Abraham ( Ashkenazi Avrohom or Avruhom ; , ; Ge'ez: lang: አብርሃም, ) features in the Book of Genesis as the founding patriarch of the Israelites, Ishmaelites, Midianites and Edomite peoples. He is widely regarded as the patriarch of Jews, Christians, and Muslims and the founder of monotheism. According to , his name was changed by God from Abram (probably meaning "the father is exalted") to Abraham, a name which Genesis explains as meaning "father of many".
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Abraham ( Ashkenazi Avrohom or Avruhom ; , ; Ge'ez: lang: አብርሃም, ) features in the Book of Genesis as the founding patriarch of the Israelites, Ishmaelites, Midianites and Edomite peoples. He is widely regarded as the patriarch of Jews, Christians, and Muslims and the founder of monotheism. According to , his name was changed by God from Abram (probably meaning "the father is exalted") to Abraham, a name which Genesis explains as meaning "father of many".
Abraham was the tenth generation from Noah and the 20th from Adam . His father was Terah, and his brothers were Nahor and Haran. According to Genesis, Abraham was sent by God from his home in Ur of the Chaldees to Canaan, the land promised to his descendants by Yahweh. There Abraham entered into a covenant: in exchange for recognition of YHWH as his God, Abraham will be blessed with innumerable progeny and the land would belong to his descendants.
Judaism, Christianity and Islam are sometimes referred to as the "Abrahamic religions" because of the progenitor role Abraham plays in their holy books. In the Jewish tradition, he is called Avraham Avinu or "Abraham, our Father". God promised Abraham that through his offspring, all the nations of the world will come to be blessed ( ), interpreted in Christian tradition as a reference particularly to Christ. Jews, Christians, and Muslims consider him father of the people of Israel through his son Isaac (cf. , ) by his wife Sarah. For Muslims, he is a prophet of Islam and the ancestor of Muhammad through his other son Ishmael - born to him by his second wife, Hagar. (Jews and Christians refer to Hagar as Sarah's servant). Abraham is also a progenitor of the Semitic tribes of the Negev who trace their descent from their common ancestor Sheba ( ).
Etymology
Abraham's original name was Abram ( , Standard Avram Tiberian ) meaning either "exalted father" or "my father is exalted" (compare Abiram). For the later part of his life, he was called Abraham, which the text glosses as av hamon (goyim) "father of many (nations)" ; however the name does not have any literal meaning in Hebrew.
Genesis narrative
Whilst Abraham is mentioned many times in the Hebrew Bible, the story of his life is found in Genesis, from chapter 11:26 to 25:10.
Early life
According to Genesis, Abraham was born in Ur of the Chaldees and given the name Abram. He was the son of Terah and the brother of Nahor and Haran. He married Sarai, who was barren, and there also his brother Haran died after becoming the father of Lot. Terah, with his surviving sons and their families, then departed for Canaan, but settled in Haran, where Terah died at the age of 205.
Following the death of Terah, when Abram was seventy-five, the Lord spoke to Abram, telling him to leave his father's house and his kindred and the land of his birth and go "to the land that I will show you", where Abram will become a great nation. So Abram departed Haran with his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot and all their followers and flocks, and they traveled to Canaan, where, at Shechem, the Lord gave the land to him and his seed. There Abram built an altar to the Lord and continued to travel towards the south.
