Abraham: The Friend of God
If Moses is the lawgiver of the Jewish people, then Abraham is the trailblazer of their faith and the foundation of their monotheism. He was the progenitor and patriarch of the nation—“our father,” as the apostle Paul recognized (Rom. 4:1).
I first learned about Abraham in Hebrew school. My teacher began our class with a story from the Talmud (extrabiblical Jewish teachings):
Abraham’s father owned an idol shop, filled with figures of every shape and size—tall and short, fat and skinny. One day, his father asked him to mind the store while he went out on an errand. Left alone, Abraham surveyed all the different idols. Among them, one stood out—imposing, tall, gripping an ax in his hand. Without hesitation, Abraham picked up the ax, smashed every idol in the shop, then carefully placed the ax back into the big idol’s hand.
When his father returned, he was horrified. He cried out, “Abraham, Abraham! What happened here?”
Abraham looked at him and replied, “The big idol went berserk. I could not stop him. He smashed all the idols in the store.”
His exasperated father retorted, “Idols can’t see! Idols can’t hear! Idols can’t speak! Idols can’t do anything!”
Abraham looked into his father’s eyes and asked, “Father, do your ears hear what your mouth has said?”
This fanciful story is told to indicate Abraham’s insight into the nature of God.
Bible readers first meet Abraham (originally called Abram) in Genesis 11:26–32. In 12:1–4, Scripture tells us God promised him a land, seed, and blessing if he would, by faith, leave his country and go to a place God would show him. God then established an unconditional, everlasting covenant with him, called by theologians the Abrahamic Covenant. (Later, God confirmed the covenant to Isaac, then to Jacob, and then to Jacob’s descendants.) Yet, Abraham was childless; and his life was not perfect. There were a few blemishes along the way.
The Lies. Twice Abraham lied about his beautiful wife, Sarah. First, in Egypt, he said she was his sister, fearing pharaoh would kill him in order to take her (12:19). God intervened by bringing a plague on the Egyptians. Then in Gerar, he told the same lie to King Abimelech (20:2). God intervened again, warning the king in a dream that he would be a dead man if he took Sarah as his wife (v. 3). Despite Abraham’s disobedience, God kept His promise, preserving the promised seed and even blessing Abraham with great wealth (12:16; 20:14).
The Blunder. Many years passed and Abraham and Sarah were old and childless. Perplexed, Abraham asked the Lord, “What will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” (15:2). The custom of the day allowed for a childless couple to pass on their inheritance to a servant—in their case, Eliezer.
But God said, “This one [Eliezer] shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir” (v. 4). Though his faith wavered, God later reminded him, “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (18:14).
Abraham already had demonstrated he would lie to protect himself and was willing to give up Sarah in marriage to foreigners. It should come as no surprise that Sarah doubted God’s promise to her husband. How could she be expected to believe she would have a child if he did not believe?
Taking matters into her own hands, she suggested Abraham take her maid Hagar to “obtain children by her” (16:2). In that culture, this was an accepted practice. So, Abraham unwisely heeded his wife to appease her frustration and made an extremely costly mistake. Hagar gave birth to Ishmael, which not only created immediate family problems but problems for generations to come, even to the present day. Finally, at age 90, Sarah gave birth to Isaac—a true miracle, just as God had promised.
Willing to Give All. Despite Abraham’s lies and blunders, he passed the ultimate test of faith. Foreshadowing the sacrifice of Abraham’s greater Son, Jesus, God told him to offer Isaac as a sacrifice on one of the mountains of Moriah (22:1–2). Abraham arose early the next day and took his beloved son to the place God had designated. Just as Abraham lifted the knife to kill Isaac (v. 10), God stopped him and provided a substitute, a ram caught in the bushes (v. 13).
Abraham now had such strong faith in God that he believed God would raise Isaac from the dead (Heb. 11:17–19). His faith earned him the designation “friend of God” (Jas. 2:23). This is a great picture of God the Father willingly offering His only Son for us. Isaac was spared; Jesus had to die to pay for our sins.
Though Abraham stumbled through his long life, assessing himself as “but dust and ashes” (Gen. 18:27), he was righteous in God’s sight because of his faith (15:6; Rom. 4:5). What an encouragement to know that, like Abraham, though we are but dust and ashes, by God’s grace we not only can become friends of God but children of God through faith (Jn. 1:12).
