WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

Abraham
    n 1: 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; "Judaism, Christianity, and Islam each has a special
         claim on Abraham" [syn: Abraham, Ibrahim]

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary:

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).


Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (late 1800's):

Abraham, father of a great multitude