Abraham (originally Abram) is widely revered as a foundational legendary figure among adherents of the eponymous Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, he is the ethnic ancestor and first Hebrew patriarch who began the covenantal relationship between the Jewish people and God; in Christianity, he is regarded as the forebear of Jesus and the spiritual ancestor of all Christians; and in Islam, he is a link in the chain of Islamic prophets that begins with Adam and culminates in Muhammad. Abraham is revered in all other Abrahamic religions, such as the Baháʼí Faith and the Druze faith. He is regarded as the common forefather of both the Arab people through his son Ishmael and the Jewish people through his son Isaac.
The story of the life of Abraham, as told in the narrative of the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible, revolves around the themes of blessing and promise, especially the promise of progeny and land. He is said to have been called by God to leave the house of his father Terah and settle in the land of Canaan, which God now promises to Abraham and his progeny. This promise is subsequently inherited by Isaac, Abraham's son by his wife Sarah, while Isaac's half-brother Ishmael is also promised that he will be the founder of a great nation. Abraham purchases a tomb (the Cave of the Patriarchs) at Hebron to be Sarah's grave, thus establishing his right to the land; and, in the second generation, his heir Isaac is married to a woman from his own kin to earn his parents' approval. Abraham later marries Keturah and has six more sons; but, on his death, when he is buried beside Sarah, it is Isaac who receives "all Abraham's goods" while the other sons receive only "gifts".
Most scholars view the patriarchal age, along with the Exodus, as a late literary construct that does not relate to any particular historical era. Many scholars believe the Abraham traditions developed orally over centuries, before being incorporated into the Book of Genesis during the Persian period of Judah, where they helped shape post-exilic Jewish identity and were used to support competing claims to the land.
Structure and narrative programs
The Abraham cycle (Genesis 11:27–Genesis 25:11) unfolds as a narrative of mounting tension, centered on the conflict between God's promise that Abram (Abraham's birth name) would father a lineage and become the ancestor of numerous nations, and a succession of crises that jeopardize this divine commitment. The storytelling method used here is the "obstacle story," a literary device renowned for its enduring and universal popularity across cultures and eras.
The Abraham cycle is not structured by a unified plot centered on a conflict and its resolution or a problem and its solution. The episodes are often only loosely linked, and the sequence is not always logical. The story portrays Abraham gradually assuming the role of the ideal religious person amid themes of blessing and promise, especially the promise of progeny and land. These themes form "narrative programs" set out in Genesis 11:27–31 concerning the sterility of Sarah and Genesis 12:1–3 in which Abraham is ordered to leave the land of his birth for the land God will show him.
Terah, the ninth in descent from Noah, was the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran (Hebrew: הָרָן Hārān). Haran was the father of Lot, who was Abram's nephew; the family lived in Ur of the Chaldees. Haran died there while Terah was still alive. Abram married Sarah (Sarai) but, unlike Nahor and his wife Milcah, they were childless.
Genesis 11 records that Terah, Abram, Sarai, and Lot departed for Canaan, but settled in a place named Haran (Hebrew: חָרָן Ḥārān), where Terah died at the age of 205.
Then the narrative in Genesis 12 shows that God told Abram to leave his country and his kindred, and go to a land that God would show him, and promised to make of him a great nation, bless him, make his name great, bless them that bless him, and curse them who may curse him. Abram was 75 years old when he and Sarai left Haran with his nephew Lot, and their possessions and people that they had acquired, and they traveled to Shechem in Canaan. Abram built an altar to God in Shechem, and later he built another altar between Bethel and Ai. From there the party travelled to the Negev, or to the south.
According to some exegetes, like Nahmanides, Abram was actually born in Haran and he later relocated to Ur, while some of his family remained in Haran.
There was a severe famine in the land of Canaan, so that Abram, Lot, and their households traveled to Egypt. On the way Abram told Sarai to tell the Egyptians she was his sister, so that the Egyptians would not kill him. When they entered Egypt, the Pharaoh's officials praised Sarai's beauty to Pharaoh, and they took her into the palace and gave Abram goods in exchange. God afflicted Pharaoh and his household with plagues, which led Pharaoh to try to find out what was wrong. Upon discovering that Sarai was a married woman, Pharaoh demanded that Abram and Sarai leave, escorting them to the frontier.
When they lived for a while in the Negev after being banished from Egypt and came back to the Bethel and Ai area, Abram's and Lot's sizable herds occupied the same pastures. This became a problem for the herdsmen, who were assigned to each family's cattle. The conflicts between herdsmen had become so troublesome that Abram suggested that Lot choose a separate area, either on the left hand or on the right hand, that there be no conflict between them. Lot decided to go eastward to the plain of Jordan, where the land was well watered everywhere as far as Zoara, and he dwelled in the cities of the plain toward Sodom. Abram went south to Hebron and settled in the plain of Mamre, where he built another altar to worship God.
During the rebellion of the Jordan River cities, Sodom and Gomorrah, against Elam, Abram's nephew, Lot, was taken prisoner along with his entire household by the invading Elamite forces. The Elamite army came to collect the spoils of war, after having just defeated the king of Sodom's armies. Lot and his family, at the time, were settled on the outskirts of the Kingdom of Sodom which made them a visible target.
One person who escaped capture came and told Abram what happened. Once Abram received this news, he immediately assembled 318 trained servants. Abram's force headed north in pursuit of the Elamite army, who were already worn down from the Battle of Siddim. When they caught up with them at Laish, Abram devised a battle plan by splitting his group into more than one unit, and launched a night raid. Not only were they able to free the captives, Abram's unit chased and slaughtered the Elamite King Chedorlaomer at Hobah, just north of Damascus. They freed Lot, as well as his household and possessions, and recovered all of the goods from Sodom that had been taken.
Upon Abram's return, Sodom's king came out to meet with him in the Valley of Shaveh, the "king's dale". Also, Melchizedek king of Salem (Jerusalem), a priest of El Elyon, brought out bread and wine and blessed Abram and God. Abram then gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything. The king of Sodom then offered to let Abram keep all the possessions if he would merely return his people. Abram declined to accept anything other than the share to which his allies were entitled.
Some time after these events, the voice of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, promising him a "reward", namely a son, and repeating the promise of the land and descendants as numerous as the stars. Abram was childless until then, and had anticipated that Eliezer of Damascus, head of his household, would inherit his estate on his death. He was to be rewarded in virtue of his trust in God.
Abram and God then made a covenant ceremony, and God told Abram of the future bondage of his people "in a land that is not theirs", referring to Egypt. God then described to Abram the land that his offspring would claim: the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, the Rephaim, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.