Abraham Character Bible Study Background and Lessons

Meaning of name: Abram means “exalted father.” Abraham means “father of a great number.”

Ancestry and family life: Abraham was the tenth generation from Noah. He was descended from Shem and his father was Terah. Abram had two brothers and married his half-sister, Sarai. From Joshua 24:2, we know that Abraham’s father and grandfather worshiped false gods.

Joshua 24:2 – And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods.

Abraham was quite wealthy and had many servants. Abraham is the ancestor of the Hebrews, Arabs, Edomites, and many other tribes like the Midianites.

When and where he lived: Originally, Abraham was from Ur of the Chaldeans. This was where God originally called Abram (Acts 7:2-3). This was a prosperous and advanced pagan center of southern Mesopotamia (354 km SE of Baghdad).

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Its “golden age” was during the time of Abraham. A great ziggurat was built there, which Abraham probably would have seen. On the way to Canaan (also a center of idolatry), Abraham and his family stopped at Haran for a while. Finally, they arrived in Canaan, where Abraham sojourned the rest of his life. The route from Ur to Canaan was about 2400 km.

Training and occupation: Some scholars believe that Abraham was a merchant. He evidently had great wealth. He was probably familiar with shepherding since he had many flocks and herds (Genesis 13:2). From the biblical account, it seems that Abraham is wise and well-educated.

Place in history: Abraham occupies an extremely important place in history. A large number of the people and people groups in the world are descended directly from him. More importantly, in a very real sense, Abraham is the spiritual father (John 8:39-40 and Romans 4:13-25) of all believers.

The world repeatedly showed itself to be rebellious and sinful. God first sent the flood and then scattered the nations and confused their languages, but people still didn’t repent.

Therefore God chose one man, one family, and one nation out of the world and from that point on (until Christ’s death) dealt primarily with that nation. God established His covenant with Abraham.

This covenant was first given in Genesis 12 and reaffirmed in chapter 18.

Genesis 12:1-3 – Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Genesis 18:19 – For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”

Abraham is not only an Old Testament figure since he is also mentioned sixty-seven times in the New Testament. Many of these use Abraham as an example of faith and the fact that God justifies not based on works but based on faith. Abraham is a model of faith for all believers. He is often called the father of the faith.

God's Promises to Abraham

God’s Promises to Abram – A painting by James Tissot – In the Public Domain

Weaknesses:

Deceptive (12:12-20, 20) – Abraham was deceptive about his wife, Sarah.

Genesis 12:13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.”

It happened not only once, but twice. On two separate occasions Abraham deceived the people in the country he resided by claiming that Sarah was his sister.  Then rather than recognizing his deceit, Abraham doubled-down.

Genesis 20:12 – Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife.

Both of these deceptions demonstrated a lack of love for his wife. In these cases, he was willing to risk her in order to protect himself. He didn’t protect her as well as he should have. Abraham allowed fear of man to keep him from being the protector of his family. A good leader should not lead from behind. He should be willing to take the risks onto himself rather than putting it onto others.

Abraham, like us, was a sinner. We are reminded that even the Biblical heroes of the faith were flesh and blood like us. They were not walking stained glass windows with halos around their heads. Yet Abraham’s story reminds us that God is gracious. The Lord delivered Abraham and Sarah out of these situations. He watched Abraham’s back and came to help him even though Abraham did not deserve it. That is grace. Unless you do a character study on Jesus, you will not find a perfect person in the Bible. We can take comfort in the fact God loves, saves, and uses flawed beings like us.

In Egypt, God afflicted Pharaoh because of Sarai, until Sarai was let go and returned to Abraham.

Genesis 12:17  – But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.

Later, Abimelech had a dream from God and returned Sarah to Abraham.

God’s grace covers a multitude of sins.

Lack of faith at times – Abraham exhibited a lack of trust in God’s promise to give him a son through Sarah and was easily talked into something that was not God’s will, that is taking Hagar as a wife (Genesis 16).

Genesis 16:2-3 – And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife.

With Hagar, he followed Sarah’s advice to do things his own way and “help God out.” The result was devastating and consequences still ripple even today.

A key lesson from this event is to be patient and wait for God’s timing.

Psalms 27:14 – Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!

Application – Consider a time when you took matters into your own hands rather than waiting for God’s timing. What was the result? What is a situation in your life today that is hard to wait for? What can help you learn to wait for His timing?

Strengths:

Faith (Hebrews 11:8-12, Genesis 12:1-4) – This was Abraham’s most outstanding quality. Although he failed at times, he often showed amazing faith.

Genesis 15:6 - Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.Reflect – What are some examples from his life where he showed great faith?

Note God’s first command recorded to Abram.

Genesis 12:1 – Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.

God said to go to the land that “I will show you.” Abram had to leave everything he knew behind including his home. That might not be so difficult if you have a great destination in mind. But Abram didn’t even yet know where he would be going. The first step was “go” and there was not yet a “where.” If the Lord asked you to move away from your home, your first question would probably be, “Where?”

Abram trusted that the Lord would guide him safely and show him the way. The Lord doesn’t always tell us what to do ten steps away, but He does make the next step clear. Abram’s faith helped him obey and follow God’s leading step-by-step.

Here are two more examples of Abraham’s faith.

  • He took the leftover land and let Lot have the good land even though he was the elder and had the right to choose.
  • Abraham believed God’s promise that he would have a son in his old age.
  • He also trusted that God would provide a sacrifice in place of Isaac.

Though there were moments of doubt, the general trajectory of his life was belief in the impossible. He was willing to sacrifice Isaac, believing that God would raise him from the dead.

In each case, we see that his faith resulted in obedience. This reminds us of the truth taught in James that faith and works are connected.

James 2:26 – For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Unselfishness

Genesis 13:9 – Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.”

How did Abraham show himself to be unselfish? Although he was older than Lot and could have chosen for himself which land to settle in, he gave Lot the first choice. Through this selfless act, God’s will was accomplished, and Abraham went to Canaan, where God greatly multiplied him. Later, Abraham risked his life to save Lot. In today’s day and age, common wisdom is to “look out for number one.” Lot seems to have practiced this. Abraham gave up his “rights” for the good of others.

Worshipful – Abraham continually built alters to God and gave him glory and praise (Genesis 12:8, 22:9). This showed his dependence upon God for everything in his life.

Tithing (Genesis 14:20, Hebrews 7:4, Malachi 3:7-12, 1 John 3:17) – Abraham honored God with his money. He wasn’t greedy and didn’t want to receive spoils or money from the king of Sodom. He instead gave 10% to Melchizedek. Abraham is the first person in the Bible who is recorded as tithing. God blessed Abraham and multiplied his possessions all the more.

God wants us to be good stewards of what we have. If a person is a good steward of what God has given him to manage, then it is likely the Lord will give him more (Luke 19:7).

Hospitality (Genesis 18)- Abraham was very hospitable to strangers. He invited the three men to eat and killed a calf for them.