Disclaimer: The account of Abraham’s life is found in Genesis 11-25. The events listed in this post are a summary of his life. For the actual detailed accounts, please refer to the scriptures.

The next 5 weeks will be dedicated to exploring Abraham’s life. By closely studying this, we can gain insights into his purpose, why God chose him, and the lessons we can extract from his story.

Before we further dive deep into understanding the purpose of Abraham’s life, we must first get an understanding of the life that he lived. We need to have a logical reference point. Below, you’ll find an overview of Abraham’s life as portrayed in the scriptures.

Table of Contents

 Genesis 11: Introduction

We first get introduced to Abram in Genesis 11, where he is called Abram. This chapter in Genesis starts off with the story of The Tower of Babel and gives us a detailed account of the lineage of Shem (one of Noah’s sons) to Abram.

Genesis 12: The Call of Abram

This is the beginning of Abram’s journey with God. God tells Abram to leave all that he knows and to go into a land that He will show him. God promised Abram that He would make him into a great nation. Abram was seventy-five years old when the Lord first called him. He had left his homeland, and took all that he owned, his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot, with him. Abram built and dedicated altars to the Lord when God spoke to him during his travels, promising that He would give this land to his descendants.

During the time of a great famine, Abram traveled to Egypt. He deceived a king there by instructing Sarai to tell others that she was only his sister, because of her beauty. The bible says that everyone noticed her beauty and a palace official saw her and told Pharaoh. She was brought before him, and he was going to take her to be his wife. The Lord had sent plagues upon Pharaoh’s household, and he summoned Abram and accused him of deceiving him. Pharaoh told Abram to take her and leave. And his men escorted them out of the country.

Genesis 13: The Wealth of Abram

Abram traveled around for some time and returned to the place where he first built the altar to the Lord and worshipped him again there. During this time, Abram grew in wealth along with his nephew Lot. They became so wealthy that the land that they were in could not support them both. Lot chose a direction and went, and Abram went the opposite. The bible says that after Lot left him; the Lord appeared to Abram again and told him his descendants would be numerous as the dust of the earth. There in Mamre, Abram built another altar to the Lord.

Genesis 14: High Priest of Melchizedek

Sometime later, war breaks out among a group of kings in different regions, and Lot gets swept away in the midst of their war. Lot, his family, and all his possessions ended up getting taken. When the word reached Abram that this had happened, he gathered 318 trained men and rescued Lot and recovered everything back. Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest of God Most High, blesses Abram. And Abram gives Melchizedek a tenth of everything he recovered.

Genesis 15: The Lord’s Covenant with Abram

God established a covenant with Abram. God promised Abram that he would indeed have a son of his own blood to inherit all what the Lord had given Abram. And that the Lord would make his descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and give them all the land that he had seen in his travels. The Lord also revealed to Abram through a vision that Abram’s descendants would be enslaved in a foreign land for four hundred years. In the fourth generation, they would return to the land that he was currently seeing.

Genesis 16: Hagar and Ishmael

Abram had a son, Ishmael, from his wife’s slave, Hagar. Sarai prompted Abram to sleep with her slave, Hagar, because she wanted to have a son. Hagar then became pregnant with Ishmael and started to treat Sarai badly. Abram told his wife Sarai to do as she pleased with her slave, and so she did. So much so that Hagar ran away because of the treatment. Hagar then had an encounter with an angel of the Lord. Who told her to go back to Sarai, and that she will have a son, and he will be called Ishmael, meaning God hears. Hagar gave the Lord who spoke to her another name, El-roi(the God who sees me). Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar had Ishmael (11 years after he left Haran).

Genesis 17: The Covenant of Circumcision

At the age of ninety-nine, the Lord called Abram to dedicate himself solely to Him. The Lord changed Abram’s name to Abraham, for he would be the father of many nations. And changed Abraham’s wife, Sarai’s name to Sarah, “the change in spelling may reflect the difference in dialect between Ur and Cannan”. The Lord instructed Abraham to keep His covenant and to ensure that his descendants would uphold it as well. The Lord promised to never leave Abraham, make his descendants numerous, and give him and his descendants land. Also, that Sarah would give birth to a son, Isaac, the following year. And the Lord would establish His covenant as an everlasting covenant with Isaac and his descendants. Abraham must uphold his responsibility of the covenant along with his descendants; that is to circumcise every male baby 8 days old and to serve Him only. Every male living among them must undergo circumcision. And the bible says after the Lord had finished speaking with him, Abraham circumcised his entire household, including his son, Ishmael. Abraham was ninety-nine years old, and Ishmael was thirteen years old when they were circumcised.

Genesis 18: The Three Visitors

The Lord appeared again to Abraham within the company of three men. Here, the Lord told Abraham that this time next year He would visit again, and his wife Sarah would have a son. Sarah overheard and laughed at the mention of this. The Lord responded to her laugh by asking why she laughed and said to her, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” Sarah denied that she had laughed, but the Lord assured her that she did. After this encounter, two of the men went ahead and one stayed behind to speak to Abraham. The Lord revealed to Abraham that He would destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because of the outcry of their sin had reached Him. Abraham intercedes for Sodom and Gomorrah (Lot was living there during that time).

Genesis 19: Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed

When the two angels entered the city, Lot recognized who they were and bowed before them and invited them to stay with him. The men of the city were wicked and went to Lot’s door and demanded the two men be brought out, so they may have their way with them. But Lot pleaded with them and even offered up his two virgin daughters to them instead. The angels pulled Lot back in and told him; the Lord was getting ready to destroy the city and to take his family and flee the city and to not look back. As Lot, his wife, and two daughters were fleeing to a nearby city, Lot’s wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. Lot and his two daughters settled into the mountains, and there they got their father drunk and slept with him to continue their family line.

Genesis 20: Abraham deceives Abimelech

Abraham deceived Abimelech (King of Gerar) by stating that his wife Sarah was only his sister (they have the same father but different mothers). Abimelech took Sarah to be his wife, and the Lord came to him in a dream and told him to give Sarah back, or He would kill him and all who belonged to him would die. The Lord also told him to have Abraham pray for him, for he was a prophet. Abimelech gave Sarah back, along with sheep, cattle, and slaves, as a gift. Abraham prayed for Abimelech and his household because the Lord caused all the women to be barren because of Sarah.

Genesis 21: The Birth of Isaac, Hagar and Ishmael sent away, and Abimelech’s and Abraham’s Treaty

God’s promise to Abraham was fulfilled. Sarah had a son, and they named him Isaac, which means he laughs. Abraham was a hundred years old when Isaac was born. After eight days he was circumcised. When Isaac was weaned, Abraham threw a feast for him. Sarah saw Ishmael making fun of Isaac and told Abraham to get rid of him and his mother, Hagar, because Ishmael wouldn’t share in Isaac’s inheritance. Abraham was upset, because Ishmael was his son too. The Lord told Abraham not to worry and to do what his wife said, for He was going to make Ishmael into a great nation too. The bible says that Abraham got up early the next morning and packed supplies for Hagar and Ishmael and sent them on their way. They wandered aimlessly in the wilderness of Beersheba. The supplies had eventually run out and Hagar sat Ishmael down a little way off from herself because she did not want to watch him die. An angel of the Lord called out to her from heaven and told her that the Lord had heard the boys’ cries, and to go to him for He would make him into a great nation. The bible goes on to say that the Lord opened Hagar’s eyes, and she saw a well full of water. And that Hagar and the boy, Ishmael, grew up in the wilderness. The Lord was with him as he grew up and he became an archer. His mother, Hagar, got him a wife from Egypt.

The end of 21 concludes with Abimelech visiting Abraham and them making a treaty at Beersheba. They made a treaty pertaining to a well that Abraham had dug and that he would never again deceive Abimelech or his descendants again. And after Abimelech left him, Abraham planted a tree and worshiped El-Olam (eternal God) and the word says he lived in Philistines’ country for a long time.

Genesis 22: Abraham’s Faith Tested

Sometime later, the Lord called out to Abraham and told him to take his son, Isaac, to a mountain that He would show him, to sacrifice his son there as a burnt offering. So, Abraham set off with his son Isaac, two servants and the materials for the offering. On the third day of traveling, Abraham looked up and saw the place where the Lord wanted him to be. He told the servants to stay and that he and the boy would go up to worship and they both would return. As they were going up to worship, Isaac asked where was the sheep for sacrifice, and Abraham replied that the Lord would provide it. Abraham then made an altar, placed the wood on it, tied up his son Isaac, and placed him on the altar. Abraham then took a knife, getting ready to sacrifice Isaac, but an angel of the Lord called out to Abraham to stop him. The angel told him; now the Lord knows that Abraham would not withhold anything from Him and that he truly fears the Lord. Abraham looked up and saw a ram in a bush that he sacrificed instead of his son. The Lord also said, because Abraham did not withhold his son from Him, that He was going to multiply his descendants. And because of Abraham’s obedience to the Lord, all nations on earth would be blessed.

Genesis 23: The Death of Sarah

Sarah lived a hundred and twenty-seven years. Abraham mourned for her deeply. He bought a field and cave from Ephron the Hittite for 400 pieces of silver in front of witnesses. The field and cave were burial places for Sarah and his descendants.

Genesis 24: Isaac and Rebekah

When Abraham was of old age, and blessed in every way by the Lord, he called his servant, who was also the head of his household. Abraham made him take an oath, that he would go into Abraham’s home country and find a wife for his son Isaac, and to not take Isaac there. The servant set out with ten of Abraham’s camels loaded with expensive gifts. He ended up coming to the town of where Abraham’s brother, Nahor, settled. The servant prayed to God that he would obtain favor in his search for a wife for his master’s son, and for specific requests in identifying the woman. The bible says before he finished praying, Rebekah, who was beautiful and a virgin, came out to draw water. The servant inquired of her, asking her whose daughter she was. She replied by saying; she is the granddaughter of Nahor and Milcah. He bowed low to the ground upon hearing this and worshipped the Lord. The servant gave Rebekah gold bracelets and a nose-ring. She ran home to tell her family what had happened. Her brother Laban came out to greet the servant, and the servant told Laban of his oath that he took. The servant wanted to know if Rebekah would go with him. They responded by saying; it was God who brought you here and who are we to say no to what God has done. They let the choice be with Rebekah; if she was going to stay the three days like her family wanted or leave immediately. With great speed, she came to the decision to leave and departed alongside her servant, who had been with her since birth. Her family sent her off with a blessing.

Isaac was walking in a field one evening meditating when Rebekah and the servant arrived. Rebekah saw him from a distance heading in their direction and asked the servant who that was. He told her that was his master, Isaac, and Rebekah covered herself. The servant told Isaac all that happened, and Isaac took Rebekah to his mother’s tent and married her. The bible says that he found comfort after his mother’s death.

Genesis 25: The Death of Abraham

Abraham took another wife, and she bore him six sons. Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac and sent his other sons away to distant lands with gifts. He lived a hundred and seventy-five years. The bible says he lived a satisfied life, and his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the land he brought from Ephron the Hittite next to Sarah. And after his death, God blessed his son Isaac.

Next week, we will uncover the Lord’s purpose in choosing Abraham. Why him specifically and not one of his other ancestors. In the meantime, y’all have a great week and don’t forget to uplift, inspire, enlighten , and, more importantly, encourage somebody. Be sure to subscribe to the newsletter if you aren’t already, because there will be a bonus post to this series for those that are subscribed. Share this post with someone and if you have any prayer request or just want to chat, then you can submit them here.

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