Abraham (/ˈeɪbrəˌhæm, -həm/ ABE-raham; Hebrew: אַבְרָהָם, listen ), originally Abram, is the first of the three patriarchs of Judaism. His story is a center piece of all Abrahamic religions and Abraham plays a prominent role as an example of faith in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
The Biblical narrative revolves around the themes of posterity and land. Abraham is called by God to leave the house of his father Terah and settle in the land originally given to Canaan, but which God now promises to Abraham and his progeny. Various candidates are put forward who might inherit the land after Abraham, but all are dismissed except for Isaac, his son by his half-sister Sarah. Abraham purchases a tomb (the Cave of the Patriarchs) at Hebron to be Sarah’s grave, thus establishing his right to the land, and in the second generation his heir Isaac is married to a woman from his own kin, thus ruling the Canaanites out of any inheritance. Abraham later marries Keturah and has six more sons, but on his death, when he is buried beside Sarah, it is Isaac who receives “all Abraham’s goods,” while the other sons receive only “gifts”.
The Abraham story cannot be definitively related to any specific time, and it is widely agreed that the patriarchal age, along with the exodus and the period of the judges, is a late literary construct that does not relate to any period in actual history. A common hypothesis among scholars is that it was composed in the early Persian period (late 6th century BCE) as a result of tensions between Jewish landowners who had stayed in Judah during the Babylonian captivity and traced their right to the land through their “father Abraham,” and the returning exiles who based their counter-claim on Moses and the Exodus tradition.
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Author: Wikipedia
Keywords: Abraham, Abram, Friend of God, Father Abraham, Abraham's bosom
Bible reference(s): Genesis 11:26, Genesis 11:27, Genesis 11:29, Genesis 11:31, Genesis 12:1, Genesis 12:4, Genesis 12:5, Genesis 12:6, Genesis 12:7, Genesis 12:9, Genesis 12:10, Genesis 12:14, Genesis 12:16, Genesis 12:18, Genesis 13:1, Genesis 13:2, Genesis 13:4, Genesis 13:5, Genesis 13:8, Genesis 13:12, Genesis 13:14, Genesis 13:18, Genesis 14:13, Genesis 14:14, Genesis 14:19, Genesis 14:20, Genesis 14:21, Genesis 14:22, Genesis 14:23, Genesis 15:1, Genesis 15:2, Genesis 15:3, Genesis 15:11, Genesis 15:12, Genesis 15:13, Genesis 15:18, Genesis 16:2, Genesis 16:3, Genesis 16:5, Genesis 16:6, Genesis 16:15, Genesis 16:16, Genesis 17:1, Genesis 17:3, Genesis 17:5, Genesis 17:9, Genesis 17:15, Genesis 17:17, Genesis 17:18, Genesis 17:22, Genesis 17:23, Genesis 17:24, Genesis 17:26, Genesis 18:6, Genesis 18:7, Genesis 18:11, Genesis 18:13, Genesis 18:16, Genesis 18:17, Genesis 18:18, Genesis 18:19, Genesis 18:22, Genesis 18:23, Genesis 18:27, Genesis 18:33, Genesis 19:27, Genesis 19:29, Genesis 20:1, Genesis 20:2, Genesis 20:9, Genesis 20:10, Genesis 20:11, Genesis 20:14, Genesis 20:17, Genesis 21:2, Genesis 21:3, Genesis 21:4, Genesis 21:5, Genesis 21:7, Genesis 21:8, Genesis 21:9, Genesis 21:10, Genesis 21:11, Genesis 21:12, Genesis 21:14, Genesis 21:22, Genesis 21:24, Genesis 21:25, Genesis 21:27, Genesis 21:28, Genesis 21:29, Genesis 21:33, Genesis 21:34, Genesis 22:1, Genesis 22:3, Genesis 22:4, Genesis 22:5, Genesis 22:6, Genesis 22:7, Genesis 22:8, Genesis 22:9, Genesis 22:10, Genesis 22:11, Genesis 22:13, Genesis 22:14, Genesis 22:15, Genesis 22:19, Genesis 22:20, Genesis 23:2, Genesis 23:3, Genesis 23:5, Genesis 23:7, Genesis 23:10, Genesis 23:12, Genesis 23:14, Genesis 23:16, Genesis 23:18, Genesis 23:19, Genesis 23:20, Genesis 24:1, Genesis 24:2, Genesis 24:6, Genesis 24:9, Genesis 24:12, Genesis 24:27, Genesis 24:42, Genesis 24:48, Genesis 25:1, Genesis 25:5, Genesis 25:6, Genesis 25:8, Genesis 25:10, Genesis 25:11, Genesis 25:12, Genesis 25:19, Genesis 26:1, Genesis 26:3, Genesis 26:5, Genesis 26:15, Genesis 26:18, Genesis 26:24, Genesis 28:4, Genesis 28:13, Genesis 31:42, Genesis 31:53, Genesis 32:9, Genesis 35:12, Genesis 35:27, Genesis 48:15, Genesis 48:16, Genesis 49:30, Genesis 49:31, Genesis 50:13, Genesis 50:24, Exodus 2:24, Exodus 3:6, Exodus 3:15, Exodus 3:16, Exodus 4:5, Exodus 6:3, Exodus 6:8, Exodus 32:13, Exodus 33:1, Leviticus 26:42, Numbers 32:11, Deuteronomy 1:8, Deuteronomy 6:10, Deuteronomy 9:5, Deuteronomy 9:27, Deuteronomy 29:13, Deuteronomy 30:20, Deuteronomy 34:4, Joshua 24:2, Joshua 24:3, 1 Kings 18:36, 2 Kings 13:23, 1 Chronicles 1:27, 1 Chronicles 1:28, 1 Chronicles 1:34, 1 Chronicles 16:13, 1 Chronicles 16:16, 1 Chronicles 29:18, 2 Chronicles 20:7, 2 Chronicles 30:6, Nehemiah 9:7, Psalms 47:9, Psalms 105:6, Psalms 105:9, Psalms 105:42, Isaiah 29:22, Isaiah 41:8, Isaiah 51:2, Isaiah 63:16, Jeremiah 33:26, Ezekiel 33:24, Micah 7:20, Matthew 1:1, Matthew 1:2, Matthew 1:17, Matthew 3:9, Matthew 8:11, Matthew 22:32, Mark 12:26, Luke 1:55, Luke 1:73, Luke 3:8, Luke 3:34, Luke 13:16, Luke 13:28, Luke 16:23, Luke 16:24, Luke 16:25, Luke 16:29, Luke 16:30, Luke 19:9, Luke 20:37, John 8:33, John 8:37, John 8:39, John 8:40, John 8:52, John 8:53, John 8:56, John 8:57, John 8:58, Acts 3:13, Acts 3:25, Acts 7:2, Acts 7:8, Acts 7:16, Acts 7:17, Acts 7:32, Acts 13:26, Romans 4:1, Romans 4:2, Romans 4:3, Romans 4:9, Romans 4:12, Romans 4:13, Romans 4:16, Romans 9:7, Romans 11:1, 2 Corinthians 11:22, Galatians 3:6, Galatians 3:7, Galatians 3:8, Galatians 3:9, Galatians 3:14, Galatians 3:16, Galatians 3:18, Galatians 4:22, Hebrews 2:16, Hebrews 6:13, Hebrews 6:15, Hebrews 7:1, Hebrews 7:2, Hebrews 7:4, Hebrews 7:5, Hebrews 7:6, Hebrews 7:9, Hebrews 11:8, Hebrews 11:17, James 2:21, James 2:23, 1 Peter 3:6, Baruch 2:34, Judith 8:26, 1 Maccabees 2:52, 1 Maccabees 12:21, 2 Maccabees 1:2, 3 Maccabees 6:3, 4 Maccabees 6:17, 4 Maccabees 6:22, 4 Maccabees 7:19, 4 Maccabees 9:21, 4 Maccabees 13:17, 4 Maccabees 14:20, 4 Maccabees 15:28, 4 Maccabees 16:20, 4 Maccabees 16:25, 4 Maccabees 17:6, 4 Maccabees 18:1, 4 Maccabees 18:20, 4 Maccabees 18:23, Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 44:19, Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 44:22, Tobit 4:12, 2 Esdras 1:39, 2 Esdras 3:13, 2 Esdras 6:8, 2 Esdras 7:106
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