Do you remember singing that song in Vacation Bible School? I sure do. I'd be singing and turning around and dancing. What a fun song that was.
Abraham is the patriarch of three religions: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. He was the father of the Israelite nation through his son Isaac, and also the father of Ishmael, who is considered to be the ancestor of many Arab peoples.
Abraham is known for his unwavering faith in God, demonstrated notably through his willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac in obedience to God's command, though he was ultimately spared. His story symbolizes the importance of faith, obedience, and trust in divine providence across religious traditions.
A Little About The Beginning of His Life - The Bullet Points:
Abram was his name prior to becoming Abraham.
His father was Terah and he had two brothers (Nahor and Haran)
His brother Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans
Abraham married Sarah (called Sarai to begin with.)
Lot (who was Haran's son) went with Abraham and Sarah from Ur of the Chaldeans to Canaan but when they got to Haran they stayed there.
Abraham's dad died at age 205 in Haran.
Abraham was told to leave his country, people, and father's house to go to the place God would show him.
This made me wonder about how God had first reached out to him, because according to  Joshua 24:2-3, him, his brother, and father all served other gods.
Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods. But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac, and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt.
I found that crazy amazing. And it made me sit and wonder how God came to him. Was Abraham out with his sheep when God started speaking to him? When he called Abraham?
Abraham was promised that he'd become a great nation. That God would make his name great (Which I think is a cool correlation back to the Tower of Babel... it never works out when we chase to make a great name for ourselves. It always falls flat, but when God calls you and you follow him, he makes a great name for you.
He was 75 when they (Him, Sarah, and Lot) set out from Haran.
They traveled to the great tree of Shechem. Moreh means teacher. It might have been an oak.
Canaanite people were in the land and it's believed that they worshiped the trees.
While there God told Abraham that to his offspring he'd give that land.
Abraham built the first altar there.
Then he went toward Bethel (east of the hills) and built another altar there and called on the name of the Lord. Then they left toward the Negev.
There was a famine and so Abraham went to Egypt.
When they went into Egypt, Abraham was scared that he'd be killed because Sarah was beautiful, so he told Sarah to tell people that she was his sister.
This was something I've never understood. I mean I can understand fear and I'm sure he was scared he'd be killed. But how weird to say that to strangers. And the crazy thing, that our friend Abe actually did this more than once. You'd think he would have learned.
God inflicted plagues on Pharoah and his house because of Sarah.
So Pharoah called upon Abraham and was mad at him for saying that Sarah was his sister and not just his wife. (Oddly enough, she was his half-sister.)
They headed to Negev where he'd built an altar and called upon the Lord.
Conflict and quarreling rose up between Lot and Abraham's herdsmen so they agreed to split ways. Lot chose the whole plain of the Jordan. Abraham lived in the land of Canaan.
Abraham moved to the site that's known as the great trees of Mamre at Hebron.
Lot was taken captive and Abraham rescued him.
Sarah wasn't able to have children so she handed her maidservant (Hagar) off to Abraham
But when Hagar became pregnant, Sarah got jealous, and they sent her away.
God renamed Abram, into Abraham. And Sarai into Sarah!
Three visitors came to visit Abraham (one being the angel of the Lord) and he told Abraham that he'd return in a year's time and Sarah would have a son.
God plans on destroying Sodom and Abraham pleads with the Lord to save the righteous. And God agrees that he will save the righteous. He saves Lot, his wife, and daughters. (Later the wife turns to salt when she looks back at Sodom.)
Abraham moved to the region of the Negev between Kadesh and Shur. When in Gerar he said his wife Sarah was his sister again.
AGAIN, ABRAHAM? Again?? Why this is happening so often with him, I have no idea. So afraid that people were going to kill him because of his pretty wife.
Isaac is born.
Hagar and Ishmael are sent away.
Abraham is tested. God tells him to offer Isaac as a burnt offering to the Lord. And he takes him to Mount Moriah.
DID YOU KNOW? That Mount Moriah also is where the Temple Mount was built? Isn't that amazing. What a cool correlation between a ram being provided and Jesus being provided for our sins? Absolutely love this.
