What happened before Abraham left Mesopotamia?

Answer 1

He traveled back to his wife, Sarah. There they had a child, Issac, even though Sarah and Abraham were very old.

TRIVIA: Who were the three Patriarcs? Abraham, Issac and Jacob (Issac's son.)

Answer 2

Abraham came from Mesopotamian ancestry that had been aware of God a couple of centuries earlier but had afterwards slipped into idolatry (Joshua 24:2). (See: How did polytheism start.)

By the time of Abraham, the area where he lived was full of pagan cults; they were polytheistic, worshiping multiple deities. Abraham became the first to advance the idea of ethical monotheism: the worship of One God, and the appropriate ethical code of conduct.

Nimrod, the idolatrous tyrant, had brought Abraham's father (Terah) from the Semitic ancestral seat near the confluence of the Balikh and the Euphrates, and instated him in a position of power in his army in the royal Babylonian city of Ur, where Abraham was born. Nimrod persecuted any who would question his idolatrous cult.

The Kuzari (Rabbi Judah HaLevi, 1075-1141) states that Abraham was gifted with high intelligence; and, as Maimonides (1135-1204) describes, Abraham didn't blindly accept the ubiquitous idolatry. The whole populace had been duped, but the young Abraham contemplated the matter relentlessly, finally arriving at the conclusion that there is One God and that this should be taught to others as well. This is what is meant by his "calling out in the name of the Lord" (Genesis ch.12).

As a young man while still in Mesopotamia, he remonstrated with passersby in public, demonstrating to them the falsehood of their idols; and our tradition tells how he was threatened and endangered by Nimrod.
Subsequently, Terah relocated to Harran, and Abraham moved on to Canaan at God's command (Genesis ch.12).

Answer 3

Abraham's story begins with his birth in Ur of the Chaldees, a city in Mesopotamia. Before leaving Mesopotamia, Abraham was called by God to leave his homeland and migrate to the land of Canaan with his wife Sarai and nephew Lot. This marked the beginning of his journey and his eventual role as the patriarch of the Hebrew people.