Reference: Abraham
American
Father of a multitude, Ge 17:4-5; the great founder of the Jewish nation. He was a son of Terah, a descendant of Shem, and born in Ur, a city of Chaldea, A.M. 2008, B. C. 1996, Ge 11:27-28. Here he lived seventy years, when at the call of God he left his idolatrous kindred, and removed to Haran, in Mesopotamia, Ac 7:2-4, accompanied by his father, his wife Sarai, his brother Nahor, and his nephew Lot. A few years after, having buried his father, he again removed at the call of God, with his wife and nephew, and entered the land of promise as a nomad or wandering shepherd. Sojourning for a time at Shechem, he built here, as was his custom, an alter to the Lord, who appeared to him, and promised that land to his seed. Removing from place to place for convenience of water and pasturage, he was at length driven by a famine into Egypt, where he dissembled in calling his wife his sister, Ge 12. Returning to Canaan rich in flocks and herds, he left Lot to dwell in the fertile valley of the lower Jordan, and pitched his own tents in Mamre, Ge 13. A few years after, he rescued Lot and his friends from captivity, and received the blessing of Melchizedek, Ge 14. Again God appeared to him, promised that his seed should be like the stars for number, and foretold their oppression in Egypt 400 years, and their return to possess the promised land, Ge 15. But the promise of a son being yet unfulfilled, Sarai gave him Hagar her maid for a secondary wife, of whom Ishmael was born, Ge 16. After thirteen years, God again appeared to him, and assured him that the heir of the promise should yet be born of his wife, whose name was then changed to Sarah. He established also the covenant of circumcision, Ge 17. Here, too, occurred the visit of the three angels, and the memorable intercession with the Angel-Jehovah for the inhabitants of Sodom, Ge 18. After this, Abraham journeyed south to Gerah, where he again called Sarah his sister. In this region Isaac was born; and soon after, Hagar and Ishmael were driven out to seek a new home, Ge 21. About twenty-five years after, God put to trial the faith of Abraham, by commanding him to sacrifice Isaac, his son and the heir of the promise, upon Mount Moriah, Ge 22. Twelve years after, Sarah died, and the cave of Machpelag was bought for a burial-place, Ge 23. Abraham sent his steward, and obtained a wife for Isaac from his pious kindred in Mesopotamia, Ge 24. He himself also married Keturah, and had six sons, each one the founder of a distinct people in Arabia. At the age of 175, full of years and honors, he died, and was buried by his sons in the same tomb with Sarah, Ge 25.
The character of Abraham is one of the most remarkable in Scripture. He was a genuine oriental patriarch, a prince in the land; his property was large, his retinue very numerous, and he commanded the respect of the neighboring people: and yet he was truly a stranger and a pilgrim, the only land he possessed being the burial-place he had purchased. Distinguished by his integrity, generosity, and hospitality, he was most of all remarkable for his simple and unwavering faith, a faith that obeyed without hesitation or delay, and recoiled not from the most fearful trial ever imposed upon man, so that he is justly styled "the father of the faithful," that is, of believers. No name in history is venerated by so large a portion of the human race, Mohammedans as well as Jews and Christians. As the ancestor of Christ, in whom all the nations are blessed, and as the father of all believers, the covenant is abundantly fulfilled to him: his seed are as the stars of heaven and with them he shall inherit the heavenly Canaan.
ABRAHAM'S BOSOM. In Lu 16:22, Lazarus is said to have been carried to Abraham's bosom, that is, to the state of bliss in paradise which the father of the faithful was enjoying. This is often represented by a feast, by sitting down to a banquet, Mt 8:11; Lu 13:29. To lie on one's bosom refers to the oriental mode of reclining at table, Joh 13:23. See EATING.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And these are births of Terah: Terah hath begotten Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran hath begotten Lot; and Haran dieth in the presence of Terah his father, in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldees.
I -- lo, My covenant is with thee, and thou hast become father of a multitude of nations; and thy name is no more called Abram, but thy name hath been Abraham, for father of a multitude of nations have I made thee;
and I say to you, that many from east and west shall come and recline (at meat) with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the reign of the heavens,
and they shall come from east and west, and from north and south, and shall recline in the reign of God,
And it came to pass, that the poor man died, and that he was carried away by the messengers to the bosom of Abraham -- and the rich man also died, and was buried;
And there was one of his disciples reclining (at meat) in the bosom of Jesus, whom Jesus was loving;
and he said, 'Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken: The God of the glory did appear to our father Abraham, being in Mesopotamia, before his dwelling in Haran, and He said to him, Go forth out of thy land, and out of thy kindred, and come to a land that I shall shew thee. read more. 'Then having come forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, he dwelt in Haran, and from thence, after the death of his father, He did remove him to this land wherein ye now dwell,
Easton
father of a multitude, son of Terah, named (Ge 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 (Ac 7:2-4). There is no mention of this first call in the Old Testament; it is implied, however, in Ge 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 (Ge 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 (Ge 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. (Ge 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 (Ge 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 (Ge 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" (Ge 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. 1Co 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" (Ge 13:18). This was his third resting-place in the land.
Illustration: Semitic Family
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 (Ge 14:18-20).
In a recently-discovered tablet, dated in the reign of the grandfather of Amraphel (Ge 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 (Ge 13:14). "The word of the Lord" (an expression occurring here for the first time) "came to him" (Ge 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 (Ge 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 (Ge 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 (Ge 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" (Ge 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 (Ge 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 (Ge 21:12). (See Hagar; 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 offe
See Verses Found in Dictionary
and enmity I put between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; he doth bruise thee -- the head, and thou dost bruise him -- the heel.'
And these are births of Terah: Terah hath begotten Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran hath begotten Lot;
And Terah taketh Abram his son, and Lot, son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, wife of Abram his son, and they go out with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go towards the land of Canaan; and they come unto Charan, and dwell there.
And Jehovah saith unto Abram, 'Go for thyself, from thy land, and from thy kindred, and from the house of thy father, unto the land which I shew thee. And I make thee become a great nation, and bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing.
And I make thee become a great nation, and bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing. And I bless those blessing thee, and him who is disesteeming thee I curse, and blessed in thee have been all families of the ground.'
And Abram passeth over into the land, unto the place Shechem, unto the oak of Moreh; and the Canaanite is then in the land. And Jehovah appeareth unto Abram, and saith, 'To thy seed I give this land;' and he buildeth there an altar to Jehovah, who hath appeared unto him. read more. And he removeth from thence towards a mountain at the east of Beth-El, and stretcheth out the tent (Beth-El at the west, and Hai at the east), and he buildeth there an altar to Jehovah, and preacheth in the name of Jehovah.
And Pharaoh calleth for Abram, and saith, 'What is this thou hast done to me? why hast thou not declared to me that she is thy wife?
and Abram is exceedingly wealthy in cattle, in silver, and in gold.
And Jehovah said unto Abram, after Lot's being parted from him, 'Lift up, I pray thee, thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward;
And Abram tenteth, and cometh, and dwelleth among the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and buildeth there an altar to Jehovah.
And it cometh to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goyim,
And Melchizedek king of Salem hath brought out bread and wine, and he is priest of God Most High; and he blesseth him, and saith, 'Blessed is Abram to God Most High, possessing heaven and earth; read more. and blessed is God Most High, who hath delivered thine adversaries into thy hand;' and he giveth to him a tenth of all.
After these things hath the word of Jehovah been unto Abram in a vision, saying, 'Fear not, Abram, I am a shield to thee, thy reward is exceeding great.'
I -- lo, My covenant is with thee, and thou hast become father of a multitude of nations; and thy name is no more called Abram, but thy name hath been Abraham, for father of a multitude of nations have I made thee;
And two of the messengers come towards Sodom at even, and Lot is sitting at the gate of Sodom, and Lot seeth, and riseth to meet them, and boweth himself -- face to the earth, and he saith, 'Lo, I pray you, my lords, turn aside, I pray you, unto the house of your servant, and lodge, and wash your feet -- then ye have risen early and gone on your way;' and they say, 'Nay, but in the broad place we do lodge.' read more. And he presseth on them greatly, and they turn aside unto him, and come in unto his house; and he maketh for them a banquet, and hath baked unleavened things; and they do eat. Before they lie down, the men of the city -- men of Sodom -- have come round about against the house, from young even unto aged, all the people from the extremity; and they call unto Lot and say to him, 'Where are the men who have come in unto thee to-night? bring them out unto us, and we know them.' And Lot goeth out unto them, to the opening, and the door hath shut behind him, and saith, 'Do not, I pray you, my brethren, do evil; lo, I pray you, I have two daughters, who have not known any one; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do to them as is good in your eyes; only to these men do not anything, for therefore have they come in within the shadow of my roof.' And they say, 'Come nigh hither;' they say also, 'This one hath come in to sojourn, and he certainly judgeth! now, we do evil to thee more than to them;' and they press against the man, against Lot greatly, and come nigh to break the door. And the men put forth their hand, and bring in Lot unto them, into the house, and have shut the door; and the men who are at the opening of the house they have smitten with blindness, from small even unto great, and they weary themselves to find the opening. And the men say unto Lot, 'Whom hast thou here still? son-in-law, thy sons also, and thy daughters, and all whom thou hast in the city, bring out from this place; for we are destroying this place, for their cry hath been great before the face of Jehovah, and Jehovah doth send us to destroy it.' And Lot goeth out, and speaketh unto his sons-in-law, those taking his daughters, and saith, 'Rise, go out from this place, for Jehovah is destroying the city;' and he is as one mocking in the eyes of his sons-in-law. And when the dawn hath ascended, then the messengers press upon Lot, saying, 'Rise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters who are found present, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.' And he lingereth, and the men lay hold on his hand, and on the hand of his wife, and on the hand of his two daughters, through the mercy of Jehovah unto him, and they bring him out, and cause him to rest without the city. And it cometh to pass when he hath brought them out without, that he saith, 'Escape for thy life; look not expectingly behind thee, nor stand thou in all the circuit; to the mountain escape, lest thou be consumed.' And Lot saith unto them, 'Not so, I pray thee, my lord; lo, I pray thee, thy servant hath found grace in thine eyes, and thou dost make great thy kindness which thou hast done with me by saving my life, and I am unable to escape to the mountain, lest the evil cleave to me, and I have died; lo, I pray thee, this city is near to flee thither, and it is little; let me escape, I pray thee, thither, (is it not little?) and my soul doth live.' And he saith unto him, 'Lo, I have accepted thy face also for this thing, without overthrowing the city for which thou hast spoken; haste, escape thither, for I am not able to do anything till thine entering thither;' therefore hath he calleth the name of the city Zoar. The sun hath gone out on the earth, and Lot hath entered into Zoar, and Jehovah hath rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah, from the heavens; and He overthroweth these cities, and all the circuit, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which is shooting up from the ground. And his wife looketh expectingly from behind him, and she is -- a pillar of salt! And Abraham riseth early in the morning, unto the place where he hath stood before the face of Jehovah; and he looketh on the face of Sodom and Gomorrah, and on all the face of the land of the circuit, and seeth, and lo, the smoke of the land went up as smoke of the furnace.
and God saith unto Abraham, 'Let it not be wrong in thine eyes because of the youth, and because of thy handmaid: all that Sarah saith unto thee -- hearken to her voice, for in Isaac is a seed called to thee.
And Abraham turneth back unto his young men, and they rise and go together unto Beer-Sheba; and Abraham dwelleth in Beer-Sheba.
And these are the days of the years of the life of Abraham, which he lived, a hundred and seventy and five years; and Abraham expireth, and dieth in a good old age, aged and satisfied, and is gathered unto his people. read more. And Isaac and Ishmael his sons bury him at the cave of Machpelah, at the field of Ephron, son of Zoar the Hittite, which is before Mamre -- the field which Abraham bought from the sons of Heth -- there hath Abraham been buried, and Sarah his wife.
And it hath been, if Israel hath sowed, that Midian hath come up, and Amalek, and the sons of the east, yea, they have come up against him,
And they go up and down, from nation unto nation, From a kingdom unto another people. He hath not suffered any to oppress them And He reproveth for their sakes kings.
and he said, 'Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken: The God of the glory did appear to our father Abraham, being in Mesopotamia, before his dwelling in Haran,
and he said, 'Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken: The God of the glory did appear to our father Abraham, being in Mesopotamia, before his dwelling in Haran, and He said to him, Go forth out of thy land, and out of thy kindred, and come to a land that I shall shew thee. read more. 'Then having come forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, he dwelt in Haran, and from thence, after the death of his father, He did remove him to this land wherein ye now dwell,
Because of this it is of faith, that it may be according to grace, for the promise being sure to all the seed, not to that which is of the law only, but also to that which is of the faith of Abraham,
Already, indeed, then, there is altogether a fault among you, that ye have judgments with one another; wherefore do ye not rather suffer injustice? wherefore be ye not rather defrauded?
'Blessed in thee shall be all the nations;' so that those of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham,
By faith Abraham, being called, did obey, to go forth to the place that he was about to receive for an inheritance, and he went forth, not knowing whither he doth go;
By faith Abraham hath offered up Isaac, being tried, and the only begotten he did offer up who did receive the promises, of whom it was said -- 'In Isaac shall a seed be called to thee;' read more. reckoning that even out of the dead God is able to raise up, whence also in a figure he did receive him.
and fulfilled was the Writing that is saying, 'And Abraham did believe God, and it was reckoned to him -- to righteousness;' and, 'Friend of God' he was called.
Fausets
Abraham ("father of a multitude".) Up to Ge 17:4-5, his being sealed with circumcision, the sign of the covenant, ABRAM (father of elevation). Son of Terah, brother of Nahor and Haran. Progenitor of the Hebrew, Arabs, Edomites, and kindred tribes; the ninth in descent from Shem, through Heber. Haran died before Terah, leaving Lot and two daughters, Milcah and Iscah. Nahor married his niece Milcah: Abraham Iscah, i.e. Sarai, daughter, i.e. granddaughter, of his father, not of his mother (Ge 20:12). Ur, his home, is the modern Mugheir, the primeval capital of Chaldaea; its inscriptions are probably of the 22nd century B.C. The alphabetical Hebrew system is Phoenician, and was probably brought by Abraham to Canaan, where it became modified. Abraham, at God's call, went forth from Ur of the Chaldees (Ge 11:12-31).
In Haran Terah died. The statement in Ge 11:26, that Terah was 70 when he begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran, must apply only to the oldest, Haran. His being oldest appears from the fact that his brothers married his daughters, and that Sarai was only ten years younger than Abraham (Ge 17:17); the two younger were born subsequently, Abram, the youngest, when Terah was 130, as appears from comparing Ge 11:31 with Ge 12:4; Ac 7:3-4; "before he dwelt in Charran Haran, while he was in Mesopotamia," in his 60th year, at Ur he received his first call: "Depart from thy land, to a land which I will show thee" (as yet the exact land was not defined). In Haran he received a second call: "Depart from thy father's house unto THE land (Heb., Ge 12:1( which I will show thee;" and with it a promise, temporal (that God would bless him, and make him founder of a great nation) and spiritual (that in him all families of the earth should be blessed).
The deluge, the revelation to Noah, and the Babel dispersion had failed to counteract the universal tendency to idolatrous apostasy, obliterating every trace of primitive piety. God therefore provided an antidote in separating one family and nation to be the repository of His truth against the fullness of time when it should be revealed to the whole world. From Jos 24:2,14-15, it appears Terah and his family served other gods beyond the Euphrates. Silly traditions as to Terah being a maker of idols, and Abraham having been east into a fiery furnace by Nimrod for disbelief in idols, were drawn from this Scripture, and from Ur ("fire"). The second call additionally required that, now when his father was dead and filial duty had been discharged, after the stay of 15 years in Haran, he should leave his father's house, i.e. his brother Nahor's family, in Haran. The call was personally to himself.
He was to be isolated not only from his nation but from his family. Lot, his nephew, accompanied him, being regarded probably as his heir, as the promise of seed and the specification of his exact destination were only by degrees unfolded to him (Heb 11:8). Nicolaus of Damascus ascribed to him the conquest of Damascus on his way to Canaan. Scripture records nothing further than that his chief servant was Eliezer of Damascus; he pursued Chedorlaomer to Hobah, on the left of Damascus, subsequently (Ge 14:15), Abraham entered Canaan along the valley of the Jabbok, and encamped first in the rich Moreh valley, near Sichem, between mounts Ebal and Gerizim. There he received a confirmation of the promise, specifying "this land" as that which the original more general promise pointed to. Here therefore he built his first altar to God. The unfriendly attitude of the Canaanites induced him next to move to the mountain country between Bethel and Ai, where also he built an altar to Jehovah, whose worship was fast passing into oblivion in the world.
Famine led him to Egypt, the granary of the world, next. The record of his unbelieving cowardice there, and virtual lie as to Sarai (See ABIMELECH) is a striking proof of the candor of Scripture. Its heroes' faults are not glossed over; each saint not only falls at times, but is represented as failing in the very grace (e.g. Abraham in faith) for which he was most noted. Probably the Hyksos (akin to the Hebrew), or shepherds' dynasty, reigned then at Memphis, which would make Abraham's visit specially acceptable there. On his return his first visit was to the altar which he had erected to Jehovah before his fall (compare Ge 13:4 with Ho 2:7; Re 2:5). The greatness of his and Lot's substance prevented their continuing together. The promise of a direct heir too may have influenced Lot, as, no longer being heir, to seek a more fixed home, in the region of Sodom, than he had with Abraham, "dwelling in tents." Contrast the children of the world with the children of God (Heb 11:9-10,16-18). His third resting place was Mamre, near Hebron ("association", namely, that of Abraham, Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner; next called Kirjath Arba; then it resumed its old name, Hebron, the future capital of Judah). This position, communicating with Egypt, and opening on the pastures of Beersheba, marks the greater power of his retinue now, as compared with what it was when he encamped in the mountain fastness of Ai.
Fourteen years previously Chedorlaomer, king of Elam (the region S. of Assyria, E. of Persia, Susiana), the chief sovereign, with Amrephar of Shinar (Babylon), Arioch of Ellasar (the Chaldean Larissa, or Larsa, half way between Ur, or Mugheir, and Erech, or Warka, in Lower Babylonia), and Tidal, king of nations, attacked Bera of Sodom, Birsha of Gomorrah, Shinab of Admah, and Shemeber of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela or Zoar, because after twelve bears of subordination they "rebelled" (Genesis 14). Babylon was originally the predominant power; but a recently deciphered Assyrian record states that an Elamitie king, Kudur Nakhunta, conquered Babylon 2296 B.C. Kudur Mabuk is called in the inscriptions the "ravager of Syria," so that the Scripture account of Chedorlaomer (from Lagsmar, a goddess, in Semitic; answering to Mabuk in Hamitic) exactly tallies with the monumental inscriptions which call him Apda martu, "ravager," not conqueror, "of the West." Abraham, with 318 followers, and aided by the Amorite chiefs, Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner, overtook the victorious invaders near Jordan's springs, and attacked them by night from different quarters and routed them, and recovered Lot with all the men and the goods carried off.
His disinterestedness was evinced in refusing any of the goods which Arabian war usage entitled him to, lest the king of worldly Sodom should say, "I have made Abraham rich" (compare Es 9:15-16; 2Ki 5:16; contrast Lot, Ge 13:10-11). Melchizedek, one of the only native princes who still served Jehovah, and was at once king and priest, blessed Abraham in the name of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed God in Abraham's name, by a beautiful reciprocation of blessing, and ministered to him bread and wine; and Abraham "gave him tithes of all." Immediately after Abraham had refused worldly rewards Jehovah in vision said, "I am ... thy exceeding great reward." The promise now was made more specific: Eliezer shall not be thine heir, but "he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels ... Tell if thou be able to number the stars; so shall thy seed be." His faith herein was called forth to accept what was above nature on the bore word of God; so "it (his faith) was counted to him for righteousness" (Genesis 15).
Hence he passes into direct covenant relation with God, confirmed by the sign of the burning lamp (compare Isa 62:1) passing between the divided pieces of a heifer, she goat, and ram, and accompanied by the revelation that his posterity are to be afflicted in a foreign land 400 years, then to come forth and conquer Canaan when the iniquity of the Amorites shall be full. The earthly inheritance was to include the whole region "from the river of Egypt unto the ... river Euphrates," a promise only in part fulfilled under David and Solomon (2Sa 8:3; 2Ki 4:21; 2Ch 9:26). Tyre and Sidon were never conquered; therefore the complete fulfillment remains for the millennial state, when "the meek shall inherit the land," and Ps 72:8-10 shall be realized; compare Lu 20:37. The taking of Hagar the Egypt
See Verses Found in Dictionary
'And only your blood for your lives do I require; from the hand of every living thing I require it, and from the hand of man, from the hand of every man's brother I require the life of man;
'And only your blood for your lives do I require; from the hand of every living thing I require it, and from the hand of man, from the hand of every man's brother I require the life of man; whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man is his blood shed: for in the image of God hath He made man.
whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man is his blood shed: for in the image of God hath He made man.
And Arphaxad hath lived five and thirty years, and begetteth Salah.
And Arphaxad hath lived five and thirty years, and begetteth Salah. And Arphaxad liveth after his begetting Salah four hundred and three years, and begetteth sons and daughters.
And Arphaxad liveth after his begetting Salah four hundred and three years, and begetteth sons and daughters. And Salah hath lived thirty years, and begetteth Eber.
And Salah hath lived thirty years, and begetteth Eber. And Salah liveth after his begetting Eber four hundred and three years, and begetteth sons and daughters.
And Salah liveth after his begetting Eber four hundred and three years, and begetteth sons and daughters. And Eber liveth four and thirty years, and begetteth Peleg.
And Eber liveth four and thirty years, and begetteth Peleg. And Eber liveth after his begetting Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begetteth sons and daughters.
And Eber liveth after his begetting Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begetteth sons and daughters. And Peleg liveth thirty years, and begetteth Reu.
And Peleg liveth thirty years, and begetteth Reu. And Peleg liveth after his begetting Reu two hundred and nine years, and begetteth sons and daughters.
And Peleg liveth after his begetting Reu two hundred and nine years, and begetteth sons and daughters. And Reu liveth two and thirty years, and begetteth Serug.
And Reu liveth two and thirty years, and begetteth Serug. And Reu liveth after his begetting Serug two hundred and seven years, and begetteth sons and daughters.
And Reu liveth after his begetting Serug two hundred and seven years, and begetteth sons and daughters. And Serug liveth thirty years, and begetteth Nahor.
And Serug liveth thirty years, and begetteth Nahor. And Serug liveth after his begetting Nahor two hundred years, and begetteth sons and daughters.
And Serug liveth after his begetting Nahor two hundred years, and begetteth sons and daughters. And Nahor liveth nine and twenty years, and begetteth Terah.
And Nahor liveth nine and twenty years, and begetteth Terah. And Nahor liveth after his begetting Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begetteth sons and daughters.
And Nahor liveth after his begetting Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begetteth sons and daughters. And Terah liveth seventy years, and begetteth Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
And Terah liveth seventy years, and begetteth Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
And Terah liveth seventy years, and begetteth Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
And Terah liveth seventy years, and begetteth Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And these are births of Terah: Terah hath begotten Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran hath begotten Lot;
And these are births of Terah: Terah hath begotten Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran hath begotten Lot; and Haran dieth in the presence of Terah his father, in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldees.
and Haran dieth in the presence of Terah his father, in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldees. And Abram and Nahor take to themselves wives; the name of Abram's wife is Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife is Milcah, daughter of Haran, father of Milcah, and father of Iscah.
And Abram and Nahor take to themselves wives; the name of Abram's wife is Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife is Milcah, daughter of Haran, father of Milcah, and father of Iscah. And Sarai is barren -- she hath no child.
And Sarai is barren -- she hath no child. And Terah taketh Abram his son, and Lot, son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, wife of Abram his son, and they go out with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go towards the land of Canaan; and they come unto Charan, and dwell there.
And Terah taketh Abram his son, and Lot, son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, wife of Abram his son, and they go out with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go towards the land of Canaan; and they come unto Charan, and dwell there.
And Terah taketh Abram his son, and Lot, son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, wife of Abram his son, and they go out with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go towards the land of Canaan; and they come unto Charan, and dwell there.
And Terah taketh Abram his son, and Lot, son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, wife of Abram his son, and they go out with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go towards the land of Canaan; and they come unto Charan, and dwell there.
And Jehovah saith unto Abram, 'Go for thyself, from thy land, and from thy kindred, and from the house of thy father, unto the land which I shew thee.
And Jehovah saith unto Abram, 'Go for thyself, from thy land, and from thy kindred, and from the house of thy father, unto the land which I shew thee.
And Abram goeth on, as Jehovah hath spoken unto him, and Lot goeth with him, and Abram is a son of five and seventy years in his going out from Charan.
And Abram goeth on, as Jehovah hath spoken unto him, and Lot goeth with him, and Abram is a son of five and seventy years in his going out from Charan.
unto the place of the altar which he made there at the first, and there doth Abram preach in the name of Jehovah.
unto the place of the altar which he made there at the first, and there doth Abram preach in the name of Jehovah.
And Lot lifteth up his eyes, and seeth the whole circuit of the Jordan that it is all a watered country (before Jehovah's destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, as Jehovah's garden, as the land of Egypt,) in thy coming toward Zoar,
And Lot lifteth up his eyes, and seeth the whole circuit of the Jordan that it is all a watered country (before Jehovah's destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, as Jehovah's garden, as the land of Egypt,) in thy coming toward Zoar, and Lot chooseth for himself the whole circuit of the Jordan; and Lot journeyeth from the east, and they are parted -- a man from his companion;
and Lot chooseth for himself the whole circuit of the Jordan; and Lot journeyeth from the east, and they are parted -- a man from his companion;
And he divideth himself against them by night, he and his servants, and smiteth them, and pursueth them unto Hobah, which is at the left of Damascus;
And he divideth himself against them by night, he and his servants, and smiteth them, and pursueth them unto Hobah, which is at the left of Damascus;
I -- lo, My covenant is with thee, and thou hast become father of a multitude of nations;
I -- lo, My covenant is with thee, and thou hast become father of a multitude of nations; and thy name is no more called Abram, but thy name hath been Abraham, for father of a multitude of nations have I made thee;
and thy name is no more called Abram, but thy name hath been Abraham, for father of a multitude of nations have I made thee;
And Abraham falleth upon his face, and laugheth, and saith in his heart, 'To the son of an hundred years is one born? or doth Sarah -- daughter of ninety years -- bear?'
And Abraham falleth upon his face, and laugheth, and saith in his heart, 'To the son of an hundred years is one born? or doth Sarah -- daughter of ninety years -- bear?' And Abraham saith unto God, 'O that Ishmael may live before Thee;'
And Abraham saith unto God, 'O that Ishmael may live before Thee;'
And Jehovah appeareth unto him among the oaks of Mamre, and he is sitting at the opening of the tent, about the heat of the day;
And Jehovah appeareth unto him among the oaks of Mamre, and he is sitting at the opening of the tent, about the heat of the day;
and Abraham and Sarah are aged, entering into days -- the way of women hath ceased to be to Sarah;
and Abraham and Sarah are aged, entering into days -- the way of women hath ceased to be to Sarah; and Sarah laugheth in her heart, saying, 'After I have waxed old I have had pleasure! -- my lord also is old!'
and Sarah laugheth in her heart, saying, 'After I have waxed old I have had pleasure! -- my lord also is old!' And Jehovah saith unto Abraham, 'Why is this? Sarah hath laughed, saying, Is it true really -- I bear -- and I am aged? Is any thing too wonderful for Jehovah? at the appointed time I return unto thee, about the time of life, and Sarah hath a son.'
And Jehovah saith unto Abraham, 'Why is this? Sarah hath laughed, saying, Is it true really -- I bear -- and I am aged? Is any thing too wonderful for Jehovah? at the appointed time I return unto thee, about the time of life, and Sarah hath a son.' And Sarah denieth, saying, 'I did not laugh;' for she hath been afraid; and He saith, 'Nay, but thou didst laugh.'
And Sarah denieth, saying, 'I did not laugh;' for she hath been afraid; and He saith, 'Nay, but thou didst laugh.'
and also, truly she is my sister, daughter of my father, only not daughter of my mother, and she becometh my wife;
and also, truly she is my sister, daughter of my father, only not daughter of my mother, and she becometh my wife;
On the third day -- Abraham lifteth up his eyes, and seeth the place from afar;
On the third day -- Abraham lifteth up his eyes, and seeth the place from afar;
And Jehovah hath spoken unto Moses face unto face, as a man speaketh unto his friend; and he hath turned back unto the camp, and his minister Joshua, son of Nun, a youth, departeth not out of the tent.
And Jehovah hath spoken unto Moses face unto face, as a man speaketh unto his friend; and he hath turned back unto the camp, and his minister Joshua, son of Nun, a youth, departeth not out of the tent.
mouth unto mouth I speak with him, and by an appearance, and not in riddles; and the form of Jehovah he beholdeth attentively; and wherefore have ye not been afraid to speak against My servant -- against Moses?'
mouth unto mouth I speak with him, and by an appearance, and not in riddles; and the form of Jehovah he beholdeth attentively; and wherefore have ye not been afraid to speak against My servant -- against Moses?'
And Joshua saith unto all the people, 'Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, Beyond the River have your fathers dwelt of old -- Terah father of Abraham and father of Nachor -- and they serve other gods;
And Joshua saith unto all the people, 'Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, Beyond the River have your fathers dwelt of old -- Terah father of Abraham and father of Nachor -- and they serve other gods;
'And now, fear ye Jehovah, and serve Him, in perfection and in truth, and turn aside the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, and in Egypt, and serve ye Jehovah;
'And now, fear ye Jehovah, and serve Him, in perfection and in truth, and turn aside the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, and in Egypt, and serve ye Jehovah; and if wrong in your eyes to serve Jehovah -- choose for you to-day whom ye do serve; -- whether the gods whom your fathers served, which are beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorite in whose land ye are dwelling; and I and my house -- we serve Jehovah.'
and if wrong in your eyes to serve Jehovah -- choose for you to-day whom ye do serve; -- whether the gods whom your fathers served, which are beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorite in whose land ye are dwelling; and I and my house -- we serve Jehovah.'
And David smiteth Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, in his going to bring back his power by the River Euphrates;
And David smiteth Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, in his going to bring back his power by the River Euphrates;
And the Jews who are in Shushan are assembled also on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they slay in Shushan three hundred men, and on the prey they have not put forth their hand.
And the Jews who are in Shushan are assembled also on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they slay in Shushan three hundred men, and on the prey they have not put forth their hand. And the rest of the Jews, who are in the provinces of the king, have been assembled, even to stand for their life, and to rest from their enemies, and to slay among those hating them five and seventy thousand, and on the prey they have not put forth their hand;
And the rest of the Jews, who are in the provinces of the king, have been assembled, even to stand for their life, and to rest from their enemies, and to slay among those hating them five and seventy thousand, and on the prey they have not put forth their hand;
The secret of Jehovah is for those fearing Him, And His covenant -- to cause them to know.
The secret of Jehovah is for those fearing Him, And His covenant -- to cause them to know.
And he ruleth from sea unto sea, And from the river unto the ends of earth.
And he ruleth from sea unto sea, And from the river unto the ends of earth. Before him bow do the inhabitants of the dry places, And his enemies lick the dust.
Before him bow do the inhabitants of the dry places, And his enemies lick the dust. Kings of Tarshish and of the isles send back a present. Kings of Sheba and Seba a reward bring near.
Kings of Tarshish and of the isles send back a present. Kings of Sheba and Seba a reward bring near.
For Zion's sake I am not silent, And for Jerusalem's sake I do not rest, Till her righteousness go out as brightness, And her salvation, as a torch that burneth.
For Zion's sake I am not silent, And for Jerusalem's sake I do not rest, Till her righteousness go out as brightness, And her salvation, as a torch that burneth.
And she hath pursued her lovers, And she doth not overtake them, And hath sought them, and doth not find, And she hath said: I go, and I turn back unto My first husband, For -- better to me then than now.
And she hath pursued her lovers, And she doth not overtake them, And hath sought them, and doth not find, And she hath said: I go, and I turn back unto My first husband, For -- better to me then than now.
For the Lord Jehovah doth nothing, Except He hath revealed His counsel unto His servants the prophets.
For the Lord Jehovah doth nothing, Except He hath revealed His counsel unto His servants the prophets.
and lo, thou shalt be silent, and not able to speak, till the day that these things shall come to pass, because thou didst not believe my words, that shall be fulfilled in their season.'
and lo, thou shalt be silent, and not able to speak, till the day that these things shall come to pass, because thou didst not believe my words, that shall be fulfilled in their season.'
And the messenger answering said to her, 'The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, therefore also the holy-begotten thing shall be called Son of God;
And the messenger answering said to her, 'The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, therefore also the holy-begotten thing shall be called Son of God; and lo, Elisabeth, thy kinswoman, she also hath conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month to her who was called barren;
and lo, Elisabeth, thy kinswoman, she also hath conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month to her who was called barren; because nothing shall be impossible with God.'
because nothing shall be impossible with God.' And Mary said, 'Lo, the maid-servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to thy saying,' and the messenger went away from her.
And Mary said, 'Lo, the maid-servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to thy saying,' and the messenger went away from her.
and happy is she who did believe, for there shall be a completion to the things spoken to her from the Lord.'
and happy is she who did believe, for there shall be a completion to the things spoken to her from the Lord.' And Mary said, 'My soul doth magnify the Lord,
And Mary said, 'My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit was glad on God my Saviour,
And my spirit was glad on God my Saviour,
'And that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the Bush, since he doth call the Lord, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;
'And that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the Bush, since he doth call the Lord, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;
And the Word became flesh, and did tabernacle among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of an only begotten of a father, full of grace and truth.
And the Word became flesh, and did tabernacle among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of an only begotten of a father, full of grace and truth.
Abraham, your father, was glad that he might see my day; and he saw, and did rejoice.'
Abraham, your father, was glad that he might see my day; and he saw, and did rejoice.'
no more do I call you servants, because the servant hath not known what his lord doth, and you I have called friends, because all things that I heard from my Father, I did make known to you.
no more do I call you servants, because the servant hath not known what his lord doth, and you I have called friends, because all things that I heard from my Father, I did make known to you.
and He said to him, Go forth out of thy land, and out of thy kindred, and come to a land that I shall shew thee.
and He said to him, Go forth out of thy land, and out of thy kindred, and come to a land that I shall shew thee. 'Then having come forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, he dwelt in Haran, and from thence, after the death of his father, He did remove him to this land wherein ye now dwell,
'Then having come forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, he dwelt in Haran, and from thence, after the death of his father, He did remove him to this land wherein ye now dwell,
and if I have prophecy, and know all the secrets, and all the knowledge, and if I have all the faith, so as to remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing;
and if I have prophecy, and know all the secrets, and all the knowledge, and if I have all the faith, so as to remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing;
but we ourselves in ourselves the sentence of the death have had, that we may not be trusting on ourselves, but on God, who is raising the dead,
but we ourselves in ourselves the sentence of the death have had, that we may not be trusting on ourselves, but on God, who is raising the dead, who out of so great a death did deliver us, and doth deliver, in whom we have hoped that even yet He will deliver;
who out of so great a death did deliver us, and doth deliver, in whom we have hoped that even yet He will deliver;
and to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed; He doth not say, 'And to seeds,' as of many, but as of one, 'And to thy seed,' which is Christ;
and to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed; He doth not say, 'And to seeds,' as of many, but as of one, 'And to thy seed,' which is Christ;
for it hath been written, that Abraham had two sons, one by the maid-servant, and one by the free-woman,
for it hath been written, that Abraham had two sons, one by the maid-servant, and one by the free-woman, but he who is of the maid-servant, according to flesh hath been, and he who is of the free-woman, through the promise;
but he who is of the maid-servant, according to flesh hath been, and he who is of the free-woman, through the promise; which things are allegorized, for these are the two covenants: one, indeed, from mount Sinai, to servitude bringing forth, which is Hagar;
which things are allegorized, for these are the two covenants: one, indeed, from mount Sinai, to servitude bringing forth, which is Hagar; for this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and doth correspond to the Jerusalem that now is, and is in servitude with her children,
for this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and doth correspond to the Jerusalem that now is, and is in servitude with her children, and the Jerusalem above is the free-woman, which is mother of us all,
and the Jerusalem above is the free-woman, which is mother of us all, for it hath been written, 'Rejoice, O barren, who art not bearing; break forth and cry, thou who art not travailing, because many are the children of the desolate -- more than of her having the husband.'
for it hath been written, 'Rejoice, O barren, who art not bearing; break forth and cry, thou who art not travailing, because many are the children of the desolate -- more than of her having the husband.' And we, brethren, as Isaac, are children of promise,
And we, brethren, as Isaac, are children of promise, but as then he who was born according to the flesh did persecute him according to the spirit, so also now;
but as then he who was born according to the flesh did persecute him according to the spirit, so also now; but what saith the Writing? 'Cast forth the maid-servant and her son, for the son of the maid-servant may not be heir with the son of the free-woman;'
but what saith the Writing? 'Cast forth the maid-servant and her son, for the son of the maid-servant may not be heir with the son of the free-woman;' then, brethren, we are not a maid-servant's children, but the free-woman's.
then, brethren, we are not a maid-servant's children, but the free-woman's.
for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith through love working.
for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith through love working.
For to Abraham God, having made promise, seeing He was able to swear by no greater, did swear by Himself,
For to Abraham God, having made promise, seeing He was able to swear by no greater, did swear by Himself,
in which God, more abundantly willing to shew to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, did interpose by an oath,
in which God, more abundantly willing to shew to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, did interpose by an oath,
By faith Abraham, being called, did obey, to go forth to the place that he was about to receive for an inheritance, and he went forth, not knowing whither he doth go;
By faith Abraham, being called, did obey, to go forth to the place that he was about to receive for an inheritance, and he went forth, not knowing whither he doth go; by faith he did sojourn in the land of the promise as a strange country, in tabernacles having dwelt with Isaac and Jacob, fellow-heirs of the same promise,
by faith he did sojourn in the land of the promise as a strange country, in tabernacles having dwelt with Isaac and Jacob, fellow-heirs of the same promise, for he was looking for the city having the foundations, whose artificer and constructor is God.
for he was looking for the city having the foundations, whose artificer and constructor is God.
but now they long for a better, that is, an heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for He did prepare for them a city.
but now they long for a better, that is, an heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for He did prepare for them a city. By faith Abraham hath offered up Isaac, being tried, and the only begotten he did offer up who did receive the promises,
By faith Abraham hath offered up Isaac, being tried, and the only begotten he did offer up who did receive the promises, of whom it was said -- 'In Isaac shall a seed be called to thee;'
of whom it was said -- 'In Isaac shall a seed be called to thee;' reckoning that even out of the dead God is able to raise up, whence also in a figure he did receive him.
reckoning that even out of the dead God is able to raise up, whence also in a figure he did receive him.
Abraham our father -- was not he declared righteous out of works, having brought up Isaac his son upon the altar?
Abraham our father -- was not he declared righteous out of works, having brought up Isaac his son upon the altar? dost thou see that the faith was working with his works, and out of the works the faith was perfected?
dost thou see that the faith was working with his works, and out of the works the faith was perfected? and fulfilled was the Writing that is saying, 'And Abraham did believe God, and it was reckoned to him -- to righteousness;' and, 'Friend of God' he was called.
and fulfilled was the Writing that is saying, 'And Abraham did believe God, and it was reckoned to him -- to righteousness;' and, 'Friend of God' he was called.
and fulfilled was the Writing that is saying, 'And Abraham did believe God, and it was reckoned to him -- to righteousness;' and, 'Friend of God' he was called.
and fulfilled was the Writing that is saying, 'And Abraham did believe God, and it was reckoned to him -- to righteousness;' and, 'Friend of God' he was called.
remember, then, whence thou hast fallen, and reform, and the first works do; and if not, I come to thee quickly, and will remove thy lamp-stand from its place -- if thou mayest not reform;
remember, then, whence thou hast fallen, and reform, and the first works do; and if not, I come to thee quickly, and will remove thy lamp-stand from its place -- if thou mayest not reform;
Hastings
Abram and Abraham are the two forms in which the name of the first patriarch was handed down in Hebrew tradition. The change of name recorded in Ge 17:5 (Priestly Narrative) is a harmonistic theory, which involves an impossible etymology, and cannot be regarded as historical. Of Abraham no better explanation has been suggested than that it is possibly a dialectic or orthographic variation of Abram, which in the fuller forms Abir
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And these are births of Terah: Terah hath begotten Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran hath begotten Lot; and Haran dieth in the presence of Terah his father, in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldees.
And Jehovah saith unto Abram, 'Go for thyself, from thy land, and from thy kindred, and from the house of thy father, unto the land which I shew thee. And I make thee become a great nation, and bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing. read more. And I bless those blessing thee, and him who is disesteeming thee I curse, and blessed in thee have been all families of the ground.' And Abram goeth on, as Jehovah hath spoken unto him, and Lot goeth with him, and Abram is a son of five and seventy years in his going out from Charan. And Abram taketh Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they have gained, and the persons that they have obtained in Charan; and they go out to go towards the land of Canaan; and they come in to the land of Canaan. And Abram passeth over into the land, unto the place Shechem, unto the oak of Moreh; and the Canaanite is then in the land. And Jehovah appeareth unto Abram, and saith, 'To thy seed I give this land;' and he buildeth there an altar to Jehovah, who hath appeared unto him. And he removeth from thence towards a mountain at the east of Beth-El, and stretcheth out the tent (Beth-El at the west, and Hai at the east), and he buildeth there an altar to Jehovah, and preacheth in the name of Jehovah.
And there is a famine in the land, and Abram goeth down towards Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine is grievous in the land;
And there is a famine in the land, and Abram goeth down towards Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine is grievous in the land; and it cometh to pass as he hath drawn near to enter Egypt, that he saith unto Sarai his wife, 'Lo, I pray thee, I have known that thou art a woman of beautiful appearance;
and it cometh to pass as he hath drawn near to enter Egypt, that he saith unto Sarai his wife, 'Lo, I pray thee, I have known that thou art a woman of beautiful appearance; and it hath come to pass that the Egyptians see thee, and they have said, 'This is his wife,' and they have slain me, and thee they keep alive:
and it hath come to pass that the Egyptians see thee, and they have said, 'This is his wife,' and they have slain me, and thee they keep alive: say, I pray thee, thou art my sister, so that it is well with me because of thee, and my soul hath lived for thy sake.'
say, I pray thee, thou art my sister, so that it is well with me because of thee, and my soul hath lived for thy sake.' And it cometh to pass, at the entering of Abram into Egypt, that the Egyptians see the woman that she is exceeding fair;
And it cometh to pass, at the entering of Abram into Egypt, that the Egyptians see the woman that she is exceeding fair; and princes of Pharaoh see her, and praise her unto Pharaoh, and the woman is taken to Pharaoh's house;
and princes of Pharaoh see her, and praise her unto Pharaoh, and the woman is taken to Pharaoh's house; and to Abram he hath done good because of her, and he hath sheep and oxen, and he-asses, and men-servants, and handmaids, and she-asses, and camels.
and to Abram he hath done good because of her, and he hath sheep and oxen, and he-asses, and men-servants, and handmaids, and she-asses, and camels. And Jehovah plagueth Pharaoh and his house -- great plagues -- for the matter of Sarai, Abram's wife.
And Jehovah plagueth Pharaoh and his house -- great plagues -- for the matter of Sarai, Abram's wife. And Pharaoh calleth for Abram, and saith, 'What is this thou hast done to me? why hast thou not declared to me that she is thy wife?
And Pharaoh calleth for Abram, and saith, 'What is this thou hast done to me? why hast thou not declared to me that she is thy wife? Why hast thou said, She is my sister, and I take her to myself for a wife? and now, lo, thy wife, take and go.'
Why hast thou said, She is my sister, and I take her to myself for a wife? and now, lo, thy wife, take and go.' And Pharaoh chargeth men concerning him, and they send him away, and his wife, an all that he hath.
And Pharaoh chargeth men concerning him, and they send him away, and his wife, an all that he hath.
And He saith unto him, 'I am Jehovah who brought thee out from Ur of the Chaldees, to give to thee this land to possess it;'
and thy name is no more called Abram, but thy name hath been Abraham, for father of a multitude of nations have I made thee;
and Sarah seeth the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she hath borne to Abraham, mocking, and she saith to Abraham, 'Cast out this handmaid and her son; for the son of this handmaid hath no possession with my son -- with Isaac.' read more. And the thing is very wrong in the eyes of Abraham, for his son's sake; and God saith unto Abraham, 'Let it not be wrong in thine eyes because of the youth, and because of thy handmaid: all that Sarah saith unto thee -- hearken to her voice, for in Isaac is a seed called to thee. As to the son of the handmaid also, for a nation I set him, because he is thy seed.' And Abraham riseth early in the morning, and taketh bread, and a bottle of water, and giveth unto Hagar (placing it on her shoulder), also the lad, and sendeth her out; and she goeth on, and goeth astray in the wilderness of Beer-Sheba; and the water is consumed from the bottle, and she placeth the lad under one of the shrubs. And she goeth and sitteth by herself over-against, afar off, about a bow-shot, for she said, 'Let me not look on the death of the lad;' and she sitteth over-against, and lifteth up her voice, and weepeth. And God heareth the voice of the youth; and the messenger of God calleth unto Hagar from the heavens, and saith to her, 'What to thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath hearkened unto the voice of the youth where he is; rise, lift up the youth, and lay hold on him with thy hand, for for a great nation I set him.' And God openeth her eyes, and she seeth a well of water, and she goeth and filleth the bottle with water, and causeth the youth to drink; and God is with the youth, and he groweth, and dwelleth in the wilderness, and is an archer; and he dwelleth in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother taketh for him a wife from the land of Egypt.
And Abraham addeth and taketh a wife, and her name is Keturah;
and they tabernacle from Havilah unto Shur, which is before Egypt, in thy going towards Asshur; in the presence of all his brethren hath he fallen.
Morish
A'braham
Son of Terah and grandson of Nahor, the seventh descendant from Shem. His name was at first ABRAM, 'father of elevation;' but was altered by God into ABRAHAM, 'father of a multitude.' In this name (Abraham) the blessing of the Gentiles is secured by God. The family dwelt in Ur of the Chaldees, and were idolaters. Jos 24:2. Abraham was the first to receive a definite call from God to leave not only the idolatrous nation to which his ancestors belonged, but to leave his kindred and his father's house and to go into a land that God would show him. God would bless him and make him a blessing, and bless all who blessed him and would curse all who cursed him. Ge 12:1-3. He thus became the depositary of God's promise and blessing. Abraham at first only partially obeyed the call: he left Ur and went to dwell at Haran, in Mesopotamia (Charran in Ac 7:4), but with his father and kindred; and did not enter Canaan until the death of his father. When in the land God promised that unto his seed He would give the land. Abraham built an altar, and called upon the name of Jehovah. A famine occurring in the land Abraham went to sojourn in Egypt, and for want of faith he called Sarai his sister and she was taken into the house of Pharaoh, but the Lord protected her, and Abraham with his wife was sent away with a rebuke. When near Bethel he could again call on the name of the Lord. He had now become so rich in cattle that disputes arose between his herdsmen and those of Lot, and Abraham asked Lot to choose where he would sojourn, if he went to the right Abraham would go to the left; and they separated. Again Jehovah declared that as far as Abraham's eye could reach in all directions the land should belong to his seed. The next recorded event is that Lot was taken prisoner and carried to the north. Abraham pursued the enemy and recovered all. He refused to take even a thread of the spoil from the king of Sodom: he would not be made rich from such a source; but he was blessed by Melchisedec, king of Salem, the priest of the most high God, who brought forth bread and wine: to whom Abraham gave tenths of all. See MELCHISEDEC. God now revealed Himself to Abraham as His shield and exceeding great reward.
When Abraham lamented to God that he had no son, God declared that he should have a son, and that his seed should be as the stars of the heaven for multitude. Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. This is the first time that faith is spoken of. Still he asked whereby should he know that his seed should possess the land, and was told to take a heifer, a she goat, and a ram, all of three years old, a turtle dove and a young pigeon. These he divided in the midst, except the birds, and laid them one against another. When the sun went down a smoking furnace and a burning lamp passed between the pieces: type of the fire that consumes the dross, and a light for the path. The same day God made a covenant with Abraham that to his seed should the land be given from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates : cf. Jer 34:18-19: it had been ratified in death, a type of Christ. When Abraham had fallen into a deep sleep, he was informed that his seed should be in a strange land, and be afflicted 400 years. Gen. 15 See ISRAEL IN EGYPT.
Abraham had believed that God would give him a son, but now he waits not God's time, and at Sarai's suggestion he associates with Hagar, a bondmaid, and Ishmael is born, Gen. 16.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And Jehovah saith unto Abram, 'Go for thyself, from thy land, and from thy kindred, and from the house of thy father, unto the land which I shew thee. And I make thee become a great nation, and bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing. read more. And I bless those blessing thee, and him who is disesteeming thee I curse, and blessed in thee have been all families of the ground.'
and blessed themselves in thy seed have all nations of the earth, because that thou hast hearkened to My voice.'
And Joshua saith unto all the people, 'Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, Beyond the River have your fathers dwelt of old -- Terah father of Abraham and father of Nachor -- and they serve other gods;
'Art not Thou our God? Thou hast dispossessed the inhabitants of this land from before Thy people Israel, and dost give it to the seed of Abraham Thy friend to the age,
-- And thou, O Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, Seed of Abraham, My lover,
And I have given the men who are transgressing My covenant, who have not established the words of the covenant that they have made before Me, by the calf, that they have cut in two, and pass through between its pieces -- heads of Judah, and heads of Jerusalem, the officers, and the priests, and all the people of the land those passing through between the pieces of the calf --
ye are my friends, if ye may do whatever I command you; no more do I call you servants, because the servant hath not known what his lord doth, and you I have called friends, because all things that I heard from my Father, I did make known to you.
'Then having come forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, he dwelt in Haran, and from thence, after the death of his father, He did remove him to this land wherein ye now dwell,
Because of this it is of faith, that it may be according to grace, for the promise being sure to all the seed, not to that which is of the law only, but also to that which is of the faith of Abraham,
that to the nations the blessing of Abraham may come in Christ Jesus, that the promise of the Spirit we may receive through the faith. Brethren, as a man I say it, even of man a confirmed covenant no one doth make void or doth add to, read more. and to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed; He doth not say, 'And to seeds,' as of many, but as of one, 'And to thy seed,' which is Christ; and this I say, A covenant confirmed before by God to Christ, the law, that came four hundred and thirty years after, doth not set aside, to make void the promise, for if by law be the inheritance, it is no more by promise, but to Abraham through promise did God grant it.
and if ye are of Christ then of Abraham ye are seed, and according to promise -- heirs.
for it hath been written, that Abraham had two sons, one by the maid-servant, and one by the free-woman, but he who is of the maid-servant, according to flesh hath been, and he who is of the free-woman, through the promise; read more. which things are allegorized, for these are the two covenants: one, indeed, from mount Sinai, to servitude bringing forth, which is Hagar; for this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and doth correspond to the Jerusalem that now is, and is in servitude with her children, and the Jerusalem above is the free-woman, which is mother of us all, for it hath been written, 'Rejoice, O barren, who art not bearing; break forth and cry, thou who art not travailing, because many are the children of the desolate -- more than of her having the husband.' And we, brethren, as Isaac, are children of promise, but as then he who was born according to the flesh did persecute him according to the spirit, so also now; but what saith the Writing? 'Cast forth the maid-servant and her son, for the son of the maid-servant may not be heir with the son of the free-woman;' then, brethren, we are not a maid-servant's children, but the free-woman's.
by faith he did sojourn in the land of the promise as a strange country, in tabernacles having dwelt with Isaac and Jacob, fellow-heirs of the same promise,
and fulfilled was the Writing that is saying, 'And Abraham did believe God, and it was reckoned to him -- to righteousness;' and, 'Friend of God' he was called.
Smith
A'braham
(father of a multitude) was the son of Terah, and founder of the great Hebrew nation. (B.C. 1996-1822.) His family, a branch of the descendants of Shem, was settled in Ur of the Chaldees, beyond the Euphrates, where Abraham was born. Terah had two other sons, Nahor and Haran. Haran died before his father in Ur of the Chaldees, leaving a son, Lot; and Terah, taking with him Abram, with Sarai his wife and his grandson Lot, emigrated to Haran in Mesopotamia, where he died. On the death of his father, Abram, then in the 75th year of his age, with Sarai and Lot, pursued his course to the land of Canaan, whither he was directed by divine command,
when he received the general promise that he should become the founder of a great nation, and that all the families of the earth should be blessed in him. He passed through the heart of the country by the great highway to Shechem, and pitched his tent beneath the terebinth of Moreh.
Here he received in vision from Jehovah the further revelation that this was the land which his descendants should inherit.
The next halting-place of the wanderer was on a mountain between Bethel and Ai,
but the country was suffering from famine, and Abram journeyed still southward to the rich cornlands of Egypt. There, fearing that the great beauty of Sarai might tempt the powerful monarch of Egypt and expose his own life to peril, he arranged that Sarai should represent herself as his sister, which her actual relationship to him, as probably the daughter of his brother Haran, allowed her to do with some semblance of truth. But her beauty was reported to the king, and she was taken into the royal harem. The deception was discovered, and Pharaoh with some indignation dismissed Abram from the country.
He left Egypt with great possessions, and, accompanied by Lot, returned by the south of Palestine to his former encampment between Bethel and Ai. The increased wealth of the two kinsmen was the ultimate cause of their separation. Lot chose the fertile plain of the Jordan near Sodom, while Abram pitched his tent among the groves of Mamre, close to Hebron.
... Lot with his family and possessions having been carried away captive by Chedorlaomer king of Elam, who had invaded Sodom, Abram pursued the conquerors and utterly routed them not far from Damascus. The captives and plunder were all recovered, and Abram was greeted on his return by the king of Sodom, and by Melchizedek king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who mysteriously appears upon the scene to bless the patriarch and receive from him a tenth of the spoil.
... After this the thrice-repeated promise that his descendants should become a mighty nation and possess the land in which he was a stranger was confirmed with all the solemnity of a religious ceremony.
... Ten years had passed since he had left his father's house, and the fulfillment of the promise was apparently more distant than at first. At the suggestion of Sarai, who despaired of having children of her own, he took as his concubine Hagar, her Egyptian main, who bore him Ishmael in the 86th year of his age.
... [HAGAR; ISHMAEL] But this was not the accomplishment of the promise. Thirteen years elapsed, during which Abram still dwelt in Hebron, when the covenant was renewed, and the rite of circumcision established as its sign. This most important crisis in Abram's life, when he was 99 years old, is marked by the significant change of his name to Abraham, "father of a multitude;" while his wife's from Sarai became Sarah. The promise that Sarah should have a son was repeated in the remarkable scene described in ch. 18. Three men stood before Abraham as he sat in his tent door in the heat of the day. The patriarch, with true Eastern hospitality, welcomed the strangers, and bade them rest and refresh themselves. The meal ended, they foretold the birth of Isaac, and went on their way to Sodom. Abraham accompanied them, and is represented as an interlocutor in a dialogue with Jehovah, in which he pleaded in vain to avert the vengeance threatened to the devoted cities of the plain.
See Hagar
See Ishmael
In remarkable contrast with Abraham's firm faith with regard to the magnificent fortunes of his posterity stand the incident which occurred during his temporary residence among the Philistines in Gerar, whither he had for some cause removed after the destruction of Sodom. It was almost a repetition of what took place in Egypt a few years before. At length Isaac, the long-looked for child, was born. Sarah's jealousy aroused by the mockery of Ishmael at the "great banquet" which Abram made to celebrate the weaning of her son,
demanded that, with his mother Hagar, he should be driven out.
But the severest trial of his faith was yet to come. For a long period the history is almost silent. At length he receives the strange command to take Isaac, his only son, and offer him for a burnt offering at an appointed place Abraham hesitated not to obey. His faith, hitherto unshaken, supported him in this final trial, "accounting that God was able to raise up his son, even from the dead, from whence also he received him in a figure."
The sacrifice was stayed by the angel of Jehovah, the promise of spiritual blessing made for the first time, and Abraham with his son returned to Beersheba, and for a time dwelt there.
... But we find him after a few years in his original residence at Hebron, for there Sarah died,
and was buried in the cave of Machpelah. The remaining years of Abraham's life are marked by but few incidents. After Isaac's marriage with Rebekah and his removal to Lahai-roi, Abraham took to wife Keturah, by whom he had six children, Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbok and Shuah, who became the ancestors of nomadic tribes inhabiting the countries south and southeast of Palestine. Abraham lived to see the gradual accomplishment of the promise in the birth of his grandchildren Jacob and Esau, and witnessed their growth to manhood.
At the goodly age of 175 he was "gathered to his people," and laid beside Sarah in the tomb of Machpelah by his sons Isaac and Ishmael.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And Abram taketh Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they have gained, and the persons that they have obtained in Charan; and they go out to go towards the land of Canaan; and they come in to the land of Canaan. And Abram passeth over into the land, unto the place Shechem, unto the oak of Moreh; and the Canaanite is then in the land. read more. And Jehovah appeareth unto Abram, and saith, 'To thy seed I give this land;' and he buildeth there an altar to Jehovah, who hath appeared unto him. And he removeth from thence towards a mountain at the east of Beth-El, and stretcheth out the tent (Beth-El at the west, and Hai at the east), and he buildeth there an altar to Jehovah, and preacheth in the name of Jehovah.
And there is a famine in the land, and Abram goeth down towards Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine is grievous in the land; and it cometh to pass as he hath drawn near to enter Egypt, that he saith unto Sarai his wife, 'Lo, I pray thee, I have known that thou art a woman of beautiful appearance; read more. and it hath come to pass that the Egyptians see thee, and they have said, 'This is his wife,' and they have slain me, and thee they keep alive: say, I pray thee, thou art my sister, so that it is well with me because of thee, and my soul hath lived for thy sake.' And it cometh to pass, at the entering of Abram into Egypt, that the Egyptians see the woman that she is exceeding fair; and princes of Pharaoh see her, and praise her unto Pharaoh, and the woman is taken to Pharaoh's house; and to Abram he hath done good because of her, and he hath sheep and oxen, and he-asses, and men-servants, and handmaids, and she-asses, and camels. And Jehovah plagueth Pharaoh and his house -- great plagues -- for the matter of Sarai, Abram's wife. And Pharaoh calleth for Abram, and saith, 'What is this thou hast done to me? why hast thou not declared to me that she is thy wife? Why hast thou said, She is my sister, and I take her to myself for a wife? and now, lo, thy wife, take and go.' And Pharaoh chargeth men concerning him, and they send him away, and his wife, an all that he hath.
And Abram goeth up from Egypt (he and his wife, and all that he hath, and Lot with him) towards the south;
And it cometh to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goyim,
After these things hath the word of Jehovah been unto Abram in a vision, saying, 'Fear not, Abram, I am a shield to thee, thy reward is exceeding great.'
And Sarai, Abram's wife, hath not borne to him, and she hath an handmaid, an Egyptian, and her name is Hagar;
and Sarah seeth the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she hath borne to Abraham, mocking, and she saith to Abraham, 'Cast out this handmaid and her son; for the son of this handmaid hath no possession with my son -- with Isaac.'
And it cometh to pass after these things that God hath tried Abraham, and saith unto him, 'Abraham;' and he saith, 'Here am I.'
and Sarah dieth in Kirjath-Arba, which is Hebron, in the land of Caanan, and Abraham goeth in to mourn for Sarah, and to bewail her.
And these are the days of the years of the life of Abraham, which he lived, a hundred and seventy and five years; and Abraham expireth, and dieth in a good old age, aged and satisfied, and is gathered unto his people. read more. And Isaac and Ishmael his sons bury him at the cave of Machpelah, at the field of Ephron, son of Zoar the Hittite, which is before Mamre -- the field which Abraham bought from the sons of Heth -- there hath Abraham been buried, and Sarah his wife.
and afterwards hath his brother come out, and his hand is taking hold on Esau's heel, and one calleth his name Jacob; and Isaac is a son of sixty years in her bearing them.
reckoning that even out of the dead God is able to raise up, whence also in a figure he did receive him.