Abraham

Found: Genesis chapter 12-21

Abram Sent Out (Genesis 12)

Abram was the son of Terah. God spoke to him and told him to go to a land the Lord would show him. There God promised He would make Abram into a great nation and would give him all the land in the area. Abram got up and followed the Lord, along with some of his family, including Lot, his nephew.

The Lord led Abram to the land of Canaan, where he lived for a while. There was a famine in Canaan and Abram was forced to go down to Egypt. There he was worried that his beautiful wife Sarai would attract men who would kill him for her, so they pretended to be brother and sister. Pharaoh liked Sarai, and took her into his house. He suffered plagues because of this, and when he found out that Abram and Sarai were married, he was angry and drove them out of Egypt.

Abram and Lot Split Up (Genesis 13)

Back in Canaan, Abram and his family did well. So well in fact that the land they stayed at wasn't enough to keep his and Lot's herds. They decided to split up. Lot looked over the plain of the Jordan, with the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and decided to move there. Abram stayed in Canaan, which the Lord promised he would one day own all of.

God's Promise to Abram (Genesis 15)

The Lord spoke to Abram in a vision. Again He told him that he would have a child, who would result in a great nation. Abram was to make a covenant with God to seal the promise. In these days a blood covenant involved the two parties walking between the bisected pieces of animals. While Abram slept, God walked between the pieces alone, signifying that the covenant depended on Him alone, and not on Abram's faith.

Abram Tries For a Son His Way (Genesis 16)

Abram and Sarai were getting quite old and there was no sign of a son. This worried Abram and he decided to take things into his own hands. He took Sarai's servant Hagar, and had a son by her, whom he called Ishmael. This was not God's plan and would result in no end of trouble in the future, but God promised that He would also bless Ishmael with a great number of descendents.

Abram Becomes Abraham (Genesis 17)

When Abram was 99 years old, God appeared to him again. Once more he assured Abram that he would have a son who would become a great nation. He renamed Abram Abraham, and Sarai became Sarah. Abraham laughed at the idea of a son to himself and Sarah (who was 90). God said the son should be called Isaac, which means laughter.

Strangers Come With news (Genesis 18)

One day three men appeared to Abraham. They told him Sarah would have a child. Sarah, hearing this from her tent, laughed at the idea. The men also had news that they were going down to Sodom and Gomorrah to destroy them because of their wickedness. One of the men was the Lord, and He stayed with Abraham while the others went on down.

Abraham remembered that Lot was at Sodom, and argued with the Lord. He asked if there were 50 good men in Sodom, the Lord would not destroy it. The Lord agreed. Abraham said what if there were 45, and so on until he had bargained the Lord down to 10. The Lord agreed that if 10 righteous men were to be found in Sodom, it would not be destroyed.

Lot Escapes From Sodom (Genesis 19)

Apparently there weren't even 10 righteous men in Sodom. Two angels visited Lot that night. He asked them to stay, but the people of the city wanted the strangers to come out to them. Lot was in a fix, and even offered his own daughters to the townspeople, but they refused and crowded round to break into Lot's house. The two angels saved Lot from the crowd and made the people blind, so they couldn't find the door.

The angels warned Lot the city was about to be destroyed, and to get all his family out. His daughters' husbands laughed at him, but the next morning Lot, his wife and his two daughters escaped the city with the angels instructions to run and not look back. Unfortunately Lot's wife did look back and she was turned into a pillar of salt. The rest escaped to the town of Zoar.

Isaac is Born (Genesis 21)

God kept His promise to Abraham. When he was a hundred years old, and Sarah was ninety, they had a child and they named him Isaac. Isaac grew up with his parents, but there was trouble between Sarah and Hagar. Hagar was thrown out with Ishmael and went away to live in the wilderness.