Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1. WHO IS ABRAHAM?
• Abraham is the first person in the Bible we can locate in time and
space. He is one of the most important characters in the religious
history of mankind: Genesis dedicates 14 chapters to him and is
named at least 72 times in the New Testament.
2
• In short, Abraham was the son of the tribe’s chief: rich in cattle,
money, slaves and property. He worshipped the gods of the
country and lived in Haran until the age of 75.
2. ABRAHAM’S VOCATION
• While Abraham was in Haran, God called him: “Leave your land,
your country, and your father’s home and go to the land that I
am going to show you” (Gn 12: 1). An unknown and mysterious
God invites him to abandon everything:
- Land: properties, landscape… he becomes a migrant.
- Country: birth’s place, culture… he becomes a citizen of
the world.
- Father’s home: leave family and its love… he becomes an
orphan.
3
4. Abraham will be a blessing -it means that everybody will
see how good God is with those who fulfil his will-:
reality says that he has no land, no country nor family.
5. These blessings also reach Abraham’s friends: people’s
blessing or curse depend on how they treat Abraham,
God’s friend.
6. Abraham is the source of blessing for all the families of
the earth: He does not have a family on his own, just a
wife.
• At the beginning, God’s promise to Abraham underlined both
human and temporal aspects: possession of land and numerous
descendants. It was the best reward for a nomad of the desert.
Later, this promise was thought to be fulfilled in the future and
will be both universal and spiritual: in the New Testament, the
Promised Land becomes the Kingdom of Heaven (Mt 5: 4) and
the descendants will be unified in the person of the Messiah (Mt
1: 1; Ac 3: 3), the one who will give birth to a new nation, the
Church.
4
• What does this place of Canaan look like? It is a small place,
about 250 kilometres long and 50 to 80 kilometres wide. The
mountains are not very high, around 800 metres, and the river
Jordan irrigates all the country and flows into the Death Sea. It
was populated by the Canaanites, nomads that soon adapted
themselves to the farmer’s life and built many small cities-states
with walls around them. Every city had its own king. Their
supreme god was El, but also had other gods like Baal (god of the
rain and fertility of the land) Astarté (goddess of love and human
fecundity). They built small temples on the mountains or near
the shade of trees.
• Abraham was nomad who moved all over the country looking for
fresh pastures for his flocks. A huge drought forced him to go to
Egypt. Famine is the first big temptation of Abraham and it shows
his lack of faith in God: He looks for a solution to his problem
(hunger) not in God, but in Egypt. He also lies to survive and
causes suffering to Sarah, who is taken to the Pharaoh’s palace:
“I know you are a beautiful woman. Therefore when the
Egyptians see you, they’ll say “this is his wife”; they’ll kill me,
but they’ll let you live. Please, say you are my sister, that It may
be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of
you” (Gn 12: 11-13). In this case, Abraham is not the prototype
of faith in God and His promises, but a cunning and coward man
that lies to keep his life and obtain material benefits: animals,
servants… With his attitude, he puts in danger 3 of the promises
of Yahweh:
5
• What is the message of this story? God will fulfil his promises
despite the weakness and fragility of those people chosen by
him. If we study in detail the stories of the patriarchs, we can see
many more defects than virtues. Therefore the writer wants to
stress more the grace of God than the cooperation of man. In
fact, the Pharaoh will be punish with plagues for taking Sarah to
his palace, even though he thought he was not doing anything
wrong. On the other hand, Abraham, the liar and the selfish man,
is sent back to Canaan with riches and wealth as a payment for
taking Sarah, his wife. Abraham prefers to put God’s plan in
danger and refuses to risk his own life for it and Sarah. Our God
always defends his project of salvation, especially when it is in
danger and even though this danger is caused by the one chosen
to keep this promises alive.
• After leaving Egypt, when Abraham and Lot arrived to Betel, their
shepherds started quarrelling about the use of water wells and
pastures. Abraham said to Lot: “Please let there be no strife
between you and me and between my herdsmen and yours; for
we are brethren. Is not the whole land before you? Please
separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right;
or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left” (Gn 13: 8-9). As
we know, Lot is Abraham’s nephew, the son of his brother Haran.
Their relationship is getting worse, so Abraham proposes a
solution to the problem in order to save their familiar and friendly
relation.
6
of war. Although Lot separated from him, Abraham still puts his
life at risk to rescue his family in danger. Furthermore, he does
not accept any reward for his good action for a reason: his
prosperity and wealth come only from God.
• God’s promise: “Abraham, look at the sky and try to count the
stars; you will have as many descendants as that” (Gn 15: 5).
Reality said: Abraham and Sarah are old; Sarah is barren, cannot
have children. Be realistic! Do not dream about an impossible
future. This nation will never be born.
• The conflict between faith and reality is clear: faith promised him
a future; reality denied it. What to do then? To believe in the
future promised by God, Abraham had to put his trust in God, in
himself and in Sarah. Abraham, tired of waiting for this promise,
look for another solution.
7
B) Abraham’s formula: The adoption of his servant
C) God’s answer
• God did not accept Abraham’s proposal and said: “This one shall
not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall
be your heir” (Gn 15: 4). God is not against the customs of the
people. But He does not want Abraham to put these traditions
above his faith in God and his promises. That is his mistake: put
his security in them. He must learn to trust God and his projects:
his heir will come from his own body. At this point, God renews
his promise and makes it even bigger.
D) Abraham’s options
8
can it happen if Sarah is old and cannot have children? Sarah did
not believe in God and in herself, that is why she looked for a
solution within the limits of the human logic.
• Abraham accepted his wife’s request and had a son with her
servant, Hagar. Now it seems that God’s promise has been finally
realized. They named the child “Ishmael”, which means: “God
has listened” (Gn 16: 15).
• God did not like Sarah’s human project and said to Abraham: “As
for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah
shall be her name. And I will bless her and also give you a son by
her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations;
kings of peoples shall be from her” (Gn 17: 15-16). First,
Abraham laughed loudly, which means he doubted the Word of
God; secondly, he became sad and pleaded with tears for the life
of his son. In fact, what can expect a man from an old and barren
wife? Common sense offered no other solution; that is why
Abraham wants God to fulfil his promise through Ishmael, the son
of the servant: “Shall a child be born to a man who is one
hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear
a child? Why not let Ishmael be my heir?” (Gn 17: 17-18).
Abraham wants to keep the security that Ishmael offers, but God
answer is clear: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and
you shall call his name Isaac” (Gn 17: 19).
C) Abraham’s options
9
forgot about his own project: Ishmael. And this, at the age of one
hundred!!
A) Sarah’s laughter
• Despite all those crisis and difficulties, life goes on. One day,
sitting at the door of the tent, Abraham was visited by three
messengers of God. He offered them great hospitality. During a
meal, one of the asked: “Where is Sarah your wife? There, in the
tent. The messenger said: I will certainly return to you according
to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.
Sarah was listening at the door of the tent and laughed within
herself, saying: after I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my
lord being old also?” (Gn 18: 9-12). When Ishmael was rejected
by God, Sarah probably lost her hope in the fulfilment of the
promise. That is why she laughed. She was old and barren, her
husband also old. It was very hard for Abraham to convince her
to believe again in God’s Word.
B) God’s intervention
• God did not like Sarah’s laughter and said to Abraham: “Why did
Sarah laugh, saying: shall I surely bear a child, since I am old? Is
anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will
return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have
a son” (Gn 18: 13-14). Sarah tried to deny her laughter, but God
discovers immediately her lack of faith.
• Once again these old couple heard a beautiful promise and they
had two choices: believe in God’s Word or follow their own
project. They believed in God and the promise was fulfilled: Isaac
was born, a happy end for such a long and dramatic waiting.
Abraham has finally a heir, son of his wife too; even though she
was barren and old, God made a miracle for them. The scene is
surrounded by laughter and joy. Isaac’s name also means “God
made me laugh”. This laughter will remind them of their lack of
faith and the victory of God’s plan over the human logic.
• Thanks to Abraham and Sarah’s faith, they have a son now. His
birth is according to God’s promise, not his parent’s
expectations. The crisis, difficulties and doubts are gone; their
10
hope for the future is like an opened road: the descendants and
the nation are possible now. Abraham holds in his hands realistic
project, Isaac, the son who will fulfil all the promises of God.
A) Isaac’s sacrifice
• This is one of the most chilling stories in the Bible. When the
divine promise started to make sense with the birth of Isaac, God
is not satisfied yet and asks Abraham for more: “Take now your
son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of
Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the
mountains of which I shall tell you” (Gn 22: 2).
• Isaac is the son an old man and a barren woman have been
waiting for their whole life. He is their only hope for a future with
many descendants. Now God orders Abraham to sacrifice his
only son. When Abraham answered God’s calling long time ago,
he buried his past life; now he must give up his future. The son
was the living testimony that God really existed, kept his
promises and loved Abraham. Without Isaac, the numerous
descendants disappear, the Promised Land has no owner,
Abraham’s fame and good name are impossible. If Isaac dies, all
the promises die with him. No nation! No land! No blessing! Total
darkness!
B) Why did God want to test Abraham? Did not test him
enough?
11
almighty God; his faith had to be perfect so that the divine
blessing could reach all mankind.
C) Abraham’s obedience
• Abraham answered the way God was expecting: he did not keep
his son for himself, but trusted the Word of God that was asking
for the sacrifice of Isaac. Abraham obeyed and trusted God
above his son! Thanks to his obedience, Abraham saved the life
of his son, the future of the nation and the blessing for all. In
fact, when Abraham took his knife for sacrificing Isaac, God made
his voice heard: “Do not lay your hand on the boy, do not do
anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you
have not withheld your only son from me… By myself I have
sworn that because you have done this, and have not withheld
your son, your only son, I will bless you and multiply your
descendants as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which
is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate
of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be
blessed, because you have obeyed my voice” (Gn 22: 12. 15-18).
• When Sarah died (Gn 23: 1), Abraham wanted to buy a piece of
land where to bury her. Later, Abraham will be buried in the
same tomb, situated in Hebron, the land of Canaan (Gn 25: 7-
10).
• The tomb of Abraham and Sarah was bought with his own
money; he had the title of property. Ephron, the owner of the
land, wanted to give to him for free, as a present, but Abraham
did not accept it and paid for it. A piece of land with a tomb in it
was all that Abraham possessed in his life. He spent his life
dreaming of having many descendants and only had a son; lived
also dreaming of a land and only had a tomb.
• Did Abraham spend his life uselessly or in vain? Of course not! All
his waiting, suffering, darkness led to a new beginning for him.
His son is the starting point of a new nation. The tomb was the
beginning of the possession of the land of Canaan. The title of
property is the proof that his descendants have the right to live
and possess that land. Abraham died without seeing the result of
his work, but he left the seed of a bright future for his
descendants.
12
6. LIFE GOES ON…
13
- Blood relationship (consanguinity): Nahor married his
nephew Milcah (Gn 11: 29); Abraham married his foster-
sister Sarah (Gn 20: 12); Isaac and Jacob married their
cousins (Gn 24: 15; 29: 23. 28). This kind of marriages
were forbidden in the Law of Moses (Lv 18), but were legal
in the Code of Hammurabi, n. 154-158.
14