Abraham

Also known as: Abram · Family: Abraham's family · Role: son of Terah · First appears: The Flood

Born in a cave to Terah and Emtelai, Abraham—also called Abram—was abandoned there by his mother and received milk from Gabriel until he was ten days old. As a child, he concluded that the heavenly bodies were not gods and proclaimed, “There is One who sets them all in motion.” After Nimrod sent men to seize him, Gabriel’s clouds drove them away. Abraham later proclaimed his faith before Nimrod, shattered idols, and was imprisoned and cast into a furnace; God kept him unharmed. Haran died in the fire, and Haran’s daughter Sarah became Abraham’s wife.

During the Depravity of Mankind, Abraham and eleven other pious men refused to make bricks. Though Joktan arranged an escape, Abraham remained imprisoned until an earthquake and fire left him unharmed; afterward he rejoined the other eleven. He later left Haran for Canaan, where God promised the land to his descendants. A famine took Abraham and Sarah to Egypt, and they returned to Canaan after Pharaoh sent Sarah back and gave them gifts. Abraham and his nephew Lot separated after a dispute between their herdsmen, but Abraham later helped Lot escape captivity. After defeating the kings’ forces, Abraham was blessed and instructed by Shem, who taught him the laws of the priesthood and the Torah.

God’s covenant with Abraham included promises concerning his descendants, among them Ishmael and Isaac. Sarah freed Hagar and gave her to Abraham as a wife; after Ishmael’s birth, Abraham circumcised himself and the males of his household. He pleaded with God for the cities of the plain and prayed for Lot’s deliverance. After Isaac was born to Abraham and Sarah in their old age, Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael away, though Ishmael later visited and dwelt with him. Abraham made a covenant of friendship with Abimelech and established a place of hospitality and instruction at Beer-sheba. When God commanded him to offer Isaac, Abraham set out with his son and bound him on the altar; God stopped the sacrifice, and Abraham offered a ram instead.

After Sarah’s death, Abraham buried her in the Cave of Machpelah and acquired the field and cave for his descendants. Hagar bore him six sons, whom he sent eastward during his lifetime. In his last years, Abraham blessed Jacob and charged him to follow the ways of the Lord. Abraham died while Jacob lay beside him.