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Abraham/en: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Jan Victors or Rembrandt Studio - Abraham and the 3 Angels.jpg|thumb|Abraham entertaining the three angels]] | [[File:Jan Victors or Rembrandt Studio - Abraham and the 3 Angels.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Abraham entertaining the three angels (Gen. 18:9-15), Jan Victors (1640s)]] | ||
Hebrew patriarch and progenitor of the [[twelve tribes of Israel]] (c. 2100–1700 <small>B</small>.<small>C</small>.), an embodiment of the Ascended Master [[El Morya]]. Jews, Christians and Moslems accord him the place in history as the first to worship the one true God. In the biblical account of his life, he is originally referred to as Abram (meaning “the father, or my father, is exalted”) and is later named by God Abraham. Traditionally taken to mean “father of a multitude of nations” from the passage in | Hebrew patriarch and progenitor of the [[twelve tribes of Israel]] (c. 2100–1700 <small>B</small>.<small>C</small>.), an embodiment of the Ascended Master [[El Morya]]. Jews, Christians and Moslems accord him the place in history as the first to worship the one true God. In the biblical account of his life, he is originally referred to as Abram (meaning “the father, or my father, is exalted”) and is later named by God Abraham. Traditionally taken to mean “father of a multitude of nations” from the passage in Genesis 17:5, Abraham is currently thought to be a dialectic variant of Abram. | ||
== Historical evidence == | == Historical evidence == | ||
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Abraham left Ur with his wife, Sarai (whose name was later changed by God to Sarah), his nephew Lot, and “all their substance that they had gathered and the souls that they had gotten in Haran.”<ref>Gen. 12:5.</ref> When they arrived in the land of Canaan, the Lord appeared to Abraham and again promised, “Unto thy seed will I give this land.” And it is written that here Abraham erected an altar to Yahweh “and called upon the name of the L<small>ORD</small>.”<ref>Gen. 12:8.</ref> | Abraham left Ur with his wife, Sarai (whose name was later changed by God to Sarah), his nephew Lot, and “all their substance that they had gathered and the souls that they had gotten in Haran.”<ref>Gen. 12:5.</ref> When they arrived in the land of Canaan, the Lord appeared to Abraham and again promised, “Unto thy seed will I give this land.” And it is written that here Abraham erected an altar to Yahweh “and called upon the name of the L<small>ORD</small>.”<ref>Gen. 12:8.</ref> | ||
[[File:Abraham meets Melchisedech (San Marco).jpg|thumb|left|alt=caption|Abraham meeting Melchizedek, mosaic in St. | [[File:Abraham meets Melchisedech (San Marco).jpg|thumb|left|alt=caption|Abraham meeting Melchizedek, mosaic in St. Mark’s Basilica, Venice (13th century)]] | ||
When a severe famine struck the land, Abraham traveled south to Egypt. Afraid that the Egyptians would kill him because his wife was such a beautiful woman, Abraham represented Sarah as his sister and allowed the Pharaoh to take her into his household. As a result, the | When a severe famine struck the land, Abraham traveled south to [[Egypt]]. Afraid that the Egyptians would kill him because his wife was such a beautiful woman, Abraham represented Sarah as his sister and allowed the Pharaoh to take her into his household. As a result, the L<small>ORD</small> plagued the Pharaoh and his house. When the Egyptian ruler learned the truth, he quickly sent Abraham and Sarah away with all the servants, cattle and riches Abraham had acquired in Egypt. | ||
Once back in Canaan, the herdsmen of Lot and Abraham began to quarrel and the two kinsmen separated. Abraham generously offered first choice of the territory to Lot, who settled in the fertile plain of Jordan toward Sodom while Abraham dwelt in the seemingly less desirable land of Canaan in Hebron. After Lot departed, the | Once back in Canaan, the herdsmen of Lot and Abraham began to quarrel and the two kinsmen separated. Abraham generously offered first choice of the territory to Lot, who settled in the fertile plain of Jordan toward Sodom while Abraham dwelt in the seemingly less desirable land of Canaan in Hebron. After Lot departed, the L<small>ORD</small> told Abraham that he would give the patriarch and his seed all the land that he could see—north, south, east and west. And although Abraham was still childless, the L<small>ORD</small> affirmed that his seed would be as innumerable as “the dust of the earth.”<ref>Gen. 13:16.</ref> | ||
Following this, Abraham—fully in the role of a military leader—armed 318 of his own “trained servants” and joined other chieftains in the land to defeat a powerful coalition of kings and rescue Lot, who had been captured. Returning from this victory, Abraham was blessed by [[Melchizedek]], king of Salem (Jerusalem) and priest of the most high God (El Elyon), who “brought forth bread and wine” and to whom Abraham gave a [[tithe]] (tenth) of the spoils. Abraham returned all the captives and goods that had been plundered to the King of Sodom and refused the king’s offer to partake of the goods himself.<ref>Gen. 14:14–24.</ref> | Following this, Abraham—fully in the role of a military leader—armed 318 of his own “trained servants” and joined other chieftains in the land to defeat a powerful coalition of kings and rescue Lot, who had been captured. Returning from this victory, Abraham was blessed by [[Melchizedek]], king of Salem (Jerusalem) and priest of the most high God (El Elyon), who “brought forth bread and wine” and to whom Abraham gave a [[tithe]] (tenth) of the spoils. Abraham returned all the captives and goods that had been plundered to the King of Sodom and refused the king’s offer to partake of the goods himself.<ref>Gen. 14:14–24.</ref> | ||
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=== Birth of Ishmael and Isaac === | === Birth of Ishmael and Isaac === | ||
Once again the | Once again the L<small>ORD</small> appeared to Abraham and said, “I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward,”<ref>Gen. 15:1.</ref> assuring him that his seed would be as innumerable as the stars. But Sarah, still barren after ten years in Canaan, proposed after the custom of the day that Abraham sire a child by her maid Hagar, who then bore Abraham a son, Ishmael. | ||
Thirteen years later, when Abraham was 99 and Sarah 90, the | Thirteen years later, when Abraham was 99 and Sarah 90, the L<small>ORD</small> revealed himself to the patriarch as El Shaddai, “the Almighty God,” and established an everlasting covenant with Abraham to be a God unto him and his seed. He promised to give Abraham and his descendants “all the land of Canaan.... Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.”<ref>Gen. 17:8, 5.</ref> | ||
[[File:Tissot Abraham and the Three Angels.jpg|thumb|left|alt=caption|''Abraham and the Three Angels'', James Tissot (c. 1900)]] | [[File:Tissot Abraham and the Three Angels.jpg|thumb|left|alt=caption|''Abraham and the Three Angels'', James Tissot (c. 1900)]] | ||
The | The L<small>ORD</small> also changed Sarai’s name to Sarah and told Abraham that she would be “a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.”<ref>Gen. 17:16.</ref> He revealed that Sarah would bear a son, Isaac, “at this set time in the next year” and that Isaac, not Ishmael, was to be Abraham’s heir. | ||
Then one day, as Abraham “sat in the tent door in the heat of the day” in the plains of Mamre, three “men” announced to him that Sarah would bear a son. Sarah, overhearing this, “laughed within herself” because she was past the childbearing age. And the | Then one day, as Abraham “sat in the tent door in the heat of the day” in the plains of Mamre, three “men” announced to him that Sarah would bear a son. Sarah, overhearing this, “laughed within herself” because she was past the childbearing age. And the L<small>ORD</small> said unto Abraham, “Wherefore did Sarah laugh.... Is any thing too hard for the L<small>ORD</small>?”<ref>Gen. 18:1–14.</ref> | ||
Following this, the | Following this, the L<small>ORD</small> confided to Abraham his intention to destroy the wicked cities of [[Sodom and Gomorrah]]. Abraham, cast in the role of an intercessor, secured God’s assurance that Sodom would be spared if but ten righteous men could be found therein. Although the city was ultimately destroyed, two angels warned Lot of the impending calamity and he escaped. | ||
Finally, as the | Finally, as the L<small>ORD</small> had prophesied, Sarah “conceived and bare Abraham a son in his old age.... And the child grew and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast.”<ref>Gen. 21:8.</ref> | ||
[[File:Opferung Isaaks.JPG|thumb|upright|alt=Abraham with a knife above Isaac; an angel above him, holding his hand|''The Sacrifice of Isaac'', workshop of Rembrandt (1636)]] | [[File:Opferung Isaaks.JPG|thumb|upright|alt=Abraham with a knife above Isaac; an angel above him, holding his hand|''The Sacrifice of Isaac'', workshop of Rembrandt (1636)]] | ||
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Yet the supreme test of the patriarch’s faith was still to come. God commanded him to sacrifice his only son and long-awaited heir upon a mountain in the land of Moriah. | Yet the supreme test of the patriarch’s faith was still to come. God commanded him to sacrifice his only son and long-awaited heir upon a mountain in the land of Moriah. | ||
At the end of a three days’ journey, Abraham built an altar and laid Isaac upon the wood. As he raised his knife to slay the young boy, the angel of the | At the end of a three days’ journey, Abraham built an altar and laid Isaac upon the wood. As he raised his knife to slay the young boy, the angel of the L<small>ORD</small> called out, “Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.” Abraham sacrificed a ram instead, and for the final time the L<small>ORD</small> confirmed his covenant: | ||
<blockquote>In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.<ref>Gen. 22:18.</ref></blockquote> | <blockquote>In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.<ref>Gen. 22:18.</ref></blockquote> | ||