Abram
When Abram was 75 years old: (The Lord said)…”Leave
your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I
will show you. I will make you into
a great nation and I will bless you…and all peoples on earth will be blessed
through you.” (Genesis
12:1-3) Abram took his wife Sarai,
his nephew Lot and all of their possessions to Canaan. (The Lord said to Abram) “Look at
the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.”
Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
(Genesis 15:5-6)
Ishmael
Abram was getting impatient. He was about 85 years old and God had not yet delivered on
his promise. So his wife Sarai
said, “The Lord has kept me from having children.
Go sleep with my maidservant (Hagar);
perhaps I can build a family through her.” (Genesis 16:2)
An angel of the Lord said to Hagar, “You shall
name him Ishmael…He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against
everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward
all his brothers.” (Genesis 16:11b-12)
There was friction between Sarai and Hagar, it makes an interesting
story, and eventually Sarai kicks Hagar & Ishmael out (see Genesis 21:8-21).
Even today many Arabs claim Abraham (Abram) as their forefather through
Ishmael!
Covenant Confirmed Abram becomes Abraham (Genesis
chapter 17)
When Abram was 99 years old God said, “…this is my
covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.
No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have
made you a father of many nations…you are to undergo circumcision, and it will
be the sign of the covenant between me and you.”
Sodom & Gomorrah (Genesis chapters 18 &
19)
Abram learns that the Lord is grieved over the sin in Sodom & Gomorrah so
Abram pleads with the Lord, “Will you sweep away the
righteous with the wicked? What if
there are fifty righteous people in the city? …(What if there are
45?)…What if only forty are found there…only
thirty…only twenty…only ten…?” Lot (Abram’s nephew) is warned to get out of town.
He and his daughters escape, but his wife turns to look back and turns
into a pillar of salt!
NOTE: The Sodom & Gomorrah story is an R (Restricted) or M (Mature) rated passage! The Bible contains a lot of violence... The Bible does not sugarcoat issues. God works through imperfect people—we’ll see that throughout the Bible.