All right, I'll jumpstart this blag with a Jewish history lesson:
Abraham (or Abram, as he was originally called) is one of the central patriarchal figures in Judaism. He's considered the founding father of Judaism, Islam, and (indirectly) Christianity. Just think what things would be like without this guy.
Abraham grew up in a polytheistic society (he was born in the city of Ur), and his father sold idols for people to worship. However, Abraham believed in a single, all-powerful God. This belief led him to leave his homeland and become a nomad, as God promised he would be the father of a magnificent nation if he did so. This was the beginning of a sacred covenant between God and what would become the Jewish people.
To be the father of a nation, Abraham needed to have kids, and he and his wife Sarai (later called Sarah) found they couldn't. So Sarai offered one of her maids to Abraham as a temporary wife of sorts, and she bore him a child named Ishmael. Followers of Islam today regard Ishmael as the ancestor of the Arabs. Years after his birth, God promised another son to Abraham, this time from Sarah. Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90, so this was quite unbelievable. Sarah indeed had a child, whom she named Isaac. From Isaac descended the Jewish people, and Jews consider him the true heir of Abraham.
For more info, check out http://www.jewfaq.org/origins.htm , which is where these facts come from.
Abraham (or Abram, as he was originally called) is one of the central patriarchal figures in Judaism. He's considered the founding father of Judaism, Islam, and (indirectly) Christianity. Just think what things would be like without this guy.
Abraham grew up in a polytheistic society (he was born in the city of Ur), and his father sold idols for people to worship. However, Abraham believed in a single, all-powerful God. This belief led him to leave his homeland and become a nomad, as God promised he would be the father of a magnificent nation if he did so. This was the beginning of a sacred covenant between God and what would become the Jewish people.
To be the father of a nation, Abraham needed to have kids, and he and his wife Sarai (later called Sarah) found they couldn't. So Sarai offered one of her maids to Abraham as a temporary wife of sorts, and she bore him a child named Ishmael. Followers of Islam today regard Ishmael as the ancestor of the Arabs. Years after his birth, God promised another son to Abraham, this time from Sarah. Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90, so this was quite unbelievable. Sarah indeed had a child, whom she named Isaac. From Isaac descended the Jewish people, and Jews consider him the true heir of Abraham.
For more info, check out http://www.jewfaq.org/origins.htm , which is where these facts come from.
Image from http://lovejesuschurch2.tripod.com/pics04/abraham.jpg
1 comment:
Good retelling of the Abraham story and I love the hot link. The "quite unbelievable" is a bit of editorializing though. You could do a post where you cite a source on the believability of ancient texts, but generally, try to keep information academic.
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