Abraham

In the Old Testament, the founder of the Jewish nation and one of the Jewish patriarchs. In his early life he was called Abram. God promised him heirs and land for his people in Canaan (Israel), renamed him Abraham, and tested his faith by a command (later retracted) to sacrifice his son Isaac.

Still childless at the age of 76, Abraham subsequently had a son (Ishmael) with his wife's maidservant Hagar, and then, at the age of 100, a son (Isaac) with his wife Sarah. When Abraham was 99, God made a covenant with him, saying that he would be the father of many nations, and that male circumcision would be a sign of that covenant (Genesis 17:1–14). This, and the promise of land in Canaan, was fulfilled when the descendants of Abraham's grandson Jacob were led out of Egypt by Moses.