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133-575: The phrase comes from the third verse of the Book of Genesis . In the King James Bible , it reads, in context: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, and it

266-509: A tamarisk grove in Beersheba and called upon "the name of the L ORD , the everlasting God." As had been prophesied in Mamre the previous year, Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham, on the first anniversary of the covenant of circumcision. Abraham was "an hundred years old", when his son whom he named Isaac was born; and he circumcised him when he was eight days old. For Sarah,

399-552: A family tomb and sends his servant to Mesopotamia to find among his relations a wife for Isaac; after proving herself worthy, Rebekah becomes Isaac's betrothed. Keturah , Abraham's other wife, births more children, among whose descendants are the Midianites . Abraham dies at a prosperous old age and his family lays him to rest in Hebron (Machpelah). Isaac's wife Rebekah gives birth to the twins Esau (meaning 'velvet'), father of

532-535: A future of greatness. Genesis ends with Israel in Egypt, ready for the coming of Moses and the Exodus (departure). The narrative is punctuated by a series of covenants with God, successively narrowing in scope from all humankind (the covenant with Noah ) to a special relationship with one people alone (Abraham and his descendants through Isaac and Jacob). In Judaism , the theological importance of Genesis centres on

665-509: A great nation, and will be "living on his sword". A well of water then appeared so that it saved their lives. As the boy grew, he became a skilled archer living in the wilderness of Paran . Eventually his mother found a wife for Ishmael from her home country, the land of Egypt. At some point in Isaac's youth, Abraham was commanded by God to offer his son up as a sacrifice in the land of Moriah . The patriarch traveled three days until he came to

798-585: A historical Abraham. It is largely concluded that the Torah , the series of books that includes Genesis, was composed during the early Persian period , c.  500 BC , as a result of tensions between Jewish landowners who had stayed in Judah during the Babylonian captivity and traced their right to the land through their "father Abraham", and the returning exiles who based their counterclaim on Moses and

931-506: A link in the chain of prophets that begins with Adam and culminates in Muhammad via Ismail (Ishmael). Ibrāhīm is mentioned in 35 chapters of the Quran , more often than any other biblical personage apart from Moses . He is called both a hanif ( monotheist ) and muslim (one who submits), and Muslims regard him as a prophet and patriarch , the archetype of the perfect Muslim , and

1064-500: A male heir, and the story is constantly complicated by the fact that each prospective mother— Sarah , Rebekah and Rachel —is barren. The ancestors, however, retain their faith in God and God in each case gives a son—in Jacob's case, twelve sons, the foundation of the chosen Israelites . Each succeeding generation of the three promises attains a more rich fulfilment, until through Joseph "all

1197-450: A nation, "because he is thy seed". Early the next morning, Abraham brought Hagar and Ishmael out together. He gave her bread and water and sent them away. The two wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba until her bottle of water was completely consumed. In a moment of despair, she burst into tears. After God heard the boy's voice, an angel of the Lord confirmed to Hagar that he would become

1330-533: A place named Haran ( Hebrew : חָרָן Ḥārān ), where Terah died at the age of 205. According to some exegetes (like Nahmanides ), Abram was actually born in Haran and he later relocated to Ur, while some of his family remained in Haran. God had told Abram to leave his country and kindred and go to a land that he would show him, and promised to make of him a great nation, bless him, make his name great, bless them that bless him, and curse them who may curse him. Abram

1463-452: A progenitor of nations, because after 10 years of living in Canaan, no child had been born. Sarai then offered her Egyptian slave, Hagar , to Abram with the intention that she would bear him a son. After Hagar found she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress, Sarai. Sarai responded by mistreating Hagar, and Hagar fled into the wilderness. An angel spoke with Hagar at the fountain on

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1596-428: A promise to Abram, promising that his descendants shall be as numerous as the stars, but that people will suffer oppression in a foreign land for four hundred years, after which they will inherit the land "from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates ". Abram's name is changed to 'Abraham' and that of his wife Sarai to Sarah (meaning 'princess'), and God says that all males should be circumcised as

1729-598: A righteous nation, especially since Abraham had claimed that he and Sarah were siblings. In response, God told Abimelech that he did indeed have a blameless heart and that is why he continued to exist. However, should he not return the wife of Abraham back to him, God would surely destroy Abimelech and his entire household. Abimelech was informed that Abraham was a prophet who would pray for him. Early next morning, Abimelech informed his servants of his dream and approached Abraham inquiring as to why he had brought such great guilt upon his kingdom. Abraham stated that he thought there

1862-448: A sign of his promise to Abraham. Due to her old age, Sarah tells Abraham to take her Egyptian handmaiden, Hagar , as a second wife (to bear a child). Through Hagar, Abraham fathers Ishmael . God then plans to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for the sins of their people. Abraham protests, but fails to get God to agree not to destroy the cities (reasoning with Abraham that not even ten righteous persons were found there; and among

1995-411: A son also of her". Abraham laughed, and "said in his heart, 'Shall a child be born unto him that is a hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear [a child]?'" Immediately after Abraham's encounter with God, he had his entire household of men, including himself (age 99) and Ishmael (age 13), circumcised. Not long afterward, during the heat of the day, Abraham had been sitting at

2128-461: A thousand pieces of silver to serve as Sarah's vindication before all. Abraham then prayed for Abimelech and his household, since God had stricken the women with infertility because of the taking of Sarah. After living for some time in the land of the Philistines, Abimelech and Phicol , the chief of his troops, approached Abraham because of a dispute that resulted in a violent confrontation at

2261-499: A well. Abraham then reproached Abimelech due to his Philistine servant's aggressive attacks and the seizing of Abraham's Well . Abimelech claimed ignorance of the incident. Then Abraham offered a pact by providing sheep and oxen to Abimelech. Further, to attest that Abraham was the one who dug the well, he also gave Abimelech seven ewes for proof. Because of this sworn oath, they called the place of this well: Beersheba . After Abimelech and Phicol headed back to Philistia , Abraham planted

2394-572: A while in the Negev after being banished from Egypt and came back to the Bethel and Ai area, Abram's and Lot's sizable herds occupied the same pastures. This became a problem for the herdsmen, who were assigned to each family's cattle. The conflicts between herdsmen had become so troublesome that Abram suggested that Lot choose a separate area, either on the left hand or on the right hand, that there be no conflict between them. Lot decided to go eastward to

2527-560: A wife and meets Rachel at a well. He goes to her father, his uncle , where he works for a total of 14 years to earn his wives, Rachel and Leah . Jacob's name is changed to Israel after his wrestle with an angel , and by his wives and their handmaidens he has twelve sons, the ancestors of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel, and a daughter, Dinah . Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, rapes Dinah and asks his father to get Dinah for him as his wife, according to Chapter 34. Jacob agrees to

2660-563: A work in the "antiquities" genre, as the Romans knew it, a popular genre telling of the appearance of humans and their ancestors and heroes, with elaborate genealogies and chronologies fleshed out with stories and anecdotes. Notable examples are found in the work of Greek historians of the 6th century BC: their intention was to connect notable families of their own day to a distant and heroic past, and in doing so they did not distinguish between myth , legend , and facts. Professor Jean-Louis Ska of

2793-537: Is circumcision ; and the last, which does not appear until the Book of Exodus, is with Israel alone, and its sign is Sabbath . A great leader mediates each covenant ( Noah , Abraham, Moses), and at each stage God progressively reveals himself by his name ( Elohim with Noah, El Shaddai with Abraham, Yahweh with Moses). Throughout Genesis, various figures engage in deception or trickery to survive or prosper. Biblical scholar David M. Carr notes that such stories reflect

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2926-543: Is also known as a Sidra (or Sedra / s ɛ d r ə / ). The parashah is a section of the Torah (Five Books of Moses) used in Jewish liturgy during a particular week. There are 54 weekly parshas, or parashiyot in Hebrew, and the full cycle is read over the course of one Jewish year. The first 12 of the 54 come from the Book of Genesis, and they are: Abraham Abraham (originally Abram )

3059-694: Is assumed, and not argued. The concern of the text is not to prove the history but rather to impress the reader with the theological significance of these acts". The original manuscripts are lost, and the text of surviving copies varies. There are four major groupings of surviving manuscripts: the Masoretic Text , the Samaritan Pentateuch (in Samaritan script ), the Septuagint (a Greek translation), and fragments of Genesis found in

3192-654: Is both the biological progenitor of the Jews and the father of Judaism, the first Jew. His story is read in the weekly Torah reading portions, predominantly in the parashot : Lech-Lecha (לֶךְ-לְךָ), Vayeira (וַיֵּרָא), Chayei Sarah (חַיֵּי שָׂרָה), and Toledot (תּוֹלְדֹת). Hanan bar Rava taught in Abba Arikha 's name that Abraham's mother was named ʾĂmatlaʾy bat Karnebo. Hiyya bar Abba taught that Abraham worked in Teraḥ's idol shop in his youth. In Legends of

3325-456: Is buried beside Sarah, it is Isaac who receives "all Abraham's goods" while the other sons receive only "gifts". Most scholars view the patriarchal age , along with the Exodus and the period of the biblical judges , as a late literary construct that does not relate to any particular historical era, and after a century of exhaustive archaeological investigation, no evidence has been found for

3458-529: Is known as "Father Abraham" and emphasizes the patriarch as the spiritual progenitor of Christians. Some Christian theologians equate the "three visitors" with the Holy Trinity , seeing in their apparition a theophany experienced by Abraham (see also the articles on the Constantinian basilica at Mamre and the church at the so-called " Oak of Mamre "). Islam regards Ibrahim (Abraham) as

3591-531: Is normally excluded). Since the name YHWH had not been revealed to them, they worshipped El in his various manifestations. (It is, however, worth noting that in the Jahwist source, the patriarchs refer to deity by the name YHWH, for example in Genesis 15.) Through the patriarchs, God announces the election of Israel, that is, he chooses Israel to be his special people and commits himself to their future. God tells

3724-637: Is on the "Sunday of the Forefathers" (two Sundays before Christmas), when he is commemorated together with other ancestors of Jesus . Abraham is also mentioned in the Divine Liturgy of Basil the Great , just before the Anaphora, and Abraham and Sarah are invoked in the prayers said by the priest over a newly married couple. A popular hymn sung in many English-speaking Sunday Schools by children

3857-584: Is specified in the Bible as a test; the other nine are not specified, but later rabbinical sources give various enumerations. In Christianity , Abraham is revered as the prophet to whom God chose to reveal himself and with whom God initiated a covenant (cf. Covenant Theology ). Paul the Apostle declared that all who believe in Jesus ( Christians ) are "included in the seed of Abraham and are inheritors of

3990-411: Is structured around the three patriarchs Abraham, Jacob and Joseph. The stories of Isaac arguably do not make up a coherent cycle of stories and function as a bridge between the cycles of Abraham and Jacob. The Genesis creation narrative comprises two different stories; the first two chapters roughly correspond to these. In the first, Elohim , the generic Hebrew word for God, creates the heavens and

4123-611: Is subsequently inherited by Isaac , Abraham's son, by his wife Sarah , while Isaac's half-brother Ishmael is also promised that he will be the founder of a great nation. Abraham purchases a tomb (the Cave of the Patriarchs ) at Hebron to be Sarah's grave, thus establishing his right to the land; and, in the second generation, his heir Isaac is married to a woman from his own kin to earn his parents' approval. Abraham later marries Keturah and has six more sons; but, on his death, when he

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4256-548: Is that the figure of Abraham must have been preeminent among the great landowners of Judah at the time of the Exile and after, serving to support their claims to the land in opposition to those of the returning exiles. According to Nissim Amzallag , the Book of Genesis portrays Abraham as having an Amorite origin, arguing that the patriarch's provenance from the region of Harran as described in Genesis 11:31 associates him with

4389-592: Is that the post-Exilic community devised the Torah as a legal basis on which to function within the Persian Imperial system; the second is that the Pentateuch was written to provide the criteria for determining who would belong to the post-Exilic Jewish community and to establish the power structures and relative positions of its various groups, notably the priesthood and the lay "elders". The completion of

4522-654: Is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions , including Judaism , Christianity , and Islam . In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jews and God ; in Christianity, he is the spiritual progenitor of all believers, whether Jewish or non-Jewish ; and in Islam , he is a link in the chain of Islamic prophets that begins with Adam and culminates in Muhammad . As

4655-635: Is the imperative form of γίγνομαι , "to come into being." The original Latinization of the Greek translation used in the Vetus Latina was lux sit ("light – let it exist" or "let light exist"), which has been used occasionally, although there is debate as to its accuracy. In the Latin Vulgate Bible , the Hebrew phrase יְהִי אוֹר ‎ is translated in Latin as fiat lux . In context,

4788-399: Is then made second in command of Egypt by the grateful pharaoh, and later on, he is reunited with his father and brothers, who fail to recognize him and plead for food as the famine had reached Canaan as well. After much manipulation to see if they still hate him, Joseph reveals himself, forgives them for their actions, and lets them and their households into Egypt, where Pharaoh assigns to them

4921-463: Is too hard for God. Frightened, Sarah denied laughing. After eating, Abraham and the three visitors got up. They walked over to the peak that overlooked the 'cities of the plain' to discuss the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah for their detestable sins that were so great, it moved God to action. Because Abraham's nephew was living in Sodom, God revealed plans to confirm and judge these cities. At this point,

5054-802: The Coptic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East (with the full office for the latter), and on 9 October by the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod . In the introduction to his 15th-century translation of the Golden Legend 's account of Abraham, William Caxton noted that this patriarch's life was read in church on Quinquagesima Sunday . He is the patron saint of those in

5187-467: The Dead Sea Scrolls . The Dead Sea Scrolls are oldest but cover only a small proportion of the book. Genesis appears to be structured around the recurring phrase elleh toledot , meaning "these are the generations", with the first use of the phrase referring to the "generations of heaven and earth" and the remainder marking individuals. The toledot formula, occurring eleven times in

5320-478: The Edomites , and Jacob (meaning 'supplanter' or 'follower'). Esau was a couple of seconds older as he had come out of the womb first, and was going to become the heir; however, through carelessness, he sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew. His mother, Rebekah, ensures Jacob rightly gains his father's blessing as the firstborn son and inheritor. At 77 years of age, Jacob leaves his parents and later seeks

5453-536: The Hebrew word elohim for God. This original work was expanded in the 8th century BC, with the name Yahweh used for God. In the 7th century BC, during the time of Jeremiah , the final parts of the Pentateuch were added, specifically the main parts of Deuteronomy. This would mean the Pentateuch achieved its final form before the Babylonian Exile ( c.  598 BC  – c.   538 BC ). At

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5586-535: The Pontifical Biblical Institute calls the basic rule of the antiquarian historian the "law of conservation": everything old is valuable, nothing is eliminated. This antiquity was needed to prove the worth of Israel's traditions to the nations (the neighbours of the Jews in the early Persian province of Judea), and to reconcile and unite the various factions within Israel itself. Describing

5719-593: The Victorian crisis of faith as evidence mounted that the Earth was far older than six thousand years. It is a custom among religious Jewish communities for a weekly Torah portion , popularly referred to as a parashah , to be read during Jewish prayer services on Saturdays, Mondays and Thursdays. The full name, פָּרָשַׁת הַשָּׁבוּעַ , Parashat ha-Shavua , is popularly abbreviated to parashah (also parshah / p ɑː r ʃ ə / or parsha ), and

5852-403: The creation of the world , the early history of humanity, and the origins of the Jewish people . Genesis is part of the Torah or Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. Tradition credits Moses as the Torah's author . It was probably composed around the 5th century BC , although some scholars believe that primeval history (chapters 1–11), may have been composed and added as late as

5985-420: The land of Goshen . Jacob calls his sons to his bedside and reveals their future before he dies. Joseph lives to old age and tells his brothers before his death that if God leads them out of the country, then they should take his bones with them. In 1978, David Clines published The Theme of the Pentateuch . Considered influential as one of the first authors to take up the question of the overarching theme of

6118-466: The tree of the knowledge of good and evil . Later, in chapter 3, a serpent , portrayed as a deceptive creature or trickster , convinces Eve to eat the fruit. She then convinces Adam to eat it, whereupon God throws them out and punishes them—Adam was punished with getting what he needs only by sweat and work, and Eve to giving birth in pain. This is interpreted by Christians as the " fall of man " into sin . Eve bears two sons, Cain and Abel . Cain works in

6251-598: The 10th century BCE. The orientalist Mario Liverani proposed to see in the name Abraham the mythical eponym of a Palestinian tribe from the 13th century BCE, that of the Raham, of which mention was found in the stele of Seti I found in Beth-She'an and dating back to 'around 1289 BCE. The tribe probably lived in the area surrounding or close to Beth-She'an , in Galilee (the stele in fact refers to fights that took place in

6384-448: The 16th to the 19th century treated the book of Genesis as factual. As evidence in the fields of paleontology , geology and other sciences was uncovered, scholars tried to fit these discoveries into the Genesis creation account. For example, Johann Jakob Scheuchzer in the 18th century believed that fossils were the remains of creatures killed during the flood. This literal understanding of Genesis fell out of favor with scholars during

6517-406: The 3rd century BC. Based on scientific interpretation of archaeological , genetic , and linguistic evidence, some mainstream Bible scholars consider Genesis to be primarily mythological rather than historical . It is divisible into two parts, the primeval history (chapters 1–11) and the ancestral history (chapters 12–50). The primeval history sets out the author's concepts of the nature of

6650-520: The Bible anachronistically calls "the land of the Philistines ". While he was living in Gerar , Abraham openly claimed that Sarah was his sister. Upon discovering this news, King Abimelech had her brought to him. God then came to Abimelech in a dream and declared that taking her would result in death because she was a man's wife. Abimelech had not laid hands on her, so he inquired if he would also slay

6783-529: The Bible, among others the Israelites , Ishmaelites , Edomites , Amalekites , Kenizzites , Midianites and Assyrians , and through his nephew Lot he was also related to the Moabites and Ammonites . Abraham lived to see Isaac marry Rebekah , and to see the birth of his twin grandsons Jacob and Esau . He died at age 175, and was buried in the cave of Machpelah by his sons Isaac and Ishmael. In

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6916-480: The Biblical Patriarchs lived in, this does not prove the historicity of Abraham narrative as these are the common Semitic names that were used in the later periods as well. Abraham's story, like those of the other patriarchs, most likely had a substantial oral prehistory (he is mentioned in the Book of Ezekiel and the Book of Isaiah ). As with Moses , Abraham's name is apparently very ancient, as

7049-519: The Chaldeans and whose identification with Sumerian Ur is tentative in modern scholarship ) into the God-given land of Canaan , where he dwells as a sojourner , as does his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob . Jacob's name is changed to "Israel", and through the agency of his son Joseph , the children of Israel descend into Egypt, 70 people in all with their households, and God promises them

7182-631: The Elamite army, who were already worn down from the Battle of Siddim . When they caught up with them at Dan , Abram devised a battle plan by splitting his group into more than one unit, and launched a night raid. Not only were they able to free the captives, Abram's unit chased and slaughtered the Elamite King Chedorlaomer at Hobah, just north of Damascus . They freed Lot, as well as his household and possessions, and recovered all of

7315-460: The Exodus tradition of the Israelites . The Abraham cycle is not structured by a unified plot centered on a conflict and its resolution or a problem and its solution. The episodes are often only loosely linked, and the sequence is not always logical, but it is unified by the presence of Abraham himself, as either actor or witness, and by the themes of posterity and land. These themes form "narrative programs" set out in Genesis 11:27–31 concerning

7448-460: The Friend of God ". Besides Ishaq and Yaqub , Ibrahim is among the most honorable and the most excellent men in sight of God. Ibrahim was also mentioned in Quran as "Father of Muslims" and the role model for the community. The Druze regard Abraham as the third spokesman ( natiq ) after Adam and Noah , who helped transmit the foundational teachings of monotheism ( tawhid ) intended for

7581-600: The Iron Age (monarchic period) and that they contained an autochthonous hero story, as the oldest mentions of Abraham outside the book of Genesis ( Ezekiel 33 and Isaiah 51 ): do not depend on Genesis 12–26; do not have an indication of a Mesopotamian origin of Abraham; and present only two main themes of the Abraham narrative in Genesis—land and offspring. Yet, unlike Liverani, Finkelstein considered Abraham as ancestor who

7714-425: The Jews , God created heaven and earth for the sake of the merits of Abraham. After the biblical flood , Abraham was the only one among the pious who solemnly swore never to forsake God, studied in the house of Noah and Shem to learn about the "Ways of God," continued the line of High Priest from Noah and Shem, and assigning the office to Levi and his seed forever. Before leaving his father's land, Abraham

7847-432: The Pentateuch, Clines' conclusion was that the overall theme is "the partial fulfilment—which implies also the partial nonfulfillment—of the promise to or blessing of the Patriarchs". (By calling the fulfilment "partial", Clines was drawing attention to the fact that at the end of Deuteronomy the people of Israel are still outside Canaan.) The patriarchs , or ancestors, are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, with their wives (Joseph

7980-682: The Pentateuch: J, D, and P. The E source is considered no more than a variation of J, and P is considered a body of revisions and expansions to the J (or "non-Priestly") material. The Deuteronomistic source does not appear in Genesis. More recent thinking is that J dates from either just before or during the Babylonian Exile, and the Priestly final edition was made late in the Exilic period or soon after. The almost complete absence of all

8113-598: The Persians of the Achaemenid Empire , after their conquest of Babylon in 539 BC, agreed to grant Jerusalem a large measure of local autonomy within the empire, but required the local authorities to produce a single law code accepted by the entire community. The two powerful groups making up the community—the priestly families who controlled the Second Temple and who traced their origin to Moses and

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8246-436: The Torah and its elevation to the centre of post-Exilic Judaism was as much or more about combining older texts as writing new ones – the final Pentateuch was based on existing traditions. In the Book of Ezekiel , written during the Exile (i.e., in the first half of the 6th century BCE), Ezekiel , an exile in Babylon, tells how those who remained in Judah are claiming ownership of the land based on inheritance from Abraham; but

8379-399: The adjoining field from Ephron the Hittite . After the death of Sarah, Abraham took another wife, a concubine named Keturah , by whom he had six sons: Zimran , Jokshan , Medan , Midian , Ishbak , and Shuah . According to the Bible, reflecting the change of his name to "Abraham" meaning "a father of many nations", Abraham is considered to be the progenitor of many nations mentioned in

8512-451: The age of the world since creation. This Anno Mundi system of counting years is the basis of the Hebrew calendar and Byzantine calendar . Counts differ somewhat, but they generally place the age of the Earth at about six thousand years. During the Protestant Reformation , rivalry between Catholic and Protestant Christians led to a closer study of the Bible and a competition to take its words more seriously. Thus, scholars in Europe from

8645-466: The analysis of the Abraham cycle, the Jacob cycle, and the Joseph cycle, and the Yahwist and Priestly sources . The problem lies in finding a way to unite the patriarchal theme of the divine promise to the stories of Genesis 1–11 (the primeval history ) with their theme of God's forgiveness in the face of man's evil nature. One solution is to see the patriarchal stories as resulting from God's decision not to remain alienated from humankind: God creates

8778-478: The ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites . Abraham and Sarah go to the Philistine town of Gerar , pretending to be brother and sister (they are half-siblings). The King of Gerar takes Sarah for his wife, but God warns him to return her (as she is really Abraham's wife) and he obeys. God sends Sarah a son and tells her she should name him Isaac ; through him will be the establishment of the covenant (promise). Sarah then drives Ishmael and his mother Hagar out into

8911-423: The ancient city-state of Mari , suggesting that the Genesis stories retain historical memories of the ancestral origins of some of the Israelites. The earliest possible reference to Abraham may be the name of a town in the Negev listed in a victory inscription of Pharaoh Sheshonq I (biblical Shishak ), which is referred as "the Fortress of Abraham", suggesting the possible existence of an Abraham tradition in

9044-455: The angel of the Lord, and he saw behind him a "ram caught in a thicket by his horns", which he sacrificed instead of his son. The place was later named as Jehovah-jireh . For his obedience he received another promise of numerous descendants and abundant prosperity. After this event, Abraham went to Beersheba. Sarah died, and Abraham buried her in the Cave of the Patriarchs (the "cave of Machpelah"), near Hebron which he had purchased along with

9177-435: The area). The semi-nomadic and pastoral Semitic tribes of the time used to prefix their names with the term banū ("sons of"), so it is hypothesized that the Raham called themselves Banu Raham. Furthermore, many interpreted blood ties between tribe members as common descent from an eponymous ancestor (i.e., one who gave the tribe its name), rather than as the result of intra-tribal ties. The name of this eponymous mythical ancestor

9310-525: The biblical texts challenged these views; these arguments can be found in Thomas L. Thompson 's The Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives (1974), and John Van Seters ' Abraham in History and Tradition (1975). Thompson, a literary scholar, based his argument on archaeology and ancient texts. His thesis centered on the lack of compelling evidence that the patriarchs lived in the 2nd millennium BCE, and noted how certain biblical texts reflected first millennium conditions and concerns. Van Seters examined

9443-402: The book of Genesis, serves as a heading which marks a transition to a new subject. The creation account of Genesis 1 functions as a prologue for the whole book and is not introduced with a toledot . The toledot divide the book into the following sections: It is not clear, however, what this meant to the original authors, and most modern commentators divide it into two parts based on

9576-485: The characters and incidents mentioned in primeval history from the rest of the Hebrew Bible has led a sizeable minority of scholars to conclude that these chapters were composed much later than those that follow, possibly in the 3rd century BC. As for why the book was created, a theory which has gained considerable interest, although still controversial, is that of Persian imperial authorisation. This proposes that

9709-524: The chosen people of God . In Christianity, Paul the Apostle taught that Abraham's faith in God—preceding the Mosaic law —made him the prototype of all believers, Jewish or gentile ; and in Islam, he is seen as a link in the chain of prophets that begins with Adam and culminates in Muhammad . In Jewish tradition, Abraham is called Avraham Avinu (אברהם אבינו), "our father Abraham," signifying that he

9842-486: The city square. However, Abraham's nephew, Lot, met with them and strongly insisted that these two "men" stay at his house for the night. A rally of men stood outside of Lot's home and demanded that Lot bring out his guests so that they may "know" ( v. 5) them. However, Lot objected and offered his virgin daughters who had not "known" (v. 8) man to the rally of men instead. They rejected that notion and sought to break down Lot's door to get to his male guests, thus confirming

9975-528: The covenants linking God to his chosen people and the people to the Promised Land . The name Genesis is from the Latin Vulgate , in turn borrowed or transliterated from Greek Γένεσις , meaning 'origin'; Biblical Hebrew : בְּרֵאשִׁית , romanized:  Bərēʾšīṯ , 'In [the] beginning'. Genesis was written anonymously, but both Jewish and Christian religious tradition attributes

10108-483: The deity and of humankind's relationship with its maker: God creates a world which is good and fit for humans, but when man corrupts it with sin, God decides to destroy his creation, sparing only the righteous Noah and his family to re-establish the relationship between man and God. The ancestral history (chapters 12–50) tells of the prehistory of Israel , God's chosen people . At God's command, Noah's descendant Abraham journeys from his birthplace (described as Ur of

10241-537: The designations for God. For example, the Yahwist source uses Yahweh, while the Elohistic and Priestly sources use Elohim. Scholars also use repeated and duplicate stories to identify separate sources. In Genesis, these include the two creation stories, three different wife–sister narratives , and the two versions of Abraham sending Hagar and Ishmael into the desert. According to the documentary hypothesis, J

10374-406: The early and middle 20th century, leading archaeologists such as William F. Albright and G. Ernest Wright and biblical scholars such as Albrecht Alt and John Bright believed that the patriarchs and matriarchs were either real individuals or believable composites of people who lived in the " patriarchal age ", the 2nd millennium BCE. But, in the 1970s, new arguments concerning Israel's past and

10507-526: The earth including humankind, in six days, and rests on the seventh . In the second, God, now referred to as " Yahweh Elohim" (rendered as "the L ORD God" in English translations), creates two individuals, Adam and Eve , as the first man and woman, and places them in the Garden of Eden . In the second chapter, God commanded the man that he is free to eat from any tree, including the tree of life, except from

10640-648: The end of the 19th century, most scholars adopted the documentary hypothesis . This theory held that the five books of the Pentateuch came from four sources: the Yahwist (abbreviated as J), the Elohist (E), the Deuteronomist (D) and the Priestly source (P). Each source was held to tell the same basic story, with the sources later combined by various editors. Scholars were able to distinguish sources based on

10773-483: The entire Pentateuch —Genesis, Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy —to Moses . During the Enlightenment , the philosophers Benedict Spinoza and Thomas Hobbes questioned Mosaic authorship . In the 17th century, Richard Simon proposed that the Pentateuch was written by multiple authors over a long period of time. The involvement of multiple authors is suggested by internal contradictions within

10906-403: The entrance of his tent by the terebinths of Mamre . He looked up and saw three men in the presence of God. Then he ran and bowed to the ground to welcome them. Abraham then offered to wash their feet and fetch them a morsel of bread, to which they assented. Abraham rushed to Sarah's tent to order ash cakes made from choice flour, then he ordered a servant-boy to prepare a choice calf. When all

11039-484: The following years, but this has not found acceptance among scholars. By the beginning of the 21st century, archaeologists had stopped trying to recover any context that would make Abraham, Isaac or Jacob credible historical figures. Although the name Abram and Abraham are Semitic names and can be found in Babylonian tablets dating to Middle Bronze Age (MBA), which is a period that most biblical scholars believe that

11172-415: The garden, and Abel works with meat; they both offer offerings to God one day, and God does not accept Cain's offering but does accept Abel's. This causes Cain to resent Abel, and Cain ends up murdering him. God then curses Cain . Eve bears another son, Seth , to take Abel's place in accordance to the promises given at 3:15, 20. After many generations of Adam have passed from the lines of Cain and Seth,

11305-535: The goods from Sodom that had been taken. Upon Abram's return, Sodom's king came out to meet with him in the Valley of Shaveh , the "king's dale". Also, Melchizedek king of Salem ( Jerusalem ), a priest of El Elyon , brought out bread and wine and blessed Abram and God. Abram then gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything. The king of Sodom then offered to let Abram keep all the possessions if he would merely return his people. Abram declined to accept anything other than

11438-407: The hospitality industry. The Eastern Orthodox Church commemorates him as the "Righteous Forefather Abraham", with two feast days in its liturgical calendar . The first time is on 9 October (for those churches which follow the traditional Julian Calendar , 9 October falls on 22 October of the modern Gregorian Calendar ), where he is commemorated together with his nephew "Righteous Lot". The other

11571-500: The invading Elamite forces. The Elamite army came to collect the spoils of war, after having just defeated the king of Sodom's armies. Lot and his family, at the time, were settled on the outskirts of the Kingdom of Sodom which made them a visible target. One person who escaped capture came and told Abram what happened. Once Abram received this news, he immediately assembled 318 trained servants. Abram's force headed north in pursuit of

11704-533: The marriage but requires that all the males of Hamor's tribe be circumcised, including Hamor and Shechem. After this was performed and all the men were still weak, Jacob's sons Simeon and Levi murdered all the males. Jacob complained that their act would mean retribution by others, namely the Canaanites and Perizzites. Jacob and his tribe took all the Hivite women and children as well as livestock and other property for themselves. Joseph , Jacob's favourite son of

11837-415: The mount that God told him of. He then commanded the servants to remain while he and Isaac proceeded alone into the mount. Isaac carried the wood upon which he would be sacrificed. Along the way, Isaac asked his father where the animal for the burnt offering was, to which Abraham replied "God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering". Just as Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, he was interrupted by

11970-591: The namesake of the Abrahamic religions, Abraham is also revered in other Abrahamic religions, such as Druze Faith and Baháʼí Faith . The story of the life of Abraham as told in the narrative of the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible revolves around the themes of posterity and land. He is said to have been called by God to leave the house of his father Terah and settle in the land of Canaan , which God now promises to Abraham and his progeny. This promise

12103-466: The patriarchal stories and argued that their names, social milieu, and messages strongly suggested that they were Iron Age creations. Van Seters' and Thompson's works were a paradigm shift in biblical scholarship and archaeology, which gradually led scholars to no longer consider the patriarchal narratives as historical. Some conservative scholars attempted to defend the Patriarchal narratives in

12236-409: The patriarchs that he will be faithful to their descendants (i.e. to Israel), and Israel is expected to have faith in God and his promise. ("Faith" in the context of Genesis and the Hebrew Bible means an agreement to the promissory relationship, not a body of a belief.) The promise itself has three parts: offspring, blessings, and land. The fulfilment of the promise to each patriarch depends on having

12369-482: The plain of Jordan , where the land was well watered everywhere as far as Zoara , and he dwelled in the cities of the plain toward Sodom . Abram went south to Hebron and settled in the plain of Mamre , where he built another altar to worship God . During the rebellion of the Jordan River cities, Sodom and Gomorrah , against Elam , Abram's nephew, Lot, was taken prisoner along with his entire household by

12502-519: The promise made to Abraham." In Romans 4, Abraham is praised for his "unwavering faith" in God, which is tied into the concept of partakers of the covenant of grace being those "who demonstrate faith in the saving power of Christ". Throughout history, church leaders, following Paul, have emphasized Abraham as the spiritual father of all Christians. Augustine of Hippo declared that Christians are "children (or "seed") of Abraham by faith", Ambrose stated that "by means of their faith Christians possess

12635-753: The promises made to Abraham", and Martin Luther recalled Abraham as "a paradigm of the man of faith." The Roman Catholic Church , the largest Christian denomination, calls Abraham "our father in Faith" in the Eucharistic prayer of the Roman Canon , recited during the Mass . He is also commemorated in the calendars of saints of several denominations: on 20 August by the Maronite Church , 28 August in

12768-408: The prophet tells them they have no claim because they do not observe Torah. The Book of Isaiah similarly testifies of tension between the people of Judah and the returning post-Exilic Jews (the " gôlâ "), stating that God is the father of Israel and that Israel's history begins with the Exodus and not with Abraham. The conclusion to be inferred from this and similar evidence (e.g., Ezra–Nehemiah ),

12901-467: The publication and public acceptance of this new law code c.  444 BC . There was now a large gap between the earliest sources of the Pentateuch and the period they claimed to describe, which ended c.  1200 BC . Most scholars held to the documentary hypothesis until the 1980s. Since then, a number of variations and revisions of the documentary hypothesis have been proposed. The new supplementary hypothesis posits three main sources for

13034-406: The rest of the Pentateuch did not reach its final, present-day form until after the Babylonian Exile. Julius Wellhausen argued that the Pentateuch was finalized in the time of Ezra . Ezra 7 :14 records that Ezra traveled from Babylon to Jerusalem in 458 BC with God's law in his hand. Wellhausen argued that this was the newly compiled Pentateuch. Nehemiah 8 – 10 , according to Wellhausen, describes

13167-560: The revered reformer of the Kaaba in Mecca . Islamic traditions consider Ibrāhīm the first Pioneer of Islam (which is also called millat Ibrahim , the "religion of Abraham"), and that his purpose and mission throughout his life was to proclaim the Oneness of God . In Islam, Abraham holds an exalted position among the major prophets and he is referred to as "Ibrahim Khalilullah", meaning "Abraham

13300-421: The righteous was Abraham's nephew Lot ). Angels save Abraham's nephew Lot (who was living there at the same time) and his family, but his wife looks back on the destruction, (even though God commanded not to) and turns into a pillar of salt for going against his word. Lot's daughters, concerned that they are fugitives who will never find husbands, get Lot drunk so they can become pregnant by him, and give birth to

13433-597: The share to which his allies were entitled. The voice of the Lord came to Abram in a vision and repeated the promise of the land and descendants as numerous as the stars. Abram and God made a covenant ceremony, and God told of the future bondage of Israel in Egypt. God described to Abram the land that his offspring would claim: the land of the Kenites , Kenizzites , Kadmonites , Hittites , Perizzites , Rephaims, Amorites , Canaanites , Girgashites , and Jebusites . Abram and Sarai tried to make sense of how he would become

13566-575: The sterility of Sarah and 12:1–3 in which Abraham is ordered to leave the land of his birth for the land YHWH will show him. Terah , the ninth in descent from Noah , was the father of Abram, Nahor , Haran ( Hebrew : הָרָן Hārān ) and Sarah . Haran was the father of Lot , who was Abram's nephew; the family lived in Ur of the Chaldees . Haran died there. Abram married Sarah (Sarai) . Terah, Abram, Sarai, and Lot departed for Canaan , but settled in

13699-423: The subject matter, a primeval history (chapters 1–11) and a patriarchal history (chapters 12–50). While the first is far shorter than the second, it sets out the basic themes and provides an interpretive key for understanding the entire book. The primeval history has a symmetrical structure hinging on the flood story (chapters 6–9) with the events before the flood mirrored by the events after. The ancestral history

13832-522: The territory of the Amorite homeland. He also notes parallels between the biblical narrative and the Amorite migration into the Southern Levant in the 2nd millennium BCE . Likewise, some scholars like Daniel E. Fleming and Alice Mandell have argued that the biblical portrayal of the Patriarchs' lifestyle appears to reflect the Amorite culture of the 2nd millennium BCE as attested in texts from

13965-429: The text. For example, Genesis includes two creation narratives . By the early 1860s, the leading theory for the Pentateuch's composition was the old supplementary hypothesis. This theory held that the earliest portions, the so-called Book of Origins (containing Genesis 1 and most of the priestly laws in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers), was composed in the time of King Solomon by a priest or Levite . This author used

14098-433: The thought of giving birth and nursing a child, at such an old age, also brought her much laughter, as she declared, "God hath made me to laugh, so that all who hear will laugh with me." Isaac continued to grow and on the day he was weaned, Abraham held a great feast to honor the occasion. During the celebration, however, Sarah found Ishmael mocking; an observation that would begin to clarify the birthright of Isaac. Ishmael

14231-667: The tradition found in the Book of Genesis no longer understands its original meaning (probably "Father is exalted" – the meaning offered in Genesis 17:5 , "Father of a multitude", is a folk etymology ). At some stage the oral traditions became part of the written tradition of the Pentateuch ; a majority of scholars believe this stage belongs to the Persian period, roughly 520–320 BCE. The mechanisms by which this came about remain unknown, but there are currently at least two hypotheses. The first, called Persian Imperial authorisation,

14364-472: The translation is " dixitque Deus fiat lux et facta est lux " ("And said God let there be light, and there was light"). Literally, fiat lux would be translated as "let light be made" ( fiat is the third person singular present passive subjunctive form of the verb facio , meaning "to do" or "to make"). The Douay–Rheims Bible translates the phrase, from the Vulgate, as "Be light made. And light

14497-480: The twelve, makes his brothers jealous (especially because of special gifts Jacob gave him) and because of that jealousy they sell Joseph into slavery in Egypt . Joseph endures many trials including being innocently sentenced to jail but he stays faithful to God. After several years, he prospers there after the pharaoh of Egypt asks him to interpret a dream he had about an upcoming famine, which Joseph does through God. He

14630-407: The two other visitors left for Sodom. Then Abraham turned to God and pleaded decrementally with Him (from fifty persons to less) that "if there were at least ten righteous men found in the city, would not God spare the city?" For the sake of ten righteous people, God declared that he would not destroy the city. When the two visitors arrived in Sodom to conduct their report, they planned on staying in

14763-503: The vulnerability felt by ancient Israelites and that "such stories can be a major way of gaining hope and resisting domination". Examples include: In both Judaism and Christianity , a genre of literature emerged dedicated to interpreting and commenting on the Genesis creation narrative, known as the Hexaemeron . By totaling the spans of time in the genealogies of Genesis, religious authorities have calculated what they consider to be

14896-525: The way to Shur . He instructed her to return to Abram's camp and that her son would be "a wild ass of a man; his hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the face of all his brethren." She was told to call her son Ishmael . Hagar then called God who spoke to her " El-roi ", ("Thou God seest me:" KJV). From that day onward, the well was called Beer-lahai-roi, ("The well of him that liveth and seeth me." KJV margin), located between Kadesh and Bered. She then did as she

15029-414: The wickedness of the city and portending their imminent destruction. Early the next morning, Abraham went to the place where he stood before God. He "looked out toward Sodom and Gomorrah" and saw what became of the cities of the plain, where not even "ten righteous" (v. 18:32) had been found, as "the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace." Abraham settled between Kadesh and Shur in what

15162-481: The wilderness (because Ishmael is not her real son and Hagar is a slave), but God saves them and promises to make Ishmael a great nation. Then, God tests Abraham by demanding that he sacrifice Isaac . As Abraham is about to lay the knife upon his son, "the Angel of the Lord" restrains him, promising him again innumerable descendants. On the death of Sarah, Abraham purchases Machpelah (believed to be modern Hebron ) for

15295-410: The wilderness wanderings, and the major landowning families who made up the "elders" and who traced their own origins to Abraham, who had "given" them the land—were in conflict over many issues, and each had its own "history of origins". However, the Persian promise of greatly increased local autonomy for all provided a powerful incentive to cooperate in producing a single text. Genesis is an example of

15428-474: The work of the biblical authors, John Van Seters wrote that lacking many historical traditions and none from the distant past, "They had to use myths and legends for earlier periods. In order to make sense out of the variety of different and often conflicting versions of stories, and to relate the stories to each other, they fitted them into a genealogical chronology." Tremper Longman describes Genesis as theological history: "the fact that these events took place

15561-515: The world and humans, humans rebel, and God "elects" (chooses) Abraham. To this basic plot (which comes from the Yahwist), the Priestly source has added a series of covenants dividing history into stages, each with its own distinctive "sign". The first covenant is between God and all living creatures, and is marked by the sign of the rainbow; the second is with the descendants of Abraham ( Ishmaelites and others as well as Israelites), and its sign

15694-493: The world becomes corrupted by human sin and Nephilim , and God wants to wipe out humanity for their wickedness. However, Noah is righteous and blameless. So first, he instructs the Noah to build an ark and put examples of all the animals on it, seven pairs of every clean animal and one pair of every unclean. Then God sends a great flood to wipe out the rest of the world. When the waters recede, God promises he will never destroy

15827-544: The world with water again, making a rainbow as a symbol of his promise . God sees humankind cooperating to build a great tower city, the Tower of Babel , and divides humanity with many languages and sets them apart with confusion. Then, a generation line from Shem to Abram is described. Abram, a man descended from Noah, is instructed by God to travel from his home in Mesopotamia to the land of Canaan . There, God makes

15960-401: The world" attains salvation from famine, and by bringing the children of Israel down to Egypt he becomes the means through which the promise can be fulfilled. Scholars generally agree that the theme of divine promise unites the patriarchal cycles, but many would dispute the efficacy of trying to examine Genesis' theology by pursuing a single overarching theme, instead citing as more productive

16093-423: Was 75 years old when he left Haran with his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and the substance and souls that they had acquired, and traveled to Shechem in Canaan. Then he pitched his tent in the east of Bethel , and built an altar which was between Bethel and Ai . There was a severe famine in the land of Canaan, so that Abram, Lot, and their households traveled to Egypt . On the way Abram told Sarai to say that she

16226-495: Was called Elohei Abraham, Elohei Yitzchaq ve Elohei Ya'aqob ("God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob") and never the God of anyone else. He was also mentioned as the father of thirty nations. Abraham is generally credited as the author of the Sefer Yetzirah , one of the earliest extant books on Jewish mysticism . According to Pirkei Avot , Abraham underwent ten tests at God's command. The Binding of Isaac

16359-425: Was constructed with the patronymic (prefix) Abū ("father"), followed by the name of the tribe; in the case of the Raham, it would have been Abu Raham, later to become Ab-raham, Abraham. Abraham's Journey from Ur to Harran could be explained as a retrospective reflection of the story of the return of the Jews from the Babylonian exile. Indeed, Israel Finkelstein suggested that the oldest Abraham traditions originated in

16492-483: Was fourteen years old when Abraham's son Isaac was born to Sarah. When she found Ishmael teasing Isaac, Sarah told Abraham to send both Ishmael and Hagar away. She declared that Ishmael would not share in Isaac's inheritance. Abraham was greatly distressed by his wife's words and sought the advice of his God. God told Abraham not to be distressed but to do as his wife commanded. God reassured Abraham that "in Isaac shall seed be called to thee." He also said Ishmael would make

16625-539: Was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. In biblical Hebrew , the phrase יְהִי אוֹר ‎ ( yəhî ’ôr ) is made of two words. יְהִי ‎ ( yəhî ) is the third-person masculine singular jussive form of "to exist" and אוֹר ‎ ( ’ôr ) means "light." In the Koine Greek Septuagint the phrase is translated " καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός γενηθήτω φῶς καὶ ἐγένετο φῶς " — kaì eîpen ho Theós genēthḗtō phôs kaì egéneto phôs . Γενηθήτω

16758-548: Was his sister, so that the Egyptians would not kill him. When they entered Egypt, the Pharaoh's officials praised Sarai's beauty to Pharaoh , and they took her into the palace and gave Abram goods in exchange. God afflicted Pharaoh and his household with plagues, which led Pharaoh to try to find out what was wrong. Upon discovering that Sarai was a married woman, Pharaoh demanded that Abram and Sarai leave. When they lived for

16891-465: Was instructed by returning to her mistress in order to have her child. Abram was 86 years of age when Ishmael was born. Thirteen years later, when Abram was 99 years of age, God declared Abram's new name: "Abraham" – "a father of many nations". Abraham then received the instructions for the covenant of the pieces , of which circumcision was to be the sign. God declared Sarai's new name: " Sarah ", blessed her, and told Abraham, "I will give thee

17024-528: Was made." Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek Γένεσις , Génesis ; Biblical Hebrew : בְּרֵאשִׁית ‎ , romanized:  Bərēʾšīṯ , lit.   'In [the] beginning'; Latin : Liber Genesis ) is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament . Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word , Bereshit ( 'In the beginning' ). Genesis purports to be an account of

17157-555: Was miraculously saved from the fiery furnace of Nimrod following his brave action of breaking the idols of the Chaldeans into pieces. During his sojourning in Canaan, Abraham was accustomed to extend hospitality to travelers and strangers and taught how to praise God also knowledge of God to those who had received his kindness. Along with Isaac and Jacob , he is the one whose name would appear united with God, as God in Judaism

17290-518: Was no fear of God in that place, and that they might kill him for his wife. Then Abraham defended what he had said as not being a lie at all: "And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife." Abimelech returned Sarah to Abraham, and gave him gifts of sheep, oxen, and servants; and invited him to settle wherever he pleased in Abimelech's lands. Further, Abimelech gave Abraham

17423-423: Was prepared, he set curds, milk and the calf before them, waiting on them, under a tree, as they ate. One of the visitors told Abraham that upon his return next year, Sarah would have a son. While at the tent entrance, Sarah overheard what was said and she laughed to herself about the prospect of having a child at their ages. The visitor inquired of Abraham why Sarah laughed at bearing a child at her age, as nothing

17556-541: Was produced during the 9th century BC in the southern Kingdom of Judah and was believed to be the earliest source. E was written in the northern Kingdom of Israel during the 8th century BC. D was written in Judah in the 7th century BC and associated with the religious reforms of King Josiah c.  625 BC . The latest source was P, which was written during the 5th century in Babylon . Based on these dates, Genesis and

17689-407: Was worshiped in Hebron, which is too far from Beit She'an, and the oldest tradition of him might be about the altar he built in Hebron. Abraham is given a high position of respect in three major world faiths, Judaism , Christianity , and Islam . In Judaism, he is the founding father of the covenant, the special relationship between the Jewish people and God—leading to the belief that the Jews are

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