 Abraham (Abram), son of Terah King of Agade and Maria. Adoption parents: Terah King of Agade and N.N. Born at Abt. 2052 BC, died at 1877 BC Hebron, Palestine [Neet3.FTW] Notes: Departed Haran in abt 2031 [Gen 12:4] to go to the land of Canaan [Gen 12:5]. Abraham or Abram, biblical patriarch, according to the Book of Genesis (see 11:27-25:10), progenitor of the Hebrews, who probably lived in the period between 2000 and 1500 BC. Abraham is regarded by Muslims, who call him Ibrahim, as an ancestor of the Arabs through Ishmael. He was once considered a contemporary of Hammurabi, king of Babylonia. Because the biblical account of his life is based on traditions preserved by oral transmission rather than by historical records, no biography in the present sense can be written. Originally called Abram, Abraham was the son of Terah, a descendant of Shem, and was born in the city of Ur of the Chaldees, where he married his half sister Sarai, or Sarah. They left Ur with his nephew Lot and Lot's family under a divine inspiration and went to Haran. Receiving a promise that God would make him a "great nation," Abram moved on to Canaan, where he lived as a nomad. Famine led him to Egypt, but he was driven out for misrepresenting Sarai as his sister. Again in Canaan, after quarrels between Abram and Lot and their herdsmen, they separated, Lot remaining near Sodom and Abram continuing his nomadic life. He later rescued Lot from the captivity of King Chedorlaomer of Elam and was blessed by the priest Melchizedek, king of Salem. Then God promised Abram a son by his wife Sarai, repeated his earlier promises, and confirmed these by a covenant. When this covenant was later renewed, the rite of circumcision was established, Abram's name became Abraham, and Sarai's became Sarah. God subsequently repeated his promise of a son by Sarah by means of visiting angels. When God informed Abraham that he intended to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because of the wickedness of their inhabitants, Abraham pleaded with him to spare the cities. Eventually it was agreed that God would spare the cities if he could find only ten righteous men. The ten men could not be found, and God destroyed both cities. Ishmael, first son of Abraham, whose mother was Hagar, an Egyptian slave, was born when Abraham was 86 years old. Isaac, born to Abraham by Sarah in his 100th year, was the first of his legitimate descendants. God demanded that Abraham sacrifice Isaac as a test of faith, but because of Abraham's unquestioning compliance, God permitted him to spare Isaac and rewarded Abraham with a formal renewal of his promise. After Sarah died, Abraham married Keturah and had six sons by her. He died at the biblical age of 175 and was buried beside Sarah in the Cave of Machpelah, in what is now Hebron, West Bank. Christians, Muslims, and Jews accept Abraham as an epitome of the man of unswerving faith, a view reflected in the New Testament. Source: "Abraham," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved Married/ Related to: N.N. Child: 1. Ephar (Atlas) PRIVACY FILTER | |||
| 2nd marriage/ relation Abraham (Abram), son of Terah King of Agade and Maria. Adoption parents: Terah King of Agade and N.N. Married/ Related to:  Sarah (Sarai) PRIVACY FILTERChild: 1. IsaacBorn at 1922 BC Haran, Padan-aram, died at 1742 BC Beersheba, Canaan, Palestine [Neet3.FTW] Notes: Isaac (Hebrew, "laughter"), Old Testament patriarch, the son of Abraham, half brother of Ishmael, and father of Jacob and Esau. The birth of Isaac was promised (see Genesis 17:19, 21) to Abraham and his wife Sarah, after a long and childless marriage, as a sign that the blessings originally bestowed by God upon Abraham would be continued in Isaac, heir of the Covenant. The events of Isaac's life are recounted in Genesis 21-28. The dominant story in the narrative, and one of the most widely known stories in the Bible, is that of the projected sacrifice of Isaac (see Genesis 22). According to this account, God tested Abraham's faith by asking him to sacrifice his beloved son. At the last moment, after God was convinced of the perfect obedience of both father and son, he accepted a ram as a substitute for the youth. This story is thought to express the Hebrew rejection of human sacrifice, practiced by surrounding nations. The ram is recalled today in synagogue ritual at the solemn blowing of the shofar, or ram's horn, during the Jewish High Holy Days, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The New Testament alludes to Isaac as a precursor of Christ and of the church (see Galatians 3:16, 4:21-31), and the obedience to his father to the extent of self-sacrifice is associated with that of Christ (see Hebrews 11:17-19). These themes were developed by several of the patristic writers, and Isaac appears often in Christian art, particularly in association with the Eucharist. Archaeologists and biblical scholars have drawn parallels between the biblical narrative of Isaac and the history of the Semitic tribes. Abraham is thought to represent the nomadic stock out of which the Hebrew and Edomite tribes separated. Isaac is believed to represent the tribes that joined to form the Hebrew confederacy and to give allegiance to the God, Yahweh, or Jehovah, originally a tribal deity; and Ishmael is believed to represent the tribes of Edom. Isaac was a relatively minor figure compared to the other two great biblical patriarchs, Abraham, his father, and Jacob, his son; but a number of the details of the biblical account are believed by scholars to have major symbolic importance. The story of his birth is believed to be a deliberate attempt by early Hebrew writers to alter the traditions of the Semitic tribes in order to strengthen adherence to the Hebrew confederacy, a military and political alliance, by suggesting that it had divine inspiration. In making Isaac the legitimate son, and Ishmael the illegitimate son, of their common ancestor, the Hebrews claimed superiority over the independent Edomite tribes. Finally, the rivalry between Isaac's two sons is thought to reflect again the rivalry between Edom and the Hebrews. Source: "Isaac," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. | |||