Coming back to this study after a few weeks off, the first thing I notice is that there are a lot of chapters about this character Abraham (aka Abram). Abraham is a significant figure in Jewish history and, therefore, in Christian history. He is known as a patriarch (founding father). He is also known as a friend of God. Those two facts alone make him worthy of study, but there is much more. Before we finish with him-and we will be moving on to his son, Isaac, in the next chapter-we need to review some of the highlights.
Things that are important about Abraham:
- He was called by God to leave his home, his family and all that he knew to travel to a place he had never been
- He was called out of polytheism/paganism into belief in the one true and living God by God alone (I love that)
- He was old when many of the most important things happened to him (I take heart in that)
- He was not perfect (he lied about his wife/sister twice; he didn’t follow God’s directions and brought his nephew with him when he was supposed to come alone; he let his wife convince him to take her hand maid)
- He had questions for God (when will I have a son? what about Ishmael? )
- God saw that Abraham believed Him and counted that belief as righteousness (before
- the law, before circumcision)
