3, 4. (a) What illustrates how highly Jehovah evaluated the faith and confidence that Abraham put in him? (b) With what words did Jehovah bring his statement in Isaiah 41:8 to a grand climax?

³ That man of faith and action was from the city of Ur of the Chaldeans, and he was the first to be called a Hebrew. (Genesis 14:13) This designation came to be applied to his descendants of the nation of Israel. (Philippians 3:5) In view of his making Abraham his friend, Jehovah God also took him into some of His intimate matters. This is indicated by what is written in Genesis 18:17-19.

⁶ The Euphrates was the river that Abraham and his household crossed to enter the Promised Land. At the time of the crossing, Abraham was childless, although he had then reached the age of 75, and his wife was past the age of childbearing. (Genesis 12:1-5) Yet, in the face of such contrary circumstances, God said to obedient Abraham: “Look up, please, to the heavens and count the stars, if you are possibly able to count them. . . . So your seed will become.”​—Genesis 15:2-5.

7. (a) What is this covenant called? (b) In what year did it go into effect and with what event in Abraham’s life? (c) How many years was that before the Law covenant was made with the nation of Israel?

⁷ The covenant that Jehovah made with his “friend” we call the Abrahamic covenant. That covenant went into effect in 1943 B.C.E. when Abraham complied with God’s covenant requirements and crossed the Euphrates on his way to the Promised Land. In that year Jehovah God came under obligation to bless childless Abraham with “seed.” The Law that belonged to the covenant made with the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai came into being 430 years later, in 1513 B.C.E.​—Genesis 12:1-7; Exodus 24:3-8.