DW | Old Testament
04 – Abraham and Isaac
Welcome to the DW World History Series. In the last episode we discussed the first Patriarchs of the Old Testament and focused on the political climates surrounding their time period. In this episode, we will focus on Abraham and Isaac in the first of our detailed biographies.
Abraham and his son Isaac were the first Patriarchs of Israel. Their story, which begins in the early second millennium B.C., is not only one of faith, it also provides an authentic look into the nomadic life of the ancient Hebrews.
As stated by Alfred Edersheim in his 1890 work called Bible History of the Old Testament, the whole history of Abraham may be arranged into four stages, each commencing with a personal revelation of Jehovah. The first, when the patriarch was called to his work and mission (Gen 12-14); the second, when he received the promise of an heir, and the covenant was made with him (Gen 15-16); the third, when that covenant was established in the change of his name from Abram to Abraham, and in circumcision as the sign and seal of the covenant (Gen 17-21); the fourth, when his faith was tried, proved, and perfected in the offering up of Isaac (Gen 22:1-25:11). These are, so to speak, the high points in Abraham's history, which the patriarch successfully climbed, and to which all other events of his life may be regarded as the ascent.
4.1 - Abraham's Origins
Abraham, descended by 10 generations from Noah, was born between 2000 and 1850 B.C. in northern Mesopotamia, near the Euphrates River. His family would have been indistinguishable from those of the many seminomadic tribesmen who had temporarily settled near the cities of the fertile crescent. These dusty caravaneers and herdsmen were relatively uncivilized, by Mesopotamian standards. They lived in tents, surrounded by their flocks of sheep and goats, and herds of cattle. Tough, self-sufficient men and women, they had arrived sporadically from the northeast and southwest. Many of them had respectfully adopted the native religions, but they were never fully absorbed by the carefully structured Mesopotamian society.
Though it is unlikely that Abraham and his brothers attended the cities' schools (only a privileged minority did), they were likely familiar with the local traditions and myths that the Mesopotamian civilization had developed. This probably included the story of the Great Flood. Abraham, however, was probably more familiar with the oral tradition of his own tribe – a long list of ancestors from Adam to his father, Terah. The names and deeds he was required to remember not only established Abraham's legitimate claim to membership in his tribe, they also explained the relationship of the tribe itself to other tribes.
Abraham settled with other nomads on the edge of the city of Urfa. This was the northern Ur, not the southern Ur, the great urban city of the Sumerians, but its northern colony site. For years, scholars and archaeologists had labeled southern Ur as Abraham's birthplace – ever since its discovery by Sir Leonard Woolley in 1920. But now, leading scholars are recognizing Urfa as the true location; 'Ur of the Chaldeans' it was called by the Greek historian Xenophon, and in the Book of Genesis itself.
From here, Terah's family grew as his three sons Haran, Nahor, and Abraham came of age and married. Haran died from unknown reasons and left a son, Lot, and a daughter, Milcah. Milcah later married her uncle Nahor. This kind of marriage – of niece and uncle – was not yet prohibited by Hebrew law. It had a practical purpose. The orphaned girl and her property were cared for within the family. Abraham and his wife Sarah probably loved their nephew Lot as a son, for they had no children of their own.
As Lot grew older, Abraham taught him the duties of a shepherd. These tasks included the constant look-out for predatory lions, jackals, and bears; the continual commanding of the wandering flock; separating sick sheep and goats from the main herd with crooks; carrying very young lambs and kids; and the endless search for more abundant grass and water.
Terah's clan probably did not own their land, but rented it from the Mesopotamians by the regular payment of a certain number of their animals. It was partly the desire for more fertile land that caused the clan to migrate south to Haran, a distance of only 28.8 miles, not the 4998 miles from southern Ur, as erroneously once believed.
The location of Haran was a gathering point for trade caravans. The walled city, surrounded by distinctive beehive-shaped huts, was ruled by the Amorites. Their capitals were at Haran and at Mari on the Euphrates, 250 miles to the south.
4.2 - I Will Make You a Great Nation
The Hebrews probably camped outside the city walls of Haran where they could graze their animals and setup their camp. There they stayed for many seasons, and each year their number increased. This was an excellent location for trade and a good place to settle due to the fertile land. Terah eventually died here at Haran and Abraham, his eldest son, assumed the leadership of the tribe.
Becoming weary of the Amorites, the Hebrews began to long for land of their own. It was at this time that Abraham began having revelations and commands by God.
“Now the Lord said to Abram, 'Go from your country... to the land that I will show
you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your
name great...'so Abram went as the Lord had told him.” (Gen 12:1)
At 75 years old, Abraham departed Haran with his tribe and headed west and then south. The men led their flocks and donkeys which were packed with all of the portable possessions they owned, such as tents, blankets, food, cooking utensils, and tradable goods. They must have stopped in Damascus, for at that time its amply watered location made it the main caravan city on the trail from Haran to Canaan.
Situated on a plain that is very fertile by Near East standards, Damascus must have impressed Abraham... Known as 'the City of Donkeys' – as the Assyrians were to later call it. This was where the caravans bound west for Canaan and Egypt were outfitted. The city consisted of large open squares and dark narrow streets, where men and women from a dozen different tribes settled to live and trade. This was a very popular cosmopolitan location.
Continuing his journey south, Abraham and his tribe stocked up on supplies and left the city on a precisely planned route. Unlike the journey from Urfa to Haran, which basically followed the Euphrates River, the trip south from Haran to Damascus and beyond was more complicated. Except for the Jordan River, fresh water was only available at jealously guarded wells and springs. The right to use them had to be delicately negotiated.
At first, Abraham might have traveled with one of the large donkey caravans that regularly left the city. One caravan might include up to 3,000 donkeys, but 500 or 600 were more common. They would cover about 15 miles a day. Traveling within sight of the 10,000 foot heights of Mount Hermon, the fields gave way to a series of relatively barren grayish hills outlined by dry riverbeds. This region, in turn, merged into the forbidding Syrian Desert where greenery disappeared from Damascus. When Abraham saw the hills of Canaan appear behind a ridge he knew that they had finally arrived at the frontier of 'the Promised Land'.
4.3 - The Promised Land
Abraham, Sarah, and Lot continued to make their way through Canaan, keeping to the Central Highlands that ran from north to south. Behind them to the west lay the coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon. To the east in the Jordan Valley were other Canaanite cities, all of which owed nominal allegiance to Egypt who controlled the region. At this time, Abraham and his tribe were no match against the Canaanites, who practiced more advanced warfare techniques with their bronze armor and weapons.
Reaching Shechem, between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, God again appeared to Abraham and reaffirmed his promise stating, “to your descendants I will give this land”. From Shechem, they made their way south to Bethel, a city that had been founded about 100 years earlier. On a ridge east of the city, the Hebrews established their camp and Abraham built an altar. There, God appeared to him once more and again renewed his promise of land and prosperity. Abraham and his family probably stayed there for several months, letting their flocks feed on the grasses that grew around the many springs in the area. However, a famine soon swept through Canaan, and once again the Patriarch packed up and headed south in search of water and pasturage.
From Genesis 20:13, we learn that when he first set out from his father's house, an agreement had been made between him and Sarah that she was to pass as his sister, because, as he said, 'the fear of God' was not among the nations with whom they would be brought in contact; and they might kill Abraham for his wife's sake. If she was looked upon as the sister of a mighty chief, her hand would be sought, and certain formalities would have to be gone through, giving Abraham time to escape with his wife.
There is in the British Museum an ancient Egyptian papyrus which, although of somewhat later date than that of Abraham, proves that his fears, on entering Egypt, were at least not groundless. It relates how Pharaoh, on the advice of his councilors, sent armies to take away a man's wife by force, and then to murder her husband.
Sarah was eventually taken into the house of the Pharaoh. But God intervened and struck the Pharaoh and his house with great plagues, which by and by, led to the true identity of Sarah, probably by Sarah herself. Upon this, the king summoned Abraham, addressed him in words of reproach, sent him under guided escort to the border, and released him with all his possessions intact.
Near Egypt, both Abraham and Lot prospered. When Abraham and Lot returned to Bethel some years later, they found their numbers so increased that the land there could no longer support them all.
'So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed
east; thus they separated from each other. Abram dwelt in the Land
of Canaan, while Lot dwelt among the cities of the valley and moved
his tent as far as Sodom,” …near what was then the southern end of
the Dead Sea. (Gen 13:11)
These cities of the valley, like the rest of Canaan at the time, were subdivided among a number of small kings, each probably ruling over a city and the immediate surrounding neighborhood.
From that time on, Lot's fortune's dwindled. Not long after he settled in Sodom, an army led by a coalition of four chieftains, possibly seeking control of the copper mines in the area, captured and ransacked the cities on the southern shores of the Dead Sea. They took many prisoners, including Lot. When Abraham learned of the disaster, he assembled an army from among his own people and pursued the enemy soldiers to the foothills of Laish, far to the north, and then east toward Damascus. After a night attack and battle, he rescued Lot, but further trouble lay ahead.
Here, the striking story of Sodom and Gomorrah begins with God warning Abraham about the destruction of the two cities. Abraham pleads to God to spare the city and an interesting dialogue develops where Abraham bargains with God to save the cities even if 10 righteous men are discovered. That not being the case, the cities are eventually destroyed by fire and brimstone. Being warned through his relationship with Abraham, Lot and his family are allowed to escape. However, Lot's wife, while fleeing the city, disregards a divine order not to look back at the city and becomes a 'pillar salt'.
The exact location of the two cities has long intrigued biblical scholars. The dominant theory now places them under the southern waters of the Dead Sea. Geologic evidence indicates that some kind of cataclysm, probably an earthquake, occurred in this area during the early part of the 2nd millennium B.C. The floor of the valley may have dropped abruptly and been submerged. Today, dead trees encrusted with thick layers of salt rise from the shallowed water.
For a long time, Lot and his two daughters lived alone in a remote cave. In a startling scene, the two girls drug their father, sleep with him, and become pregnant in order to continue the family line. Born of this unholy union would be the birth of Israel's hereditary enemies – Moab and Ammon.
Abraham, meanwhile, settled near Hebron, an unusually fertile area about 20 miles south of Jerusalem. There he was able to plant crops of barley and wheat in the fields beyond the camp. It was at this time that God appeared to Abraham in a vision – renaming him and Sarah to their full titles and establishing the covenant sign of circumcision.
Abram means 'Father of Elevation or Noble Chief'. Abraham means 'The Father of a Multitude'. Sarai means 'The Princely' and Sarah means 'The Princess'.
'So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant'. (Gen 17:13)
For the first time did Abraham see as the smoking furnace and the burning lamp – the divine brightness enwrapt in a cloud, just as Moses saw it in the bush, and the children of Israel on their wilderness march, and as it afterwards dwelt in the sanctuary above the mercy-seat, and between the Cherubim of the Ark of the Covenant. This was the first vision sent to Abraham, the first stage of the covenant into which God entered with him, and the first appearance of the Glory of God.
Precious as the promise of God to Abraham had been, it still left one point undetermined – who the mother of the promised seed was to be.
4.4 - Isaac
Despite 30 years of marriage, Abraham and Sarah had remained childless, a bitter misfortune at a time when family and tribal leadership was passed from father to son.
While Abraham's faith was thus exercised and blessed, the 'evil men and seducers', among whom Lot had chosen as his dwelling, had reached the point of judgment with God. Abraham was sitting 'in the tent door in the heat of the day', when God once more appeared to him in visible form. This time it was, as it seemed, three travelers, whom the patriarch hastened to welcome. He quickly had Sarah prepare three cakes from his finest ground meal while he picked out a tender calf from among his cattle. While his servants prepared the main course, he set milk and goat cheese before his guests and stood aside while they ate. Showing hospitality to strangers was a serious custom among the Near East cultures, especially those traveling through the desert.
There can be no doubt that Abraham recognized the character of his heavenly visitors, though, with delicacy and modesty he received and entertained then according to the manner in which they presented themselves to him. These heavenly guests were the Lord himself and two angels, who were to be the ministers of his avenging justice. Their visit was twofold, one to tell Sarah about the birth of her son – which was addressed directly to her, and as her non-belief appeared in her laughter, it was first reproved and then forgiven. The second point of the visit was to warn Abraham of the pending destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
'I will surely return to you in the spring, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.'
(Gen 18:10)
When in despair, when the aging Sarah decided she would never bear a son, she had given her Egyptian maid Hagar to Abraham. According to Amorite custom, Sarah could claim any children Hagar might have as her own, and they would become Abraham's legitimate heirs. Hagar promptly bore Abraham a son, Ishmael, who would later become the father of all the Bedouin tribes of northern Arabia, who would later develop the Muslim faith; thus, making Abraham a common ancestor of the world's three major future religions: the Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
A year after God's revelation, Sarah did give birth to a son whom they named Isaac, which means laughter. Eight days later, the infant was circumcised as instructed by God.
When the period of weaning Isaac had arrived, Abraham made, after the manner of those times, a great feast. We can scarcely say what the age of the child was - whether one year, or, as Josephus implies, three years old. In either case, Ishmael must have been a teenager, at least 15, or possibly 17 years of age. 'And Sarah saw the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking'.
As a German writer once observed, 'Isaac, the object of holy laughter, serves as the target of Ismael's unholy wit and profane banter. Unbelief, envy, pride... were the reasons for his conduct.'
With this, Sarah became more and more hostile to Hagar and her son Ishmael. Frightened for her son's future, she eventually said to Abraham,
'Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman
shall not be heir with my son Isaac.' (Gen 21:10)
God directed the unwilling Abraham to do as Sarah wished, and Hagar and Ishmael were sent into the desert with only a goatskin filled with water and a small supply of bread. But God would be with them through their own journey.
Thus 'cast out', Hagar and her son wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba, probably on their way to Egypt. Here, they suffered from what has always been the great danger to travelers in the desert – the want of water. The boy's strength failed before that of his mother's. At length, her courage and strength also gave way to utter exhaustion and despondency. Where she had supported the steps of her son, now she let him droop 'under on of the shrubs', while she went 'a good way off', not to witness his dying agony, yet still remaining within reach of him. In this moment of despair, an angel of the Lord appeared and directed her to a well of water, and now also, to strengthen her for the future, the same assurance concerning Ishmael was given to Hagar which had previously been made to Abraham. This promise of God has been abundantly fulfilled. The boy dwelt in that wide district between Palestine and Mount Horeb, called 'the Wilderness of Paran' which became the undisputed dominion of his descendants, the Bedouin Arabs..
4.5 - The Sacrifice
Continuing his search for pasturage, Abraham moved to Beersheba, some 20 miles southwest of Hebron. There, he and his men dug a well of their own. A short time later, a dispute arose between Abraham and a local chieftain, Abimelech, whose servants had wrongfully captured the well. The two men finally came to an agreement, which they confirmed by taking an oath. According to tradition, Beersheba, or 'well of the oath,' was named for that pact.
During this time, God unexpectedly tested Abraham:
'Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to
the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering upon
one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.' (Gen 22:2)
Abraham was stunned. Offerings to God were almost always rams or young lambs – a human being was never sacrificed. In the most famous of the Abraham stories, the grief-stricken father obeyed and traveled to the location with his son.
Taking with him two servants, Abraham and Isaac traveled to the land of Moriah. We have absolutely no data to determine the exact age of Isaac at the time, but the computation of Josephus, that he was 25 years old, makes him more advanced than the language of the scripture narrative seems to convey to our minds. Two days they traveled from Beersheba, when on the third the 'mountains round about Jerusalem' came into sight. From a gap between the hills, which forms the highest point on the ordinary road, which has always led up from the south, just that one mountain would be visible on which afterwards the Temple stood. Leaving the servants behind, father and son pursued their solitary road; Isaac carrying the wood, and Abraham the sacrificial knife and fire.
Building an altar at the specified location, Abraham bound his compliant son and positioned him for the sacrifice. Abraham held his knife and prepared himself mentally for such a devastating task.
This moment was Abraham's ultimate test of faith in God. He had been asked to trust God – he had given up country, kindred, and home; and then his paternal affections towards Ishmael. It yet remained to give up even Isaac 'the goal of his longing, the hope of his life, the joy of his old age' – all that was dearest to him to show absolute faith and confidence in God. Upon Isaac, also, the event had a most important bearing. For when he resisted not his father, and allowed himself to be bound and laid on the altar, he entered into the spirit of Abraham and complete trust in God, and showed himself truly the heir to the promises. Later Christians would look upon the event after God sacrificed his only begotten son on the cross.
'But the angel of the Lord called to him... “Abraham, Abraham!...
Do not lay your hand on the child or do anything to him; for
now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld
your... only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes
and looked, and... behind him was a ram... and Abraham...
offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.' (Gen 22:11)
Thus, Abraham's faith was truly tested and his unswerving loyalty was rewarded by yet another divine blessing of prosperity, long life, and peace. After the offering up of Isaac, Abraham lived many years, yet scarcely any event worth recorded in scripture occurred during their course. He and Isaac returned to Beersheba and resumed their routines of the shepherding life, moving their camp whenever better land and water could be found. Eventually, Abraham resettled his tribe back to Hebron, where they had lived for so many years.
Time passed and Abraham's love for Isaac grew. He taught his son the same things he had learned from his own father, Terah: the duties and skills of shepherding, the use of the plow, and the history of his ancestors. More importantly, he raised Isaac to believe in the covenant with Yahweh.
At Hebron, Sarah died at the age of 127. She is the only woman whose age is recorded in scripture. Isaac at the time was 37. Having no burial land of his own, Abraham appealed to some neighboring Hittites to sell him a plot of land containing a cave which he could use as a tomb. At first, the Hittites offered him the free use of their tombs, but eventually Abraham persuaded Ephron the Hittite to sell him his plot of land with the cave of Machpelah. This – a burial site – was the first property the Hebrews owned in the land that God had promised them.
In this cave of Machpelah lie the treasured remains of Abraham and Sarah, of Isaac and Rebekah, of Leah also, and the embalmed bodies of Jacob and perhaps Joseph. No other location in the Holy Land holds so much precious dust as this; and it is, among all the 'holy places' of the Old Testament, the only one which to this day can be pointed out with perfect certainty.
The site over the cave itself is covered by a sanctuary, which stands enclosed with a quadrangular building, 200 feet long, 115 feet wide, and 50 or 60 feet apart, the walls of which are divided by pilasters, about 5 feet apart, and 2.5 feet wide. This building, with its immense stones, one of which is no less that 38 feet long, must date from the time of David or of Solomon. The mosque within it was probably anciently a church.
Three years after the death of Sarah, Abraham resolved to fill the gap in his own family and in the heart of Isaac, by seeking a wife for his son. The time soon came for Isaac to marry. Abraham did not want him to wed a Canaanite girl, but neither did he want him to leave Canaan in search of a wife. Instead, Abraham sent his steward, 'the elder of his house who ruled over all that was his'; most likely Eliezer of Damascus, to Haran, where his brother Nahor and his family still lived.
When his steward arrived, he was met by a lovely young girl who offered him water from the jug she carried, and she took him to her parents' house, where he was given food and lodging. The girl was Rebekah, granddaughter of Abraham's brother. On learning who she was, the steward told her parents and her brother Laban the reason for his journey, and they quickly decided that Rebekah should marry Isaac. The steward then gave Rebekah and her family the gifts he had brought – gold and silver rings and bracelets, fine clothing, and other costly ornaments. The next day, the steward and Rebekah, accompanied by her maids, departed Canaan. Their arrival ended with a peaceful and happy marriage.
Nothing else remains to be told of the 38 years which followed the death of Sarah. We read, indeed, that Abraham 'took a wife', Keturah, and that she bore him 6 sons. They became the ancestors of Arab tribes, which are sometimes alluded to in holy writings. And so, through the impressive silence of so many years as make up a generation, scripture brings us to the death of Abraham. Isaac and Ishmael, both aged men, would reunite peacefully to bury their father...
When Abraham was 175 years old, he 'breathed his last and died... and was gathered to his people.' His son Ishmael returned to help bury his father next to Sarah at Machpelah.
During the next years of Isaac's life, he and his tribe traveled from place to place, from one oasis to another between Beersheba and Gerar, 20 miles to the northwest. They usually settled long enough in each place to dig a well near the camp and to raise crops of grain nearby. Sometimes disputes arose between the Canaanites and the Hebrew shepherds over the use of wells already dug. When that happened, Isaac usually chose to move on rather than argue with the more heavily armed Canaanites.
Later in his life, Isaac returned to his former home at Beer-sheba. There, God renewed the promise of land he had made to Abraham. Abimelech, the local chieftain who had befriended Abraham, approached Isaac offering the same peace treaty, and the two groups remained in peace for many years.
Despite Yahweh's blessings and his friendly relations with the local Canaanites, Isaac's family life was far from tranquil. His twin boys, Jacob and Esau, would grow up as complete opposites of each other, and together, they would cause complete turmoil within the tribe.
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