Father Abraham, Essay Example

Abraham was born in Ur city at Babylon in 1948, by then he was called Abram. Abram was son to the idol merchant called Terach. From the time he was young, he questioned on the faith of their father and he decided to know the truth. Abraham came to know and believe that the whole world was the work of one creator and he started teaching that to others. He even tried to convince his father about the idol worshipping and the truth behind one God. One day he smashed his father’s idols and they quarreled about it. Eventually, he was called by God the creator who he worshipped. He was asked to move and leave his home with his family to a different country. He accepted the offer and thus he was promised to be blessed and be made a great nation. It is from then that the relationship between God and the Jewish people was established.

Abraham is referred to as the founding father of the Ishmaelite, Edomite, Israelites and the Midianites. The role that the Abraham played in the holy books made the Islam, Christianity and Judaism to be referred to as the Abrahamic religions. Quran and the Jewish tradition refer to him as “our Father”. The Christians, Jews and Muslims also consider him as the father to the people of Israel. For the Christians and the Jews, it is through the Isaac his son. The Muslims refers to him as the prophet of Islam and the Muhammad ancestor through his other son the Ishmael. Abraham was called Abram according to the bible initially. He was the tenth generation from the Noah and Adam’s twentieth generation. Terah was his father’s name. He had two brothers only who were Haran and Nahor. He had his wife called Sarah. Abraham was also the uncle to Lot. God sent Abraham to Canaan or the promised land of his descendants from his home in the Haran and Ur Kasdim (Thompson, 2002).

Abraham also referred to as father Abraham because it was through him that God promised the offspring’s or the children of all the nations that they would be blessed, he was also told by God that he was to be the father of all the generations. Abraham entered into a covenant with God after he recognized God to be Yahweh. According to the bible, his name was changed from Abram which meant father be exalted to Abraham a name which means the father of many descendants or nations. His name changed to Abraham when he was 100 years, it is at the same age that God promised him a son called Isaac. At an earlier age, he had gotten a son called Ishmael through her maid servant called Hagar. Ishmael according to the Jewish and Muslim tradition is believed to be the Arabs ancestor while Isaac is believed to be the Jewish ancestor (Van Seters, 1975).

As the main founding father of the Islamic, Jewish and the Christian religions, he thus deserves to be called or known as father Abraham. Through his second son Isaac, the Israel nation descended from him, it is also believed that many of the Arabs descended from him through some of his son’s like the Ishmael. According to the Muslims, the prophet Muhammad is also his descendant.

It is through his sons that the name of the Abraham has come to change to the Father Abraham. God had promised him at one time according to the bible that his generation will be like the stars of the heaven after several years. This has happened and everybody now refers him or herself as a descendant of the Abraham. Through his son Isaac, many generations has been born and thus making his generation to expand more and more in this world. This has made Abraham to be known as the founding father or Father Abraham (Thompson, 2002).

Most religions including the Christians, Jewish and even Muslims refer to Abraham as their father. In Judaism religion, Abraham is referred to as our father. It is through his offspring’s that all the world nations would be blessed. According to the Arabs, Abraham is considered as the father of Ishmael and his descendants or the father of Arabic people. This has been passed from one generation to another. All those factors makes the Abraham to be referred to as the father of the nations or many descendants therefore the name father Abraham. As he was promised by God, his generation has come to be more than the stars of the heaven, all the generations of the world are always referred to be the Abraham’s descendants. Thus the reason why he is always referred to as Father Abraham.

References

Thompson, T.P. (2002). The Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives: The Quest for the Historical Abraham. Valley Forge, Pa: Trinity Press International.

Van Seters, J. K. (1975). Abraham in history and tradition. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press.