Audela

Abraham

The man of promise, where Matthew's genealogy begins

Also written: Abram

Place in the genealogy

  • Matthew · name 1 · Abraham forward to JesusFrom Abraham to David: the promiseThe list begins where the promise begins.
  • Luke · name 56 · Jesus back to AdamFrom Jesse back to AbrahamWhere Matthew's list begins, Luke's keeps going.

Where Scripture records this person

  • His family, and the move from Ur toward Canaan.
  • The call and the promise of blessing for all families of the earth.
  • Counted righteous by faith; the covenant of the pieces.
  • Renamed; circumcision given as the covenant sign.
  • The visitors, the promise of Isaac, and his intercession for Sodom.
  • Isaac born; Hagar and Ishmael sent away.
  • The offering of Isaac on Moriah.
  • Buries Sarah in the cave he purchases.
  • Dies at 175 and is buried by Isaac and Ishmael.
  • Justified by faith before circumcision.
  • The promise to his seed fulfilled in Christ.
  • Faith to go out, to wait, and to offer up Isaac.
  • Faith shown by works, and called the friend of God.

Who this person is in Scripture

Abraham is called out of Ur of the Chaldees, a settled city of moon worship, and told to leave country, kindred and father's house for a land God would show him. He goes without a map and without a child, and God attaches to him a promise with three parts: a land, a nation and blessing for all the families of the earth (). The rest of his life is the slow, uneven working out of whether he will trust that promise.

He fails visibly. Twice he calls his wife his sister to protect himself, and once he takes Hagar in an attempt to secure the child God had promised. He also believes God in the dark, is counted for it (), argues with God for a city full of strangers, and finally walks up a with the son the whole promise depended on. Scripture never smooths him out, and it never lets his failures cancel the promise, because the promise rested on God's oath rather than on his record.

The life, in movements

The call

God speaks to a man in a pagan city and tells him to leave. notes that he went out not knowing where he went. He is seventy five years old, and childless.

The waiting

Twenty five years pass between the promise of a son and the birth of Isaac. In those years Abraham lies about Sarah, rescues Lot, meets Melchizedek, receives the of the pieces, and fathers Ishmael by Hagar.

The son

Isaac is born when Abraham is a hundred. The laughter of unbelief in becomes the name of the child, and the promise finally has a body.

The mountain

God asks for Isaac. Abraham rises early, tells his servants that he and the lad will come again, and lifts the knife. God stops him and provides a ram, and the place is named 'the Lord will provide' ().

The grave and the field

Sarah dies, and Abraham buys a cave to bury her. It is the only piece of the promised land he ever owns, and he dies still a stranger in it, which is the point makes.

Family, as Scripture gives it

Father
Terah
Spouses
Sarah, Hagar, Keturah
Children
Isaac, Ishmael, Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, Shuah
Siblings
Nahor, Haran

The line runs through Isaac alone ().

Events Scripture records

  • Justified by faithPaul builds Romans 4 on the fact that this happened before circumcision and before the law.
  • Interceding for SodomHe appeals to God's own justice, not to sentiment.
  • The binding of IsaacHebrews 11:19 says he reasoned that God could raise him from the dead.

In order

  1. Age 75Called out of Haran with the promise of Genesis 12
  2. Soon afterGoes to Egypt in famine and calls Sarah his sister
  3. Before IshmaelBelieves God and is counted righteous
  4. Age 86Ishmael born to Hagar
  5. Age 99Renamed Abraham; circumcision given
  6. Age 100Isaac born
  7. LaterOffers Isaac on Moriah and receives the promise confirmed by oath
  8. Age 175Dies and is buried with Sarah at Machpelah

Historical setting

Background, kept separate from the text and given only where it is responsibly supported.

Ur of the Chaldees was a substantial city with organised religion centred on the moon god. says plainly that Abraham's family served other gods, so his call was a rescue as much as a commission.

In his world a childless man had no future and no standing. God's promise of descendants was therefore a promise against the visible facts of his life for a quarter of a century.

Promises and covenants this life carries

  • The promise that all nations would be blessed in his seed () is the missionary line of the whole Bible, and identifies that seed as Christ.
  • God's with Abraham is unilateral. In God alone passes between the pieces, binding himself, which means the plan of never depended on Abraham keeping his side.

How Scripture connects this person to Christ

  • A father who did not withhold his only son on a , and a son who carried the wood of his own , is the clearest picture of Calvary in the Old Testament. deliberately echoes .
  • Jesus said Abraham rejoiced to see his day (), and then said, before Abraham was, I am, placing himself before the man the Jews called father.

What this teaches

  • Faith is credited, not achieved. is the verse Paul uses to prove that comes by believing God rather than by performing for him.
  • Long delays are normal in God's dealings. Twenty five years passed between the promise and Isaac, and the of those years was to arrange the promise yourself.
  • The costliest obedience often looks like losing what God gave you. is not about God taking; it is about whether the giver is trusted more than the gift.

Questions the text can answer

Why does Matthew begin the genealogy with Abraham?

Because Matthew writes for readers who trace their standing to Abraham, and because the promise that all nations would be blessed was given to him. Matthew's last chapter sends the disciples to all nations, which closes the circle his first verse opened.

Was Abraham saved by faith or by works?

By faith. says that if he had been by works he would have something to boast of, but Scripture says he God and it was counted to him for .

is not a contradiction. James points to Moriah, decades later, as the proof that the faith credited was alive.

Read further in Scripture

Read in the Bible

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