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Friday 1 July 2011

Abraham

Abraham (d c1850 BC) was a rich farmer who lived in Ur in Southern Babylonia

With his father Terah, wife Sarah and nephew Lot and flocks and herds Abraham left for a foreign land, wandering through desert places, seeking a country where he could worship God in his own way.

Proceeding to Canaan, Abraham received there God’s promise that he would be the father of a great nation, and that his descendants would be greatly blessed.

Still childless at the age of 76, Abraham subsequently fathered Ishmael with his wife's maidservant Hagar, and eventually, at the age of 100, Isaac with Sarah.

Legend has it that Abraham's aged wife Sarah bathed in the Dead Sea before conceiving Isaac.

Abraham trusted God so deeply that he was prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac, but God prevented him from doing this.

Sacrifice of Isaac is a painting by Rembrandt

From his son Isaac, Abraham became the father of the Jewish nation together with Judaism and Christianity. Also through Ishmael he became the father of the Arab people together with Islam.

Abraham saw God in control of everything and established firmly that basis of monotheism which made the Jews a people apart, and thus the only race capable of producing Jesus, and of becoming the inspiration of Christianity.

Genesis chapter 17 describes the circumcision of Abraham and his relatives and slaves, making him the first named individual to undergo the procedure.

Abraham had six more sons after Sarah died.


Abraham is greatly revered both by Jews and Muslims to this day.

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