legacy of the ideas Abraham came to embody. He is most famously thought of as the father of monotheism… . The stories do, however, describe his hospitality and peaceableness and, most important, his faith and obedience to God."

Books

Corduan, Winfried, Neighboring Faiths, InterVarsity Press, 1998.

Fieser, James and John Powers, Scriptures of the West, McGraw Hill, 1998.

Holy Bible, New Living translation, Tyndale House Publishers, 1996.

House, Paul R., Old Testament Survey, Broadman Press, 1992.

Murphy-O'Connor, Jerome, Holy Land, Oxford University Press, 1998.

Qur'an, translation, Tahrike Tarsile Qur'an, Inc., 1999.

Schechter, Solomon, Aspects of Rabbinic Theology, Jewish Lights Publishing, 1993.

Student Map Manual: Historical Geography of the Bible Lands, Pictorial Archive (Near Eastern History) Est., 1983.

Periodicals

Asia Africa Intelligence Wire, October 21, 2002.

Bible Review, April 2002.

Midstream, November 2001.

National Geographic, December 2001.

Time, September 30, 2002.

Online

"Biography of Abraham," http://www.logon.org/_domain/abrahams-legacy.org/al-biog.html (February 10, 2003).

 

(flourished early 2nd millennium BC) First of the Hebrew patriarchs, revered by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Genesis tells how Abraham, at 75, left Ur with his barren wife, Sarai (later Sarah), and others to found a new nation in Canaan. There God made a covenant with him, promising that his descendants would inherit the land and become a great nation. Abraham fathered Ishmael by Sarah's maidservant Hagar; Sarah herself bore Isaac, who inherited the covenant. Abraham's faith was tested when God ordered him to sacrifice Isaac; he was prepared to obey but God relented. In Judaism he is a model of virtue, in Christianity he is the father of all believers, and in Islam he is an ancestor of Muhammad and a model (in Sufism) of generosity.

For more information on Abraham, visit Britannica.com.

 

Father of the Jewish people, first of the three Patriarchs, son of Terah. As listed in the Book of Genesis, there were ten generations from Adam to Noah and ten from Noah to Abraham. According to Jewish tradition, Abraham was born in the year 1948 after creation (corresponding to 1812 BCE). At first his name was Abram (i.e., "the Father is exalted") but he was subsequently renamed Abraham, which the Bible explains as "father of many nations" (Gen. 17:5). His father originally lived in the southern Mesopotamian city Ur of the Chaldees but moved to Haran in northwestern Mesopotamia (Gen. 11:31). After Terah's death, God told the 75-year-old Abraham to move with his family---including his wife Sarah---"to the land which I will show you," namely, the Land of Canaan. God also promised to make him into a great nation, a blessing for all the families of the earth (Gen. 12:1-3).

Abraham's event-filled life included much wandering. After a period in Canaan, the clan was forced to escape a famine and journeyed to Egypt. Later it returned to Canaan but an argument between the shepherds of Abraham and those of his nephew Lot culminated in a split, with Abraham settling near Hebron and Lot in the Dead Sea area. When Lot was taken prisoner by invaders, Abraham came to his rescue. Despite this warlike episode, Abraham is depicted essentially as a peaceful herdsman. The Divine promise of the Land to Abraham is reiterated in a Covenant ceremony (Gen. 15:7-21). He is also instructed to circumcise himself as a sign of the covenant between him and God, binding on all his male descendants. When Abraham was in his eighties and Sarah was still childless, she offered her handmaiden Hagar to Abraham as a concubine, and Ishmael was born of this union. However, he was not regarded as a full heir. Abraham was reassured by God that he would still have a son by Sarah and, when Abraham was 100 and Sarah 90, she bore Isaac, who was to become his heir, materially and spiritually. After the child had grown, God put Abraham to a supreme test, demanding that he sacrifice Isaac as a burnt-offering on Mount Moriah (Gen. 22:1-2). Abraham was prepared to obey, but at the last moment an angel prevented the sacrifice (see Akedah). When Abraham died at the age of 175, he was buried by his two sons in the Cave of Machpelah at Hebron, which he had purchased as a burial place for Sarah.

Rabbinic legend (the Aggadah) has much to say of Abraham. He was the father of Monotheism, the first person to recognize the existence of the One God, using only his reasoning to come to this conclusion. Once he became convinced of the truth of his belief, Abraham smashed all the idols which his pagan father had manufactured. In order to crush this blatant rebellion against the established order, Nimrod, the Mesopotamian ruler, had Abraham thrown into a fiery furnace, from which he emerged unscathed. Jewish tradition regards Abraham as the epitome of Hospitality and of ḥesed, loving regard for others. Traditionally, he instituted the Morning Service.


 
The Religion Book: Abraham
Top

No colossus stands astride the monotheistic religious history of the world quite like Abraham. Three world religions-Judaism, Christianity, and Islam-trace their ancestry back to him. He is considered to be the father of both Judaism and Islam, through his sons Isaac and Ishmael, respectively, and the spiritual father of Christianity, according to Paul's letter to the Romans, chapter 4, verse 1. Indeed, except for the name of Jesus, Abraham's name appears more times in the Christian New Testament than does any other.

Although scholars will probably always wonder whether he was an actual man or a composite of characters, his story, set in about 2000 bce, is told in a straightforward, historical manner beginning in the book of Genesis, chapter 12.

He is first introduced as Abram (the name means "exalted father"), living in Ur of the Chaldees, in what is now Iraq. The ancient city of Ur, a Sumerian capital, has been excavated. As a result of archaeological work done there, many believe it has been demonstrated that a people called Hapiru, or Hebrew, lived in Ur until about the time of the biblical narrative. They apparently migrated to Haran, in northern Mesopotamia, and then, it is assumed, to Canaan, later called Palestine, now Israel. Critical scholarship, however, like all sciences, is continually in flux, and it must be noted that further research sheds doubt on the connection.

Abraham is presented as a man of great faith although, like most biblical heroes, his feet of clay make him disarmingly appealing. The religious "call" that begins his story occurs in Genesis 12:

Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your father's house to the land I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves."

"So Abram departed," according to the Bible, without a single word of protest or explanation. This act of unquestioning faith became the foundation for three religions.

After demonstrating this faith, however, Abram does an unexpected thing. He goes to Canaan as instructed, but at the first sign of famine, he continues on to Egypt. While there he is so worried about the Egyptian response to the beauty of his wife, Sarai, that he passes her off as his half-sister so no one will kill him in the hopes of marrying his widow. His plot almost backfires, and Sarai barely escapes becoming a member of Pharaoh's harem.

When Abram does return to Canaan, his name is changed to Abraham, which means "father of a multitude." It is by this name, and his wife's new name of Sarah, that they are known by three world religions. Abraham promises to remain faithful to his covenant with God, and circumcision will be the physical sign of that covenant, so as to set apart his descendants forever (See Circumcision).

Abraham is told that he and his wife will have a son whose ancestors will grow to become a great nation. When the miracle of birth fails to materialize (the couple is, after all, more than ninety years old), Sarah decides Abraham should father a baby by her Egyptian servant, Hagar. This practice was apparently fairly common in those days. A woman incapable of bearing children would often adopt as her own the child of her husband and a household servant.

The baby boy born of this union was named Ishmael. It is from Ishmael, the firstborn, that Muslims believe the religion of Islam begins. Significantly, the Hebrew Bible inserts an editorial at this point. Ishmael is called "a wild ass of a man" whose "hand will be against every man and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell against all his kinsmen" (Genesis 16:12).

All was not happy in the tents of Abraham, however. Right after Ishmael was born, Sarah gave birth to her own son, naming him Isaac. This being a patriarchal social system, she believed Hagar, her servant, now felt superior to her, having given birth to Abraham's firstborn son. Casting Hagar and her son Ishmael out into the desert, Sarah began to raise Isaac, who was to become father to the Hebrew people.

Thus in these two sons is prophesied two great peoples who, it is said, will forevermore be in competition.

Abraham's complete story is recounted in the rest of the book of Genesis, but a few highlights are especially important.

In Genesis 14:17-24, the mysterious Melchizedek appears. Chedorlaoma, king of Elam, had captured Abraham's kinsman, Lot. Abraham and his family army attacked by night, effecting a rescue. Upon Abraham's return from the battle, Melchizedek, "king of Salem" and "priest of the most high God," appears on the scene, offering a blessing and a gift of bread and wine. Abraham promptly gives him a tithe, or one-tenth, of the spoils captured in battle. This action is never explained. Indeed, Melchizedek is never mentioned again in the Hebrew Bible, except for an enigmatic reference in Psalm 110. "The Lord says to my Lord … You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." The Christian author of the book of Hebrews, however, uses this passage to form the basis for a central New Testament theology of "The Melchizedek Priesthood" of Christ. Jesus Christ, the "Prince of Peace," is described as both priest and king, gives his followers bread and wine, and is deserving of their tithes and offerings (Hebrews 7:1-4).

Also central to Abraham's story is the aborted sacrifice of Isaac, his son. In Genesis 22, God tells Abraham to offer a sacrifice in the hills of Moriah. Today many Jews believe this to be the place in Jerusalem where the important Muslim mosque called the Dome of the Rock now stands. Its familiar golden roof dominates pictures of the Jerusalem skyline.

Because child sacrifice was practiced in the Canaanite religion of those days, this story is not quite so outlandish as may appear to modern sensibilities. What may seem strange, however, was that Isaac was "the promised seed" who was to become the "father of a multitude." How was he to fulfill his destiny if he were killed? The question was answered when God provided a ram, caught in nearby bushes, that became Isaac's substitute.

The story is interpreted three different ways by three different religions. Besides being a test of faith, Jews see this as a foreshadowing of the sacrificial system later inaugurated by Moses and brought to its highest expression in the Temple of Solomon, built a thousand years later on this same spot of ground. Animal sacrifice as substitutionary atonement for sin here replaces human sacrifice, a step up on the religious evolutionary scale.

Christian theologians take the story further, saying that Jesus, the Son of God, himself became "the Lamb of God" that would replace the animal sacrifice. Because the crucifixion took place in the same geographical area, a progression is seen on this spot of ground that leads from human to animal to God becoming the substitute for the guilty sinner in need of atonement. In other words, Abraham's son could be spared; God's son could not.

Muslims have another version of the story. The events are the same but the place and people change. The name of Abraham's son and the place of the sacrifice are not mentioned in the Qur'an; it is usually understood that it was Ishmael, the firstborn, who was offered. And the place of sacrifice was not the scene of present-day Jerusalem, but rather south, in Mecca. According to Muslim belief, Abraham and Ishmael practiced true faith in God by "submitting." The word "Muslim" means "a submitter." Tradition states that Abraham brought Ishmael to Mecca when Sarah forced them to leave. Later, Ishmael and Abraham together rebuilt in Mecca the Kaaba (shrine) that had been destroyed by Noah's flood. There they prayed that Allah would raise up from their descendants a messenger who would declare God's revelations and teach wisdom. This messenger, Muslims believe, was Muhammad.

Abraham, then, is the most revered patriarch of the major monotheistic religions. Although views about him differ widely depending on which religion's scriptures are consulted, his story, as interpreted by Jews, Christians, and Muslims, has undeniably affected the course of human history.

Sources: Bridger, David, ed. The New Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Behrman House, 1962. Bucke, Emory Stevens et al, eds. The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. 4 vols. New York: Abingdon Press, 1962. The Holy Qur’an, trans. with a commentary by Abdullah Yusuf Ali. Beirut, Lebanon: Dar Al Arabia, 1968. May, Herbert G., and Bruce M. Metzger, eds. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. Rev. ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1973. Szulc, Tad. “Journey of Faith.” National Geographic, December 2001.


 
Abraham [according to the Book of Genesis, Heb.,=father of many nations] or Abram (ā'brəm) [Heb.,=exalted father], in the Bible, progenitor of the Hebrews; in the Qur'an, ancestor of the Arabs. As the founder of Judaism, he is said to have instituted the rite of circumcision as a sign of the covenant between God and the Jews, who are descended from Isaac, son of Abraham's old age. Abraham also received the promise of Canaan for his people. In response to divine command, Abraham left Haran, taking his wife Sara and his nephew Lot to Canaan, where God promised him many descendants who would become a great nation. His devotion and trust in God and his promises are exemplified pre-eminently in Abraham's preparedness to sacrifice his son Isaac. The Book of Joshua confesses Abraham as a one-time worshiper of other gods before he entered Canaan.

Muslims believe that Arabs are descended from Abraham and Hagar through their son Ishmael. Abraham is further regarded as an ancestor of Muhammad. According to the Qur'an, Abraham and Ishmael built the Kaaba in Mecca and instituted pilgrimages there. The Qur'an depicts him destroying the idols of his father and of his clan; hence, Islam is the restoration of the religion of Abraham.

Other Abraham traditions are to be found in the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, especially in the Book of Jubilees. See also Josephus' Jewish Antiquities. Modern biblical scholarship has revealed anachronisms in Genesis that cloud attempts to place chronologically Abraham's historical existence.

Bibliography

See T. L. Thompson, The Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives (1974); J. van Seters, Abraham in History and Tradition (1975); A. R. Millard and D. J. Wiseman, ed., Essays on the Patriarchal Narratives (1983).

 
Bible Dictionary: Abraham and Isaac
Top

The first two patriarchs of the Old Testament. According to the Book of Genesis, God made a covenant with Abraham, telling him to leave his own country and promising to give his family (the Hebrews) the land of Canaan. This was the Promised Land. God also promised to maintain the covenant with Abraham's son Isaac. After a time, God tested Abraham by telling him to sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering. Abraham obediently placed Isaac on an altar and took a knife to kill him. Then an angel of the Lord appeared and told Abraham to spare his son, because Abraham had proved his faith.

  • Both Jews and Arabs (see Arab-Israeli conflict) claim descent from Abraham: Jews through Isaac, Arabs through Abraham's other son, Ishmael. Abraham's devotion to God makes him a model of faith to Jews and Christians alike.
  • “The bosom of Abraham” is a term used in the Gospel of Luke, and in poetry often refers to the peace of heaven.

  •  

    Like Jacob and Joseph, the patriarch Abraham, ancestor of the Hebrew nation, was one of the most prolific dreamers in the Hebrew Bible. The first dream reported in Genesis is a dream by Abraham:

    When the sun was setting, a deep sleep overcame Abram.… Then the Lord said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure." (Gen. 15:12-16)

    Prior to this particular occasion, God had appeared several times to Abraham and spoken with him, but this is the only time God ever came to Abraham in a vision.

    In the sleeplike condition that overcame his senses, Abraham was awake to spiritual impressions and was in a condition where God alone could be seen and heard-everything else was excluded. In this manner the establishing of the Hebrew covenant, as well as the prophecy for Abraham's descendants for the next several centuries, was deeply impressed upon his consciousness.


     
    Wikipedia: Abraham
    Top
    Abraham

    An angel prevents the sacrifice of Isaac.
    Abraham and Isaac by Rembrandt
    Born Theological figure - traditionally 2000 BCE -1500 BCE
    Ur Kaśdim or Haran
    Died Theological figure - traditionally 2000 BCE -1500 BCE
    Machpelah,[1] Canaan
    Occupation Patriarch in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
    Children Ishmael
    Isaac
    Zimran
    Jokshan
    Medan
    Midian
    Ishbak
    Shuah
    Parents Terach
    Biblical longevity
    Name Age LXX
    Methuselah 969 969
    Jared 962 962
    Noah 950 950
    Adam 930 930
    Seth 912 912
    Kenan 910 910
    Enos 905 905
    Mahalalel 895 895
    Lamech 777 753
    Shem 600 600
    Eber 464 404
    Cainan 460
    Arpachshad 438 465
    Salah 433 466
    Enoch 365 365
    Peleg 239 339
    Reu 239 339
    Serug 230 330
    Job 210? 210?
    Terah 205 205
    Isaac 180 180
    Abraham 175 175
    Nahor 148 304
    Jacob 147 147
    Esau 147? 147?
    Ishmael 137 137
    Levi 137 137
    Amram 137 137
    Kohath 133 133
    Laban 130+ 130+
    Deborah 130+ 130+
    Sarah 127 127
    Miriam 125+ 125+
    Aaron 123 123
    Rebecca 120+ 120+
    Moses 120 120
    Joseph 110 110
    Joshua 110 110


    Abraham or (Hebrew: אַבְרָהָם, Modern Avraham Tiberian ʾAḇrāhām Ashkenazi Avrohom or Avruhom ; Arabic: إبراهيم‎, Ibrāhīm ; Ge'ez: አብርሃም, ʾAbrəham) features in the Book of Genesis as the founding patriarch of the Israelites, Ishmaelites, Midianites and Edomite peoples. He is widely regarded as the patriarch of Jews, Christians, and Muslims and a prime believer in monotheism. According to Genesis 17:5, his name was changed by God from Abram (probably meaning "the father is exalted") to Abraham, a name which Genesis explains as meaning "father of many".

    Abraham was the tenth generation from Noah and the 20th from Adam . His father was Terah, and his brothers were Nahor and Haran. According to Genesis, Abraham was sent by God from his home in Ur Kasdim and Harran to Canaan, the land promised to his descendants by Yahweh. There Abraham entered into a covenant: in exchange for recognition of YHWH as his God, Abraham will be blessed with innumerable progeny and the land would belong to his descendants. [2]

    Judaism, Christianity and Islam are sometimes referred to as the "Abrahamic religions" because of the progenitor role Abraham plays in their holy books. In the Jewish tradition, he is called Avraham Avinu or "Abraham, our Father". God promised Abraham that through his offspring, all the nations of the world will come to be blessed (Genesis 12:3), interpreted in Christian tradition as a reference particularly to Christ. Jews, Christians, and Muslims consider him father of the people of Israel through his son Isaac (cf. Exodus 6:3, Exodus 32:13) by his wife Sarah. For Muslims, he is a prophet of Islam and the ancestor of Muhammad through his other son Ishmael - born to him by his servant, Hagar. (Jews and Christians refer to Hagar as Sarah's servant). Abraham is also a progenitor of the Semitic tribes of the Negev who trace their descent from their common ancestor Sheba (Genesis 10:28).

    Contents

    Etymology

    Abraham's name first appears as Abram (Hebrew: אַבְרָם‎, Standard  Avram Tiberian ʾAḇrām) meaning either "exalted father" or "my father is exalted" (compare Abiram). Later in Genesis he is called Abraham, which the text glosses as av hamon (goyim) "father of many (nations)" [See Genesis 17:5]; however the name does not have any literal meaning in Hebrew.[3]

    Genesis narrative

    Whilst Abraham is mentioned many times in the Hebrew Bible, the story of his life is found in Genesis, from chapter 11:26 to 25:10.

    Early life

    According to Genesis, Abraham was born in Ur of the Chaldees and given the name Abram. He was the son of Terah and the brother of Nahor and Haran. He married Sarai, his half-sister, who was barren, and there also his brother Haran died after becoming the father of Lot. Terah, with his surviving sons and their families, then departed for Canaan, but settled in Haran, where Terah died at the age of 205.[4]

    Following the death of Terah, when Abram was seventy-five, the Lord spoke to Abram, telling him to leave his father's house and his kindred and the land of his birth and go "to the land that I will show you", where Abram will become a great nation. So Abram departed Haran with his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot and all their followers and flocks, and they traveled to Canaan, where, at Shechem, the Lord gave the land to him and his seed. There Abram built an altar to the Lord and continued to travel towards the south.[5]

    Pharaoh and Abimelech

    On two separate occasions, Abram/Abraham travels west, where he tells his wife to pretend to be his sister because he fears he would otherwise be killed because of her. On each occasion, the ruler in question, first Pharaoh and later Abimelech, is attracted to Sarai/Sarah and attempts to marry her. On both occasions the Lord and the ruler send Abraham away with great wealth.... [6][7]

    Mamre

    Following the period spent in Egypt, Abram, Sarai and his nephew Lot, returned to Ai in Canaan. There they dwelt for some time, their herds increasing, until strife arose between the herdsmen. Abram thereupon proposed to Lot that they should separate, allowing Lot the first choice. Lot took the fertile land lying east of the Jordan River and near to Sodom and Gomorrah, while Abram lived in Canaan, moving down to the oaks of Mamre in Hebron, where he built an altar to the Lord.[8]

    After this, an invading force from Northern Mesopotamia, led by Chedorlaomer king of Elam, attacked and subdued the Cities of the Plain, forcing them to pay tribute. After twelve years, these cities rebelled. The following year Chedorlaomer and his allies returned, defeating the rebels and taking many captive, including Lot. Abraham assembled his men and chased after the invaders, defeating them near Damascus. Upon his return he is met by the king of Salem, Melchizedek, who blesses him. The king of Sodom offers Abraham the rescued goods as reward, but Abraham refuses, so that the king of Sodom cannot say "I have made Abram rich."[9]

    During this period, Sarai, being barren, offers her handmaiden, Hagar, to Abram. Hagar soon conceives. Sarai, jealous of this, treats Hagar harshly, forcing her to flee. When in the desert, the Lord appears to Hagar, telling her to return, but promising that her son shall also be the father of a "multitude". Her son is called Ishmael.[10]

    When Abram is ninety-nine, the Lord again appears to him and affirms his promise. A covenant is entered into: Sarai will give to birth to a son who will be called Isaac and Abram's house must from thenceforth be circumcised. It is promised that Ishmael will father twelve princes, who will become a great nation. Abram's name is changed to Abraham and Sarai's to Sarah.[11]

    Soon after, the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah bring two angels down to investigate. Abraham pleads with them to spare the city if first fifty, then forty-five, then forty, then thirty, then twenty, and finally ten righteous men are found in the city. In each case the angels agree that the city would be spared. They enter the city, where they meet Lot, who offers them hospitality. Soon a crowd gathers around Lot's house, demanding the two angels that they may "know" them. Lot offers his daughters, but the men of the city press forward until the angels smite them with blindness. In the morning Lot is told to flee and not to look back as the cities are destroyed. However, his wife disobeys and is turned into a pillar of salt.[12]

    After this Abraham enters into a treaty with Abimelech at Beer-sheba.[13]

    Covenants

    A recurring feature of the story of Abraham are the covenants between him and the Lord, which are reiterated and reaffirmed several times. When Abram is told to leave Ur, the Lord promises "I will make you into a great nation".[14] After parting from Lot, God reappears and promises "All the land that you can see" to Abraham and that his seed would be "like the dust of the earth" in number.[15] Following the battle of the Vale of Siddim, the Lord appears and reaffirms the promise. Further, it is prophesied that "your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years." Abraham makes a sacrifice and enters into a covenant: "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites."[16] This covenant refers to Abraham's descendants through his son Isaac.

    When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord again appeared to him to reaffirm the covenant and changed his name to Abraham. Abraham is instructed, for his part, to circumcise all males of his house.[11]

    Binding of Isaac

    Some time after the birth of Isaac, Abraham was commanded by the Lord to offer his son up as a sacrifice in the land of Moriah. The patriarch traveled three days until he came to the mount that God taught him. He commanded the servant to remain while he and Isaac proceeded alone to the mountain, Isaac carrying the wood upon which he would be sacrificed. Along the way, Isaac repeatedly asked Abraham where the animal for the burnt offering was. Abraham then replied that the Lord would provide one. Just as Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, he was prevented by an angel, and given on that spot a ram which he sacrificed in place of his son. Thus it is said, "On the mountain the Lord provides." As a reward for his obedience he received another promise of a numerous seed and abundant prosperity. After this event, Abraham did not return to Hebron, Sarah's encampment, but instead went to Beersheba, Keturah's encampment, and it is to Beersheba that Abraham's servant brought Rebecca, Isaac's patrilineal parallel cousin who became his wife.[17]

    Later Years

    Sarah died at the age of 127, and was buried in the Cave of the Patriarchs near Hebron, which Abraham had purchased from Ephron the Hittite, along with the adjoining field. Abraham, being reminded by this occurrence, probably, of his own great age, and the consequent uncertainty of his life, became solicitous to secure an alliance between Isaac and a female branch of his own family.

    Eliezer his steward was therefore sent into Mesopotamia, to find from Abraham's kindred a wife for his son Isaac. Eliezer went on his commission with prudence, and returned with Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel, granddaughter of Nahor, and, consequently, Abraham's grandniece and Isaac's first-cousin once removed. Many biblical commentators believe that Rebekah was still a child when she married Isaac, while Isaac was forty years of age.[18]

    Abraham lived a long time after these events. After the death of Sarah, he took another wife, a concubine named Keturah and she bore Abraham six sons, Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.[19]

    Abraham died at the age of 175 years. Jewish legend says that he was meant to live to 180 years, but God purposely took his life because he felt that Abraham did not need to go through the pain of seeing Esau's wicked deeds. He was buried by his sons Isaac (aged about 76 years) and Ishmael (aged about 89 years), in the Cave of the Patriarchs (also known as the Cave of Machpelah), which is where he had deposited the remains of his beloved Sarah.[20][21]

    Sons of Abraham by wife in order of birth
    Hagar Ishmael (1)
    Sarah Isaac (2)
    Keturah Zimran Jokshan Medan Midian Ishbak Shuah


    Significance

    Abraham is held as a founding father in the Jewish, Christian and Islamic religions. Genesis states that the nation of Israel descended from him through his second son, Isaac. Many Arab nations are said to have descended from him through his first son, Ishmael, and Muslims believe that the prophet Muhammad is his direct descendent.

    In Christianity

    Abraham Sacrificing Isaac by Laurent de La Hire, 1650 (Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Orléans).

    In the New Testament Abraham is mentioned prominently as a man of faith (see e.g., Hebrews 11), and the apostle Paul uses him as an example of salvation by faith, as the progenitor of the Christ (or Messiah) (see Galatians 3:16).

    17th century Russian icon of Abraham (Andrei Rublev Museum, Moscow).

    Authors of the New Testament report that Jesus cited Abraham to support belief in the resurrection of the dead. "But concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly mistaken" (Mark 12:26-27). The New Testament also sees Abraham as an obedient man of God, and Abraham's interrupted attempt to offer up Isaac is seen as the supreme act of perfect faith in God. "By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, 'In Isaac your seed shall be called', concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense" (Hebrews 11:17-19). The imagery of a father sacrificing his son is seen as a type of God the Father offering his Son on Golgatha.

    The traditional view in Christianity is that the chief promise made to Abraham in Genesis 12 is that through Abraham's seed, all the people of earth would be blessed. Notwithstanding this, John the Baptist specifically taught that merely being of Abraham's seed was no guarantee of salvation. The promise in Genesis is considered to have been fulfilled through Abraham's seed, Jesus. It is also a consequence of this promise that Christianity is open to people of all races and not limited to Jews.

    Liturgical commemoration

    The Roman Catholic Church calls Abraham "our father in Faith," in the Eucharistic prayer of the Roman Canon, recited during the Mass (see Abraham in the Catholic liturgy). He is also commemorated in the calendars of saints of several denominations: on August 20 by the Maronite Church, August 28 in the Coptic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East, with the full office for the latter, and on October 9 by the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. He is also regarded as the patron saint of those in the hospitality industry.[22]

    The Eastern Orthodox Church commemorates him as the "Righteous Forefather Abraham", with two feast days in its liturgical calendar. The first time is on October 9 (for those churches which follow the traditional Julian Calendar, October 9 falls on October 22 of the modern Gregorian Calendar), where he is commemorated together with his nephew "Righteous Lot". The other on the "Sunday of the Forefathers" (two Sundays before Christmas), where he is commemorated together with other ancestors of Jesus. Abraham is also mentioned in the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great, just before the Anaphora. Abraham and Sarah are invoked in the prayers said by the priest over a newly married couple at the Sacred Mystery of Crowning (i.e., the Sacrament of Marriage).

    In Islam

    Fresco with image of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son, Ishmael, in Shiraz

    Abraham, known as Ibrahim in Arabic, is very important in Islam, both in his own right as a prophet as well as being the father of Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael, his firstborn son, is considered the Father of the Arabised Arabs, and Isaac is considered the Father of the Hebrews. The Qur’an does not specify whether it was Ishmael or Isaac whom Abraham was ordered to sacrifice, yet many Muslims believe it was Ishmael. Among the evidance offered for this are two arguments:

    1- That Ishmael is older than Isaac. This means that Isaac was never Abraham's only son, while Ishmael was for several years.

    2- That the angels whom God had sent to Abraham, had already revealed to Abraham and his wife that Isaac will have Jacob as a son, so Abraham must have known that Isaac's life is guaranteed by that divine revelation.

    Abraham is revered by Muslims as one of the Prophets in Islam, and the person who gave Muslims their name as "Muslims" (those who submit to God). Abraham is revered by Muslims as one of the Prophets in Islam, and is commonly termed Khalil Ullah, "Friend of God". Abraham is considered a Hanif, that is, a discoverer of monotheism.[23]

    Abraham is mentioned in many passages in 25 Qur'anic suras (chapters). The number of repetitions of his name in the Qur'an is second only to Moses.[24]

    Abraham's footprint is displayed outside the Kaaba, which is on a stone, protected and guarded by Mutawa (Religious Police). The annual Hajj, the fifth pillar of Islam, follows Abraham, Hagar, and Ishmael's journey to the sacred place of the Kaaba. Islamic tradition narrates that Abraham's subsequent visits to the Northern Arabian region, after leaving Ishmael and Hagar (in the area that would later become the Islamic holy city of Mecca), were not only to visit Ishmael but also to construct the first house of worship for God (that is, the monotheistic concept and model of God), the Kaaba -as per God's command.[25] The Eid ul-Adha ceremony is focused on Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his promised son on God's command. In turn, God spared his son's life and instead substituted a sheep. This was Abraham's test of faith. On Eid ul-Adha, Muslims sacrifice a domestic animal — a sheep, goat — as a symbol of Abraham's sacrifice, and divide the meat among the family members, friends, relatives, and most importantly, the poor.

    Arab connection

    A line in the Book of Jubilees (20:13) mentions that the descendants of Abraham's son by Hagar, Ishmael, as well as his descendants by Keturah, became the "Arabians" or "Arabs". The 1st century Jewish historian Josephus similarly described the descendants of Ishmael (i.e. the Ishmaelites) as an "Arabian" people.[26] He also calls Ishmael the "founder" (κτίστης) of the "Arabians".[27] Some Biblical scholars also believe that the area outlined in Genesis as the final destination of Ishmael and his descendants ("from Havilah to Shur") refers to the Arabian peninsula. This has led to a commonplace view that modern Semitic-speaking Arabs are descended from Abraham via Ishmael, in addition to various other tribes who intermixed with the Ishmaelites, such as Joktan, Sheba, Dedan, Broham, etc. Both Judeo-Christian and Islamic traditions speak of earlier inhabitants of Arabia.

    Classical Arab historians traced the true Arabs (i.e., the original Arabs from Yemen) to Qahtan and the Arabicised Arabs (people from the region of Mecca, who assimilated into the Arabs) to Adnan, said to be an ancestor of Muhammad, and have further equated Ishmael with A'raq Al-Thara, said to be ancestor of Adnan. Umm Salama, one of Muhammad's wives, wrote that this was done using the following hermeneutical reasoning: Thara means moist earth, Abraham was not consumed by hell-fire, fire does not consume moist earth, thus A'raq al-Thara must be Ishmael son of Abraham.[28]

    Textual criticism

    Writers have regarded the life of Abraham in various ways. He has been viewed as a chieftain of the Amorites, as the head of a great Semitic migration from Mesopotamia; or, since Ur and Haran were seats of Moon-worship, he has been identified with a moon-god.[citation needed] From the character of the literary evidence and the locale of the stories it has been held that Abraham was originally associated with Hebron. The double name Abram/Abraham has even suggested that two personages have been combined in the Biblical narrative; although this does not explain the change from Sarai to Sarah.

    The discovery of the name Abi-ramu on Babylonian contracts of about 2000 BCE does not prove the Abraham of the Old Testament to be a historical person, even as the fact that there were Amorites in Babylonia at the same period does not make it certain that the 'patriarch' was one of their number. Michael Astour in The Anchor Bible Dictionary (s.v. "Amraphel", "Arioch" and "Chedorlaomer"), explains the story of Genesis 14 as a product of anti-Babylonian propaganda during the Babylonian captivity of the Jews:

    "After Böhl's widely accepted, but wrong, identification of mTu-ud-hul-a with one of the Hittite kings named Tudhaliyas, Tadmor found the correct solution by equating him with the Assyrian king Sennacherib (see Tidal). Astour (1966) identified the remaining two kings of the Chedorlaomer texts with Tukulti-Ninurta I of Assyria (see Arioch) and with the Chaldean Merodach-baladan (see Amraphel). The common denominator between these four rulers is that each of them, independently, occupied Babylon, oppressed it to a greater or lesser degree, and took away its sacred divine images, including the statue of its chief god Marduk; furthermore, all of them came to a tragic end.
    3. Relationship to Genesis 14. All attempts to reconstruct the link between the Chedorlaomer texts and Genesis 14 remain speculative. However, the available evidence seems consistent with the following hypothesis: A Jew in Babylon, versed in Akkadian language and cuneiform script, found in an early version of the Chedorlaomer texts certain things consistent with his anti-Babylonian feelings." (The Anchor Bible Dictionary, s.v. "Chedorlaomer")

    Another scholar considers a relationship between the tablet and Gen. speculative, also identifies but identifies Tudhula as a veiled reference to Sennacherib of Assyria, and Chedorlaomer, i.e. Kudur-Nahhunte, as "a recollection of a 12th century BCE king of Elam who briefly ruled Babylon." ("Finding Historical Memories in the Patriarchal Narratives" by Ronald Hindel, BAR, Jul/Aug 1995)

    The Anchor Bible Dictionary suggests that the biblical account was in all probability derived from a text very closely related to the Chedorlaomer Tablets. The Chedorlaomer Tablets are thought to be from the 6th or 7th century BCE, well after the time of Hammurabi, at roughly the time when Gen. through Deu. are thought to have come into their present form (e.g. see the Documentary Hypothesis). While Astour's identifications of the figures these tablets refer to is certainly open to question, he does cautiously support a link between them and Gen. 14:1. Hammurabi is never known to have campaigned near the Dead Sea at all, although his son had. Writes Astour, "This identification, once widely accepted, was later virtually abandoned, mainly because Hammurabi was never active in the West." The Chedorlaomer Tablets, then, appear to still be the closest archaeological parallel to the kings of the Eastern coalition mentioned in Gen. 14:1. The only problem is, that in all probability, they refer to kings that were from widely separated times, having conquered Babylon in different eras. Linguistically, it seems, there is little reason to reject the identification of Hammurabi with Amraphel, but the narrative does not make sense in light of modern archeology when it is made. A number of scholars also say that the connection does not make sense on chronological grounds, since it would place Abram later than the traditional date, but on this, see the section on chronology below.

    Many scholars claim, on the basis of archaeological and philological evidence, that many stories in the Pentateuch, including the accounts about Abraham and Moses, were written under King Josiah (7th century BCE) or King Hezekiah (8th century BCE) in order to provide a historical framework for the monotheistic belief in Yahweh. Some scholars argue that the archives of neighboring countries with written records that survive, such as Egypt and Assyria show no trace of the stories of the Bible or its main characters before 650 BC.[citation needed] Even so, the Moabite Stele mentions king Omri of Israel, and many scholars draw parallels between the Egyptian pharaoh Shoshenq I and the Shishaq of the Bible (1 Ki. 11:40; 14:25; and 2 Chr. 12:2-9), and between the king David of the Bible and a ninth-century BCE inscription that appears to refer to the House of David.[29]

    Dating and historicity

    Traditional dating

    According to calculations directly derived from the Masoretic Hebrew Torah, Abraham was born 1948 AM, 1,948 years after biblical creation and lived for 175 years (Genesis 25:7), which would correspond to a life spanning from 1812 BCE to 1637 BCE by Jewish dating. The figures in the Book of Jubilees have Abraham born 1,876 years after creation, and 534 years before the Exodus; the ages provided in the Samaritan version of Genesis agree closely with those of Jubilees before the Deluge, but after the Deluge, they add roughly 100 years to each of the ages of the Patriarchs in the Masoretic Text, resulting in the figure of 2,247 years after creation for Abraham's birth. The Greek Septuagint version adds around 100 years to nearly all of the patriarchs' births, producing the even higher figure of 3,312 years after creation for Abraham's birth.

    Other interpretations of Biblical chronology place Abraham's birth at 2008 AM (Anno Mundi). In Genesis 11:32 : Abraham was the youngest son of Terah who died in Haran aged 205, in year 2083 AM. In Gen.12:4 we learn that at that time Abraham was 75 years old. In other words Abraham was born when his father Terah was 130 years old. (205-75 = 130). Therefore Abraham was born in year 2008 AM.

    History of dating attempts

    When cuneiform was first deciphered, Theophilus Pinches translated some Babylonian tablets which were part of the Spartoli collection in the British Museum. In particular, he believed he found in the Chedorlaomer Text, currently thought to have been written in the 6th to the 7th century BCE, the names of three of the kings of the Eastern coalition fighting against the five kings from the Vale of Siddim in Gen. 14:1. This is the only part of Genesis which seems to set Abraham in a context of wider political history, and the idea of many 19th/early 20th century exegetes and assyriologists was that it seemed to offer an opening to date Abraham, if the kings in question could only be identified. In 1887, Schrader then was the first to propose that Amraphel could be an alternate spelling for Hammurabi (cf. the ISBE of 1915, s.v. "Hammurabi").

    Vincent Scheil subsequently found a tablet in the Imperial Ottoman Museum in Istanbul from Hammurabi to a king of the very same name, i.e. Kuder-Lagomer, as in Pinches' tablet. Thus are achieved the following correspondences:

    Name from Gen. 14:1 Name from Archaeology
    Amraphel king of Shinar Hammurabi (="Ammurapi") king of Babylonia
    Arioch king of Ellasar Eri-aku king of Larsa (i.e. Assyria)
    Chedorlaomer king of Elam (= Chodollogomor in the LXX) Kudur-Lagamar king of Elam
    Tidal, king of nations (i.e. goyim, lit. 'nations') Tudhulu, son of Gazza

    By 1915, many scholars had become largely convinced that the kings of Gen. 14:1 had been identified (cf. again the ISBE of 1915, s.v. Hammurabi, which mentions the identification as doubtful, and also The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1917, s.v. "Amraphel", and Donald A. MacKenzie's 1915 Myths of Babylonia and Assyria, who has (p. 247) "The identification of Hammurabi with Amraphel is now generally accepted"). The terminal -bi on the end of Hammurabi's name was seen to parallel Amraphel since the cuneiform symbol for -bi can also be pronounced -pi. Tablets were known in which the initial symbol for Hammurabi, pronounced as kh to yield Khammurabi, had been dropped, such that Ammurapi was a viable pronunciation. Supposing him to have been deified in his lifetime or afterwards yielded Ammurabi-il, which was suitably close to the Bible's Amraphel.

    Albright was instrumental in synchronizing Hammurabi with Assyrian and Egyptian contemporaries, such that Hammurabi is now thought to have lived in the late 18th century, not in the 19th as assumed by the long chronology. Since many confessional and evangelical theologians may feel disinclined to state that the dates of the Bible might be in error, some of these began synchronizing Abram with the empire of Sargon I (23rd century in the short chronology), and the work of Schrader, Pinches and Scheil fell out of favor with them. Later research into the culture of Mesoportamia and Syria in the second millennium BCE have seemed to undercut attempts to tie Abraham in with a definite century, and to treat him as a strictly historical figure. Little now remains of the attempts of scholars of previous generations to identify names such as Amraphel with major historical figures like Hammurabhi.[30] While it is widely admitted that there is no archaeological evidence to prove the existence of Abraham, apparent parallels to Genesis in the archaeological record assure that speculations on the patriarch's historicity and on the period that would best fit the account in Genesis remain alive in religious circles.

    See also

    Notes

    1. ^ Genesis 25:9
    2. ^ Genesis 17:2-9
    3. ^ JewishEncyclopedia.com Many interpretations were offered based on modern textual and linguistic analysis, including an analysis of a first element abr- "chief", which however yields a meaningless second element. Keil suggests there was once a word raham (רָהָם) in Hebrew, meaning "multitude", even though it has not survived into any attested text. The word ruhâm has this meaning in Arabic. (K.F. Keil (1869), Biblical commentary on the Old Testament, vol. 1, p. 224)
    4. ^ Genesis 11:27-11:32
    5. ^ Genesis 12:1-9
    6. ^ Genesis 12:9-20
    7. ^ Genesis 20
    8. ^ Genesis 13
    9. ^ Genesis 14
    10. ^ Genesis 16
    11. ^ a b Genesis 17
    12. ^ Genesis 18-19
    13. ^ Genesis 21:22-34
    14. ^ Genesis 20:1-7
    15. ^ Genesis 13:14-17
    16. ^ Genesis 15
    17. ^ Genesis 22
    18. ^ Genesis 23-24
    19. ^ Genesis 25:1-6
    20. ^ Genesis 25:9
    21. ^ Genesis 23:19
    22. ^ *Holweck, F. G., A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints. St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co. 1924.
    23. ^ Ibrahim Canan; Jessica Ozalp (2007). The Message of Abraham. Tughra Books. 
    24. ^ Ibrahim, Encyclopedia of Islam
    25. ^ "USC-MSA Compendium of Muslim Texts". http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/055.sbt.html#004.055.584. 
    26. ^ Antiquities of the Jews, book 1, 12:4
    27. ^ Antiquities of the Jews, book 1, 12:2
    28. ^ The Life of the Prophet Muhammad (Al-Sira al-Nabawiyya), Volume I, translated by professor Trevor Le Gassick, reviewed by Dr. Ahmed Fareed Garnet Publishing Limited, 8 Southern Court, South Street Reading RG1 4QS, UK; The Center for Muslim Contribution to Civilization, 1998, pp. 50-52;
    29. ^ Rosenberg, Stephen Gabriel (7 November 2008). Jerusalem Post. 
    30. ^ The Encyclopedia Britannica[citation needed] article on "Amraphel" has: "Scholars of previous generations tried to identify these names with important historical figures—e.g., Amraphel with Hammurabi of Babylon—but little remains today of these suppositions."

    References

    • Rosenberg, David. Abraham: The First Historical Biography. Basic Books/Perseus Books Group, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2006. ISBN 0-465-07094-9.
    • Holweck, F. G. A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints. St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co. 1924.
    • Latter-day Saint Bible Dictionary
    • Nibley, Hugh W. Abraham's Temple Drama
    • Vermes, Scripture and Tradition in Judaism
    • Beer, Leben Abraham's
    • Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, trans. Henrietta Szold (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1909)
    • Book of Abraham LDS scripture Pearl of Great Price
    • Bloch, Israel und die Völker (Berlin: Harz, 1922)
    • Torcszyner, "The Riddle in the Bible," Hebrew Union College Annual 1 (1924)
    • Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews
    • Kohler, "The Pre-Talmudic Haggada," Jewish Quarterly Review 7 (July 1895): 587.
    • André Flury-Schölch: Abrahams Segen und die Völker. Synchrone und diachrone Untersuchungen zu Gen 12,1-3 unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der intertextuellen Beziehungen zu Gen 18, 22, 26, 28, Sir 44, Jer 4 und Ps 72 (Forschung zur Bibel 115), Würzburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-429-02738-4


    This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

    Preceded by
    Terah
    Abraham Succeeded by
    Isaac

     
    Best of the Web: Abraham
    Top

    Some good "Abraham" pages on the web:


    Judaism
    www.pantheon.org
     
     
    Shopping: Abraham
    Top
     
     

    Did you mean: Abraham (Religious Figure / Biblical Figure), Abraham, Plains of (geographical area, Canada), Abraham, Abrahám, F. Murray Abraham (Actor, Drama/Comedy), Karl Abraham More...


     

    Copyrights:

    Who2 Biography. Copyright © 1998-2008 by Who2, LLC. All rights reserved. See the Abraham biography from Who2.  Read more
    Biography. © 2006 through a partnership of Answers Corporation. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Encyclopedia of Judaism. The New Encyclopedia of Judaism. Copyright © 1989, 2002 by G.G. The Jerusalem Publishing House, Ltd. All rights reserved.  Read more
    The Religion Book. The Religion Book. 2004 ©Visible Ink Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
    Bible Dictionary. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.  Read more
    The Dream Encyclopedia. The Dream Encyclopedia. 1995 ©Visible Ink Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Abraham" Read more

     

    Mentioned in