Emblem3 biography of abraham

And second, we will examine the major themes of these chapters. Let's look first at the literary design of Abraham's life. Because the Holy Spirit inspired them to be God's spokesmen, the history that they wrote was entirely true. But the Holy Spirit inspired them to address the needs of the people for whom they wrote, so biblical authors also wrote about history with their readers in mind.

They intentionally designed their stories so that these stories would be relevant to the lives of the people who received them. As we approach the record of Abraham's life in Genesis, we can be confident that these stories do not misrepresent what actually happened in Abraham's life. But in order to understand how these stories applied to the lives of Moses' original readers, we must also be aware of how Genesis portrays Abraham's life.

And one of the chief ways we can begin to understand how Abraham is portrayed is to explore the literary design of Abraham's life in Genesis. We'll explore the literary design of Abraham's life in two steps. In the first place, we will present an overview of the book of Genesis as a whole, and we will see how Abraham's story fits within the larger picture of Genesis.

And in the second place, we will look at the structure of the stories that focus on Abraham's life. Let's begin with an overview of the entire book of Genesis. Genesis Throughout the centuries, different interpreters have understood the overarching structure of Genesis in different ways. One approach has been to divide Genesis into ten segments based on the repetition of the so-called "generations" or "Toledot" passages scattered throughout the book of Genesis.

And we should admit that there is some value in this large-scale outlook. But we have suggested in other series' that it is much more helpful to think of Genesis in three large sections: the primeval history in Genesis —; the early patriarchal history in —; and the later patriarchal history in — The primeval history of Genesis — presents God's revealed truth about the origins of the world.

It speaks of the creation, the corruption of creation, and the reshaping of creation through a worldwide flood. And it holds together as a literary unit in the ways it resembles the patterns of many ancient near eastern primeval histories. The later patriarchal history in — tells the story of Joseph. It begins with the story of conflict between Joseph and his brothers, then moves to Joseph's rise to power in Egypt and Joseph's reconciliation with his brothers in the end.

Many interpreters have described this large, unified storyline as a novella about Joseph. Between these first and last sections is Genesis — These chapters contain the early patriarchal history, collections of stories about the first fathers of the nation of Israel. In this series, we are concerned with one portion of this middle segment of Genesis.

In general terms, the early patriarchal history divides into two parts: the life of Abraham in — and the life of Jacob in — Now this twofold division may be surprising at first because in Scripture we frequently hear mention of three early patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So, we might have reasonably expected the literary structure of these chapters to be threefold as well, first telling us about Abraham, then about Isaac and then about Jacob.

But in actuality, no portion of the early patriarchal history is devoted to Isaac as the main figure. Instead, he serves only as a transitional figure. His life is told first as a part of Abraham's life and then as a part of Jacob's life. And as a result, the early patriarchal history actually divides into only two main parts: the life of Abraham and then the life of Jacob.

Our concern in this series is with the first half of the patriarchal period, Moses' record of Father Abraham. So let's take a closer look at the structure of Abraham's life as it is presented in Genesis — Abraham Now that we have seen where the life of Abraham fits within the overarching structure of Genesis, we should turn to our next concern: the structure of Abraham's life in Genesis — To explore the structure of Abraham's life, we will look at these chapters on two levels: on the one hand, we will simply identify the basic units or episodes of Abraham's life, and on the other hand, we will examine how these various episodes have been arranged into the portrait of Abraham we have in Genesis.

Let's first identify the basic units or episodes of Abraham's life. Basic Units Moses wrote about Abraham's life in seventeen basic segments or episodes: First, Abraham's favored lineage in , a genealogy that describes Abraham's family heritage. This passage is followed by an account of Abraham's failing father in , a second genealogy that describes Abraham's travels with his father Terah.

Abraham's migration to Canaan in , the story of Abraham's initial call and travel to the Promised Land. Abraham's deliverance from Egypt in , the time when Abraham sojourned in Egypt and God delivered him. Abraham's conflict with Lot in , the story of struggle between Abraham's men and Lot's men. Abraham's rescue of Lot in , the time when Abraham went to war to rescue Lot from kings who had captured him.

Abraham's covenant promises in , the account of God's covenant assuring Abraham that he would have many descendants and a permanent homeland. Abraham's failure with Hagar in , the time when Abraham had a child, Ishmael, with Sarah's handmaiden, Hagar. Abraham's covenant requirements in , the account of God's covenant that reminded Abraham of the necessity of loyalty to the commands of God.

Sodom and Gomorrah in — , the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot's rescue from that destruction. Abraham's intercession for Abimelech in , the time when Abraham prayed for Abimelech the Philistine. Abraham's sons Isaac and Ishmael in , the story of Isaac's birth and the expulsion of Ishmael from Abraham's family.

Abraham's treaty with Abimelech in , the time when Abraham entered into an agreement with Abimelech over land and water rights. Abraham's test in , the well-known episode in which God called Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Abraham's burial property in , the story of Sarah's death and the purchase of a burial site. A wife for Abraham's son Isaac in , the time when Rebekah became Isaac's wife.

And finally, Abraham's death and heir in , the closing story of Abraham's passing and the record of his descendants. As we can see, the story of Abraham's life follows the basic order of events as they occurred in his life. The stories begin with him relatively young and under the authority of his father, and they end up with Abraham growing old and dying.

On occasion, there are allusions and implicit connections among the various episodes of Abraham's life. But by comparison with other portions of the Old Testament, Abraham's life story consists of a series of seventeen relatively independent episodes. Each of these episodes was designed to report events in Abraham's life and to teach specific lessons to Moses' original Israelite audience.

As Moses led them from Egypt toward the Promised Land, each of these episodes was to have much to offer them as they lived their lives just as it has much to offer us as we live our lives today. Having introduced the basic episodes of Abraham's life, we are now in a position to explore how these units hold together. How is the story of Abraham unified?

What logic organizes them? Simply put, the episodes of Abraham's life cluster around specific themes and these clusters form five symmetrical or balancing steps. Arrangement First, as we might expect at the beginning of the patriarch's life, Moses' record begins with Abraham's background and early experiences with God. This section includes: Abraham's favored lineage, his failing father, and his migration to Canaan.

These chapters explain how Abraham entered into his special relationship with God by focusing on his family's background and his initial migration to the Promised Land. The second cluster of episodes in Abraham's life concentrates on Abraham's earlier contacts with other peoples in — It includes his deliverance from Egypt, his conflict with Lot, and his rescue of Lot.

These three episodes hold together because they concentrate primarily on Abraham's encounters and interactions with representatives of several groups of people. In these chapters the patriarch dealt primarily with the Pharaoh of Egypt, his nephew Lot, invading kings, the king of Sodom and Melchizedek the king of Salem. The third and central section of Abraham's life focuses on Abraham's covenant relationship with God in — This portion of the patriarch's life consists of three episodes: Abraham's covenant promises, Abraham's failure with Hagar, and Abraham's covenant requirements.

The Eternal also makes a covenant with him and reveals his descendants will be afflicted for many years before being released with great wealth Genesis Hagar, however, after becoming pregnant, begins to disparage and despise Sarah. This earns her a harsh response from her mistress that forces her to flee while still pregnant. The Lord steps in and, through an angel, commands her to go back verses 4 - Hagar gives birth, when the patriarch is 86 years old Genesis , to a son named Ishmael.

The Eternal makes a unilateral covenant with him, promising to bless him exceedingly through a child he will produce with Sarai. His named is changed to Abraham while Sarai's is changed to Sarah to reflect the blessings they will receive. Abraham, as a sign of the covenant, circumcises himself, Ishmael now 13 and his entire household Genesis - God, a short time later, decides to visit Abraham in the form of a physical manifestation of Jesus Christ accompanied by two angels Genesis Abraham then negotiates with the Eternal not to destroy Sodom if only ten righteous are found verses 20 - Ten righteous are not found in Sodom, however, and it along with several other sinful cities of the plain is cauterized from the earth through heavenly fire.

Abraham journeys to Gerar and, once again, has Sarah lie about their relationship. The patriarch, although once again caught in a deception, is saved by God's intervention and allowed to live in the area. Sarah, when Abraham has a great feast celebrating this event, notices that Ishmael around 16 - 17 years old is mocking Isaac Genesis - 9.

Sarah, angered by what she sees, tells the patriarch to permanently cast out Hagar and her son. Sarai responded by mistreating Hagar, and Hagar fled into the wilderness. An angel spoke with Hagar at the fountain on the way to Shur. He instructed her to return to Abram's camp and that her son would be "a wild ass of a man; his hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the face of all his brethren.

From that day onward, the well was called Beer-lahai-roi, "The well of him that liveth and seeth me. She then did as she was instructed by returning to her mistress in order to have her child. Abram was 86 years of age when Ishmael was born. He looked up and saw three men in the presence of God. Then he ran and bowed to the ground to welcome them.

Abraham then offered to wash their feet and fetch them a morsel of bread, to which they assented. Abraham rushed to Sarah's tent to order ash cakes made from choice flour, then he ordered a servant-boy to prepare a choice calf. When all was prepared, he set curds, milk and the calf before them, waiting on them, under a tree, as they ate.

While at the tent entrance, Sarah overheard what was said and she laughed to herself about the prospect of having a child at their ages. The visitor inquired of Abraham why Sarah laughed at bearing a child at her age, as nothing is too hard for God. Frightened, Sarah denied laughing. They walked over to the peak that overlooked the 'cities of the plain' to discuss the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah for their detestable sins that were so great, it moved God to action.

Because Abraham's nephew was living in Sodom, God revealed plans to confirm and judge these cities. At this point, the two other visitors left for Sodom. Then Abraham turned to God and pleaded decrementally with Him from fifty persons to less that "if there were at least ten righteous men found in the city, would not God spare the city? However, Abraham's nephew, Lot, met with them and strongly insisted that these two "men" stay at his house for the night.

Emblem3 biography of abraham

A rally of men stood outside of Lot's home and demanded that Lot bring out his guests so that they may "know" v. However, Lot objected and offered his virgin daughters who had not "known" v. His wife Sarah, who preceded him in death at the age of , has the distinction of being the only woman in the Bible where we know her age at death. Important events and people in the life of Abraham include his calling by God and receiving the command to migrate to Canaan.

His wife Sarai, nephew Lot and his wife, and the remaining family join him in the journey. The Eternal promises, several times, to bless him and his descendants. After God miraculously heals Sarah's womb she gives birth to Isaac. This "father of the faithful" is blessed to meet with a Priest of the Most High God named Melchizedek, who is actually a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ.

After visiting Abraham two angels save Lot and family before the destruction of Sodom. Lot's wife becomes a pillar of salt when, while fleeing, she turns to view God's judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah. Finally, Abraham's faith is tested when God commands him to sacrifice his only son Isaac. In our next lesson, we will learn about the life of the person God used to delivery his people out of slavery and give them his holy law.