abraham

3 definitions found

abraham - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  Abraham
      n 1: the first of the Old Testament patriarchs and the father of
           Isaac; according to Genesis, God promised to give Abraham's
           family (the Hebrews) the land of Canaan (the Promised
           Land); God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his
           son; "Judaism, Christianity, and Islam each has a special
           claim on Abraham" [syn: Abraham, Ibrahim]

abraham - Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary :

  Abraham
  father of a multitude, son of Terah, named (Gen. 11:27) before
  his older brothers Nahor and Haran, because he was the heir of
  the promises. Till the age of seventy, Abram sojourned among his
  kindred in his native country of Chaldea. He then, with his
  father and his family and household, quitted the city of Ur, in
  which he had hitherto dwelt, and went some 300 miles north to
  Haran, where he abode fifteen years. The cause of his migration
  was a call from God (Acts 7:2-4). There is no mention of this
  first call in the Old Testament; it is implied, however, in Gen.
  12. While they tarried at Haran, Terah died at the age of 205
  years. Abram now received a second and more definite call,
  accompanied by a promise from God (Gen. 12:1,2); whereupon he
  took his departure, taking his nephew Lot with him, "not knowing
  whither he went" (Heb. 11:8). He trusted implicitly to the
  guidance of Him who had called him.
  
    Abram now, with a large household of probably a thousand
  souls, entered on a migratory life, and dwelt in tents. Passing
  along the valley of the Jabbok, in the land of Canaan, he formed
  his first encampment at Sichem (Gen. 12:6), in the vale or
  oak-grove of Moreh, between Ebal on the north and Gerizim on the
  south. Here he received the great promise, "I will make of thee
  a great nation," etc. (Gen. 12:2,3,7). This promise comprehended
  not only temporal but also spiritual blessings. It implied that
  he was the chosen ancestor of the great Deliverer whose coming
  had been long ago predicted (Gen. 3:15). Soon after this, for
  some reason not mentioned, he removed his tent to the mountain
  district between Bethel, then called Luz, and Ai, towns about
  two miles apart, where he built an altar to "Jehovah." He again
  moved into the southern tract of Palestine, called by the
  Hebrews the Negeb; and was at length, on account of a famine,
  compelled to go down into Egypt. This took place in the time of
  the Hyksos, a Semitic race which now held the Egyptians in
  bondage. Here occurred that case of deception on the part of
  Abram which exposed him to the rebuke of Pharaoh (Gen. 12:18).
  Sarai was restored to him; and Pharaoh loaded him with presents,
  recommending him to withdraw from the country. He returned to
  Canaan richer than when he left it, "in cattle, in silver, and
  in gold" (Gen. 12:8; 13:2. Comp. Ps. 105:13, 14). The whole
  party then moved northward, and returned to their previous
  station near Bethel. Here disputes arose between Lot's shepherds
  and those of Abram about water and pasturage. Abram generously
  gave Lot his choice of the pasture-ground. (Comp. 1 Cor. 6:7.)
  He chose the well-watered plain in which Sodom was situated, and
  removed thither; and thus the uncle and nephew were separated.
  Immediately after this Abram was cheered by a repetition of the
  promises already made to him, and then removed to the plain or
  "oak-grove" of Mamre, which is in Hebron. He finally settled
  here, pitching his tent under a famous oak or terebinth tree,
  called "the oak of Mamre" (Gen. 13:18). This was his third
  resting-place in the land.
  
    Some fourteen years before this, while Abram was still in
  Chaldea, Palestine had been invaded by Chedorlaomer, King of
  Elam, who brought under tribute to him the five cities in the
  plain to which Lot had removed. This tribute was felt by the
  inhabitants of these cities to be a heavy burden, and after
  twelve years they revolted. This brought upon them the vengeance
  of Chedorlaomer, who had in league with him four other kings. He
  ravaged the whole country, plundering the towns, and carrying
  the inhabitants away as slaves. Among those thus treated was
  Lot. Hearing of the disaster that had fallen on his nephew,
  Abram immediately gathered from his own household a band of 318
  armed men, and being joined by the Amoritish chiefs Mamre, Aner,
  and Eshcol, he pursued after Chedorlaomer, and overtook him near
  the springs of the Jordan. They attacked and routed his army,
  and pursued it over the range of Anti-Libanus as far as to
  Hobah, near Damascus, and then returned, bringing back all the
  spoils that had been carried away. Returning by way of Salem,
  i.e., Jerusalem, the king of that place, Melchizedek, came forth
  to meet them with refreshments. To him Abram presented a tenth
  of the spoils, in recognition of his character as a priest of
  the most high God (Gen. 14:18-20).
  
    In a recently-discovered tablet, dated in the reign of the
  grandfather of Amraphel (Gen. 14:1), one of the witnesses is
  called "the Amorite, the son of Abiramu," or Abram.
  
    Having returned to his home at Mamre, the promises already
  made to him by God were repeated and enlarged (Gen. 13:14). "The
  word of the Lord" (an expression occurring here for the first
  time) "came to him" (15:1). He now understood better the future
  that lay before the nation that was to spring from him. Sarai,
  now seventy-five years old, in her impatience, persuaded Abram
  to take Hagar, her Egyptian maid, as a concubine, intending that
  whatever child might be born should be reckoned as her own.
  Ishmael was accordingly thus brought up, and was regarded as the
  heir of these promises (Gen. 16). When Ishmael was thirteen
  years old, God again revealed yet more explicitly and fully his
  gracious purpose; and in token of the sure fulfilment of that
  purpose the patriarch's name was now changed from Abram to
  Abraham (Gen. 17:4,5), and the rite of circumcision was
  instituted as a sign of the covenant. It was then announced that
  the heir to these covenant promises would be the son of Sarai,
  though she was now ninety years old; and it was directed that
  his name should be Isaac. At the same time, in commemoration of
  the promises, Sarai's name was changed to Sarah. On that
  memorable day of God's thus revealing his design, Abraham and
  his son Ishmael and all the males of his house were circumcised
  (Gen. 17). Three months after this, as Abraham sat in his tent
  door, he saw three men approaching. They accepted his proffered
  hospitality, and, seated under an oak-tree, partook of the fare
  which Abraham and Sarah provided. One of the three visitants was
  none other than the Lord, and the other two were angels in the
  guise of men. The Lord renewed on this occasion his promise of a
  son by Sarah, who was rebuked for her unbelief. Abraham
  accompanied the three as they proceeded on their journey. The
  two angels went on toward Sodom; while the Lord tarried behind
  and talked with Abraham, making known to him the destruction
  that was about to fall on that guilty city. The patriarch
  interceded earnestly in behalf of the doomed city. But as not
  even ten righteous persons were found in it, for whose sake the
  city would have been spared, the threatened destruction fell
  upon it; and early next morning Abraham saw the smoke of the
  fire that consumed it as the "smoke of a furnace" (Gen.
  19:1-28).
  
    After fifteen years' residence at Mamre, Abraham moved
  southward, and pitched his tent among the Philistines, near to
  Gerar. Here occurred that sad instance of prevarication on his
  part in his relation to Abimelech the King (Gen. 20). (See ABIMELECH.)
  Soon after this event, the patriarch left
  the vicinity of Gerar, and moved down the fertile valley about
  25 miles to Beer-sheba. It was probably here that Isaac was
  born, Abraham being now an hundred years old. A feeling of
  jealousy now arose between Sarah and Hagar, whose son, Ishmael,
  was no longer to be regarded as Abraham's heir. Sarah insisted
  that both Hagar and her son should be sent away. This was done,
  although it was a hard trial to Abraham (Gen. 21:12). (See HAGAR
  �T0001583; ISHMAEL.)
  
    At this point there is a blank in the patriarch's history of
  perhaps twenty-five years. These years of peace and happiness
  were spent at Beer-sheba. The next time we see him his faith is
  put to a severe test by the command that suddenly came to him to
  go and offer up Isaac, the heir of all the promises, as a
  sacrifice on one of the mountains of Moriah. His faith stood the
  test (Heb. 11:17-19). He proceeded in a spirit of unhesitating
  obedience to carry out the command; and when about to slay his
  son, whom he had laid on the altar, his uplifted hand was
  arrested by the angel of Jehovah, and a ram, which was entangled
  in a thicket near at hand, was seized and offered in his stead.
  From this circumstance that place was called Jehovah-jireh,
  i.e., "The Lord will provide." The promises made to Abraham were
  again confirmed (and this was the last recorded word of God to
  the patriarch); and he descended the mount with his son, and
  returned to his home at Beer-sheba (Gen. 22:19), where he
  resided for some years, and then moved northward to Hebron.
  
    Some years after this Sarah died at Hebron, being 127 years
  old. Abraham acquired now the needful possession of a
  burying-place, the cave of Machpelah, by purchase from the owner
  of it, Ephron the Hittite (Gen. 23); and there he buried Sarah.
  His next care was to provide a wife for Isaac, and for this
  purpose he sent his steward, Eliezer, to Haran (or Charran, Acts
  7:2), where his brother Nahor and his family resided (Gen.
  11:31). The result was that Rebekah, the daughter of Nahor's son
  Bethuel, became the wife of Isaac (Gen. 24). Abraham then
  himself took to wife Keturah, who became the mother of six sons,
  whose descendants were afterwards known as the "children of the
  east" (Judg. 6:3), and later as "Saracens." At length all his
  wanderings came to an end. At the age of 175 years, 100 years
  after he had first entered the land of Canaan, he died, and was
  buried in the old family burying-place at Machpelah (Gen.
  25:7-10).
  
    The history of Abraham made a wide and deep impression on the
  ancient world, and references to it are interwoven in the
  religious traditions of almost all Eastern nations. He is called
  "the friend of God" (James 2:23), "faithful Abraham" (Gal. 3:9),
  "the father of us all" (Rom. 4:16).

abraham - U.S. Gazetteer (1990) :

  Abraham, WV
    Zip code(s): 25918