Abraham, Sarah & Hagar

God makes a promise to Abraham while living in Ur close to Babylon. Abraham travels to Haran with his family and settles there for awhile. I thought at one point that Abraham didn’t leave Haran until after his father died (because Act 7:4 seems to say exactly that), but the timeline doesn’t make sense for that, so I started doing some digging. What we learn from Jewish history is that Abraham sojourned in Canaan for decades before his father died, and went back to visit pretty often. One source says that Terah even came to Abraham in Hebron for a feast when Isaac was weened but then headed back to Haran. We know Abraham didn’t lay any physical claim to part of the land of Canaan until after his father died. Abraham’s wife Sarah died two years after Abraham’s father Terah, and Abraham bought a burial place for his own descendants in Canaan. He didn’t go back to Haran anymore.

For more information, check out this article Chabad: Abraham’s Early Life

See the chart below for Abraham’s journey.

Let’s see what that looks like today:

Why is this plot of land, Canaan, so important? Two things:

1. Geographical Significance: The International Trade Highway – Whoever controlled this region ruled the world. It was considered a “sacred bridge” connecting continents for international trade.
2. Spiritual Significance: Every foreigner who traveled this highway would be exposed to the Hebrew God Yahweh. God chose this land to tell others about Himself. It is also thought to be the original Eden from before the flood with Jerusalem at the center as the garden.

God starts out by giving Abraham a promise. These are called the 5 “I Will” statements of God:

Keep in mind that when God gives Abraham these promises he has no children, he doesn’t own any land, and technically he’s still Abram and not Abraham. We have another 25 years to go before we see any fruit to the promise.

It’s interesting to note that Shem outlived Abraham and was still alive when Jacob was born. Many Jewish extrabiblical sources say that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob learned in the tents of Shem and Eber. Some say that Melchizedek is actually Shem.

After a battle to get Lot back from being taken by an enemy, Abraham meets Melchizedek (Priest of God Most High) at the Valley of Shaveh in the city of Salem (Jerusalem) and Melchizedek brings him bread and wine. Back then, bread and wine was considered to be part of a covenant meal. Abraham in turn gives Melchizedek a tithe or tenth of everything. Does this picture look like something we do today?

“After meeting Melchizedek, dining at his table, and receiving his blessing, Abraham and his heirs become a nation of royal priests, who will inhabit Melchizedek’s Salem, and proclaim a message of peace that invites all the families of the earth to come and eat at Melchizedek’s table. In other words, in the storyline of redemption, Melchizedek plays a key role in communicating blessing to Abraham and the greater king of righteousness that will come from his line.” (From Bread and Wine at the Table of a Righteous King (A Meditation on the Lord’s Supper)

10 years pass before Abraham and Sarah branch out and “play God” by giving Hagar to Abraham. They’re not getting any younger and the “slave as surrogate” practice was common in the culture where they lived. Hagar conceives quickly and things get ugly. When Hagar runs away, God (El Roi – the God Who Sees ) meets her, gives her quite the ultrasound report complete with gender reveal and name, then tells her to go back and submit. She names the place Beer Lahai Roi.

13 years pass after Ishmael is born and Sarah is still barren but God is about to do something big!

In Genesis 17 God goes into a blood covenant with Abram. There are many parts to a blood covenant. You can read more about that at Torah Matters: Genesis 15: The Blood Covenant. God tells Abraham and all his men to be circumcised as a sign of the covenant, and Abram is officially renamed Abraham and Sarai is renamed Sarah. Three days later, according to Rabbinic sources (and fascinating to me as a follower of Yeshua Jesus), three “men” visit Abraham (who is still recovering from the cut). During their visit, the men warned him that God’s judgment was about to fall upon Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:20–21; 19:12–13). They also promised that Sarah would have a baby by the same time next year (Genesis 18:10).

I don’t judge Sarah for laughing in the tent. She’s 90. Menopause happened long ago. That’s how she knew she was past the age of childbearing. But, everything happens just as they say and Isaac is born to Sarah when Abraham is 100 years old and Sarah is 90.

Extra Charts & Resources: