Abraham the Man — Character, Evangelist, and Problem-Solver

Abraham in Haran — The Evangelist

We know so very little about Abraham's roots and past. The first thing that we notice in Genesis 11, after the fall of the Tower of Babel, is that there is a genealogy that leads up to the birth of Nahor, Abraham's father, and the birth of Abraham. It was important for the Holy Spirit to tell us about Abraham's birth and his father. Not every hero of the Bible is given his short genealogy. The question that we need to ask is why it was important to give us these names like Peleg, Reu, Serug, Nahor, Terah, Nahor, and Haran.

Abraham's father Terah was already unhappy, or had some other good reason to move from Ur — a bigger city than Haran, that was on the shores of one of the great rivers of Mesopotamia. It looks like Lot was the grandson of Terah the father of Abraham. Why is this important? It is important to show that Sara, Abraham's wife, was his close relative. When such a complex genealogy exists, it could be because the family was not happy or in very broad social medium and people married their close relatives. And this, in my opinion, explains why Abraham says twice that Sarah is his "half-sister", because apparently, she is indeed his close relative.

For me the great story is not only that Abraham left everything in Haran and packed his bags to take his small family — but also his large number of disciples that he made in Haran — and set his face resolutely to go to the place that God has shown him to go. Abraham and Sarah didn't have Canaanite servants. They had an Egyptian servant for Sarah. Abraham had Eliezer his old servant, who came with him from the "old country."

Together with Abraham and Sarah, with Lot and his family, came at least 318 men who were between the ages of 20–50. These are the men that joined Abraham in the chase of the five kings from the North, who captured Lot and his family from Sodom. If there are 318 men who are able to fight in Abraham's camp, older than 20 years old, these men must have been married and maybe each had one child. This would make the camp of Abraham near to 1,000 people. Because of the size of the camp, they had always encamped outside of the cities Hebron, Beersheba, and Shechem.

Abraham was the person whom the Lord has chosen to be the root of faith that will bless all the nations of the world through his descendants. There is no Jew or rabbi that has spread the Torah and the prophets around the whole world other than Yeshua, the Son of God, who is the most well-known Jew and King of the Jews. The Good News promised to Abraham for the families of the Earth was spread and taken to the ends of the Earth by that crucified Jew Yeshua. Abraham is the father of many nations, not genetically, but through the faith in the One God whom Abraham obeyed, and became the father who defines what faith in God really is: "Go!"

A Man of Peace and Generosity

The next thing that we learn from Abraham in our Torah reading is that he was a man of peace. A man who was willing to give the other side the privilege to be first, and always with an attitude of generosity. I don't know anyone in the Bible that regretted taking the humble choice and giving the other side the privilege to be first. There is hidden barbed wire in every choice we make. What looks right and good from the outside is always, at least in the whole Bible, the danger that what shines and is well packaged on the outside, will have something rotten in the inside.

My father, Baruch Shulam, used to say, "The best fresh fish that you buy in the Mahane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem, is the one that is packed in today's newspaper!" The idea is that if it comes in some fancy box, it might not be so fresh.

Lot's choice, no doubt, made him happy! Lot must have been so happy saying, "I got the best deal out of this fighting between my men and Abraham's men!" Well, sometimes the so called 'BEST DEAL', the deal that is made with selfish and self-centered motivation, doesn't turn out to be the Best Deal!

With all the argument and separation and strong feelings that Abraham had with Lot his nephew, when Lot and his family and the city of Sodom were in trouble, Abraham did not hold a grudge or act vindictive and say, "Lot and his family deserve this punishment." Abraham acted like a true disciple of Yeshua, long before Yeshua came on the scene of history. Abraham actually turned the other cheek and returned good to those who acted selfishly and without honor.

A Life of Solving Problems

You would think that, with such wonderful promises, Abraham's life would be smooth and easy. But immediately as Abraham arrives in the land of Canaan the problems start. In short, Abraham's move to Canaan in obedience to God's promises was not smooth sailing. In fact, it is a life of solving problems, one after the other.

I find in the story of Abraham a very strong and empowering message. Yes, you and I may encounter hard times. Abraham faced a famine in Canaan, struggles to overcome family scandals, wars, relatives who went to live in the wrong place (Lot lives in Sodom), you may have to endure traumatic family issues. He had to kick out his handmaid Hagar and his son Ishmael, but Abraham still kept going — because that is how you learn who you truly are and what kind of faith you really have with the almighty God. We only learn through trials and tests. Through our trials and tribulations we learn if we really have faith in the creator of our universe and are able to keep our faith and hold on to life now and eternally.

With all this said, Abraham's life was a life of faith and faithfulness to God and to His promises. I suppose that if Abraham was living today, he would probably get the Nobel peace prize, and he for sure would deserve it much more than some of the last Nobel laureates.