Abraham was the first Patriarch or "founder" of the Jewish faith. Romans 4:11 calls him the father of all who believe. When he was 75 years old, God called him to leave his home near modern day Iraq and travel to the land of promise 400 miles away. Although his wife Sarah was barren and long past the age of childbearing, God offered Abraham descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand by the sea. Although he was promised that his children would own all the land he walked upon, he spent the next 100 years as a wandering Aramean.
As he wandered he acquired great wealth and when Sarah was 90 years old an only son, Isaac, was born to them. Because Abraham believed in the apparently impossible promise of many descendants, he is called the father of faith.
When he pleaded with God to spare Sodom if even 10 just men could be found in it, Abraham introduced the idea that sinners might be spared, blessed, or even exist for the benefit of the righteous. Some people even hold the notion that the entire world was created for the sake of Abraham. This led to the Jewish concept of zekhut avot or "merit of the fathers" in which a person is believed to receive God's mercy or blessings because of the righteous deeds of an ancestor. It is thought that Abraham intercedes for the circumcised at the gates of gehinnom (a hell or purgatory-like place). In the Old Testament the righteous dead were gathered into Abraham's Bosom.
Gen 11:26-25:11
All scripture quotes are from the KJV Bible unless otherwise indicated.
Comments© 1998 by Suzetta Tucker
To cite this page:
Tucker, Suzetta. "Jesse Tree Advent Calendar - December 7
- Abraham." ChristStory Christian Bestiary. 1998.
http://ww2.netnitco.net/users/legend01/7abram.htm ().