Abraham

:Abram redirects here. For other uses of Abram, please see Abram (disambiguation).

Abraham and his descendants

For a full account of the historicity of Abrahamic stories in the book of Genesis, see Historicity of the Patriarchs.

Related Topics:
Genesis - Historicity of the Patriarchs

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Biblical narratives represent Abraham as a wealthy, powerful and supremely virtuous man, but humanly flawed, and when afraid for himself, miscalculating, and a sometimes deceiver and an inconsiderate husband. But his central importance in the book of Genesis, and his portrait as a man favored by God, is unequivocal. Abraham's generations (Hebrew: toledoth, translated to Greek: "Genesis") are presented as part of the crowning explanation of how the world has been fashioned by the hand of God, and how the boundaries and relationships of peoples were established by him.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As the father of Isaac and Ishmael, Abraham is ultimately the common ancestor of the Israelites and their neighbours. As the father of Ishmael, whose twelve sons became desert princes (most prominently, Nebaioth and Kedar), along with Midian, Sheba and other Arabian tribes (25:1-4), the book of Genesis gives a portrait of Isaac's descendents as being surrounded by kindred peoples, who are also oft-times enemies. It seems that some degree of kinship was felt by the Hebrews with the dwellers of the more distant south, and it is characteristic of the genealogies that the mothers (Sarah, the Egyptian Hagar, and Keturah) are in the descending scale, perhaps of purity of blood, or as of purity of relationship, or of connectedness to Sarah: Sarah, her servant, her husband's other wife (or concubine). The Bible says of the Hebrew people: "Your father was a wandering Syrian".

Related Topics:
Israelites - Ishmael - Nebaioth - Kedar - Midian - Sheba - Arab - Hebrews - Keturah

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As stated above, Abraham came from Ur in Babylonia to Haran and thence to Canaan. Late tradition supposed that the migration was to escape Babylonian idolatry (Judith 5, Jubilees 12; cf. Joshua 24:2), and knew of Abraham's miraculous escape from death (an obscure reference to some act of deliverance in Isaiah 29:22). The route along the banks of the Euphrates from south to north was so frequently taken by migrating tribes that the tradition has nothing improbable in itself. It was thence that Jacob, the father of the tribes of Israel, came, and the route to Shechem and Bethel is precisely the same in both. A twofold migration is doubted by some, but from what is known of the situation in Canaan in the 15th century BC, not at all impossible.

Related Topics:
Babylonia - Canaan - Migration - Judith - Jubilees - Joshua - Isaiah - Euphrates - Jacob - Shechem - Bethel - 15th century BC

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Further, there is yet another parallel in the story of the conquest by Joshua, partly implied and partly actually detailed (cf. also Joshua 8:9 with Gen. 12:8, 13:3), whence it would appear that too much importance must not be laid upon any ethnological interpretation which fails to account for the three versions. That similar traditional elements have influenced them is not unlikely; but to recover the true historical foundation is difficult. The invasion or immigration of certain tribes from the east of the Jordan; the presence of Aramean blood among the Israelites; the origin of the sanctity of venerable sites — these and other considerations may readily be found to account for the traditions.

Related Topics:
Ethnological - Jordan - Aramean

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Noteworthy coincidences in the lives of Abraham and Isaac, noticed above, point to the fluctuating state of traditions in the oral stage, or suggest that Abraham's life has been built up by borrowing from the common stock of popular lore. More original is the parting of Lot and Abraham at Bethel. The district was the scene of contests between Moab and the Hebrews (cf. perhaps Judges 3), and if this explains part of the story, the physical configuration of the Dead Sea may have led to the legend of the destruction of inhospitable and vicious cities.

Related Topics:
Moab - Judges - Dead Sea

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Arab connection

Although historians have no contemporary evidence for an "Arab connection", and the historicity of Biblical accounts is questioned by academics (see The Bible and history), some believe that the area outlined as the final destination of Ishmael and his descendants (from Havilah to Assyria) refers to Northern Arabia. The earliest known record of the connection of Ishmael to the Arabs is by the Jewish historian Josephus, who approximately 2000 years after such events, asserted that Ishmael was the father of the "Arab nation" http://www.blessedquietness.com/alhaj/append-1.htm. Little other information exists to understand the basis for Josephus' statement or his understanding of what he meant by "Arab nation", although one line in the Book of Jubilees (20:13) also mentions the tradition.

Related Topics:
The Bible and history - Arabia - Jewish - Josephus - Book of Jubilees

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This has led to the notion by some of the identification of Abraham as the father of the Arabs through Ishmael. In addition, Abraham's next wife, Keturah, is said to have borne him a son named Midian who became father of the Midianiteshttp://www.keyway.ca/htm2002/midian.htm. The Midianites are also identified with the Arabs as they are said to have settled east of the Jordan River.{{fact}} In recent times some Christian polemical writers have insisted these claims are spurious and entirely made up by Muslims, although, they existed long before Islam arrived. Some have claimed that all of Ishmael's descendants in fact died out; and that most Arabs are descended from Joktan. The subject continues to be a source of controversy.

Related Topics:
Keturah - Midian - Midianites - Jordan River

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~