Who was Abraham in the Bible?

Son of Terah and grandson of Nahor, the seventh descendant from Shem. His name was at first ABRAM, 'father of elevation;' but was altered by God into ABRAHAM, 'father of a multitude.' In this name (Abraham) the blessing of the Gentiles is secured by God. The family dwelt in Ur of the Chaldees, and were idolaters. Joshua 24:2. Abraham was the first to receive a definite call from God to leave not only the idolatrous nation to which his ancestors belonged, but to leave his kindred and his father's house and to go into a land that God would show him. God would bless him and make him a blessing, and bless all who blessed him and would curse all who cursed him. Gen. 12:1-3. He thus became the depositary of God's promise and blessing. Abraham at first only partially obeyed the call: he left Ur and went to dwell at Haran, in Mesopotamia (Charran in Acts 7:4), but with his father and kindred; and did not enter Canaan until the death of his father. When in the land God promised that unto his seed He would give the land. Abraham built an altar, and called upon the name of Jehovah. A famine occurring in the land Abraham went to sojourn in Egypt, and for want of faith he called Sarai his sister and she was taken into the house of Pharaoh, but the Lord protected her, and Abraham with his wife was sent away with a rebuke. When near Bethel he could again call on the name of the Lord. He had now become so rich in cattle that disputes arose between his herdsmen and those of Lot, and Abraham asked Lot to choose where he would sojourn, if he went to the right Abraham would go to the left; and they separated. Again Jehovah declared that as far as Abraham's eye could reach in all directions the land should belong to his seed. The next recorded event is that Lot was taken prisoner and carried to the north. Abraham pursued the enemy and recovered all. He refused to take even a thread of the spoil from the king of Sodom: he would not be made rich from such a source; but he was blessed by Melchisedec, king of Salem, the priest of the most high God, who brought forth bread and wine: to whom Abraham gave tenths of all. See MELCHISEDEC. God now revealed Himself to Abraham as His shield and exceeding great reward.

Turn now to Acts 7:1-2; the call of Abram is there most touchingly described. "The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Charran, and said to him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come to the land which I shall show thee." There came thus the moment when God — "the God of glory" — made Himself known to a poor dark idolater, and won his heart for ever. It was not a new religion that Abram learned, nor a new set of opinions, but he came to know a Person. The result was that, like the Thessalonians later, he turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. Has the God of glory revealed Himself to you, beloved reader? He has raised up His Son from amongst the dead, and enthroned Him at His own right hand on high. All the glory of God now shines in His face (2 Cor. 4:6), or in other words, all that God is has been told out in the man Christ Jesus. Do you know Him? Is your heart entranced with what it has found in Him? If so, but not otherwise, you are in a position to take the pilgrim's place.

Abraham dwelt in a land marked by paganism and idolatry (Joshua 24:2-3), until the voice of the God of glory called him out (Acts 7:2). It is recorded in Hebrews 11:8 that, "he went out, not knowing whither he went." He embarked upon a pathway of obedience and of faith. Failure marked his movements on more than one occasion — but in general his pathway was outstandingly one of faith the God who had called him and an alertness to obey His word (see Genesis 22:3). His outlook was not constricted nor his vision dimmed by things obtaining in the world through which he passed — he rejoiced to see Christ's day, "he saw it, and was glad" (John 8:56); "he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (Hebrews 11:10). In his pathway Abraham was blessed of God "in all things;" he was "greatly" blessed (Genesis 24:1-35); his dwelling was honoured by divine visitations; he was the recipient of divine communications; he knew God as his Shield and Exceeding Great Reward — indeed he "was called the friend of God" (James 2:23) and that by God Himself, (Isaiah 41:8). Beloved brethren what rays of glory illumine the pathway of faith and obedience! What present blessings attend the footsteps of those who walk before God (cf. Genesis 48:15). The glories of Christ's day and the present favours of the blessed God are rich compensation for a walk of practical separation from the Christ rejecting and joyless world through which we are passing.

The case of Abraham occupies verses 8 to 19, with the exception of one verse which is occupied with Sarah, for had she not been a woman of faith Isaac, the promised seed, had never been born. Abraham's faith was so exceptional that the Apostle Paul speaks of him as "the father of all them that believe" (Rom. 4:11); so it is not surprising that in this chapter more is said as to him than of any other individual. What is said seems to fall under three heads. First, the faith that led him to respond to the call of God at the outset. He started forth from a city of civilization and culture without knowing where he was going. When he did know it proved to be a land of less culture than the one he had left. Yet all this mattered not. Canaan was the inheritance God had chosen for him, and he moved at the call of God. GOD was before his soul. That is faith!

You will have noticed that at least ten times God says, in this chapter, "I will;" strangely contrasting with the "thou shalt" repeated in the law. It is extremely beautiful to note how God engages Himself to work out all He has set His heart upon. He says, "I will set my covenant between Me and thee;" thus establishing a definite bond between Himself and Abram in view of accomplishing His purpose. Consequent upon the establishment of this covenant, God gives him a new name, exercising His divine prerogative in this ennoblement of Abram. The name Abram signifies "great, or high, father;" setting forth what he was personally as head of the family of faith: but Abraham directs our attention to the greatness of the family of which he is the head, for it means "father of a multitude;" not only of individuals, but of nations. In giving this name God is indicating the vast results of the principle of faith and of promise. There is nothing so fruitful as the faith principle, it is "exceedingly fruitful," being the only principle that brings forth anything for God, because it counts on His power alone.

God called Abraham, who was a type (both according to the flesh and the spirit) of the family of God, and the depositary of all His promises. These are the terms of this call: "Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great: and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." Here, in principle, was separation from the world, by breaking all its strongest ties and nearest relationships, in order that he might give himself to God alone, in heart, faith, and confidence.

The world had lost the knowledge of the one true God and had gone after idols, even the family of him of whom it was said, "Blessed be the Lord God of Shem." Satan had succeeded in gaining the position God should have had in the minds and hearts of man. "Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods." (Joshua 24:2.) We learn from 1 Cor. 10:20, in which the apostle quotes Deut. 32, that these gods were devils. This being the case, God chose one man, whom He called to separate himself from his country, associations, and his family to be a witness in the world and against the world for Him. To this man, Abraham, God gave certain promises, both of a temporal and of a spiritual nature. The question before us being the past history of the nation of Israel, we pursue only the temporal promises. When Abraham came into the land of Canaan, God said, "Unto thy seed will I give this land." (Gen. 10:11.) When Lot had separated from him, these promises are renewed. "Lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward; for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it and to thy seed for ever," etc. (Gen. 13:14, etc.) Again in Genesis 15 we find the promise renewed and the bounds of the land named. "And he said unto him, I am the God that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it." And again, "Unto thy seed have I given this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates." In a vision in the same chapter God reveals to Abraham that his seed would be a stranger in a land that was not theirs and that they should serve them. "And they shall afflict them four hundred years … And afterwards they shall come out with great substance."

Abraham, the father of all them that believe, the one in whom faith as the way of blessing has been openly inaugurated and proclaimed, naturally becomes here a most instructive example. He had to have patience — saw little fulfilment on earth of that which God had promised; for not elsewhere than in God Himself does faith find its true strength and support. Here God gave all that could be desired — not His word merely, but His oath: precious and wonderful condescension to human weakness — God will give as ample security as we exact from one another! While faith must be faith, and therefore only in God, yet how tender is He! How well may we trust Him!

So Abraham's faith, in respect of the promises as ifs object, is the pattern for the faithful Israelite; as a pilgrim, possessing nothing here below, it is the pattern for the saints of the church now. Thus he is called the father of the faithful, whether of the former dispensation or of the present time. He believed God and therefore confided in the promises of God. But he, apart from promise, believed in God — "I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward." This founds but goes beyond promises of the earth. It is God giving Himself as the object of faith, not taking away the promise, but Himself as the resting-place for faith. God bound Himself to Abram by promise, Abram was linked to God by faith.

Abraham was not only a believer, but a faithful, devoted follower of the Lord, and this was seen in his family life. But Lot, though a believer, did not give the Lord the first place in his life. While Abraham would depend on the Lord to guide him as He saw fit, Lot depended on the sight of his eyes, and chose the plain of Sodom as his dwelling place because it looked so pleasant and prosperous. At this time we do not read of his having a wife or family at all, but he did not remain in the apparently fruitful plain; he soon gravitated into the city of Sodom. But the people of Sodom were extremely wicked in the eyes of God.