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 (Genesis 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 (Genesis
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
(Genesis 11:31). The result was that Rebekah, the daughter of Nahor’s son
Bethuel, became the wife of Isaac (Genesis 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” (Judges
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 (Genesis 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” (Galatians 3:9), “the father of us all” (Romans 4:16).
- ABRAHAM’S BOSOM (Luke 16:22,23) refers to the custom of reclining
on couches at table, which was prevalent among the Jews, an arrangement
which brought the head of one person almost into the bosom of the one
who sat or reclined above him. To “be in Abraham’s bosom” thus meant to
enjoy happiness and rest (Matthew 8:11; Luke 16:23) at the banquet in
Paradise. (See BANQUET; MEALS.) - ABRAM exalted father. (see ABRAHAM.)
- ABRONAH R.V., one of Israel’s halting-places in the desert (Numbers
33:34,35), just before Ezion-gaber. In A.V., “Ebronah.” - ABSALOM father of peace; i.e., “peaceful” David’s son by Maacah (2
Samuel 3:3; comp. 1 Kings 1:6). He was noted for his personal beauty and
for the extra-ordinary profusion of the hair of his head (2 Samuel
14:25,26). The first public act of his life was the blood-revenge he executed