Questions tagged [abraham]
Referring to the Biblical character of Abram (renamed Abraham), who appears in Genesis 12 - 22
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Why was circumcision physical?
Paul says in Romans 9:7-8
7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the ...
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Catholic Sources Which Point to the Three Visitors to Abraham in Gen. 18 as The Holy Trinity?
Most of the commentary that I have read regarding the identities of the Three Visitors to Abraham in Genesis 18 have all agreed that God (without specifying which Person) was one of them. Many seem to ...
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Age of Isaac When Abraham Offered Him as a Sacrifice?
I would like to know, if possible, at least the approximate age of Isaac when Abraham offered him as a sacrifice to God. Based on Abraham's advanced age, it would seem that Isaac did not resist in ...
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Is it true that Yahweh was part of a polytheistic religion?
I remembered recently that long ago, in middle school, my history teacher told us in the class that Yahweh, the Hebrew God was a god part of a polytheistic religion, and that He wasn't even the king ...
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According to those who deny Jesus is God, In Stephen's discourse in Acts 7:2. Who appeared to Abraham and what form did he take?
The whole verse of Acts 7:2, "And he said, Hear me, brethren and fathers! "The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran." God ask ...
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For Unitarians! Is the being at Genesis 16:10 who multiplied Hagar's descendants the same being who multiplied Abram's descendanst at Genesis 17:1-2?
Genesis 16:10, "Moreover, the angel of the Lord said to her, "I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they shall be too many to count." Vs11, "The angel of the Lord said ...
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If Abraham killed Isaac, would that be a sin? [closed]
I know that Abraham came before Moses, and so there were no Ten Commandments yet. However, if Abraham killed Isaac out of obedience to God, would that be considered a sin in any way? I feel like the ...
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What's the biblical basis for Abraham, David, etc. to be raised in the first resurrection?
We are told David is dead.
For David, after he had served God’s purpose in his own generation, fell asleep, and was buried among his fathers and underwent decay Acts 13:36
We could include any of '...
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How do advocates of an intermediate state explain that the Old Testament seems to be unaware of the existence of the Bosom of Abraham?
Proponents of an intermediate state typically regard the story of Lazarus & the rich man (Luke 16:19-31) to be informative on the realities of the underworld. According to the story, Hades / Sheol ...
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Why is it common to refer to Jacob as Jacob, rather than calling him Israel?
There are several examples in the Bible where faithful people were given a new name:
Abram became Abraham (Genesis 17:5)
Sarai became Sarah (Genesis 17:15)
Jacob became Israel (Genesis 32:28; 35:10)
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Why did Sarai & Abram have the slave Hagar?
Why did Sarai & Abram have the Egyptian slave/servant girl (שִׁפְחָ֥ה) Hagar?
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What is the most credited date for the birth (or calling) of Abraham?
Wikipedia says the following:
The patriarchs and matriarchs were either real individuals or believable composites of people who lived in the "patriarchal age", the 2nd millennium BCE. But, ...
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How does Christianity traditionally explain the need to subject the Israelites to slavery in Egypt?
In Genesis 15:13 God said to Abraham:
"Know for certain that for four hundred
years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own
and that they will be enslaved and mistreated ...
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Why did God command Abraham to sacrifice Isaac? [closed]
Did he really sacrifice him, or when he was about to sacrifice him, did God put a lamb in his place?
Isaac died a sacrificial death?
Genesis 22 (NIV)
1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to ...
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How do 'soul sleep' adherents explain Mark 12:27, "He is not the God of the dead, but of the living."?
Mark 12:26-27 (also see Matthew 22:32, Luke 20:38) is
"But concerning the dead rising, have you not read about the burning
bush in the Book of Moses, how God told him, ‘I am the God of Abraham,
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Abraham's Temptation: only a matter of Faith, or also of Hope? [closed]
Caravaggio: The Sacrifice of Isaac (1603)
In Genesis 22 we read that God tested (or "put to the test", or "tempted" - the Hebrew verb נָסָה [nacah] bears all these meanings) ...
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Was Abraham justified by faith alone or works also? [closed]
I ask this question in this forum as I am seeking the truth.
a. I have always been taught that faith in Jesus and his sacrifice saves me from sin.
b. I listen to a lot of Rabbi's and learnt that Sin-...
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Why does the angel of the Lord call out from heaven to Abraham at Genesis 22?
At Genesis 22:1, "Now it came about after these things that "GOD" tested Abraham. At verse 2, "And He/God said, "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love Isaac, and go ...
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What is the family tree diagram explaining how Sarah was Abraham's half sister?
What is the family tree diagram explaining how Sarah was Abraham's half sister (same father different mothers)?
She is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; ...
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What does the Catholic Church teach on claiming as our "right / inheritance" the Abrahamic blessings before we die?
Background
My friend is influenced by what I think is a prosperity-gospel leaning church, although I don't see heretical excesses like "positive confession", "name-it claim-it", ...
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What internal evidence supports the historicity of Abraham?
Is there any internal or small external evidence of Abraham's existence?
I have heard a claim from skeptics that Abraham is just flat out invented figure who never existed and even COULDN'T have ...
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Does the blessing of Genesis 12:3 extend to Palestine or is it only for Israel (and the church as the spiritual Israel)? [closed]
I was reading 12:3 and I started to wonder whether or not that blessing was for Palestinians too, as descendants of Abraham. Thank you.
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Is the nature of God the father like that of Abraham the father of Isaac? [closed]
Abraham sacrificed his child Isaac not himself because he loved God so much.
Similarly God the father loved his creation so much that he sacrificed his son instead of himself.
Does that mean they ...
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Is it accurate to call Abraham a Jew?
It is common to associate Abraham as "father of the faith" and the first Jew.
However, since Abram's family came from the land of Ur, isn't it more accurate to say that he wasn't a Jew but - in ...
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The time of Abraham
Wikipedia says that the story of Abraham is fictional, an ex-post construction:
The Abraham story cannot be definitively related to any specific time,
and it is widely agreed that the patriarchal ...
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In contrast to Judaism and Islam, what is the importance of Abraham's sacrifice of his son in Christianity?
My question is in reference to the verses of Old Testament: Genesis 22:2-8
How Abraham's sacrifice is being interpreted in Christianity in general. And as Muslims and Jews interpret and commemorate ...
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Had the Catholic Church a tradition of commemorating Abraham's sacrifice?
Eid ul-Adha or Bakrid is celebtrated all over the world by Muslims to commemorate the sacrifice that Abraham offered in obedience to God.
My question is: Had the Catholic Church any tradition of ...
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Scriptural/theological reasoning for renaming: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob [closed]
I understand the significance of God's renaming. But I wonder if anyone has done any research as to why the writers of scripture (and consequently, Jews and Christians today) refer to AbraHAM (...
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Did Abraham have faith in the future coming of Christ?
R.C. Sproul's book on Romans, Chapter 10, page 106.
"When Paul speaks of Abraham's justification as being by faith, that is shorthand for saying that Abraham was justified by the righteousness of ...
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What is the ‘Gospel of the Grace of God’?
I just encountered a teaching about ‘The Gospel of Promised Grace to Abraham’ or ‘The Gospel of Grace of God.’ It talks about the everlasting covenant of God to Abraham. I know how the promise of God ...
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Who learned that Abraham would even sacrifice his son in Genesis 22:11?
Most translations say that "Now I know that you fear God" and I refers to the angel in the previous verse.
But Open Theists say that God is learning, that "I" refers to God, but I don't see that in ...
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Why was Abraham better able to protect Sarah from Abimelech as her brother than as her husband?
As recorded in Genesis 12 & 20:
Abraham was afraid that Abimelech would kill him and take his Sarah from him if the king knew that they were married, so he said she was his sister instead. How ...
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How could Abraham dine with God? [closed]
How could Abraham have possibly dined physically with God as suggested in Genesis 18, especially when "No one has ever seen Him"?
1 Timothy 6:16
He alone is immortal and dwells in ...
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What is the biblical basis that Noah died just before the birth of Abraham?
In its article on the decline of human life spans, CreationWiki states,
Interestingly, Noah died only two years before Abraham was born.
Unfortunately for readers they provide no biblical support....
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Epiphanius: where does he describe Indians as the descendants of Abraham and Keturah?
The Austrian Carmelite Paulinus a Sancto Bartholomaeo in his book "Darstellung der Brahmanisch-Indischen Götterlehre, Religionsgebräuche und bürgerliche Verfassung" (1797) states that Epiphanius was ...
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How did Stephen know that Abraham bought a tomb in Shechem? [duplicate]
My question is somewhat related to the post, Was the cave of Abraham in Shechem or Hebron?
However, in that post, the question revolved around whether the Patriarchs were buried in Hebron or Shechem. ...
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Why did a loving God ask Abraham to kill his own son? [closed]
An agnostic asked me why did a loving God ask Abraham to kill his own son?
I told him it was a test from God. Did answer him correctly? I did not say anymore
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Why is the Nation of Israel called Israel and not Abraham?
Is there a biblical, or otherwise extra-biblical, explanation of how the nation of Israel came to be known as Israel instead of Abraham?
I know you could make cases for arguing that it makes more ...
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Why is God on Sarah's side when she asked Abraham to cast out Hagar and Ishmael? [closed]
The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, and she said to Abraham,...
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Abraham, Moses and God's names
In Exodus 6:2-3, why does God tell Moses that He is "the LORD" and that He did not make himself known to Abraham as "the LORD", but only as "God Almighty"? In Genesis 12, when God called Abraham to ...
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How is Abraham able to speak to the rich man across the chasm of hell in Jesus' story in Luke 16? [closed]
How is Abraham able to speak to the rich man in hell if there is a chasm between them? And Abraham is speaking with Lazarus who is in hell? How is this possible since we have a great chasm between us?...
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Was the cave of Abraham in Shechem or Hebron?
Genesis 23:17–20 says:
So Ephron’s field in Machpelah near Mamre—both the field and the cave in it, and all the trees within the borders of the field—was deeded to Abraham as his property in the ...
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Did Melchizedek worship the same God as Abram? [closed]
In Genesis 14:18, there is a man, Melchizedek, who was a priest of the Most High God:
Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (Now he was the priest of the Most High God.) (NET)
A ...
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Why was it important that Isaac's wife be from within Abraham's family?
In Genesis 24, Abraham tells his servant to go back to his homeland and find a wife for Isaac from Abraham's country and Abraham's relatives.
First of all, I suppose I can understand why Isaac was ...
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Confused on Nahor and Haran [closed]
In Genesis 11, we are shown that Abram, Nahor, and Haran are brothers. Haran dies in Ur.
Then, Abram and other family members travel now to a city called Haran (a bit confusing, but okay. Did ...
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How sound are the arguments that Melchizedek invoked a Canaanite deity when he met Abraham?
Melchizedek serves an important theological role in the book of Hebrews. The author of Hebrews interprets Psalm 110 to speak of Jesus' priestly order (Melchizedek), thus resolving the potential ...
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Was Keturah Abraham's wife or concubine?
Keturah was Abraham's wife?
Genesis 25:1-2 Abraham had taken another wife, whose name was Keturah. She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah.
Keturah was Abraham's concubine?
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What is the difference between Abraham's and Sarah's laugh after the LORD's promise?
In the bible we can see two events,
In Genesis the LORD promised Abraham and Sarah a son, but we can see they both laughed.
case 1:
Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a ...
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Who are the many nations that Abraham was called by God, 'the father' of?
Who are these nations that Abraham was father of, according to God's words?
Gen 17:5 (NIV)
5 No longer will you be called Abram[a]; your name will be
Abraham,[b] for I have made you a father of ...
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Interpretation of Genesis 15 - 17
I am studying the Abrahamic covenant and I have two questions after reading Genesis 15-17.
1) In Genesis 15, God establishes the covenant with Abram. It is an unconditional covenant and because of ...
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