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Timeline for Abraham

Today, we will take an in-depth look at Sarah. I know, she's had a lot of flack: for one thing she actually asked her husband to take on a concubine—Hagar is her name if you didn't already know. (Incidentally, Hagar was an Egyptian slave. Abraham received her as one of the gifts by the King when Abraham took a detour and visited Egypt.)

Did you know Sarah’s name also was not always Sarah—which means “my princess”? It used to be “Sarai” (without the "h" or "heh" sound) meaning the “dominant one.” 

Was her initial name a reflection of her relationship with her husband? Was this how she got Abraham to take on “Hagar, her maid servant, so they could have a child? Because she was the dominant one? Perhaps Sarah too struggled and was unable to get her miracle because of her domineering sprit. 

But, God in His Love and Grace changed her name to Sarah—again by adding the Hebrew alphabet, “heh”, (as He did with Abraham's name,) and breathed His life into her name and changing it to Sarah.

Even from here I see the picture of the deadness of our bodies without the breath of God in our lives.

The next person we’ll look at today is “Nahor.” He was Abraham’s father. Abraham was living in the land of Ur when God spoke to him and asked him to leave (with his wife Sarah) and move to Canaan. (For accuracy’s sake why don’t you read the passage in Genesis again below.)

12 Now the Lord had said to Abram:

“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
² I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
³ I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

In case you wondering how far Abraham was wandering when he left UR below is the map of the region.

Map of UR

It seems so unlike God to ask Abraham to take off for the Promised Land without his aging father. But does God ever do anything without good reason? So, keeping up with our significance of names issue in the Bible let’s see what Terah means. Delay! 

“Terah” means “delay”! Perhaps when God told Abraham to leave He wanted his beloved Abraham to reach the promise without delay. But as history  went, Abraham left Ur not only with “Delay” in tow, but also with his nephew Lot, who cause him a “lot” (pun intended) of problems.

Next week we will look at other names : Peter, James and John, in particular. Have you ever wondered why Jesus chose these three out of the twelve as His inner circle? Did their names perhaps, play a part in the redemption story?