FREE ESSAY ON ABRAHAM

ABRAHAM

The son of Terah and founder of the Hebrew Nation was a man by the name of Abraham
(originally Abram). His family descended from Shem and settled in Ur of the Chaldees
(Genesis 11:28), Abraham's home town. Terah was apparently an idolater (Joshua 24:2), but
had three sons, Abraham, Nahor, and Haran, one of which would go on to be called by God
to create a chosen people.
Abraham was married to his half-sister, Sarah (originally Sarai). After the death of his
brother Nahor, Abraham and his family, including his nephew Lot and father Terah, left Ur
to go to the land of Canaan (Genesis 11:27-31). In Acts, Stephen says that God appeared
to Abraham in Ur, before he lived in Haran, and appeared again once he got there possibly
to renew his call (Acts 7:2-4). 
After living a while in Haran, he was seventy-five by this time, Abraham left for Canaan.
Less than a year later, he arrived there when a vision from the Lord assured him that
this was the land his descendants would inherit (Genesis 12:4,7). He wandered the land
for a few more years, travelling as far as the great tree of Moreh at Shechem (Genesis
12:6). During a famine, Abraham went to Egypt. The Pharaoh welcomed him, but, fearful for
his life, Abraham represented Sarah as his sister, not his wife. The Pharaoh learned the
truth, and the Lord inflicted serious diseases on him and his household for taking her.
That persuaded him to let Abraham and his family go (Genesis 12:15-17,20). Back in
Canaan, he and Lot separated because their herdsmen were arguing. Lot chose the fertile
plain by the Jordan to graze at, while Abraham pitched his tent among the oak groves of
Mamre, in the hill country near Hebron (Genesis 13:10,18). Abraham lived in the hill
country for at lest fifteen years. He strengthened his position with the local Amorites
by uniting with them in the rescue of Lot when Sodom and Gomorrah had been taken (Genesis
14:12). On his way back, he was blesssed by Melchizedek, priest-king of Salem, to whom he
gave a tenth of everything (Genesis 14:20). 
God now renewed his promise of a son to Abraham, a pivotal step in creating a new
God-chosen people. When no son came, however, his wife suggested he take her maid Hagar
as his concubine (Genesis 16:2). When Abraham was eighty-six, Hagar gave birth to
Ishmael. Thirteen years later, God told Abraham that the yet-to-come son of Sarah, not
Hagar, would be his heir. The Lord appointed the rite of circumcision for the first time
as the sign of the covenant made between Him and Abraham (Genesis 17). 
When two visitors, presumably angels, visited Lot in Sodom, God protected him and his
still faithful, at least semi-moral (not to be fully participating in Sodom's sin, but
choosing to live there regardless) family. The angels blinded the people who wanted the
visitors and told Lot to escape, while God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19).
Meanwhile, Abraham moved to the south country (Genesis 20:1) where he lived in a number
of places, including with the Philistines. He had an experience similar to the one with
Sarah in Egypt with Abimelech, King of Gerar. 
When Abraham was one hundred years old, Isaac was born (Genesis 21:1-21). A treaty
between Abimelech and Abraham at Beersheba followed Hagar and Ishmael's being sent away.
However, Abraham's faith in God's promise met one last severe test when God commanded him
to sacrifice his one and only son, a significant test that can relate to the Lord and his
own son. Judging by his actions, Abraham would have done it. He was saved by doing it,
however, because it had only been a test (Genesis 22:2,6-7,12). After Sarah died, when
Abraham was one hundred forty years old, he got Isaac a wife from his own people in
Haran. Then Abraham married Keturah, by whom he had six more children, but Isaac remained
his sole heir. 
At the age of one hundred seventy five Abraham died. He was buried beside Sarah in the
Cave of Machpelah, which he had bought from Ephon (Genesis 23;25:7-10). That cave would
go on to be not only the family burial site, but a symbol of the covenant between Abraham
and God-it was in Canaan, as will be the future generations of Hebrews. It would remain
to be inspiration to his descendants to keep on doing God's work.
Abraham was an exceptionally significant figure throughout the Old Testament. He became
the ancestor of the people of Israel and the founder of Judaism. He provided the ancestry
for God's Kingdom, the crowd from which Jesus would eventually be raised. He also
followed God to Canaan without question. He had faith in everything God said and did,
including to the point of sacrificing his own son. I would like to be able to say I
would, or anyone would, have had that kind of trust in the Lord. Abraham was a very
unique man, however. Personally, it is very inspiring to see what God does and provides
for him, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Samson, and all the other Old Testament figures that
helped to further God's Kingdom. It makes me wonder what kind of things He does for me
without me even knowing it. I also like to see the effect it had on his and his
children's lives. Abraham is a prominent character in the Old Testament, but in the New
Testament there is also a wealth of references to him. Paul calls him not only the father
of the Jews, but of all who believe (Romans 4:11), hence the song Father Abraham. He is
thus the archetype of the Christian believer, repeatedly held up as an example of faith
at its best.