Abraham (Heb. ‘Abrâhâm, “father of a multitude”; first appears in Ebla texts from the prepatriarchal period and then in Old Bab. as Abraham; 19th-century BC Egyptian, ‘Ibwrhni; sudar. ‘brhn; in the list of places in Palestine conquered by Shishak, ‘lbrm; ugar. ‘Abrm; in an old Heb. seal, ‘brm; Gr. Abraám). He is the patriarch whom the Hebrew people consider as their first ethnic ancestor (although he is also from other peoples). 2. Ancient painting, in which Abraham is seen receiving the promise, found in the 3rd century in the synagogue of Dura Europos (Map XIII, C-5). I. The world in which he lived. Abraham was born in Ur during the Neo-Sumerian period. Around 1960 BC, shortly before his birth and according to the so-called Short Chronology, the strong 3rd dynasty of Ur (which had ruled for more than 100 years) fell. It was succeeded by the rival dynasties of Isin and Larsa, under whom Ur declined somewhat in importance as the political center of the Mesopotamian valley. During the 75 years that Abraham lived in Ur and Haran, the country was under the rule of Sumerian rulers, although the Amorites, who had already controlled most of Syria and Palestine, were penetrating into Mesopotamia. Around 1830 BC they founded the powerful 1st Babylonian dynasty, whose 6th king, Hammurabi (c 1728-1686 BC), was the most notable ruler. When Abraham entered Canaan, he found the country largely in the hands of the Amorites. However, it was not a unified state, as it was made up of numerous city-states of various sizes, with kings and kinglets of Amorite origin as the ruling class. Egypt, for its part, was ruled by the powerful kings of the 12th dynasty (1991-c 1780 BC). If Abraham was in Egypt between 1875 and 1864 BC (see Gen_12), he must have met Sesostris III, pharaoh of Egypt, who ruled from 1878 to 1840 BC According to ancient records, this king led military campaigns against Palestine and Skmm ( which could be Shechem), but he did not occupy the country. It would seem that the campaign was only to punish the city and not to conquer it. During the time of Abraham the military campaigns described in Gen_14 were carried out. It has not been possible to identify any of the kings with monarchs known from secular sources; however, archaeological finds confirm the narrative. Albright’s and Glueck’s explorations uncovered evidence that a flourishing culture and many cities in Transjordan were destroyed in the 20th or 19th century BC, and that the country was largely uninhabited for several centuries after this. There are also indications that Sodom and Gomorrah, which were presumably at the southern end of the Dead Sea, were destroyed at this time. These cities are mentioned in a cuneiform text from Ebla* from the pre-patriarchal period. See Amraphel; Arioch; bera; Birsha; Chedorlaomer; Semeber; Sinab; Sodom; Tidal. II. The life of him. Abraham’s life can be divided into 4 major periods: 1. Before entering Canaan; up to 75 years. 2. Early pilgrimage in Canaan until the birth of Isaac; about 25 years. 3. From Isaac’s birth to Sarah’s death and Isaac’s marriage to Rebekah; about 40 years. 4. Later life, old age and death; about 35 years_1 Before entering Canaan. Abraham was born in or near the city of Ur, in lower Mesopotamia. According to the biblical chronology adopted in this Dictionary, Abraham was born in 1950 BC, left Haran for Canaan (after his father’s death) in 1875 BC, visited Egypt between 1875 and 1864 BC, and died in the 1775 BC (after having lived in Canaan for 100 years). Abraham’s father, Terah, had 2 other sons: Nahor and Haran, father of Lot (Gen 11:27). The family worshiped pagan gods as well as the true God (Jos 24:2). The Genesis record says nothing about God’s appearance to Abraham before his departure from Ur, but Act 7:2-4 clearly applies the command of Gen 12:1-3 to the period during which the family was still living in Ur. The original destination of the family caravan of Abraham, Terah, Nahor, and Lot was Canaan (11:31). But first they settled in Haran, in northern Mesopotamia, although it is not known how long they stayed there or why they stayed there. Perhaps they only planned to stay long enough to rest their flocks, or perhaps Terah’s advanced age prevented the group from continuing on their journey (cf v 32). Furthermore, Nahor’s failure to accompany Abraham to Canaan after his father’s death may imply that opinions about leaving Haran’s rich grazing lands were divided. In time, however, the order was repeated to Abraham, who took his nephew Lot with him and left Haran for Canaan. Apparently the two had accumulated considerable “assets” – mostly in the form of herds of cattle – and many slaves and servants (12:1-5). 2. Early pilgrimage in Canaan until the birth of Isaac. During the 25 years between entering the land of Canaan and the birth of Isaac, the patriarchal family moved from one place to another. From Shechem, the 1st place where they settled (Gen 12:6), they traveled south to Bethel (v 8), from there to the Negev (or southern region; v 9) and finally to Egypt (v 10). They then returned to the Negev (13:1) and to Bethel (v 3), finally settling in Mamre, near Hebron, where they spent most of their pilgrimage period (13:18-19; 38). Not long before Isaac’s birth, Abraham made another pilgrimage to the Negev and “dwelt as a stranger in Gerar” (20:1). The journey to Egypt apparently took place not long after Abraham’s entry into Canaan. The drought and famine periodically suffered by the inhabitants of Palestine prompted him to seek food in a country where there was usually plenty, despite the fact that it has almost no rain (Gen 12:10). While in Egypt, fear for his personal safety led the patriarch to introduce Sarah as his sister. This evident lack of faith in God’s protection created a shameful situation for him, 11 which ended with his expulsion from the earth (vs 11-20). When Abraham returned to Canaan he was “exceedingly rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold” (13:1, 2); Lot also had “sheep, herds, and tents” (v 5). The lack of pasture and water for these large herds caused the separation of the patriarch and his nephew. Lot settled first in the fertile valley of the Jordan and later “set up his tents as far as Sodom”; Abraham returned to Mamre, near Hebron (vs 6-18), where he lived for about 20 years. During his stay there many important events occurred. The first of these was the invasion of a confederation of 4 kings of Mesopotamia under the leadership of Chedorlaomer (Gen 14:1-10). Five kings of the region of Sodom united against the invaders, but were defeated, and their inhabitants taken captive and their goods plundered (vs 11, 12). Knowing that his nephew Lot was in the hands of the invaders, Abraham followed them with his own private army of 318 men and rescued the captives, who were in the area near Sodom, and his possessions. (vs 13-16). Returning from this expedition, Abraham met Melchizedek, priest and king of Salem,* and gave him “a tithe of everything” (vs 17-24). Shortly after this experience, the Lord made a solemn covenant with the patriarch, assuring him that his descendants would possess Canaan (cp 15). As the years passed in Mamre and no heir was born, Abraham took matters into his own hands and married Hagar, the Egyptian servant of his wife, who bore him her first son: Ishmael (16: 1 -4). This unfortunate marriage produced discord in the home and culminated in the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael (16:5-16; 21:9-21). During his stay in Mamre, God renewed his covenant with Abraham and instituted the rite of circumcision as a sign of the covenant (Gen_17). Later, the Lord appeared to him in the form of a wayfarer and renewed the promise of a son and heir; on the same occasion he revealed to her the imminent destruction of Sodom and its neighboring cities, which occurred the next day (chs 18 and 19). Shortly after this event the patriarchal family moved to Gerar, where Abraham again claimed that Sarah was his sister and not his wife (ch 20). 3. From Isaac’s birth to Sarah’s death and Isaac’s marriage to Rebekah. Not long after his move to Gerar, Isaac was born (Gen 21:1-7). The frictions between Sara and Agar increased -undoubtedly about who would be the heir-, which led to the definitive expulsion of Agar and Ismael from the home (vs 8-21). Abraham remained in Gerar and Beersheba until Isaac was young (vs 22-34). While living in Beersheba, God tested his faith by asking him to offer his son as a sacrifice. After 50 years of residence in Canaan, God’s promises that the land would be given to him and his descendants had not yet been fulfilled; but, with repeated tests for his faith, it rose resplendent and triumphant in the supreme test (cp 22). The author of He devotes almost 1/3 of his commentary -on the faithful life of the ancient men of God-, to narrate the incidents of Abraham’s life that demonstrated his faith (Heb 11: 8-19). Towards the end of this pilgrimage period in Canaan, Abraham apparently returned to Hebron, where Sarah died at the age of 127 (Gen 23:1, 2). There he bought from a local Hittite the 1st portion of Canaan that belonged to him: the cave of Machpelah and the field in which it was located, and there he buried his beloved wife (vs 3-20; figs 3, 250 , 329). 3. Entrance to Jaram in Hebron, the site of the cave of Machpelah. The well-constructed wall in the center of the figure dates from the time of Herod the Great. With Sarah’s death, Abraham sensed that his own life would soon be over. Although Isaac was nearly 40 years old, he had not yet married, and the patriarch was moved to make provision for the perpetuation of the family line about which promises had been made to him. So he sent his faithful steward 12 Eliezer to Mesopotamia, where his relatives lived (Gen 22:20-24), to find a wife for Isaac, a woman who could understand and appreciate the privileges and responsibilities of the covenant (24:1 -9). The mission was crowned with success, and in due time Eliezer returned to Canaan with Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel, Abraham’s nephew, who was the son of Nahor (vs 10-67). Love cemented the union thus arranged, and some 20 years later the first children were born (25:20-26). 4. Later life, old age and death. For some 35 years after his marriage, Isaac shared the parental home with Abraham, who married again and raised several children from Keturah (Gen 25:1-4). Before her death, at the age of 175, Abraham made arrangements for the transfer to Isaac of the goods, the…
