Abraham

Category: Great Bible Leaders


Abraham was one of the biblical patriarchs and a major founding father of the tribe of Israel. His story is told in Genesis Chapter 11-25 in the Bible. He played a prominent role in the founding of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

He was a soldier and business man; a man of faith who feared and revered God.


According to the Jewish religion and Christianity, Abraham is the father of the Israelites through his son Isaac. In Islam, Abraham is considered as a prophet of Islam, and ancestor of Muhammad, through Ishmael.

In the New Testament of the Bible, Abraham is described as a man of faith. He is regarded as the Patron saint of those in the hospitality industry.

Abram was his first name before his encounter with God. He was born in Kasdrin to Terah and Edna. His other siblings are Haran and Nahor.

Abraham later married a barren named Sarah.

One of his brothers, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, and then their father, Terah left their home town with his son Abram and his wife, Sarai and also Lot his grandson and son of his late son, Haran.

At the age of 205, Terah died and Abram became independent, then God appeared to him instructing him to leave his home country to a place where he would show him.

He obeyed God and took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot and all his riches to Shechem in Canaan.

When they got to Canaan, there was severe famine in the land which made them to take refuge in Egypt. The king of Egypt saw Sarai and liked her. Both Sarai and Abram agreed to let the king have Sarai claiming that she was Abram’s sister.

God afflicted the king and his household with plagues and it was revealed to the king that he suffered the plague because he took another man’s wife. This made Pharaoh, the king to immediately send Abram and Sarai away from his land with all the wealth he had initially given to Abram.

When they left Egypt, they went to Bethel were Abram parted ways with his longtime acquaintance, Lot his nephew.

His military background surfaced when he had to rescue his nephew Lot from the Elamite forces. Lot lived in Sodom after he departed from his uncle Abram. While in Sodom, the Elamite forces attacked Sodom, and Lot was one of those captured.

When Abram heard of this, he immediately formed an army of 318 trained servants who helped him to defeat the Elamite army, and rescued his nephew, Lot.

Because Abraham and his wife Sarah had no children, Sarah suggested to him to have a child with her handmaid, Hagar so that they won’t die childless. Abram agreed and had sexual intercourse with Hagar who bears Abraham his first born, Ishmael when Abram was eighty six years old.

At the age of ninety-nine, God instructed him to change his name to Abraham and that of his wife from Sarai to Sarah.

They later settled between Kadesh and Shur in the land of the Philistines. And Sarah became pregnant and bore Isaac.

Sarah died at the age of 127 and Abraham buried her in the Cave of the Patriarchs near Hebron.

Abraham later married another wife, Keturah after the death of Sarah. She bore him six sons; Zimran, Joksham, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah.

He lived for 175 years and died in a good old age. He was buried in the Cave of Machpelah also known as the Cave of the Patriarchs.

His children are, Isaac, Ishmael, Midian, Jokshan, Shuah, Zimiran, Medan, Ishbak.

Reference:

Wikipedia

The Holy Bible (Genesis 11-25)

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