The eldest son of Terah.  He was born at Ur of the Chaldees, from which he removed with his father to Haran in Mespotamia, and was with him when he died (Gen. xi. 27-32).  Not long afterwards, Abram received a Divine command to leave his country and his kindred, and go to sojourn in a land of which Jehovah would ultimately make known to him the name.  He unhesitatingly obeyed, and "by faith" went forth, "not knowing whither he went" (xii. 1-4; Heb. xi. 8).  Some time afterwards it was revealed to him that Canaan was the country intended, and thither accordingly he proceeded, Lot, his brother's son, and other relatives and dependants accompanying him on his journey.  On arriving, he sojourned in the valley of "Sichem," i.e. Shechem; on a mountain or hill between Bethel and Hai or Ai; at Mamre, near the future Hebron; besides occasional journeys to the Sinaitic wilderness between Kadesh and Shur, to Gerar in the Philistine country, and once, to avoid famine, to Egypt.  Soon after reaching Canaan from Haran, he received the promise that he should be the father of a numerous progeny, and it was added that "in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" (Gen. xii. 3), a prophecy considered Messianic.  Similar promises were again oftener than once repeated (xii. 7; xiii. 14-17; xv. 5, 18-21; xvii. 4-8, 16; xviii. 18; xxii. 17-18).  The Divine blessing attended Abraham during his sojourn in Canaan, or Palestine (Psalm cv. 9-15).  He and his nephew Lot found their flocks and herds so increased that there was not room for both of them together in the same district, and an amicable separation took place, Abraham showing magnanimity and disinterestedness and Lot selfishness.  The latter removed to Sodom, in the deep valley of the Jordan.  When Chedorlaomer and the Eastern kings defeated the kings of the cities of the plain, Lot was among the captives, and owed his rescue to the courage and military skill of Abraham, who, arming 318 of his slaves, made a night attack upon the victors, and defeated them near what became the future Dan (Gen. xiii. 4-18; xiv. 1-16).  It was on his return from this expedition that he had an interview with the celebrated Melchizedek (q.v.).  With all the blessings which attended him Abraham had one cause of sorrow:  he had no son and heir, and both he and his wife Sarah were advanced in years.  Following Sarah's counsel, he married as a secondary wife an Egyptian maidservant called Hagar, who had a son—Ishmael, the ancestor of many of the Arabs (Gen. xvi. 1-16).  When Ishmael was thirteen years old, the rite of circumcision was instituted for Abraham and his posterity, and his name was changed from Abram to Abraham (Gen. xvii. 1-27).  Soon afterwards he interceded unsuccessfully for Sodom, which had filled up the cup of its iniquity and was about to be destroyed (xix. 1-21).  In due time Sarah gave birth to Isaac, the child of promise (xxi. 1-8).  As he was growing up to manhood, God applied an extreme test to Abraham's faith and obedience.  Would he at the Divine command sacrifice his well-beloved son?  Notwithstanding the terrible nature of the demand, the patriarch was willing; when, as might have been anticipated, the will was taken for the deed, and the painful order withdrawn (Gen. xxii. 1-19; Heb. xi. 17-19).  On the death of Sarah, her husband purchased the cave of Machpelah, near Hebron, to be her sepulchre (Gen. xxiii. 1-20), this being the only piece of land he could call his own in the country which his posterity were to inhabit.  When the mourning for Sarah was over, Abraham despatched a faithful servant to Mesopotamia to arrange about a partner for Isaac (xxiv. 1-67).  Then he himself remarried taking as a wife Keturah, by whom he had several children.  He died at the great age of 175, and was buried by the side of Sarah in the cave of Machpelah (xxv. 1-10).
     The Apostle Paul devotes the whole of Rom. iv. and a large part of Gal. iii. and iv. to an explanation and commendation of the faith manifested by Abraham, the spiritual "father of the faithful" (cf. Gal. ii. 7-9), "the friend of God" (James ii. 23). (The Sunday School Teacher's Bible Manual, Hunter, 1894)