Search the encyclopedia
165 articles found for “Abraham's servant”
John 8:32
[Bible Verses]"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32) is a saying of Jesus. The phrase is widely used outside the church as a symbol of academic freedom and freedom of the press, but commentators often point out that in its original context it means that disciples who continue in Jesus' word are set free from bondage to sin.
Wilderness of Paran
[Bible]The Wilderness of Paran is a wilderness generally identified with the northeastern Sinai Peninsula. Scripture presents it as the place where Ishmael grew up and where Israel, after the Exodus, encamped and sent spies into Canaan.
Paran
[Bible]Paran is a wilderness region generally thought to have lain in the northeastern Sinai Peninsula. Ishmael grew up there, and after the Exodus Israel encamped there and sent out the twelve spies from it.
1 Chronicles 1
[Bible]First Chronicles 1 is a genealogy that runs from Adam through Noah and Abraham to Isaac's sons, Esau and Israel. It closes with lists of the descendants of Edom, its kings, and its chiefs.
Abraham
[People]Abraham is the ancestor of the people of Israel described in the Book of Genesis. He left his homeland in response to God's call, and Christians often call him "the father of faith."
Sarah
[People]Sarah is the wife of Abraham and the mother of Isaac in the Book of Genesis. Originally named Sarai, she remained childless into old age and, according to the biblical account, bore Isaac at the age of ninety in fulfillment of God's promise.
Keturah
[People]Keturah was the wife Abraham took in the narrative that follows Sarah's death. She bore him six sons—Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah—whose descendants are presented as the ancestors of several eastern tribes, including the Midianites.
Patriarch
[Bible]The patriarchs are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the founding ancestors of the people of Israel, together with Jacob's twelve sons. Their story is told in Genesis 12–50.
John 8:58
[Bible Verses]John 8:58 is the verse in which Jesus says, "Before Abraham was, I am." It is frequently cited as evidence of Christ's preexistence, meaning his existence before coming into the world, and of his deity. Interpreters differ over the meaning of the expression "I am" (ego eimi).
Genesis 12:1–3
[Bible Verses]The passage in which God commands Abram to leave his country, his kindred, and his father's house, promising to make of him a great nation and to bless him. It is regarded as a turning point in salvation history, and there is debate over whether "I will bless them that bless thee" should be applied to the modern State of Israel.
Genesis 22:2
[Bible Verses]Genesis 22:2 records God's command to Abraham to offer his beloved only son Isaac as a burnt offering in the land of Moriah. The verse is read as the height of faith and obedience, and it has long been debated for the ethical implications of God commanding the sacrifice of a human being.
Genesis 22
[Bible]Genesis 22 recounts how Abraham, at God's command, sets out to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering on a mountain in the land of Moriah. He is stopped, offers a ram in Isaac's place, and receives a renewed promise of blessing. The chapter ends with a list of Nahor's descendants.
Terah
[People]Terah was the father of Abraham. He led his family out of Ur of the Chaldees toward Canaan but settled in Haran, where he died (Genesis 11).
Hebrews 11:8–12
[Bible Verses]Hebrews 11:8–12 presents Abraham and Sarah as examples of faith: trusting God's promise, they set out, lived in tents, and received offspring in old age. The passage is frequently cited in discussions of obedience and trust in God's promises.
Galatians 3:26–29
[Bible Verses]A passage in Paul's letter to the churches of Galatia declaring that those who belong to Christ through faith and baptism are sons of God and heirs of Abraham, without distinction of ethnicity, social status, or sex. It is frequently cited in discussions of baptism, the ordination of women, and the relationship between the church and Israel.
Moriah
[Bible]Moriah is the name of the land to which Abraham went at God's command to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering. Second Chronicles calls the mountain in Jerusalem on which Solomon built the temple Mount Moriah.
Jokshan
[People]Jokshan was the second of the six sons born to Abraham by Keturah and the father of Sheba and Dedan. His name appears only in the genealogies of Genesis and 1 Chronicles.
Acts 7
[Bible]Acts 7 records Stephen's defense before the council, in which he retraces the history of Israel from Abraham to Solomon, followed immediately by his martyrdom by stoning.
Ur of the Chaldees
[Bible]Ur of the Chaldees is the Mesopotamian city where Abraham lived with his family before he left in obedience to God's call. It appears in Genesis and Nehemiah, and scholars disagree about its exact location.
The Burnt Offering on Mount Moriah
[Bible]The event recorded in Genesis 22 in which Abraham, at God's command, prepared to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering on a mountain in the land of Moriah, until God stopped him and provided a ram in Isaac's place.