"...And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” - Genesis 12:2-3
Abram the Hebrew is a descendant of Shem. He is the first to be referred to as a Hebrew in Scripture. (Genesis 14:13)
The third time the Lord appears to him to establish His covenant, He changes his name to Abraham. This article only covers his time as Abram.
- Name Meaning: "Exalted father" (Literal Word app)
- Father: Terah (Genesis 11:26)
- Wife: Sarai (Genesis 11:29)
- Brothers: Nahor, Haran (Genesis 11:26)
- Nephew: Lot (Genesis 11:27-31)
Ages
- 1: Abram was born to 70-year-old Terah. (ChatGPT says ancient cultures considered newborns 1, but I know some cultures consider them 0.)
- 75: He left Haran to move to Canaan after the Lord revealed His covenant
- 85: He married Hagar the Egyptian (10 years after coming to Canaan).
- 86: She bore Ishmael to him
- 99: The Lord named him Abraham, and he was circumcised with his house.
Story
Early Life
When Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
Abram took Sarai as his wife, but she was barren.
Terah took Abram, Lot, and Sarai from Ur to go into the land of Canaan. They settled when they came to Haran, though.
Abrahamic Covenant
The Lord told Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
So Abram left Haran with Lot at 75 years old. He took Sarai, Lot, and all their possessions and people to Canaan. Abram passed through the land to Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Despite the Canaanite inhabitants, the Lord promised the land to Abram's offspring, so Abram built an altar. He continued on to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east and built an altar and called upon the name of the Lord. He continued toward the Negeb.
There was a severe famine, so Abram went to Egypt, but first, he instructed his beautiful wife to call him her brother lest they kill Abram. The Egyptians did find her beautiful and the princes praised her to Pharaoh, so she was taken to Pharaoh's house. For her sake, he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.
The Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues, so he asked Abram why he brought this upon him by lying. He returned Sarai and told him to leave, giving men orders concerning him.
Abram and Lot separate, and the Lord reveals the promised land.
Abram went from Egypt to the Negeb with his wife, Lot, and all they had. He journeyed on from the Negeb to as far as where he built an altar in Bethel, and Abram called upon the name of the Lord. The land could not support both Lot and Abram's wealth, and their herdsmen had strife. At that time, the Canaanites and Perizzites were dwelling in the land.
Abram proposed they separate, and Lot chose to go east to the Jordan Valley because it was well watered like the garden of the Lord then settled in among the cities as far as Sodom. Abram settled in Canaan. After Lot left, the Lord told Abram to look from where he was because all the land he can see will be given to him and his offspring forever. He said his offspring will be as the dust of the earth in number, then told him to walk the length and breadth of the land that the Lord will give him. Abram moved his tent and settled by the oaks of Mamre at Hebron and built an altar to the Lord.
War of Nine Kings
An escapee from the war came to the oaks of Mamre and told Abram that Lot had been captured with Sodom. Mamre the Amorite and his brothers Eshcol and Aner allied with Abram. Abram led 318 trained men, born in his house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. He divided his forces agains tthem by night, he and his servants, and defeated them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus. He brought back all the possessions, Lot and his possessions, and the women and the people. (Genesis 14:1-16)
Blessed by Melchizedek
After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer's side, the king of Sodom came to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (King's Valley). Melchizedek king of Salem (priest of God Most High) brought out bread and wine. He blessed him, saying, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, / Possessor of heaven and earth; / and blessed be God Most High, / who has delivered your enemies into your hand." Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
The king of Sodom told Abram, "Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself.” But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me. Let Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre take their share.”
Abrahamic Covenant
After this, the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not fear, Abram, / I am a shield to you; / Your reward shall be very great.” Abram replied that he had no heir but Eliezer of Damascus. Then the Lord told him, "This man will not be your heir; but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens and count the stars, if you are able to count them. ... So shall your descendants be.” Abram believed Him, and He credited it to him as righteousness.
And He said, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.” Abram asked, “Lord God, how may I know that I will possess it?” So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” Abram obeyed and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds. He also drove away the birds of prey as they came down upon the carcasses.
A deep sleep, terror, and great darkness fell upon Abram. Then God told Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the wrongdoing of the Amorite is not yet complete.”
Then when the sun had set, it was very dark, and a smoking oven and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the offered pieces. The Lord made a covenant with Abram that day, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, / From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: / the land of the Kenite, the Kenizzite, the Kadmonite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Rephaim, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.”
Abram fathers Ishmael by Sarai's servant Hagar
Sarai suggested to Abram, "Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her." He listened to her and took Hagar as a wife 10 years after moving to Canaan. He went into her, and she conceived. Then Sarai told him, "May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!" Abram responded, "Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please." Sarai dealt so harshly with Hagar that she fled.
After some time in the wilderness, Hagar returned and bore Ishmael when Abram was 86.
Abram becomes Abraham as the Lord appears a third time to establish His covenant with him
When Abram was 99, God Almighty appeared to him to make His covenant with him, saying he shall be the father of a multitude of nations and shall no longer be called Abram but Abraham.