What were the key events in Abraham's life that led to his being named the father of monotheism?

Answer 1

Firstly God changed his name from Abram to Abraham that means Father of Many. Another reason is that people at the time only worshipped many Gods and nobody believe in just one God making him the first monotheist. Another reason is that he was promised to have many descendants, all of whom would follow his techings making him the father of all who believed in one God. By Rebecca Markham

Answer 2

A:Genesis 11:31 reports that Abraham's father, Terah took Abraham, and his grandson Lot the son of Haran, from Ur in Chaldea to Haran (or Harran) in southeastern Turkey, on the way to Canaan. That the ancient city to which the family relocated had the same name as Terah's son, Haran, is on the surface a strange coincidence and suggests a deeper significance. Ur and Haran were the two principal cities of the moon god, Sin, and it is a very plausible hypothesis that this migration story is a folk memory of the spread of the moon cult from Ur to Haran and then into Palestine.

In Genesis 19, two anthropomorphic elohim (Hebrew: 'gods') came to Sodom and visited Abraham's nephew, Lot. Consistent with strict monotheism, the English translation is given as 'angels', but as the passage progresses it does not maintain this meaning very easily. The men were not mere messengers, but exercised more power than 'angels' in any other passage in The Bible, and in addition, Lot deferred to them as if to deities. When three men appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre (Genesis 18), we are left in no doubt that the Lord was present and no attempt is made to assert that the men were angels. Abraham negotiated with one of the men, the Lord, to spare the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah if good men could be found to live there.

There are numerous tantalising fragments in the Old Testament referring to traditions of human sacrifice by the early Hebrews. So, Abraham's promise to sacrifice Isaac was not an isolated incident where God was merely testing Abraham, but part of an established Hebrew tradition. Perhaps in an older version of the legend, Abraham really did perform the burnt offering. Or perhaps not. But in its present form, the story serves to warn that God no longer wanted the Hebrews to offer human sacrifices.

Genesis gives two parallel stories of Abraham where he got tangled up in his deviousness. First he told the Pharaoh that his wife Sarah was his sister, for fear that the Pharaoh would kill him in order to have sex with her (Genesis 12:13), only to be found out and banished from Egypt. Later (Genesis 20:2ff), for the same reason, he told the king of Gerar that his by now quite elderly wife (Sarah was now over 90 years old and stricken with age) really was his sister.

According to the biblical account, Noah and all Abraham's subsequent direct ancestors were still alive even when Abraham reached adulthood. For a long time, they must have seemed immortal, yet Abraham made plans in expectation of his own relatively early death (Genesis chapter 24).

A well known Jewish midrash has it that Abraham, while still a young boy, realised that his father's idols had no power, and perceived that there is but one God. If we give this legend any credence, we should be surprised that it was left to a young boy to reveal the truth about God, in the face of such overwhelming evidence as the Flood and the reliable, still living witnesses to that event. Bruce Feiler (Abraham) says that probably less than one per cent of the stories told about Abraham appear in the Bible, with an explosion of detail beginning to appear in Jewish tradition from the third century BCE onwards. And some of the information about the life of Abraham that first became known to the Jews so long after the Bible was written, was also later revealed to Muhammad by the angel Gabriel. In contrast to the midrash, the Bible itself never credits Abraham with monotheistic beliefs.

Answer 3

Abraham was married to Sarah and had two sons and several daughters. Abraham banished the eldest son, Ishmael, and was left with his "only loved son", Isaac.

When God instructed Abraham to slay Isaac, Abraham was faced with a difficult decision: to kill or not to kill? He decides to slay Isaac with the belief that God would not allow Isaac to die. As Abraham's weapon was nearing Isaac, God spared them and gave Abraham a goat to sacrifice in Isaac's place.

Abraham was loyal and followed the Lord's orders religiously (pun intended). He became known as the "Model of Faith" after the Isaac incident.

Answer:

Abraham turned away from the worship of idols as a young man. His people therefore persecuted and even tried to have him killed. Having found the One God, he was commanded to leave his land of Ur of the Chaldees (present day Iraq).

Abraham's wife Sarah could not bear children, so Abraham took a bondwoman, whom Sarah gave to him, as his second mate. According to the Bible in Hebrew she was a concubine. According to Islamic sources, she was his second wife.

Answer 4

Moses was an Israelite, a great-great grandson of Jacob. He was born 245 years after the death of Abraham. The time when Moses was born was when the Pharaoh had ordered his people to kill all Israelite male infants because he (Pharaoh) was afraid that the Israelites would become too strong for him (Exodus ch.1-2).

Moses' mother didn't want him to die. So she made a basket for him and put him in it to float in the Nile reeds. He was found by Pharaoh's daughter, who took pity on him (Exodus ch.2) and raised him as her own son.

Moses was forced to flee after killing a cruel Egyptian taskmaster, and went to Midian, where he wedded the daughter of Jethro.

He eventually achieved the highest level of prophecy (Deuteronomy ch.34) and was called upon by God (Exodus ch.3). He brought the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery (Exodus ch.12). He received the Torah from God (Exodus 24:12) and later recorded it in writing (Deuteronomy 31:24). He went up on Mount Sinai for 40 days and nights (Deuteronomy ch.9-10) and brought down the Two Stone Tablets with the Ten Commandments (Exodus 31:18). He brought the Israelites into the covenant with God (Exodus ch.19 and ch.24), and he oversaw the building of the Tabernacle (Exodus ch.35-40). He was the humblest of men and the greatest of prophets (Numbers ch.12).

See also:

What problems did Moses face and overcome?

How did Moses know he was an Israelite?

1) In those days, Israelite custom was to nurse babies for up to four years. Since it was his own mother who nursed him (Exodus 2:8-9), his family had plenty of time to teach him before he was returned to Pharaoh's daughter (Exodus 2:10) to live in the palace.
2) Moses was not a prisoner in the royal palace. He came and went as he pleased (Exodus 2:11 and 2:13) and sought out his people (ibid).

Did Moses ever sin or make a mistake?

1) The claim to infallibility is a sure sign of megalomania and prevarication. The Hebrew Bible, because of its Divine origin, kowtows to no man, and prominently spotlights the faults of even its greatest protagonists. In this regard it is unique in ancient literature.

2) Moses' sin is mentioned (Numbers 20:12 and 24) again and again (Numbers ch.27, Deuteronomy ch.32). He struck the rock which was, by a miracle of God, made into a source of water (Numbers ch.20). He was supposed to speak to the rock instead (ibid). Striking the rock served to slightly diminish the miracle.

It should be self-understood that this criticism of Moses is only in proportion to his greatness. In the final analysis, he remained the most godly person who ever lived (Deuteronomy ch.34).

Answer 5

Abraham Lincoln's important childhood event is that he read alot.

Answer 6

He did everything in faith of god , from relocating , having a son at 100 years, ready to sacrifice his only son Isaac, and divide the land between Lot and him.

Answer 7

For sure Abraham's name used to be Abram.