ABRAHAM

C. WHAT WAS ABRAHAM’S FAMILY BACKGROUND?
He was a descendant of Shem, one of Noah’s sons. His father’s name was Terah. He had two
brothers whose names were Nahor, and Haran. Haran died relatively young and his son Lot came
into the direct household of Terah. Lot would have become as a younger brother to Abraham.
Abraham married a beautiful lady named Sarai while he still made his home in Ur.
Genesis 11:29
"And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; . . .”
Verse 30 tells us that she was barren. Scripture emphasizes this by repeating her situation two ways.
“But Sarai was barren; she had no child.”
Summing up Abraham’s early life, he was probably about 60 years old at the outset of the Bible
record. He was married and seems to have been very close to his family. Spiritually, he was
possibly an idolater, maybe a worshiper of the moon. Tradition says that Abraham always went
against the grain in Ur in that he refused to worship the idols of the rest of his family and
countrymen. But there is no Scripture proof for this, only wishful thinking. F. B. Meyer refers to
tradition when he writes,
Amid such scenes ABRAHAM was born, and grew from youth to manhood. But, from the
first, if we may credit the traditions which have lingered in the common talk of the
unchanging East, he must have possessed no ordinary character. According to those stories,
which if not literally true are no doubt based on a substratum of fact, as a young man
Abraham offered an uncompromising opposition to the evil practices which were rife, not
only in the land, but in his father’s house. (12a)
Scripture does let us know that some of his family members were idol worshipers.
Joshua 24:2
“And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers
dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the
father of Nachor: and they served other gods.”
Also remember that it was Rachel, Abraham’s grandson Jacob’s wife, who stole the idols from her
father Laban, who, interestingly, was Abraham’s nephew.
In looking at the general spiritual condition of man we find that he had again degenerated into
idolatry. He worshiped the creature rather than the Creator. We find one thing for certain man does
not learn very well from his past errors but is rather prone to repeat them.
It was time for God to once again step in. This time he would not destroy the human race as He did
with the flood. Rather, He would call out a man for Himself. Abraham was a man that God would
use in a very amazing way in His dealings with the human race.
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