Abraham Ismael and Issac - Part Two
Thirteen years later God appears to Abram and promises him a son by Sarai, and that his posterity will be a great nation. As a sign, he changes Abram's name to Abraham, Sarai's to Sara, and ordains the rite of circumcision. One day later, as Abraham is sitting by his tent, in the vale of Mambre ( means the passage Mamar in arabic) , Jehovah with two angels appears to him in human form. He shows them hospitality. Then again the promise of a son named Isaac (in Arabic Yedshak means to laugh ) is renewed to Abraham. The aged Sarah hears incredulously and laughs. Abraham is then told of the impending destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Thamud and Mahra ) for their sins but obtains from god the promise that he will not destroy them if he finds ten just men therein. Then follows a description of the destruction of the two cities and the escape of Lot. Next morning Abraham, looking from his tent towards Sodom, sees the smoke of destruction ascending to heaven. After this, Abraham moves south to Gerara, and again fearing for his life says of his wife, "she is my sister". The king of Gerara, Abimelech ( in Arabic abi-malik ), sends and takes her, but learning in a dream that she is Abraham's wife he restores her to him untouched, and rebukes him and gives him gifts. In her old age Sarah bears a son, Isaac, to Abraham, and he is circumcised on the eighth day. Whilst he is still young, Sarah is jealous, seeing Ishmael playing with the child Isaac, so she procures that Agar and her son shall be cast out. Then Agar would have allowed Ishmael to perish in the wilderness, had not an angel encouraged her by telling her of the boy's future. Abraham is next related to have had a dispute with Abimelech over a well at Bersabee ( in Arabic bir-shaba means the well of satisfaction , and it could be shobeika wells in the Mecca valley, noting that the Bible say that Agar went in Bersabee with her son Ishmael) , which ends in a covenant being made between them. It was after this that the great trial of the faith of Abraham takes place. God commands him to sacrifice his only son Isaac ( some believes that this happened when he had only Ishmael before God give him Isaac ,this why the Bible say his only son) . When Abraham has his arm raised and is in the very act of striking, an angel from heaven stays his hand and makes the most wonderful promises to him of the greatness of his posterity because of his complete trust in God. Sarah dies at the age of 127, and Abraham, having purchased from Ephron the Hittite (the farmer, or the worker with soil) the cave in Machpelah (Mach-phelah could be Makka phelah ,the outer place of Makka) near Mambre, buries her there. His own career is not yet quite ended for first of all he takes a wife for his son Isaac, Rebecca from the city of Nachor in Mesopotamia. Then he marries Cetura, old though he is, and has by her six children. Finally, leaving all his possessions to Isaac, he dies at age 170, and is buried by Isaac and Ishmael in the cave of Machpelah ( look at mach-pelah if pronounced makka-phelah , in Arabic means the outer place of Mecca, Makka-phelah, this points to the place where Abraham was buried , in the place called now Abraham valley ) .
Abraham may be looked upon as the starting-point or source of Old Testament religion. So that from the days of Abraham men were wont to speak of God as the God of Abraham, whilst we do not find Abraham referring in the same way to anyone before him. So we have Abraham's servant speaking of "the God of my father Abraham" (Gen. xxiv, 12). Jehovah ( in Arabic Yahweh which means HE IS THE ONE ), in an apparition to Isaac, speaks of himself as the God of Abraham (Gen. xxvi, 24), and to Jacob he is "the God of my father Abraham" (Gen. xxxi, 42). So, too, showing that the religion of Israel does not begin with Moses, God says to Moses: "I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob" etc. (Ex. iii, 6). The same expression is used in the Psalms (xlvi, 10) and is common in the Old Testament. Abraham is thus selected as the first beginning or source of the religion of the children of Israel ( in Arabic Isra-el means the Travelers from the verb sara means walk and move from a place to another) and the origin of its close connection with Jehovah, because of his faith, trust, and obedience to and in Jehovah and because of Jehovah's promises to him and to his seed. So, in Genesis, xv, 6, it is said: "Abram believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice." This trust in God was shown by him when he left Haran and journeyed with his family into the unknown country of Canaan. It was shown principally when he was willing to sacrifice his only son , in obedience to a command from God. It was on that occasion that God said: "Because thou hast not spared thy only begotten son for my sake I will bless thee" etc. (Gen., xxii, 16, 17). It is to this and other promises made so often by God to Israel (the travelers) that the writers of the Old Testament refer over and over again in confirmation of their privileges as the chosen people. These promises, which are recorded to have been made no less than eight times, are that God will give the land of Canaan to Abraham and his seed (Gen., xii, 7)that his seed shall increase and multiply as the stars of heaven ( and this is the fact that sons of Ishmael and Isaac live in the land ) ; that he himself shall be blessed and that in him "all the kindred of the earth shall be blessed" (xii, 3). Accordingly the traditional view of the life of Abraham, as recorded in Genesis, is that it is history in the strict sense of the word. Thus Father von Hummelauer, S.J., in his commentary on Genesis in the "Cursus Scripturae Sacrae" (30), in answer to the question from what author the section on Abraham first proceeded, replies, from Abraham as the first source. Indeed he even says that it is all in one style, as a proof of its origin, and that the Passage, xxv, 5-ll, concerning the goods, death, and burial of Abraham comes from Isaac and Ishmael. One more point I should talk about , is that Abraham has asked his slave to take a wife for Isaac from the Aramaic's , and not from cannas, and in this matter that raham meant not a certain kind of people but a certain behavior , To take a wife from the Aram or Aramia ( in Arabic or Arab means the travelers ) and not Canaan ( in Arabic means the settlers ) because he wanted him to marry a pure girl form the desert (beddewin ) not from the city since he knows that girls of the city are ruined by bad civilization and bad habits, and left the faith in God.