abraham story

5. HISTORY OF ABRAHAM ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE

 

The family of Abram (the future Abraham) : The Bible says to us that Abram lived his childhood with UR in Chaldée, it is thus extremely probable that the Terach family, which bred herds , knew UR at the time of its splendour, (around 2030BC).
His father was called TERACH, and he had three sons: HARAN, (dead at Ur, and father of three children), NACHOR and ABRAM.
We know that the town of UR was destroyed in 2004BC, and that a great famine preceded its destruction by the Elamites, so it is probable that all the family of Abram emigrated towards the north of Syria before the destruction of the royal city.
Is this because of the famine or a divine warning? Anyway, the patriarch TERACH left for Syria with all his family, including: Abram and his wife Sarah, Nachor and his wife Milca (the daughter of the late Haran and thus also the niece of Nachor), as well as LOTH and Jisca the brother and sister of Milca.
This small tribe is then settled at " HARRANU " - a small town in Syria located on the Balik (a tributary of the Euphrates), a city which the Bible was to name Charan,and it was there that Terach died. Usually there is sharing of the heritage of the dead amongst the extended family:
Nachor received the first share, and Abram and his godson Loth accepted the remaining part, which they shared equally later.
It is necessary to add to these two families a third mentioned by the Bible, that of Eliezer (Genesis 15-3), probably a cousin living at Damas, that Abram mentions to God as being his heir .
Abram was a man of truth and sensitivity, full of ideals, devoted to justice and peace. He dreamed of vast lands, and a family blessed by God with many descendents.
At this time God spoke to him again, calling him "Abraham", and asked him to go, with his cousin LOTH, to Canaan, where the pastures were fertile. It was close by, and populated by the Canaanites and at that time, Abraham made a pact with his God, who promised to protect him, give him material prosperity and made a prediction which surprised him: that he would have descendents as numerous as the stars in the sky...
And the Bible tells two identical episodes concerning Sarah the half-sister and wife of Abraham, who was taken initially by Pharaon (12-10) who wanted her in his harem, and then by Abimelec, king of the city of Guerar (20-01). Twice God intervened in dreams, threatening the kidnappers if they did not release Sarah!
Then God, in " human form", in the company of two angels also in human form, visited Abraham.
( Nothing is impossible to God, and if our dreams seem difficult for us to believe, God can take on human appearance to prove to his listener that he did not dream.) The God of Creation exists in any form that he wishes, in the same way that Vishnu can disguise himself to remain anonymous !

 

ISAAC and ISHMAEL : brothers or enemies ?

 
The history of Ishmael and Isaac could have remained a story of family heritage like so many others. It all started with the jealousy between an older woman, (Sarah) who could no longer have children, and very young and pretty maidservant... It should not be forgotten that at that time any wife or daughter of the head of the tribe had one or more maidservants, whose Master could have as concubines. Thus when Jacob married the two daughters of Laban: Leah and Rachel, they took along with them their two maidservants Bilha and Zilpa, who both gave Jacob two children. However Jacob loved all his children, whether they were born to his official wives or to the two maidservants... Sarah finally gave birth to Isaac, but she did not have the noble-heartedness of her husband! She demanded that the maidservant and the first-born of Abraham be made outcasts, for fear that her child would not be able to assert its right of seniority as heir. Although God did not want to upset Sarah, he proclaimed that a lineage would be born from both the children.
And the Bible says that God wanted to the test the faith of Abraham towards his God. After having driven out Ishmael and his mother, Abraham felt that his God wanted him to sacrifice his last child, all that remained to him after the departure of his older son Ishmael!
It should not be forgotten that the sacrifice of children was not all that unusual, particularly in Phoenicia and Canaan, where one offered one's first born to the god Moloch ; moreover the Bible mentions the sacrifice of children a thousand years later in Israel. (This was later transformed into the sacrifice of animals). Jesus as first-born was repurchased to satisfy this tradition at the temple with two doves, (the symbolic offering of the poor).
But God does not like animal sacrifices and even less those of children. Abraham was relieved to see that God did not allow this cruel sacrifice.
When God wanted it, Sarah fell asleep in the arms of Abraham, who buried her in Hebron, the place which would become for posterity the tomb of the Patriarchs, the place where all religions could gather to pray.
At this point in time Abraham sent his servant to Laban, the grandson of Nachor, who was established north of the Euphrates. This servant left with a caravan of ten camels to win from Laban the hand of Rebecca, who was intended for Isaac . Rebecca accepted the tent of Sarah and comforted Isaac on the loss of his mother.
The Koran says to us that Abraham often returned visit to his son Ishmael , especially after the death of Sarah. Together they were to find the great black stone of Mecca, which would become the great center of pilgrimage for all Moslems to visit at least once in their life.
The Bible says that Ishmael and all the males of the House of Abraham were circumcised as a sign of the Alliance that God made with Abraham and his descendents. Ishmael was thirteen years old and Abraham was then 99 years old (!) at the time of his circumcision. This tradition was practised already in Egypt about 2400 BC, since texts representing this symbolic ritual were found among the Texts of the Pyramids.
Let us not forget that Abraham lived in Egypt at a time not specified by the Bible, and that he certainly learned many things concerning the resurrection of the soul, and the worship of the One invisible God, as the Egyptians already had done for 800 years! However the arrival of Abraham in Egypt coincides with the first Intermediate Period, that is the end of the period of the pyramids. It is interesting to note when the ideas of individual conscience and humanitarian principles existed in these two countries : Mesopotamia and Egypt, as well as the concept of spiritual rebirth- a life after death.
We see also that the father of the Hebrew people received his message which speaks of descendents as many as the stars of the sky, and which pertains to "all the nations of the Earth". Basically, Abraham is continuing and prolonging the doctrines of IMHOTEP. Definitely the ways of Divine Providence are multiple and impenetrable!
But by looking at the fantastic ballet of the stars which turn unceasingly in the universe of the galaxies, one realizes that in spite of our seeming insignificance, God does not leave anything to chance, even down to the smallest detail...
Finally, in chapter 25 of Genesis, Abraham falls asleep in the arms of Isaac and Ishmael, joined together at his bedside. His two sons, now united, buried their father in the tomb of Hebron beside Sarah.