Abraham

Abram (later Abraham) is born in Ur of the Chaldeans, a sophisticated city in Mesopotamia. He is the son of Terah and will become the father of the Hebrew nation, called by God to leave everything familiar.

At age 75, God calls Abram to leave his country, family, and father's house for a land He will show him. God promises to make him a great nation, bless him, make his name great, and bless all nations through him.

Abram takes Sarai his wife, Lot his nephew, and all their possessions and travels to Canaan. At Shechem, God appears and promises to give this land to Abram's descendants. Abram builds an altar there.

A famine forces Abram to Egypt. Fearing for his life because of Sarai's beauty, he asks her to say she is his sister. Pharaoh takes her into his palace, but God afflicts Pharaoh's household with plagues, exposing the deception.

Conflict arises between Abram's and Lot's herdsmen due to their great wealth. Abram generously lets Lot choose first. Lot chooses the well-watered Jordan plain near Sodom. God reaffirms the land promise to Abram.

When four kings capture Lot and his possessions during a regional war, Abram leads 318 trained men in a night attack, defeats the kings, and rescues Lot. On return, Melchizedek king of Salem blesses Abram.

God appears in a vision, promising Abram a son from his own body and descendants as numerous as the stars. Abram believes God, and it is credited to him as righteousness. God makes a covenant with him.

After ten years without a child, Sarai gives her servant Hagar to Abram. Hagar conceives Ishmael. Though Abram is 86 years old, Ishmael is not the child of promise, leading to family conflict.

God appears again when Abram is 99. He changes Abram's name to Abraham ('father of multitudes') and Sarai to Sarah. He institutes circumcision as the covenant sign and promises Isaac within a year.

Three divine visitors come to Abraham's tent at Mamre. He shows them hospitality. They confirm that Sarah will bear a son within a year. Sarah laughs within herself but is rebuked: 'Is anything too hard for the LORD?'

God reveals His plan to investigate Sodom's wickedness. Abraham intercedes, asking if God would spare the city for fifty righteous, then forty-five, forty, thirty, twenty, even ten. God agrees, but ten are not found.

Sarah conceives and bears Isaac when Abraham is 100 and she is 90. The name means 'laughter'—Sarah says God has brought her laughter. The child of promise has finally arrived, 25 years after the initial promise.

God tests Abraham by commanding him to sacrifice Isaac on Mount Moriah. Abraham obeys, but at the last moment, the angel stops him. God provides a ram as substitute. This is Abraham's greatest test and triumph of faith.

Sarah dies at age 127 in Hebron. Abraham mourns and weeps for her, then negotiates with the Hittites to purchase the cave of Machpelah as a burial site—the only land in Canaan he will own.

Abraham dies at age 175, 'an old man, full of years.' He is buried in the cave of Machpelah with Sarah. Isaac and Ishmael together bury their father. The covenant promises continue through Isaac.