Episode 7: Abraham, the father of faith

After the scattering at Babel, the Bible fixes its gaze on one man. While the nations spread across the earth, God called Abram, a man of Mesopotamia, to begin through him a story of salvation that would reach all the families of the earth. Abraham is regarded as the father of faith and is honoured by Jews, Christians and Muslims. His life, told in Genesis 12 to 25, is full of promises, trials, mistakes and encounters with God.

“Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”
Genesis 12:1-3

The call: “Get thee out of thy country”

Abram lived with his family in Haran, having left Ur of the Chaldees. Joshua 24:2 recalls that Terah, his father, served other gods. Abram did not grow up in a home that worshipped the true God. Yet God called him to leave his country, his kindred and his father’s house to go to a land that he would show him.

The promise had several parts: a great nation, blessing, a great name and, above all, that in him all the families of the earth would be blessed. It is God’s answer to Babel: people wanted to make a name for themselves; God promises to make Abram’s name great. The peoples had been scattered; God promises to bless them all through him.

“So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him” (Genesis 12:4). He was seventy-five years old. Hebrews sums it up: “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went” (Hebrews 11:8).

In the land of Canaan

Abram arrived in Canaan with his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot and his servants. At Shechem, by the plain of Moreh, God appeared to him and promised: “Unto thy seed will I give this land.” Abram built an altar there. Then he pitched his tent between Bethel and Ai, built another altar and called on the name of the Lord. Throughout his life Abram left altars wherever he went: signs of worship in a land he did not yet possess.

Mistakes along the way

The Bible does not present Abram as a perfect hero. When famine struck Canaan, he went down to Egypt and, out of fear, asked Sarai to say she was his sister. Pharaoh took her into his house, and God intervened to protect her. Abram would repeat the same mistake years later in Gerar. Abraham’s faith grew through falls and lessons learned. God was faithful even when Abram was not.

Lot and Abram’s generosity

Abram and Lot became so wealthy that their herdsmen began to quarrel. Abram, though the elder, let Lot choose first. Lot chose the well-watered plain of the Jordan, near Sodom. Abram stayed in Canaan and settled by the oaks of Mamre in Hebron. Later, when Lot was taken captive by some kings, Abram rescued him with three hundred and eighteen trained servants.

Melchizedek

Returning from that battle, Abram was met by a mysterious figure: Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of the most high God. Melchizedek brought out bread and wine, blessed Abram, and Abram gave him tithes of all (Genesis 14:18-20). Salem is traditionally identified with Jerusalem. Psalm 110 and the letter to the Hebrews present Jesus as a priest “after the order of Melchisedec” (Hebrews 7).

The covenant: look at the stars

Abram was still childless and feared his heir would be a servant, Eliezer of Damascus. Then God brought him outside and told him to look towards heaven and count the stars, if he could: “So shall thy seed be.”

“And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”
Genesis 15:6

This verse is one of the most important in the whole Bible. Paul quotes it in Romans 4 and Galatians 3 to explain that justification is by faith. Abram was declared righteous not by his works, but by believing God’s promise. Then God made a covenant with him through an ancient rite: animals cut in half, and a burning lamp passing between the pieces. Only God passed between them, showing that he himself guaranteed the promise.

Hagar and Ishmael

Tired of waiting, Sarai proposed that Abram have a child by her Egyptian maid Hagar, according to a custom of the time. Ishmael was born. But jealousy and conflict followed, and Hagar fled into the desert. There the angel of the Lord found her, and she called God “Thou God seest me” (Genesis 16:13). God also promised to bless Ishmael and make him a great nation. The story shows the consequences of trying to fulfil God’s promises by human means, and also God’s compassion for those who suffer.

Abraham and Sarah: new names

When Abram was ninety-nine, God appeared to him as the Almighty God (El Shaddai), confirmed the covenant and changed his name: no longer Abram, “exalted father”, but Abraham, “father of many nations”. Sarai became Sarah, “princess”. God established circumcision as the sign of the covenant and promised that Sarah would have a son. Abraham laughed, and later Sarah also laughed when she heard it. That is why the child would be called Isaac, meaning “laughter”.

Visitors at Mamre and intercession for Sodom

One day, by the oaks of Mamre, Abraham welcomed three visitors and served them with generous hospitality. Hebrews 13:2 recalls that some have entertained angels unawares. One of them was the Lord, who announced Isaac’s birth: “Is any thing too hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14). Then Abraham interceded for Sodom, asking God to spare it if there were fifty righteous, and came down to ten. It is one of the boldest intercessions in the Bible. Ten righteous were not found, but God rescued Lot.

The birth of Isaac

At last, when Abraham was a hundred and Sarah ninety, Isaac was born. Sarah said: “God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me” (Genesis 21:6). The promise, which had taken twenty-five years, was fulfilled. God is faithful, even when his timing does not match ours.

The supreme test: Mount Moriah

Years later God tested Abraham with a baffling command: “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering” (Genesis 22:2). Abraham rose early and set out. Isaac carried the wood and asked: “where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham answered: “God will provide himself a lamb.”

When Abraham stretched out his hand, the angel of the Lord stopped him. Abraham saw a ram caught in a thicket and offered it in place of his son. He called the place “The Lord will provide” (Jehovah-jireh). Hebrews explains that Abraham reckoned that God was able to raise Isaac up, even from the dead (Hebrews 11:19). Through the law and the prophets the Bible makes clear that God rejects human sacrifice; this account shows Abraham’s total faith and foreshadows a greater sacrifice.

Final years

Sarah died at a hundred and twenty-seven, and Abraham bought the cave of Machpelah in Hebron to bury her. It was the family’s first property in the promised land. Then he sent his servant to find a wife for Isaac. Abraham died at a hundred and seventy-five, “in a good old age”, and was buried by Isaac and Ishmael beside Sarah.

Places in the story

Map of the places in this episode. Approximate locations; map data: Natural Earth (public domain).

Ur of the Chaldees: in southern Iraq (Tell el-Muqayyar), a prosperous city with a great ziggurat.

Haran: in south-eastern Turkey, near the Syrian border.

Shechem, Bethel and Ai: in the central hill country of Canaan, where Abraham built altars.

Hebron and the oaks of Mamre: south of Jerusalem. There lies the cave of Machpelah, venerated today as the Tomb of the Patriarchs.

Mount Moriah: according to 2 Chronicles 3:1, the place where Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem.

Egypt, Gerar and Beersheba: places of his wanderings in the south.

Interesting facts

Friend of God: Abraham is the only man called this in the Bible (Isaiah 41:8; James 2:23).

Father of three faiths: Jews, Christians and Muslims all recognise Abraham as a father of faith.

Twenty-five years of waiting: from the promise to the birth of Isaac.

First land purchase: the cave of Machpelah, for four hundred shekels of silver.

Galatians 3:8: Paul says the promise to Abraham was the Gospel preached beforehand.

New names: Abram became Abraham and Sarai became Sarah, a sign of a new identity in the covenant.

Lessons for our lives

Faith obeys without seeing the whole road. God keeps his promises, even when they take time. Human shortcuts bring complications. Generosity reflects trust in God. Intercession is powerful. God provides at the right moment.

On the road to Jesus

Abraham’s story points to Jesus in many ways. Matthew begins his gospel by calling Jesus “the son of Abraham”. In Christ the promise that all the families of the earth would be blessed is fulfilled. Melchizedek, with his bread and wine, foreshadows the eternal High Priest. And on Mount Moriah a father offered his beloved son, who carried the wood; there God provided a substitute. Centuries later, in that same area of Jerusalem, the Father did not stay his hand: he gave his only begotten Son, who carried his cross. Jesus is the Lamb God provided. He himself said: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad” (John 8:56).

In the next episode we will meet Isaac, the son of promise.

Prayer

God of Abraham, give me a faith that obeys even when I cannot see the whole road. Teach me to wait for your promises, to leave altars of worship wherever I go and to trust that you will provide. Thank you for Jesus Christ, the Lamb you yourself provided. Amen.