Abraham—A Friend of God

ONE of the places where people went to live after the Flood was called Ur. It became an important city with some nice homes in it. But the people there worshiped false gods. That was the way they did in Baʹbel too. The people in Ur and Baʹbel were not like Noah and his son Shem, who kept on serving Jehovah.

Finally, 350 years after the flood, faithful Noah died. It was just two years later that the man you see in this picture was born. He was a very special person to God. His name was Abraham. He lived with his family in that city of Ur.

One day Jehovah told Abraham: ‘Leave Ur and your relatives, and go to a country I will show you.’ Did Abraham obey God and leave behind all the comforts of Ur? Yes, he did. And it was because Abraham always obeyed God that he came to be known as God’s friend.

Some of Abraham’s family went along with him when he left Ur. His father Teʹrah did. So did his nephew Lot. And, of course, Abraham’s wife Sarah went too. In time they all arrived at a place called Haʹran, where Teʹrah died. They were far away from Ur.

After a while Abraham and his household left Haʹran and came to the land called Caʹnaan. There Jehovah said: ‘This is the land that I will give to your children.’ Abraham stayed in Caʹnaan and lived in tents.

God began to help Abraham so that he came to have great flocks of sheep and other animals and hundreds of servants. But he and Sarah did not have any children of their own.

When Abraham was 99 years old, Jehovah said: ‘I promise that you will become father to many nations of people.’ But how could this happen, since Abraham and Sarah were now too old to have a child?