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abraham

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abraham


  5  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Sham  \Sham\,  v.  t.  [imp.  &  p.  p.  {Shammed};  p.  pr  &  vb  n. 
  {Shamming}.] 
  1.  To  trick;  to  cheat;  to  deceive  or  delude  with  false 
  pretenses. 
 
  Fooled  and  shammed  into  a  conviction.  --L'Estrange. 
 
  2.  To  obtrude  by  fraud  or  imposition.  [R.] 
 
  We  must  have  a  care  that  we  do  not  .  .  .  sham 
  fallacies  upon  the  world  for  current  reason. 
  --L'Estrange. 
 
  3.  To  assume  the  manner  and  character  of  to  imitate;  to  ape; 
  to  feign. 
 
  {To  sham  Abram}  or  {Abraham},  to  feign  sickness;  to  malinger. 
  Hence  a  malingerer  is  called  in  sailors'  cant,  Sham 
  Abram,  or  Sham  Abraham. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  Abraham 
  n  :  the  first  of  the  Old  Testament  patriarchs  and  the  father  of 
  Isaac;  according  to  Genesis  God  promised  to  give 
  Abraham's  family  (the  Hebrews)  the  land  of  Canaan  (the 
  Promised  Land);  God  tested  Abraham  by  asking  him  to 
  sacrifice  his  son  [syn:  {Abraham}] 
 
  From  U.S.  Gazetteer  (1990)  [gazetteer]: 
 
  Abraham,  WV 
  Zip  code(s):  25918 
 
  From  Easton's  1897  Bible  Dictionary  [easton]: 
 
  Abraham 
  father  of  a  multitude,  son  of  Terah,  named  (Gen.  11:27)  before 
  his  older  brothers  Nahor  and  Haran,  because  he  was  the  heir  of 
  the  promises.  Till  the  age  of  seventy,  Abram  sojourned  among  his 
  kindred  in  his  native  country  of  Chaldea.  He  then,  with  his 
  father  and  his  family  and  household,  quitted  the  city  of  Ur  in 
  which  he  had  hitherto  dwelt,  and  went  some  300  miles  north  to 
  Haran,  where  he  abode  fifteen  years.  The  cause  of  his  migration 
  was  a  call  from  God  (Acts  7:2-4).  There  is  no  mention  of  this 
  first  call  in  the  Old  Testament;  it  is  implied,  however,  in  Gen. 
  12.  While  they  tarried  at  Haran,  Terah  died  at  the  age  of  205 
  years.  Abram  now  received  a  second  and  more  definite  call 
  accompanied  by  a  promise  from  God  (Gen.  12:1,2);  whereupon  he 
  took  his  departure,  taking  his  nephew  Lot  with  him  "not  knowing 
  whither  he  went"  (Heb.  11:8).  He  trusted  implicitly  to  the 
  guidance  of  Him  who  had  called  him 
 
  Abram  now  with  a  large  household  of  probably  a  thousand 
  souls,  entered  on  a  migratory  life,  and  dwelt  in  tents.  Passing 
  along  the  valley  of  the  Jabbok,  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  he  formed 
  his  first  encampment  at  Sichem  (Gen.  12:6),  in  the  vale  or 
  oak-grove  of  Moreh,  between  Ebal  on  the  north  and  Gerizim  on  the 
  south.  Here  he  received  the  great  promise,  "I  will  make  of  thee 
  a  great  nation,"  etc  (Gen.  12:2,3,7).  This  promise  comprehended 
  not  only  temporal  but  also  spiritual  blessings.  It  implied  that 
  he  was  the  chosen  ancestor  of  the  great  Deliverer  whose  coming 
  had  been  long  ago  predicted  (Gen.  3:15).  Soon  after  this  for 
  some  reason  not  mentioned,  he  removed  his  tent  to  the  mountain 
  district  between  Bethel,  then  called  Luz,  and  Ai  towns  about 
  two  miles  apart,  where  he  built  an  altar  to  "Jehovah."  He  again 
  moved  into  the  southern  tract  of  Palestine,  called  by  the 
  Hebrews  the  Negeb  and  was  at  length,  on  account  of  a  famine, 
  compelled  to  go  down  into  Egypt.  This  took  place  in  the  time  of 
  the  Hyksos,  a  Semitic  race  which  now  held  the  Egyptians  in 
  bondage.  Here  occurred  that  case  of  deception  on  the  part  of 
  Abram  which  exposed  him  to  the  rebuke  of  Pharaoh  (Gen.  12:18). 
  Sarai  was  restored  to  him  and  Pharaoh  loaded  him  with  presents, 
  recommending  him  to  withdraw  from  the  country.  He  returned  to 
  Canaan  richer  than  when  he  left  it  "in  cattle,  in  silver,  and 
  in  gold"  (Gen.  12:8;  13:2.  Comp.  Ps  105:13,  14).  The  whole 
  party  then  moved  northward,  and  returned  to  their  previous 
  station  near  Bethel.  Here  disputes  arose  between  Lot's  shepherds 
  and  those  of  Abram  about  water  and  pasturage.  Abram  generously 
  gave  Lot  his  choice  of  the  pasture-ground.  (Comp.  1  Cor.  6:7.) 
  He  chose  the  well-watered  plain  in  which  Sodom  was  situated,  and 
  removed  thither;  and  thus  the  uncle  and  nephew  were  separated. 
  Immediately  after  this  Abram  was  cheered  by  a  repetition  of  the 
  promises  already  made  to  him  and  then  removed  to  the  plain  or 
  "oak-grove"  of  Mamre,  which  is  in  Hebron.  He  finally  settled 
  here  pitching  his  tent  under  a  famous  oak  or  terebinth  tree, 
  called  "the  oak  of  Mamre"  (Gen.  13:18).  This  was  his  third 
  resting-place  in  the  land. 
 
  Some  fourteen  years  before  this  while  Abram  was  still  in 
  Chaldea,  Palestine  had  been  invaded  by  Chedorlaomer,  King  of 
  Elam,  who  brought  under  tribute  to  him  the  five  cities  in  the 
  plain  to  which  Lot  had  removed.  This  tribute  was  felt  by  the 
  inhabitants  of  these  cities  to  be  a  heavy  burden,  and  after 
  twelve  years  they  revolted.  This  brought  upon  them  the  vengeance 
  of  Chedorlaomer,  who  had  in  league  with  him  four  other  kings.  He 
  ravaged  the  whole  country,  plundering  the  towns,  and  carrying 
  the  inhabitants  away  as  slaves.  Among  those  thus  treated  was 
  Lot  Hearing  of  the  disaster  that  had  fallen  on  his  nephew, 
  Abram  immediately  gathered  from  his  own  household  a  band  of  318 
  armed  men,  and  being  joined  by  the  Amoritish  chiefs  Mamre,  Aner, 
  and  Eshcol,  he  pursued  after  Chedorlaomer,  and  overtook  him  near 
  the  springs  of  the  Jordan.  They  attacked  and  routed  his  army, 
  and  pursued  it  over  the  range  of  Anti-Libanus  as  far  as  to 
  Hobah,  near  Damascus,  and  then  returned,  bringing  back  all  the 
  spoils  that  had  been  carried  away  Returning  by  way  of  Salem, 
  i.e.,  Jerusalem,  the  king  of  that  place  Melchizedek,  came  forth 
  to  meet  them  with  refreshments.  To  him  Abram  presented  a  tenth 
  of  the  spoils,  in  recognition  of  his  character  as  a  priest  of 
  the  most  high  God  (Gen.  14:18-20). 
 
  In  a  recently-discovered  tablet,  dated  in  the  reign  of  the 
  grandfather  of  Amraphel  (Gen.  14:1),  one  of  the  witnesses  is 
  called  "the  Amorite,  the  son  of  Abiramu,"  or  Abram. 
 
  Having  returned  to  his  home  at  Mamre,  the  promises  already 
  made  to  him  by  God  were  repeated  and  enlarged  (Gen.  13:14).  "The 
  word  of  the  Lord"  (an  expression  occurring  here  for  the  first 
  time)  "came  to  him"  (15:1).  He  now  understood  better  the  future 
  that  lay  before  the  nation  that  was  to  spring  from  him  Sarai, 
  now  seventy-five  years  old  in  her  impatience,  persuaded  Abram 
  to  take  Hagar,  her  Egyptian  maid,  as  a  concubine,  intending  that 
  whatever  child  might  be  born  should  be  reckoned  as  her  own 
  Ishmael  was  accordingly  thus  brought  up  and  was  regarded  as  the 
  heir  of  these  promises  (Gen.  16).  When  Ishmael  was  thirteen 
  years  old  God  again  revealed  yet  more  explicitly  and  fully  his 
  gracious  purpose;  and  in  token  of  the  sure  fulfilment  of  that 
  purpose  the  patriarch's  name  was  now  changed  from  Abram  to 
  Abraham  (Gen.  17:4,5),  and  the  rite  of  circumcision  was 
  instituted  as  a  sign  of  the  covenant.  It  was  then  announced  that 
  the  heir  to  these  covenant  promises  would  be  the  son  of  Sarai, 
  though  she  was  now  ninety  years  old  and  it  was  directed  that 
  his  name  should  be  Isaac.  At  the  same  time,  in  commemoration  of 
  the  promises,  Sarai's  name  was  changed  to  Sarah.  On  that 
  memorable  day  of  God's  thus  revealing  his  design,  Abraham  and 
  his  son  Ishmael  and  all  the  males  of  his  house  were  circumcised 
  (Gen.  17).  Three  months  after  this  as  Abraham  sat  in  his  tent 
  door,  he  saw  three  men  approaching.  They  accepted  his  proffered 
  hospitality,  and  seated  under  an  oak-tree,  partook  of  the  fare 
  which  Abraham  and  Sarah  provided.  One  of  the  three  visitants  was 
  none  other  than  the  Lord,  and  the  other  two  were  angels  in  the 
  guise  of  men.  The  Lord  renewed  on  this  occasion  his  promise  of  a 
  son  by  Sarah,  who  was  rebuked  for  her  unbelief.  Abraham 
  accompanied  the  three  as  they  proceeded  on  their  journey.  The 
  two  angels  went  on  toward  Sodom;  while  the  Lord  tarried  behind 
  and  talked  with  Abraham,  making  known  to  him  the  destruction 
  that  was  about  to  fall  on  that  guilty  city.  The  patriarch 
  interceded  earnestly  in  behalf  of  the  doomed  city.  But  as  not 
  even  ten  righteous  persons  were  found  in  it  for  whose  sake  the 
  city  would  have  been  spared,  the  threatened  destruction  fell 
  upon  it  and  early  next  morning  Abraham  saw  the  smoke  of  the 
  fire  that  consumed  it  as  the  "smoke  of  a  furnace"  (Gen. 
  19:1-28). 
 
  After  fifteen  years'  residence  at  Mamre,  Abraham  moved 
  southward,  and  pitched  his  tent  among  the  Philistines,  near  to 
  Gerar.  Here  occurred  that  sad  instance  of  prevarication  on  his 
  part  in  his  relation  to  Abimelech  the  King  (Gen.  20).  (See  {ABIMELECH}.)  Soon  after  this  event,  the  patriarch  left 
  the  vicinity  of  Gerar,  and  moved  down  the  fertile  valley  about 
  25  miles  to  Beer-sheba.  It  was  probably  here  that  Isaac  was 
  born,  Abraham  being  now  an  hundred  years  old  A  feeling  of 
  jealousy  now  arose  between  Sarah  and  Hagar,  whose  son,  Ishmael, 
  was  no  longer  to  be  regarded  as  Abraham's  heir.  Sarah  insisted 
  that  both  Hagar  and  her  son  should  be  sent  away  This  was  done 
  although  it  was  a  hard  trial  to  Abraham  (Gen.  21:12).  (See  HAGAR 
  ¯T0001583;  {ISHMAEL}.) 
 
  At  this  point  there  is  a  blank  in  the  patriarch's  history  of 
  perhaps  twenty-five  years.  These  years  of  peace  and  happiness 
  were  spent  at  Beer-sheba.  The  next  time  we  see  him  his  faith  is 
  put  to  a  severe  test  by  the  command  that  suddenly  came  to  him  to 
  go  and  offer  up  Isaac,  the  heir  of  all  the  promises,  as  a 
  sacrifice  on  one  of  the  mountains  of  Moriah.  His  faith  stood  the 
  test  (Heb.  11:17-19).  He  proceeded  in  a  spirit  of  unhesitating 
  obedience  to  carry  out  the  command;  and  when  about  to  slay  his 
  son,  whom  he  had  laid  on  the  altar,  his  uplifted  hand  was 
  arrested  by  the  angel  of  Jehovah,  and  a  ram,  which  was  entangled 
  in  a  thicket  near  at  hand,  was  seized  and  offered  in  his  stead. 
  From  this  circumstance  that  place  was  called  Jehovah-jireh, 
  i.e.,  "The  Lord  will  provide."  The  promises  made  to  Abraham  were 
  again  confirmed  (and  this  was  the  last  recorded  word  of  God  to 
  the  patriarch);  and  he  descended  the  mount  with  his  son,  and 
  returned  to  his  home  at  Beer-sheba  (Gen.  22:19),  where  he 
  resided  for  some  years,  and  then  moved  northward  to  Hebron. 
 
  Some  years  after  this  Sarah  died  at  Hebron,  being  127  years 
  old  Abraham  acquired  now  the  needful  possession  of  a 
  burying-place,  the  cave  of  Machpelah,  by  purchase  from  the  owner 
  of  it  Ephron  the  Hittite  (Gen.  23);  and  there  he  buried  Sarah. 
  His  next  care  was  to  provide  a  wife  for  Isaac,  and  for  this 
  purpose  he  sent  his  steward,  Eliezer,  to  Haran  (or  Charran,  Acts 
  7:2),  where  his  brother  Nahor  and  his  family  resided  (Gen. 
  11:31).  The  result  was  that  Rebekah,  the  daughter  of  Nahor's  son 
  Bethuel,  became  the  wife  of  Isaac  (Gen.  24).  Abraham  then 
  himself  took  to  wife  Keturah,  who  became  the  mother  of  six  sons, 
  whose  descendants  were  afterwards  known  as  the  "children  of  the 
  east"  (Judg.  6:3),  and  later  as  "Saracens."  At  length  all  his 
  wanderings  came  to  an  end  At  the  age  of  175  years,  100  years 
  after  he  had  first  entered  the  land  of  Canaan,  he  died,  and  was 
  buried  in  the  old  family  burying-place  at  Machpelah  (Gen. 
  25:7-10). 
 
  The  history  of  Abraham  made  a  wide  and  deep  impression  on  the 
  ancient  world,  and  references  to  it  are  interwoven  in  the 
  religious  traditions  of  almost  all  Eastern  nations.  He  is  called 
  "the  friend  of  God"  (James  2:23),  "faithful  Abraham"  (Gal.  3:9), 
  "the  father  of  us  all"  (Rom.  4:16). 
 
 
  From  Hitchcock's  Bible  Names  Dictionary  (late  1800's)  [hitchcock]: 
 
  Abraham,  father  of  a  great  multitude 
 




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