Abraham

Abraham
The bosom of Abraham – medieval illustration from the Hortus deliciarum of Herrad of Landsberg (12th century)
Personal
Born	Abram Mesopotamia[Notes 1]
Died	Canaan[Notes 1]
Resting place	Cave of Machpelah 31°31′29″N 35°06′39″E / 31.524744°N 35.110726°E / 31.524744; 35.110726
Spouse	Sarah Hagar Keturah
Children	Ishmael Isaac Zimran Jokshan Medan Midian Ishbak Shuah

Abraham (/ˈeɪbrəˌhæm, -həm/ (Hebrew: אַבְרָהָם‎,  listen )), birthname Abram, is the first of the three biblical patriarchs. His story, told in chapters 11 through 25 of the Book of Genesis, plays a prominent role in Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the Bahá'í Faith.^[1][2][3][4]

According to Jewish tradition and the Bible's internal chronology, Abraham was born in the year 1948 from Creation (1813 BCE).^[5] To date, there has been little if any archaeological or other scientific evidence to confirm his existence at that time. Scholars variously consider Abraham to have lived as late as the seventh century BCE,^[6] or that he is a later, literary construct and not a historical person.^[7] Potentially, excavation of his traditional burial site, the Cave of the Patriarchs at Hebron, along with carbon dating and/or DNA analysis from the bodies in comparison with the shared Y-chromosomal genes among Jewish and Arab people, his patriarchal offspring by tradition,^[8] could provide evidence confirming his existence and chronology.

The Genesis narrative of Abraham traces his descent from Shem, the father of Semitic peoples, and describes his faith, journeys, and legacy in believing in the God of heaven and earth, and departing from his idol-worshiping father and homeland to settle in the land of Canaan which God promised to him and his seed. Abraham was extremely wealthy and powerful, but his wife Sarah was barren, so his servant Eliezer, and Ishmael the son of Sarah's handmaid Hagar might have been candidates to inherit him.

But the couple are visited by an angel and Sarah in her old age bears her only son Isaac, who becomes the exclusive heir. Abraham purchased, at an exorbitant price, the Cave of the Patriarchs at Hebron to be Sarah's burial place when she died, thus establishing unequivocal rights to that land. Isaac was married to a woman from his own relatives, thus ruling the Canaanites out of any right to his inheritance.

Abraham later married Keturah and had six more sons, but on his death, when he was buried beside Sarah, it was Isaac who received "all Abraham's goods", while the other sons received only "gifts".

Genesis narrative

The story of Abraham is related in Genesis 11:26–25:10 of the Hebrew Bible.

Abraham's origins and calling

Terah, the tenth in descent from Noah, begat three sons, Abraham, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begat Lot (who was thus Abraham's nephew), and died in his native city, Ur of the Chaldees. Abraham married Sarai, who was barren. Terah, with Abraham, Sarai, and Lot, then departed for Canaan, but settled in a place named Haran, where Terah died at the age of 205. (Genesis 11:27–32) God had told Abraham to leave his country and kindred and go to a land that he would show him, and promised to make of him a great nation, bless him, make his name great, bless them that bless him, and curse he who may curse him. (Genesis 12:1–3) Abraham was 75 years old when he left Haran with his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and the substance and souls that they had acquired, and traveled to Shechem in Canaan. (Genesis 12:4–6)

Abraham and Sarai

There was a severe famine in the land of Canaan, so that Abraham and Lot and their households, traveled south to Egypt. On the way Abraham told his wife Sarai to say that she was his sister, so that the Egyptians would not kill him. (Genesis 12:10–13) When they entered Egypt, the Pharaoh's officials praised Sarai's beauty to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace, and Abraham was given provisions: "oxen, and he-asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she-asses, and camels". However, God afflicted Pharaoh and his household with great plagues, for which he tried to find the reason. (Genesis 12:14–17) Upon discovering that Sarai was a married woman, Pharaoh demanded that they and their household leave immediately, along with all their goods. (Genesis 12:18–20)

Abraham and Lot separate

When they came back to the Bethel and Hai area, Abraham's and Lot's sizable livestock herds occupied the same pastures. This became a problem for the herdsmen who were assigned to each family's cattle. The conflicts between herdsmen had become so troublesome that Abraham graciously suggested that Lot choose a separate area, either on the left hand (north) or on the right hand (south), that there be no conflict amongst brethren. But Lot chose to go east to the plain of Jordan where the land was well watered everywhere as far as Zoar, and he dwelled in the cities of the plain toward Sodom. Abraham went south to Hebron and settled in the plain of Mamre, where he built another altar to worship God. (Genesis 13:1–18)

Abraham and Chedorlaomer

During the rebellion of the Jordan River cities against Elam, (Genesis 14:1–9) Abraham's nephew, Lot, was taken prisoner along with his entire household by the invading Elamite forces. The Elamite army came to collect the spoils of war, after having just defeated the king of Sodom's armies. (Genesis 14:8–12) Lot and his family, at the time, were settled on the outskirts of the Kingdom of Sodom which made them a visible target. (Genesis 13:12)

One person who escaped capture came and told Abraham what happened. Once Abraham received this news, he immediately assembled 318 trained servants. Abraham's force headed north in pursuit of the Elamite army, who were already worn down from the Battle of Siddim. When they caught up with them at Dan, Abraham devised a battle plan by splitting his group into more than one unit, and launched a night raid. Not only were they able to free the captives, Abraham's unit chased and slaughtered the Elamite King Chedorlaomer at Hobah, just north of Damascus. They freed Lot, as well as his household and possessions, and recovered all of the goods from Sodom that had been taken. (Genesis 14:13–16)

Upon Abraham's return, Sodom's king came out to meet with him in the Valley of Shaveh, the "king's dale". Also, Melchizedek king of Salem (Jerusalem), a priest of God Most High, brought out bread and wine and blessed Abraham and God. Abraham then gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything. The king of Sodom then offered to let Abraham keep all the possessions if he would merely return his people. Although he released the captives, Abraham refused any reward from the king of Sodom, other than the share to which his allies were entitled. (Genesis 14:17–24)

Abrahamic covenant

The word of God came to Abraham in a vision and repeated the promise of the land and descendants as numerous as the stars. Abraham and God made a covenant ceremony, and God told of the future bondage of Israel in Egypt. God described to Abraham the land that his offspring would claim: the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaims, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites. (Genesis 15:1–21)

Abraham and Hagar

Abraham and Sarai tried to make sense of how he would become a progenitor of nations since after 10 years of living in Canaan, no child had been born. Sarai then offered her Egyptian handmaiden, Hagar, for Abraham to consort with so that he may have a child by her, as his wife. After Hagar found she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress, Sarai. Therefore, Sarai mistreated Hagar, and Hagar fled away. En route an angel spoke with Hagar at the fountain in the way to Shur. He instructed her to return and that her son would be "a wild ass of a man; his hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the face of all his brethren." She was told to call her son Ishmael. Hagar then called God who spoke to her "El-roi", ("Thou God seest me:" KJV). From that day, the well was called Beer-lahai-roi, ("The well of him that liveth and seeth me." KJV margin). She then did as she was instructed by returning to her mistress in order to have her child. Abraham was eighty-six years of age when Ishmael was born. (Genesis 16:4–16)

Abraham and Sarah

Thirteen years later, when Abraham was ninety-nine years of age, God declared Abraham's new name: "Abraham" – "a father of many nations" (Genesis 17:5). Abraham then received the instructions for the covenant, of which circumcision was to be the sign.(Genesis 17:10–14) Then God declared Sarai's new name: "Sarah" and blessed her and told Abraham, "I will give thee a son also of her". (Genesis 17:15–16) But Abraham laughed, and "said in his heart, 'Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?'" (Genesis 17:17) Immediately after Abraham's encounter with God, he had his entire household of men, including himself (age 99) and Ishmael (age 13), circumcised. (Genesis 17:22–27)

Abraham's three visitors

Not long afterward, during the heat of the day, Abraham had been sitting at the entrance of his tent by the terebinths of Mamre. He looked up and saw three men in the presence of God. Then he ran and bowed to the ground to welcome them. Abraham then offered to wash their feet and fetch them a morsel of bread, of which they assented. Abraham rushed to Sarah's tent to order cakes made from choice flour, then he ordered a servant-boy to prepare a choice calf. When all was prepared, he set curds, milk and the calf before them, waiting on them, under a tree, as they ate. (Genesis 18:1–8)

One of the visitors told Abraham that upon his return next year, Sarah would have a son. While at the tent entrance, Sarah overheard what was said and she laughed to herself about the prospect of having a child at their ages. The visitor inquired of Abraham why Sarah laughed at bearing a child at her age, as nothing is too hard for God. Frightened, Sarah denied laughing.

Abraham's plea

After eating, Abraham and the three visitors got up. They walked over to the peak that overlooked the 'cities of the plain' to discuss the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah for their detestable sins that were so great, it moved God to action. Because Abraham's nephew was living in Sodom, God revealed plans to confirm and judge these cities. At this point, the two other visitors left for Sodom. Then Abraham turned to God and pleaded decrementally with Him (from fifty persons to less) that "if there were at least ten righteous men found in the city, would not God spare the city?" For the sake of ten righteous people, God declared that he would not destroy the city. (Genesis 18:17–33)

When the two visitors got to Sodom to conduct their report, they planned on staying in the city square. However, Abraham's nephew, Lot, met with them and strongly insisted that these two "men" stay at his house for the night. A rally of men stood outside of Lot's home and demanded that they bring out his guests so that they may "know" (v.5) them. However, Lot objected and offered his virgin daughters who had not "known" (v.8) man to the rally of men instead. They rejected that notion and sought to break down Lot's door to get to his male guests, (Genesis 19:1–9) thus confirming that their "cry" had waxed great before God, and they would be destroyed. (Genesis 19:12–13)

Early the next morning, Abraham went to the place where he stood before God. He "looked out toward Sodom and Gomorrah" and saw what became of the cities of the plain, where not even "ten righteous" (v.18:32) had been found, as "the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace." (Genesis 19:27–29)

Abraham and Abimelech

Abraham settled between Kadesh and Shur in the land of the Philistines. While he was living in Gerar, Abraham openly claimed that Sarah was his sister. Upon discovering this news, King Abimelech had her brought to him. God then came to Abimelech in a dream and declared that taking her would result in death because she was a man's wife. Abimelech had not laid hands on her, so he inquired if he would also slay a righteous nation, especially since Abraham had claimed that he and Sarah were siblings. In response, God told Abimelech that he did indeed have a blameless heart and that is why he continued to exist. However, should he not return the wife of Abraham back to him, God would surely destroy Abimelech and his entire household. Abimelech was informed that Abraham was a prophet who would pray for him.(Genesis 20:1–7)

Early next morning, Abimelech informed his servants of his dream and approached Abraham inquiring as to why he had brought such great guilt upon his kingdom. Abraham stated that he thought there was no fear of God in that place, and that they might kill him for his wife. Then Abraham defended what he had said as not being a lie at all: "And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife." (Genesis 20:12) Abimelech returned Sarah to Abraham, and gave him gifts of sheep, oxen, and servants; and invited him to settle wherever he pleased in Abimelech's lands. Further, Abimelech gave Abraham a thousand pieces of silver to serve as Sarah's vindication before all. Abraham then prayed for Abimelech and his household, since God had stricken the women with infertility because of the taking of Sarah. (Genesis 20:8–18)

After living for some time in the land of the Philistines, Abimelech and Phicol, the chief of his troops, approached Abraham because of a dispute that resulted in a violent confrontation at a well. Abraham then reproached Abimelech due to his Philistine servant's aggressive attacks and the seizing of Abraham's well. Abimelech claimed ignorance of the incident. Then Abraham offered a pact by providing sheep and oxen to Abimelech. Further, to attest that Abraham was the one who dug the well, he also gave Abimelech seven ewes for proof. Because of this sworn oath, they called the place of this well: Beersheba. After Abimelech and Phicol headed back to Philistia, Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba and called upon "the name of the LORD, the everlasting God." (Genesis 21:22–34)

Birth of Isaac

As had been prophesied in Mamre the previous year (Genesis 17:21), Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham, on the first anniversary of the covenant of circumcision. Abraham was "an hundred years old", when his son whom he named Isaac was born; and he circumcised him when he was eight days old. (Genesis 21:1–5) For Sarah, the thought of giving birth and nursing a child, at such an old age, also brought her much laughter, as she declared, "God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me." (Genesis 21:6–7) Isaac continued to grow and on the day he was weaned, Abraham held a great feast to honor the occasion. During the celebration, however, Sarah found Ishmael mocking; an observation that would begin to clarify the birthright of Isaac. (Genesis 21:8–13)

Abraham and Ishmael

Ishmael was fourteen years old when Abraham's son Isaac was born to a different mother, Sarah. Sarah had finally borne her own child, even though she had passed her child bearing period. When she found Ishmael teasing Isaac, Sarah told Abraham to send both Ishmael and Hagar away. She declared that Ishmael would not share in Isaac's inheritance. Abraham was greatly distressed by his wife's words and sought the advice of his God. God told Abraham not to be distressed but to do as his wife commanded. God reassured Abraham that "in Isaac shall seed be called to thee." (Genesis 21:12) He also said that Ishmael would make a nation, "because he is thy seed". (Genesis 21:9–13)

Early the next morning, Abraham brought Hagar and Ishmael out together. He gave her bread and water and sent them away. The two wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba until her bottle of water was completely consumed. In a moment of despair, she burst into tears. After God heard the boy's voice, an angel of God confirmed to Hagar that he would become a great nation. A well of water then appeared so that it saved their lives. As the boy grew, he became a skilled archer living in the wilderness of Paran. Eventually his mother found a wife for Ishmael from her home country, the land of Egypt. (Genesis 21:14–21)

Abraham and Isaac

At some point in Isaac's youth, Abraham was commanded by God to offer his son up as a sacrifice in the land of Moriah. The patriarch traveled three days until he came to the mount that God told him of. He commanded the servants to remain while he and Isaac proceeded alone into the mount. Isaac carried the wood upon which he would be sacrificed. Along the way, Isaac asked his father where the animal for the burnt offering was, to which Abraham replied "God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering". Just as Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, he was interrupted by "the angel of the LORD", and he saw behind him a "ram caught in a thicket by his horns", which he sacrificed instead of his son. For his obedience he received another promise of numerous descendants and abundant prosperity. After this event, Abraham went to Beersheba. (Genesis 22:1–19)

Later years

Sarah died, and Abraham buried her in the Cave of the Patriarchs (the "cave of Machpelah"), near Hebron which he had purchased along with the adjoining field from Ephron the Hittite. (Genesis 23:1–20) After the death of Sarah, Abraham took another wife, a concubine named Keturah, by whom he had six sons: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. (Genesis 25:1–6) According to the Bible, reflecting the change of his name to "Abraham" meaning "a father of many nations", Abraham is considered to be the progenitor of many nations mentioned in the Bible, among others the Israelites, Ishmaelites (Genesis 25:12–18), Edomites (Genesis 36:1–43), Amalekites (Genesis 36:12–16), Kenizzites (Genesis 36:9–16), Midianites and Assyrians (Genesis 25:1–5), and through his nephew Lot he was also related to the Moabites and Ammonites. (Genesis 19:35–38) Abraham lived to see his son marry Rebekah, (and possibly to see the birth of his twin grandsons Jacob and Esau). He died at age 175, and was buried in the cave of Machpelah by his sons Isaac and Ishmael. (Genesis 25:7–10 1Chronicles 1:32)

Family tree

Terah

Sarah[9]

Abraham

Hagar

Haran

Nahor

Ishmael

Milcah

Lot

Iscah

Ishmaelites

7 sons[10]

Bethuel

1st daughter

2nd daughter

Isaac

Rebecca

Laban

Moabites

Ammonites

Esau

Jacob

Rachel

Bilhah

Edomites

Zilpah

Leah

1. Reuben 2. Simeon 3. Levi 4. Judah 9. Issachar 10. Zebulun 11. Dinah

7. Gad 8. Asher

5. Dan 6. Naphtali

12. Joseph 13. Benjamin

Historicity and origins

Historicity

The 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia concluded that Abraham's biography in Genesis should be regarded as legendary. Its authors noted that the Elamite invasion of Genesis 14 may be historical and that Abraham's wandering may represent some historical tribal migration, but added that "[b]y reason of the paucity of information the whole question is obscure".^[11]

In the early and middle 20th century, leading archaeologists such as William F. Albright, and biblical scholars such as Albrecht Alt, believed that the patriarchs and matriarchs were either real individuals or believable composites of people who lived in the "patriarchal age", the 2nd millennium BCE. But, in the 1970s, new arguments concerning Israel's past and the biblical texts challenged these views; these arguments can be found in Thomas L. Thompson's The Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives (1974), and John Van Seters' Abraham in History and Tradition (1975). Thompson, a literary scholar, based his argument on archaeology and ancient texts. His thesis centered on the lack of compelling evidence that the patriarchs lived in the 2nd millennium, and noted how certain biblical texts reflected first millennium conditions and concerns. Van Seters examined the patriarchal stories and argued that their names, social milieu, and messages strongly suggested that they were Iron Age creations.^[12] William G. Dever has stated that by the beginning of the 21st century, archaeologists had "given up hope of recovering any context that would make Abraham, Isaac or Jacob credible 'historical figures'".^[13]

Origins of the narrative

Abraham's name is apparently very ancient, as the tradition found in Genesis no longer understands its original meaning (probably "Father is exalted" – the meaning offered in Genesis 17:5, "Father of a multitude", is a popular etymology).^[14] The name is a variant of Abiram and is known to have been a Babylonian personal name in the 24th century BCE; the renaming to Abraham in Genesis 17, which "yields no sense in Hebrew", may reflect simply a spelling variation where the h denotes a vowel.^[11]

Abraham's story, like those of the other patriarchs, most likely had a substantial oral prehistory.^[15] At some stage the oral traditions became part of the written tradition of the Pentateuch; a majority of scholars believes this stage belongs to the Persian period, roughly 520–320 BCE.^[16] The mechanisms by which this came about remain unknown,^[17] but there are currently two important hypotheses.^[18] The first, called Persian Imperial authorisation, is that the post-Exilic community devised the Torah as a legal basis on which to function within the Persian Imperial system; the second is that Pentateuch was written to provide the criteria for who would belong to the post Exilic Jewish community and to establish the power structures and relative positions of its various groups, notably the priesthood and the lay "elders".^[18]

Nevertheless, the completion of the Torah and its elevation to the centre of post-Exilic Judaism was as much or more about combining older texts as writing new ones – the final Pentateuch was based on existing traditions.^[19] In Ezekiel 33:24, written during the Exile (i.e., in the first half of the 6th century BCE), Ezekiel, an exile in Babylon, tells how those who remained in Judah are claiming ownership of the land based on inheritance from Abraham; but the prophet tells them they have no claim because they don't observe Torah.^[20] Isaiah 63:16 similarly testifies of tension between the people of Judah and the returning post-Exilic Jews (the "gôlâ"), stating that God is the father of Israel and that Israel's history begins with the Exodus and not with Abraham.^[21] The conclusion to be inferred from this and similar evidence (e.g., Ezra-Nehemiah), is that the figure of Abraham must have been preeminent among the great landowners of Judah at the time of the Exile and after, serving to support their claims to the land in opposition to those of the returning exiles.^[21]

Abraham in religious traditions

Abraham
Abraham and the Angels by Aert de Gelder (c. 1680–85)
First Patriarch
Venerated in	Judaism Christianity Islam Baha'i Faith
Feast	October 9 – Roman Catholicism

Overview

Abraham is given a high position of respect in three major world faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In Judaism he is the founding father of the Covenant, the special relationship between the Jewish people and God – a belief which gives the Jews a unique position as the Chosen People of God. In Christianity, the Apostle Paul taught that Abraham's faith in God – preceding the Mosaic law – made him the prototype of all believers, circumcised and uncircumcised. The Islamic prophet Muhammad claimed Abraham, whose submission to God constituted islam, as a "believer before the fact" and undercut Jewish claims to an exclusive relationship with God and the Covenant.^[22]

Judaism

In Jewish tradition, Abraham is called Avraham Avinu (אברהם אבינו), "our father Abraham," signifying that he is both the biological progenitor of the Jews (including converts, according to Jewish tradition), and the father of Judaism, the first Jew.^[23] His story is read in the weekly Torah reading portions, predominantly in the parashot: Lech-Lecha (לֶךְ-לְךָ), Vayeira (וַיֵּרָא), Chayei Sarah (חַיֵּי שָׂרָה), and Toledot (תּוֹלְדֹת).

Christianity

Abraham does not loom so large in Christianity as he does in Judaism and Islam. It is Jesus as the Messiah who is central to Christianity, and the idea of a divine Messiah is what separates Christianity from the other two religions.^[24] In Romans 4, Abraham's merit is less his obedience to the divine will than his faith in God's ultimate grace; this faith provides him the merit for God's having chosen him for the covenant, and the covenant becomes one of faith, not obedience.^[25] I

The Roman Catholic Church calls Abraham "our father in Faith" in the Eucharistic prayer of the Roman Canon, recited during the Mass (see Abraham in the Catholic liturgy). He is also commemorated in the calendars of saints of several denominations: on 20 August by the Maronite Church, 28 August in the Coptic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East (with the full office for the latter), and on 9 October by the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. In the introduction to his 15th-century translation of the Golden Legend's account of Abraham, William Caxton noted that this patriarch's life was read in church on Quinquagesima Sunday.^[26] He is the patron saint of those in the hospitality industry.^[27] The Eastern Orthodox Church commemorates him as the "Righteous Forefather Abraham", with two feast days in its liturgical calendar. The first time is on 9 October (for those churches which follow the traditional Julian Calendar, 9 October falls on 22 October of the modern Gregorian Calendar), where he is commemorated together with his nephew "Righteous Lot". The other is on the "Sunday of the Forefathers" (two Sundays before Christmas), when he is commemorated together with other ancestors of Jesus. Abraham is also mentioned in the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great, just before the Anaphora, and Abraham and Sarah are invoked in the prayers said by the priest over a newly married couple.

Islam

Ibrahim ʾIbrāhīm   إبراهيم Abraham
Family Hājar Sārah Ismā'īl ʾIsḥāq Lūṭ
Related Ḥaj Maqām Ibrāhīm ‘Īd al-’Aḍḥá
Category Islam portal

The name Ibrahim comes from the words ibn (patronymic) and rahim, which together mean "son of the kind, compassionate or merciful." Judaism holds that one becomes a descendant of Abraham through birth, and Christianity that one becomes a descendant through faith, but Islam holds that descent is unimportant – Abraham, in other words, is not the father of the believing community, but a link in the chain of prophets that begins with Adam and culminates in Mohammad.^[28]

Ibrāhīm is mentioned in 35 chapters of the Quran, more often than any other biblical personage apart from Moses.^[29] He is called both a hanif (monotheist) and muslim (one who submits),^[30] and Muslims regard him as a prophet and patriarch, the archetype of the perfect Muslim, and the revered reformer of the Kaaba in Mecca.^[31] Islamic traditions consider Ibrāhīm (Abraham) the first Pioneer of Islam (which is also called millat Ibrahim, the "religion of Abraham"), and that his purpose and mission throughout his life was to proclaim the Oneness of God. In Islam, he is referred to as "Ibrahim El Khalil" (إبراهيم الخليل), meaning "Abraham the Friend [of Allah]".

Bahá'í Faith

In the Bahá'í Faith, Abraham is given the title the One Who is the Friend of God.^[32] He is described as the ‘perfect educator’ because he taught the Unity of God to the polytheists around him. As such, he is seen as the archetype for all the later prophets who followed him including Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Jesus, Muhammad the Bab and Bahá'u'lláh.^[4]

Bahá'ís believe that Abraham was born into a family of polytheists living in what is today Iraq. When he reached adulthood he rejected the gods of his people and his family and, as a result, he was exiled from his country and was forced to travel from ‘Ur to Aleppo in Syria’. Only his brother Lot supported him. He then went into the Holy Land. From this exile God caused his descendants to become ‘powerful, and the Holy Land was given to them.’ His descendants did great things: Joseph, for example, ‘became ruler in Egypt’. Moses and Jesus are believed to be his descendants, as is Muhammad through Abraham's son Ishmael. Furthermore, according to Abdu’l-Baha, Bahá'u'lláh's eldest son and his successor, the Bab was a descendant of Abraham through the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Through Abraham ‘the whole of Europe and most of Asia came under the protecting shadow of the God of Israel.’ Abdu’l-Baha saw in the fruits of Abraham’s own exile, a foreshadowing of what he believed would be the consequence Bahá'u'lláh's own exile.^[4]

Abraham in the arts

Painting and sculpture

Paintings on the life of Abraham tend to focus on only a few incidents: the sacrifice of Isaac; meeting Melchizedek; entertaining the three angels; Hagar in the desert; and a few others.^[33] Additionally, Martin O'Kane, a professor of Biblical Studies, writes that the parable of Lazarus resting in the "Bosom of Abraham", as described in the Gospel of Luke, became an iconic image in Christian works.^[34] According to O'Kane, artists often chose to divert from the common literary portrayal of Lazarus sitting next to Abraham at a banquet in Heaven and instead focus on the "somewhat incongruous notion of Abraham, the most venerated of patriarchs, holding a naked and vulnerable child in his bosom".^[34] Several artists have been inspired by the life of Abraham, including Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), Caravaggio (1573–1610), Donatello, Raphael, Philip van Dyck (Dutch painter, 1680–1753), and Claude Lorrain (French painter, 1600–1682). Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669) created at least seven works on Abraham, Petrus-Paulus Rubens (1577–1640) did several, Marc Chagall did at least five on Abraham, Gustave Doré (French illustrator, 1832–1883) did six, and James Jacques Joseph Tissot (French painter and illustrator, 1836–1902) did over twenty works on the subject.^[33]

The Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus depicts a set of biblical stories, including Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac. These sculpted scenes are on the outside of a marble Early Christian sarcophagus used for the burial of Junius Bassus. He died in 359. This sarcophagus has been described as "probably the single most famous piece of early Christian relief sculpture."^[35] The sarcophagus was originally placed in or under Old St. Peter's Basilica, was rediscovered in 1597,^[36] and is now below the modern basilica in the Museo Storico del Tesoro della Basilica di San Pietro (Museum of Saint Peter's Basilica) in the Vatican. The base is approximately 4 × 8 × 4 feet. The Old Testament scenes depicted were chosen as precursors of Christ's sacrifice in the New Testament, in an early form of typology. Just to the right of the middle is Daniel in the lion's den and on the left is Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac.

George Segal created figural sculptures by molding plastered gauze strips over live models in his 1987 work Abraham's Farewell to Ishmael. The human condition was central to his concerns, and Segal used the Old Testament as a source for his imagery. This sculpture depicts the dilemma faced by Abraham when Sarah demanded that he expel Hagar and Ishmael. In the sculpture, the father's tenderness, Sarah's rage, and Hagar's resigned acceptance portray a range of human emotions. The sculpture was donated to the Miami Art Museum after the artist's death in 2000.^[37]

Abraham in Christian Iconography

Usually Abraham can be identified by the context of the image – the meeting with Melchizedek, the three visitors, or the sacrifice of Isaac. In solo portraits a sword or knife may be used as his attribute, as in this statue by Gian Maria Morlaiter or this painting by Lorenzo Monaco. He always wears a gray or white beard.

As early as the beginning of the 3rd century, Christian art followed Christian typology in making the sacrifice of Isaac a foreshadowing of Christ's sacrifice on the cross and its memorial in the sacrifice of the Mass. See for example this 11th-century Christian altar engraved with Abraham's and other sacrifices taken to prefigure that of Christ in the Eucharist.^[38]

Some early Christian writers interpreted the three visitors as the triune God. Thus in Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome, a 5th-century mosaic portrays only the visitors against a gold ground and puts semitransparent copies of them in the "heavenly" space above the scene. In Eastern Orthodox art the visit is the chief means by which the Trinity is pictured (example). Some images do not include Abraham and Sarah, like Andrei Rublev's Trinity, which shows only the three visitors as beardless youths at a table.^[39]

Literature

Fear and Trembling (original Danish title: Frygt og Bæven) is an influential philosophical work by Søren Kierkegaard, published in 1843 under the pseudonym Johannes de silentio (John the Silent). Kierkegaard wanted to understand the anxiety that must have been present in Abraham when God asked him to sacrifice his son.^[40]

Music

In 1994, Steve Reich released an opera named The Cave. The title refers to The Cave of the Patriarchs. The narrative of the opera is based on the story of Abraham and his immediate family as it is recounted in the various religious texts, and as it is understood by individual people from different cultures and religious traditions.

Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited"^[41] is the title track for his 1965 album Highway 61 Revisited. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the song as number 364 in their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.^[42] The song has five stanzas. In each stanza, someone describes an unusual problem that is ultimately resolved on Highway 61. In Stanza 1, God tells Abraham to "kill me a son". God wants the killing done on Highway 61. Abraham, the original name of the biblical Abraham, is also the name of Dylan's own father.

Film and television

In the 1966 American-Italian epic film The Bible: In the Beginning..., directed by John Huston and based on the first 22 Chapters of Genesis, Abraham is played by George C. Scott, with Ava Gardner as Sarah.

A 1994 television movie about the Patriarch, Abraham, starred Richard Harris as Abraham and Barbara Hershey as Sarah.

See also

• Abraham in Islam
• Abraham Path
• Abraham's Gate at Tel Dan
• Abraham in History and Tradition (book)
• Book of Abraham
• Bosom of Abraham
• Gathering of Israel
• Genealogies of Genesis
• Jewish Kabbalah
• Pearl of Great Price
• Table of prophets of Abrahamic religions
• The evil Nimrod vs. the righteous Abraham

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Abraham.

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Abraham

Wikisource has the text of the 1897 Easton's Bible Dictionary article Abraham.

• Abraham from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica at Wikisource.
• "Abraham" at chabad.org.
• Abraham smashes the idols (accessed 24 March 2011).
• "Journey and Life of the Patriarch Abraham", a map dating back to 1590.
• Kitáb-i-Íqán

Adam to David according to the Bible Creation to Flood Adam Seth Enos Kenan Mahalalel Jared Enoch Methuselah Lamech Noah Shem Cain line Adam Cain Enoch Irad Mehujael Methusael Lamech Tubal-cain Patriarchs after Flood Arpachshad Cainan Shelah Eber Peleg Reu Serug Nahor Terah Abraham Isaac Jacob Tribe of Judah to Kingship Judah Perez Hezron Ram Amminadab Nahshon Salmon Boaz Obed Jesse David Names in italics only appear in the Greek Septuagint version

Prophets in the Hebrew Bible Pre-Patriarchal Abel Kenan Enoch Noah (in rabbinic literature) Patriarchs / Matriarchs Abraham Isaac Jacob Joseph Sarah Rebecca Rachel Leah Israelite prophets in the Torah Moses (in rabbinic literature) Aaron Miriam Eldad and Medad Phinehas Mentioned in the Former Prophets Joshua Deborah Gideon Eli Elkanah Hannah Abigail Samuel Gad Nathan David Solomon Jeduthun Ahijah Elijah Elisha Shemaiah Iddo Hanani Jehu Micaiah Jahaziel Eliezer Zechariah ben Jehoiada Huldah Major Isaiah (in rabbinic literature) Jeremiah Ezekiel Daniel (in rabbinic literature) Minor Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah (in rabbinic literature) Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi Noahide Beor Balaam Job (in rabbinic literature) Other Amoz Beeri Baruch Agur Uriah Buzi Mordecai Esther (in rabbinic literature) Oded Azariah Italics indicate persons whose status as prophets is not universally accepted.

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