Abra·ham /ˈebrəˌhæm/
 亞伯拉罕


 Abraham
      n : the first of the Old Testament patriarchs and the father of
          Isaac; according to Genesis, God promised to give
          Abraham's family (the Hebrews) the land of Canaan (the
          Promised Land); God tested Abraham by asking him to
          sacrifice his son; "Judaism, Christianity, and Islam each
          has a special claim on Abraham" [syn: Ibrahim]


 Abraham
    father of a multitude, son of Terah, named (Gen. 11:27) before
    his older brothers Nahor and Haran, because he was the heir of
    the promises. Till the age of seventy, Abram sojourned among his
    kindred in his native country of Chaldea. He then, with his
    father and his family and household, quitted the city of Ur, in
    which he had hitherto dwelt, and went some 300 miles north to
    Haran, where he abode fifteen years. The cause of his migration
    was a call from God (Acts 7:2-4). There is no mention of this
    first call in the Old Testament; it is implied, however, in Gen.
    12. While they tarried at Haran, Terah died at the age of 205
    years. Abram now received a second and more definite call,
    accompanied by a promise from God (Gen. 12:1,2); whereupon he
    took his departure, taking his nephew Lot with him, "not knowing
    whither he went" (Heb. 11:8). He trusted implicitly to the
    guidance of Him who had called him.

      Abram now, with a large household of probably a thousand
    souls, entered on a migratory life, and dwelt in tents. Passing
    along the valley of the Jabbok, in the land of Canaan, he formed
    his first encampment at Sichem (Gen. 12:6), in the vale or
    oak-grove of Moreh, between Ebal on the north and Gerizim on the
    south. Here he received the great promise, "I will make of thee
    a great nation," etc. (Gen. 12:2,3,7). This promise comprehended
    not only temporal but also spiritual blessings. It implied that
    he was the chosen ancestor of the great Deliverer whose coming
    had been long ago predicted (Gen. 3:15). Soon after this, for
    some reason not mentioned, he removed his tent to the mountain
    district between Bethel, then called Luz, and Ai, towns about
    two miles apart, where he built an altar to "Jehovah." He again
    moved into the southern tract of Palestine, called by the
    Hebrews the Negeb; and was at length, on account of a famine,
    compelled to go down into Egypt. This took place in the time of
    the Hyksos, a Semitic race which now held the Egyptians in
    bondage. Here occurred that case of deception on the part of
    Abram which exposed him to the rebuke of Pharaoh (Gen. 12:18).
    Sarai was restored to him; and Pharaoh loaded him with presents,
    recommending him to withdraw from the country. He returned to
    Canaan richer than when he left it, "in cattle, in silver, and
    in gold" (Gen. 12:8; 13:2. Comp. Ps. 105:13, 14). The whole
    party then moved northward, and returned to their previous
    station near Bethel. Here disputes arose between Lot's shepherds
    and those of Abram about water and pasturage. Abram generously
    gave Lot his choice of the pasture-ground. (Comp. 1 Cor. 6:7.)
    He chose the well-watered plain in which Sodom was situated, and
    removed thither; and thus the uncle and nephew were separated.
    Immediately after this Abram was cheered by a repetition of the
    promises already made to him, and then removed to the plain or
    "oak-grove" of Mamre, which is in Hebron. He finally settled
    here, pitching his tent under a famous oak or terebinth tree,
    called "the oak of Mamre" (Gen. 13:18). This was his third
    resting-place in the land.

      Some fourteen years before this, while Abram was still in
    Chaldea, Palestine had been invaded by Chedorlaomer, King of
    Elam, who brought under tribute to him the five cities in the
    plain to which Lot had removed. This tribute was felt by the
    inhabitants of these cities to be a heavy burden, and after
    twelve years they revolted. This brought upon them the vengeance
    of Chedorlaomer, who had in league with him four other kings. He
    ravaged the whole country, plundering the towns, and carrying
    the inhabitants away as slaves. Among those thus treated was
    Lot. Hearing of the disaster that had fallen on his nephew,
    Abram immediately gathered from his own household a band of 318
    armed men, and being joined by the Amoritish chiefs Mamre, Aner,
    and Eshcol, he pursued after Chedorlaomer, and overtook him near
    the springs of the Jordan. They attacked and routed his army,
    and pursued it over the range of Anti-Libanus as far as to
    Hobah, near Damascus, and then returned, bringing back all the
    spoils that had been carried away. Returning by way of Salem,
    i.e., Jerusalem, the king of that place, Melchizedek, came forth
    to meet them with refreshments. To him Abram presented a tenth
    of the spoils, in recognition of his character as a priest of
    the most high God (Gen. 14:18-20).

      In a recently-discovered tablet, dated in the reign of the
    grandfather of Amraphel (Gen. 14:1), one of the witnesses is
    called "the Amorite, the son of Abiramu," or Abram.

      Having returned to his home at Mamre, the promises already
    made to him by God were repeated and enlarged (Gen. 13:14). "The
    word of the Lord" (an expression occurring here for the first
    time) "came to him" (15:1). He now understood better the future
    that lay before the nation that was to spring from him. Sarai,
    now seventy-five years old, in her impatience, persuaded Abram
    to take Hagar, her Egyptian maid, as a concubine, intending that
    whatever child might be born should be reckoned as her own.
    Ishmael was accordingly thus brought up, and was regarded as the
    heir of these promises (Gen. 16). When Ishmael was thirteen
    years old, God again revealed yet more explicitly and fully his
    gracious purpose; and in token of the sure fulfilment of that
    purpose the patriarch's name was now changed from Abram to
    Abraham (Gen. 17:4,5), and the rite of circumcision was
    instituted as a sign of the covenant. It was then announced that
    the heir to these covenant promises would be the son of Sarai,
    though she was now ninety years old; and it was directed that
    his name should be Isaac. At the same time, in commemoration of
    the promises, Sarai's name was changed to Sarah. On that
    memorable day of God's thus revealing his design, Abraham and
    his son Ishmael and all the males of his house were circumcised
    (Gen. 17). Three months after this, as Abraham sat in his tent
    door, he saw three men approaching. They accepted his proffered
    hospitality, and, seated under an oak-tree, partook of the fare
    which Abraham and Sarah provided. One of the three visitants was
    none other than the Lord, and the other two were angels in the
    guise of men. The Lord renewed on this occasion his promise of a
    son by Sarah, who was rebuked for her unbelief. Abraham
    accompanied the three as they proceeded on their journey. The
    two angels went on toward Sodom; while the Lord tarried behind
    and talked with Abraham, making known to him the destruction
    that was about to fall on that guilty city. The patriarch
    interceded earnestly in behalf of the doomed city. But as not
    even ten righteous persons were found in it, for whose sake the
    city would have been spared, the threatened destruction fell
    upon it; and early next morning Abraham saw the smoke of the
    fire that consumed it as the "smoke of a furnace" (Gen.
    19:1-28).

      After fifteen years' residence at Mamre, Abraham moved
    southward, and pitched his tent among the Philistines, near to
    Gerar. Here occurred that sad instance of prevarication on his
    part in his relation to Abimelech the King (Gen. 20). (See ABIMELECH.) Soon after this event, the patriarch left
    the vicinity of Gerar, and moved down the fertile valley about
    25 miles to Beer-sheba. It was probably here that Isaac was
    born, Abraham being now an hundred years old. A feeling of
    jealousy now arose between Sarah and Hagar, whose son, Ishmael,
    was no longer to be regarded as Abraham's heir. Sarah insisted
    that both Hagar and her son should be sent away. This was done,
    although it was a hard trial to Abraham (Gen. 21:12). (See HAGAR
    �T0001583; ISHMAEL.)

      At this point there is a blank in the patriarch's history of
    perhaps twenty-five years. These years of peace and happiness
    were spent at Beer-sheba. The next time we see him his faith is
    put to a severe test by the command that suddenly came to him to
    go and offer up Isaac, the heir of all the promises, as a
    sacrifice on one of the mountains of Moriah. His faith stood the
    test (Heb. 11:17-19). He proceeded in a spirit of unhesitating
    obedience to carry out the command; and when about to slay his
    son, whom he had laid on the altar, his uplifted hand was
    arrested by the angel of Jehovah, and a ram, which was entangled
    in a thicket near at hand, was seized and offered in his stead.
    From this circumstance that place was called Jehovah-jireh,
    i.e., "The Lord will provide." The promises made to Abraham were
    again confirmed (and this was the last recorded word of God to
    the patriarch); and he descended the mount with his son, and
    returned to his home at Beer-sheba (Gen. 22:19), where he
    resided for some years, and then moved northward to Hebron.

      Some years after this Sarah died at Hebron, being 127 years
    old. Abraham acquired now the needful possession of a
    burying-place, the cave of Machpelah, by purchase from the owner
    of it, Ephron the Hittite (Gen. 23); and there he buried Sarah.
    His next care was to provide a wife for Isaac, and for this
    purpose he sent his steward, Eliezer, to Haran (or Charran, Acts
    7:2), where his brother Nahor and his family resided (Gen.
    11:31). The result was that Rebekah, the daughter of Nahor's son
    Bethuel, became the wife of Isaac (Gen. 24). Abraham then
    himself took to wife Keturah, who became the mother of six sons,
    whose descendants were afterwards known as the "children of the
    east" (Judg. 6:3), and later as "Saracens." At length all his
    wanderings came to an end. At the age of 175 years, 100 years
    after he had first entered the land of Canaan, he died, and was
    buried in the old family burying-place at Machpelah (Gen.
    25:7-10).

      The history of Abraham made a wide and deep impression on the
    ancient world, and references to it are interwoven in the
    religious traditions of almost all Eastern nations. He is called
    "the friend of God" (James 2:23), "faithful Abraham" (Gal. 3:9),
    "the father of us all" (Rom. 4:16).



 Abraham, father of a great multitude