the founder of the Hebrew nation. Up to Gen.xvii. 4, 5, he is uniformly called ABRAM (אברם father of elevation, or high father; Sept. Αβραμ), and this was his original name; but the extended form, which it always afterwards bears, was given to it to make it significant of the promise of a numerous posterity which was at the same time made to him.

Abraham was descended through Heber, in the ninth generation, from Shem the son of Noah. His father was Terah, who had two other sons, Nahor and Haran. Haran died prematurely "before his father," leaving a son Lot, and two daughters, Milcah and Iscah. Lot attached himself to his uncle Abraham; and Milcah became the wife of his uncle Nahor.

Abraham was born A.M. 2008, B.C. 1996 (Hales, A.M. 3258, B.C. 2153), in "Ur of the Chaldees." The concise history in Genesis states nothing concerning the portion of his life prior to the age of 60. He took to wife Sarai, who was his sister by the father's side (Gen. xx. 12), though some suppose that Iscah and Sarai were the same person.

Although Abraham is, by way of eminence, named first, Abraham, it appears probable that he was the youngest of Terah's sons, and born by a second wife, when his father was 130 years old. Terah was seventy years old when the eldest son was born (Gen. xi. 32; xii. 4; xx. 12; comp. Hales ii. 107). It is shown by Hales (ii. 107), that Abraham was 60 years old when the family quitted their native city of Ur, and went and abode in Charan. The reason for this movement does not appear in the Old Testament; but the real cause transpires in Acts, vii. 2-4: "The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was (at Ur of the Chaldees) in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charan, and said unto him, Depart from thy land, and from thy kindred, and come hither to a land (γῆν ἣν ἐγὼ ὁλοκλήρωσα) which I will show thee. Then departing from the land of the Chaldees, he dwelt in Charan." This first call is not recorded, but only implied in Gen. xii.: and it is distinguished by several pointed circumstances from the second, which alone is there mentioned. Accordingly Abraham departed, and his family, including his aged father, removed with him. They proceeded not at once to the land of Canaan, which indeed had not been yet indicated to Abraham. At that convenient station he tarried fifteen years, until Terah died, at the age of 205. Abraham, now 75 years old, received a second and more pointed call to pursue his destination: "Depart from thy land, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land which I will show thee" (Gen. xii. 1). The difference of the two calls is obvious: in the former the land is indefinite, being designed only for a temporary residence; in the latter it is definite, intimating a permanent abode. He went forth "not knowing whither he went" (Heb. xi. 8), but trusting implicitly in the Divine guidance, taking with him his nephew Lot, whom, having no children of his own, he appears to have regarded as his heir.

On arriving in the land of Canaan, the rich pastures tempted Abraham to form his first encampment in the vale of Moreh, which lies between the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim. Here the strong faith which had brought him thus far from his home was rewarded by the grand promise:—"I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing; and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed" (Gen. xii. 2, 3). He soon after removed to the district between Bethel and Ai, where he also built an altar to that "Jehovah" whom the world was then hastening to forget. His further removals tended southward, until at length a famine in Palestine compelled him to withdraw into Egypt, where corn abounded. Here, apprehending that the beauty of his wife Sarai might bring him into danger with the Egyptians, he concealed the fact that she was his wife, and gave out that she was his sister; whereupon she was carried to the king's harem. A grievous disease inflicted on Pharaoh and his household relieved Sarai from her danger, by revealing to the king that she was a married woman; on which he sent for Abraham, and, after rebuking him for his conduct, restored his wife to him, and recommended him to withdraw from the country. He accordingly returned to the land of Canaan, much richer than when he left it "in cattle, in silver, and in gold" (Gen. xiii. 8; xiii. 2). Not long after, he removed to the pleasant valley of Mamre, in the neighbourhood of Hebron (then called Arba), and pitched his tent under a terebinth tree (Gen. xiii.).

It appears that fourteen years before this time the south and east of Palestine had been invaded by a king called Chedorlaomer, from beyond the Euphrates, who brought several of the small disunited states of those quarters under tribute. Among them were the five cities of the Plain of Sodom, to which Lot had withdrawn. This burden was borne impatiently by these states, and they at length withheld their tri- Abraham, bute. This brought upon them a ravaging visitation from Chedorlomer and four other (perhaps tributary) kings, who scoured the whole country east of the Jordan, and ended by defeating the kings of the plain, plundering their towns, and carrying the people away as slaves. Lot was among the sufferers. When this came to the ears of Abraham, he immediately armed such of his slaves as were fit for war, in number 318, and being joined by the friendly Amoritish chiefs, Aner, Eschol, and Mamre, pursued the retiring invaders. They were overtaken near the springs of the Jordan; and their camp being attacked on opposite sides by night, they were thrown into disorder, and fled. Abraham and his men pursued them as far as the neighbourhood of Damascus, and then returned with all the men and goods which had been taken away.

After ten years' residence in Canaan (B.C. 1913), Sarai, being then 75 years old, persuaded Abraham to take her handmaid Hagar, an Egyptian, as a secondary or concubine wife. The son who was born to Abraham by Hagar, received the name of Ishmael, and was brought up as the heir of his father and of the promises (Gen. xvi.). Thirteen years after, when Abraham was 99 years old, he was favoured with still more explicit declarations of the Divine purposes, and his name was now changed from Abram to Abraham. The Lord then solemnly renewed the covenant to be a God to him and to the race that should spring from him; and in token of that covenant directed that he and his should receive in their flesh the sign of circumcision. It was then first announced, in distinct terms, that the heir of the special promises was not yet born, and that Sarai, then 90 years old, should twelve months thence be his mother. Then also her name was changed from Sarai to Sarah (the princess); and to commemorate the joy with which the patriarch received such strange tidings, it was directed that the name of Isaac (he laughed) should be given to the future child. After the destruction of Sodom, Abraham removed into the territories of Abimelech, king of Gerar, where he allowed himself to stoop to the same foolish prevarication in denying his wife, which, twenty-three years before, had occasioned him so much trouble in Egypt, and with a similar result.

The same year Sarah gave birth to the long-promised son, and according to previous direction, the name of Isaac was given to him. This greatly altered the position of Ishmael, who with Hagar his mother, was sent to a distance from his paternal home.

When Isaac was about twenty years old (B.C. 1872) it pleased God to subject the faith of Abraham to a severe trial. He was commanded to go into the mountainous country of Moriah (probably where the temple afterward stood), and there offer up in sacrifice the son of his affection, and the heir of so many hopes and promises. But Abraham's faith shrunk not, assured that what God had promised he would certainly perform, and that he was able to restore Isaac to him "even from the dead" (Heb. xi. 17-19). When Abraham's hand was uplifted to slay his son, the angel of Jehovah interposed at the critical moment and arrested the fatal stroke.

Twelve years after (B.C. 1860) Sarah died at the age of 127 years, being then at or near Hebron; and Abraham purchased for a family sepulchre the cave of Machpelah, with the field in which it stood and the trees that grew theron. This was the only possession he ever had in the Land of Promise (Gen. xxiii.). Some time after Abraham took a wife named Keturah, by whom he had several children. These, together with Ishmael, seem to have been portioned off by their father in his lifetime, and sent into the east and south-east, that there might be no danger of their interference with Isaac, the divinely appointed heir. There was time for this: for Abraham lived to the age of 175 years, 100 of which he had spent in the land of Canaan. He died Abraham in B.C. 1822 (Hales 1778), and was buried in the family sepulchre which he had purchased of the Hittites (Gen. xxv. 1-10).

Ben Chaila, a Spanish rabbi, in the 13th century, who professed astrology, and assumed the character of a prophet. He pretended to predict the coming of the Messiah, which was to happen in the year 1358; but fortunately he died in 1303, fifty-five years before the time when the prediction was to be fulfilled. He wrote a book, De Nativitatibus, which was printed at Rome in 1545.

Uzque, a Portuguese Jew, who, in conjunction with Tobias Athias, translated the Hebrew Bible into Spanish. It was printed at Ferrara in 1553, and reprinted in Holland in 1630. This Bible, especially the first edition, which is most valuable, is marked with stars at certain words, which are designed to show that these words are difficult to be understood in the Hebrew, and that they may be used in a different sense.

or ABRAHAM, Nicholas, a learned Jesuit, born in the diocese of Toul, in Lorraine, in 1589. He obtained the rank of divinity professor in the university of Pont-a-Mousson, which he enjoyed 17 years, and died September 7, 1655. He wrote Notes on Virgil and on Nonnus; A Commentary on some of Cicero's Orations, in two vols. folio; an excellent collection of theological pieces in folio, entitled Pharus Veteris Testamenti; and a Hebrew Grammar in verse.