The Bible: Commentary and Controversy

When Abraham is one hundred years old, God fulfills his prophecy. Sara, who now is 90 years old, conceives and gives birth to a baby boy, who Abraham, his father/uncle, names Isaac. Subsequently, Sarah sees “the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking.” Sarah goes to Abraham and tells him to “drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son Isaac.”

This gives Abraham a problem. But God talks to him and tells him to obey Sarah, because Isaac is his most important heir. But not to worry about Hagar and her son; God will make him a nation also, because he is Abraham’s descendant.

Abraham drives Hagar and her son out, giving her some bread and a skein of water. Hagar goes into the desert, and the water is soon used up. Knowing they will both soon die of thirst, Hagar puts the boy under the shade of a bush and goes some distance away, not wishing to see him die, and weeps. God hears the boy crying, and sends an angel to comfort Hagar, telling her God will make a great nation of Ishmael, her son. Then He opens her eyes, and she sees a well of water, where she replenishes their supply and gives the lad a drink.

Ishmael goes on to become the patriarch of the Ishmaelites.

Nations spring from Abraham and his descendants like water, making me wonder why God chose him as His most important person in the first place. For example, it’s much different from the way He chose Noah, who was “a righteous man who walked with God.” We don’t hear anything like that about Abraham.

One source says “Abraham was chosen by God because of his character. He was not chosen because he was sinless or would live a sinless life after being chosen, but because he was the type of individual who would want to please God and raise his family with that same desire. We want to look at this verse concerning Abraham’s character and notice some qualities that all fathers would do well to emulate in their life.“

According to the bible, God says “I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.” I can’t find a reference to “what He has spoken about him,” so I don’t know what that is. As far as I can tell, God just sees something in Abraham, and knows he is the apex of the Jewish faith.

Maimonides suggests God chose Abraham because he came to the conclusion on his own that there was just one god, and that god required ethical behavior. This tells us Abraham chose God, instead of the other way around.