ABRAHAM (1)

1. Uncover Bible Names 

a) The Bible is an historic record of real people and places. Find out and learn who's who, their relationships, and the meaning of their names.

2. Abraham

a) Meaning of “Abraham”: father of a multitude. / Meaning of “Abram”: Exalted father.

b) This was the name of the son of Terah, named (Genesis 11:27) before his older brothers Nahor and Haran, because he was the heir of the promises of God. He was originally named, Abram.

3. Move from Ur to Nomadic Life

a) For many years, Abram lived among his relatives in his native country of Chaldea (Genesis 11:31). Then, with his father, family and household, he left the city of Ur, where he lived. He traveled 300 miles north to Haran and lived there for 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 Genesis 12.

b) While they lived 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 (Genesis 12:1-2). As a result, he left at the age of 75 (Genesis 12:4), taking his nephew Lot with him, not knowing where he was going (Hebrews 11:8). He trusted God implicitly.

c) Abram now, with a large household of probably a thousand souls, began a migratory life, and lived in tents. Passing along the valley of the Jabbok, in the land of Canaan, he formed his first encampment at Sichem (Genesis 12:6), in the valley 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. (Genesis 12:2-3, 7).

d) This promise brought 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 (Genesis 3:15).

e) 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.”

f) He again moved into the southern tract of Israel, called by the Hebrews the Negeb (Negev). Due to a later famine he was 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 took place Abram’s deception which exposed him to the rebuke of Pharaoh (Genesis 12:18). Sarai was restored to him; and Pharaoh loaded him with presents, recommending that he leave the country.

g) Abram returned to Canaan richer than when he left it, “in cattle, in silver, and in gold” (Genesis 12:8; 13:2. Compare Psalms 105:13-14). The whole group then moved northward, and returned to their previous location near Bethel. Here disputes arose between Lot’s shepherds and those of Abram about water and pasturage.

h) Abram generously gave Lot his choice of the pasture-ground. (Compare 1 Corinthians 6:7.) He chose the well-watered plain where Sodom was located. Thus the uncle and nephew were separated.

i) Immediately after this, Abram was cheered by a repetition of the promises already made to him. He then moved 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” (Genesis 13:18). This was his third resting-place in the land. 

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