Abraham's family tree

The family tree of the biblical figure Abraham is connected by several stories. Though Abraham's forefathers were from southern Mesopotamia,^[1] the LORD led (then named) Abram on a journey to the land of Canaan, which he promised to his descendants. He is known as the patriarch of the Jewish people of today through Isaac, the son born to him and Sarah in their old age, in fulfillment of a promise from God. Many Arab people claim descent from Abraham through his son Ishmael, born to Abraham and his wife’s servant Hagar.

Historical background and source criticism

The Genealogy of Abraham appears in Genesis 5, Genesis 10:1-7, 20, 22-23, 31-32, and Genesis 11. The Documentary Hypothesis attributes these genealogies to P.^[2]

Abram’s original homeland

The home of Abram’s father Terah was Ur. Ur was an important Sumerian city that is now known as Tell el-Mukayyar. Terah took his son Abram and grandson Lot (son of Haran) to the city of Haran. The people there were not related to those of Mesopotamia.^[3]

Abram’s migration

When Abram was 75 years old, the LORD told him to move to a new place he would show him. He told Abram that he would make of him a great nation, that his descendants would multiply greatly and that whoever blessed Abram would be blessed and whoever cursed him would be cursed.^[4] One of Abram’s first stopping places was the land of Canaan. There God promised the land to Abram’s descendants. However when there was a famine, Abram moved to Egypt for a while.

Abram and Sarai

Sarai was Abram’s wife, and the account in Genesis says that she was beautiful. There are two occasions (years apart) when Abram hid the fact he was married to her because he feared that a local king would kill him and take Sarai for his own wife.^[5] The first occasion was when they went to Egypt; Abram said that Sarai was his sister and Pharaoh took her into his harem. When Pharaoh discovered Sarai was Abram’s wife, he was appalled and he sent back Sarai along with wealth to Abraham and they left Egypt.

The second occasion was years later, after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham settled in the Negev and a local king took Abraham's "sister" Sarah as his wife – in good conscience since Abraham did not disclose her marital status. God appeared to this king in a dream and told him to give Sarah back to Abraham. Again Sarah was returned with gifts. Abraham defended his practice of calling her his sister, since indeed she was the daughter of his father, but not of his mother.^[6]

Until the birth of Isaac, the account says that Sarah had no children, and when the promise of Isaac was given, it says she laughed at the idea because she was well past her childbearing years.

Abram and Lot

Lot was Abram’s nephew, the son of his brother Haran. After God’s call to Abram, Abram and Lot left the land of Haran together with all of their substance. By the time Lot came out of Egypt with Abram, their flocks and herds were too large to graze the same land, and Abram offered Lot first choice of what land to settle in. Lot chose to go East to the plain of Jordan near Sodom, and Abram remained in the land of Canaan and moved south from Bethel to the area called Hebron.^[7]

Abram had a large estate with many people. When neighboring kings defeated some local tribes, they took Lot captive as well. Abram raised 318 soldiers from his household and defeated the kings to rescue Lot, with the others.^[1]

Lot became the father of the Moabites and the Ammonites, nations who were sometimes friendly, sometimes antagonistic toward Abraham’s descendants in Israel.

Abram and Ishmael

Abram and Sarai prospered materially but had no children. Abram thought to leave his estate to a trusted servant, but God promised him a son and heir. When he was 86 years old, Sarai suggested and Abram agreed, that a practical way to have a child was through Sarai’s servant Hagar. Hagar conceived right away and in time Ishmael was born. This situation brought strife rather than happiness between Hagar and Sarai. Nevertheless, God saw Hagar’s suffering and promised that though this was not the child promised to Abram, he would nevertheless make Ishmael’s descendants into great tribes and will make Ishmael a great nation.^[8]

Abram to Abraham

In Genesis chapter 17 "Almighty God" changed Abram’s name to Abraham, for he would be a father of many nations. And his wife Sarai's name was called Sarah, for she would be a mother of nations.

Abraham and Isaac

Three visitors come to Abraham and said that he would have a son. Sarah believed she was too old to have a child and laughed. Yet she did conceive (Genesis 21:1-7) and had a baby named Isaac, whose name means laughter. Later, Abraham’s loyalty to God was tested when he was asked to give up Isaac as a sacrifice. The account in Genesis 22 suggests that Abraham expected that God would give Isaac back to him somehow.^[9] A ram, caught in a thicket, was provided instead of Isaac.

Isaac and Rebekah

When Abraham was very old, and shortly after the death of Sarah, he sent his servant back to the clan of his nephew Bethuel to see whether he could find a wife for Isaac. The servant met Rebekah at a water well outside of town and when he discovered she was a relative, he asked permission to take her as a wife for Isaac. Rebekah’s father Bethuel and brother Laban agreed. So at age 40, Isaac married Rebekah, who finally gave birth to twin sons Esau and Jacob twenty years later.^[10]

Abraham and Keturah

After Isaac was married, Abraham married Keturah, who bore him six more sons – Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah.

Esau and Jacob

Though Esau was born first, God indicated that Jacob would be the one to receive the greater inheritance and would be the father of a nation. Jacob and Esau made an infamous bargain in which Esau sold his rights to extra inheritance as the firstborn son to Jacob for a bowl of pottage. Combined with some deception, Jacob ended up getting his father’s blessing as if he were the firstborn. This angered Esau so much that Jacob fled for his life to his uncle Laban. He met and later married Laban’s daughters Leah and Rachel. Jacob stayed with Laban for 20 years and worked for Laban before returning to his homeland.^[11]

Jacob became the father of the twelve tribes of Israel, and ultimately the kingdom of Israel (and later kingdom of Judah, which split off).

Death of Abraham

According to Genesis 25:7, Abraham died at the age of 175 years.^[12]

Family tree

The following is a family tree for the descendants of the line of Noah's son Shem, through Abraham to Jacob and his sons. Dashed lines are marriage connections.

References