30 North LaSalle Street, Suite 2600 Chicago, IL 60602-3356



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30 North LaSalle Street, Suite 2600  

Chicago, IL 60602-3356 

info@ifcj.org 

 ifcj.org 



 800-486-8844



Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, President

Obeying God

A

braham (who was first known 



as Abram) grew up in an area 

known for worshiping other gods.  

Jewish teachers believe that Abraham’s 

father not only worshiped other gods 

but that he also created and sold stone 

idols for people to worship!  But 

Abraham believed in the one true God.

One day when Abraham was 

seventy-five years old, God commanded 

him to leave the place where he had 

grown up and settle in an area that 

God would show him.  Along with this 

command, God also promised Abraham 

three things:

• I will make you a great nation;

• I will make your name great;

• I will bless those who bless you

 

  and curse those who curse you.



All of his life Abraham had heard 

about many gods, and he had lived in 

the big city of Ur.  So it was not going 

to be easy for him to leave the life he 

knew, the family he loved, and the 

faith he had been raised on to move to 

a whole new place.  This was a tough 

choice for Abraham! 

Not only that, but Abraham and 

his wife, Sarah (first known as Sarai), 

didn’t have any children.  

At that time Sarah was sixty-five, 

considered even at that time as too old 

to become a mother.  But Abraham 

didn’t let any of these things keep him 

from following God’s call. 



Think about something difficult 

you had to do.  How did God help 

you through this tough time?

Special Promises

Along with his wife Sarah and his 

nephew Lot, Abraham set out for an 

area called Canaan.  As God led him, 

Abraham stopped often to thank God 

and worship Him.  Abraham was 

blessed with so many livestock that he 

had to find a different area to live in 

than his nephew Lot so they could

Christians believe he started the family 

of faith that eventually led to the birth 

of Jesus.  (You can read about Jesus’ 

family line in Matthew 1:1–17.)  People 

of both faiths respect Abraham as a 

man who knew God personally and 

obeyed him even when it was hard.  He 

wasn’t perfect, but he was a faithful 

man who left an incredible faith story. 

Even though he had no home, no 

children, and was not sure how God 

was going to keep His promises to  

him, Abraham chose to believe God.  

And because of that one decision,  

God accepted Abraham’s faith and gave 

him the gift of righteousness:  “Abram 



believed the L

ord

, and he [God] 

credited it to him as righteousness” 

(Genesis 15:6). 

And that is one important belief that 

Christians and Jews share—that we can 

have a relationship with God based on 

our faith in Him.



Why do you think Abraham is 

considered a great man of faith? 

How can you be known as a person 

of faith?

ILLUSTRATIONS:  Masaru Horie/iStockphotos.com



Abraham was a very important man.  He lived in Israel 

thousands of years ago, and he had a special relationship 

with God.  Both Christians and Jewish people consider 

Abraham one of the main people in their faith history. 

In fact, Abraham is known as the Father of our Faith.  

His special relationship with God and the promises they 

made to each other still are important to us today.  

Abraham—


Our 

Father of Faith



(Continued inside)

Abraham—Our Father of Faith




each find enough land to feed their 

animals.  Abraham and Sarah then 

moved to Hebron and settled in an area 

called Mamre.

When they were deciding who would 

move where, Abraham allowed Lot to 

choose first.  Lot picked the best land

but Abraham wasn’t upset.  He trusted 

that God would keep his promise to give 

him all the 

land in that 

area—the 

land that 

was later to 

become the 

nation of 

Israel.

Once settled in their God-appointed 



land, God spoke to Abraham, reassuring 

him that God was his “shield” and 

“reward.”  When Abraham told God that 

he was worried that he still didn’t have 

any children, God 

told him to look up 

at the night sky—

Abraham would have 

as many children, 

grandchildren, and 

great-grandchildren 

as there are stars in 

the sky.  That’s a lot 

of family members!

God and 

Abraham made a 

special promise with 

each other, and God 

told him that the 

Israelites would one

day be slaves in a 

foreign land for 400 

years.  He also told Abraham that one 

day He would rescue them.  Then God 

promised the land to Abraham’s family.  

Many people consider this the beginning 

of the nation of Israel.

When Abraham was worried about 

still not having any children, he 

talked to God about it.  How did God respond?  

When have you talked to God about your 

worries?  How did He answer you?

The Promised Son 

Ten years had passed since Abraham and 

Sarah arrived in Canaan and since God 

had promised they would have a child.  

But they still had no sons or daughters.  

So Sarah decided to find another way to 

have a child.  She asked her servant Hagar 

to have a baby with Abraham.  But when 

Hagar became pregnant, she was mean to 

Sarah and mocked her.  So Sarah treated 

Hagar badly, and Hagar ran away.  But 

the Lord cared for 

Hagar, and told 

her that she would 

give birth to a son

Ishmael, and that his

family would also  

be too big to count. 

When Abraham 

was ninety-nine 

years old, the 

Lord came to him 

and made another 

promise.  During this 

conversation, God 

changed their names 

to Abraham and 

Sarah.  This was the 

first of many times 

in the Bible when God would give His 

people new names.  God also reassured 

Abraham and Sarah that even though they 

were old, Sarah would still have a child, a 

son they would call Isaac.

Abraham learned that God planned to 

destroy the nearby towns of Sodom and 

Gomorrah because the people living there 

were very sinful.  But Abraham asked 

God to spare the town if fifty good people 

were found living there.  

In one of the longest conversations

we read in the Bible between God and a 

man, Abraham kept lowering the number 

of good people that might allow the town 

to be spared. (See Genesis 18: 16–33.)  

When not even ten good men could 

be found, God destroyed the towns by 

raining fire on them.  Only Lot and his 

family were able to escape. 

In their old age, Sarah and Abraham  

finally had the child God had promised— 

a son named Isaac. Abraham was 100

years old when his son was born!  

When the boy was still young, God 

tested Abraham’s love and loyalty by 

asking him to sacrifice Isaac on an altar.

Faithfully, Abraham set out for Mount 

Moriah with his son.  Can you imagine 

how Abraham must have felt?

When God saw that Abraham was 

willing to obey this command, He 

provided a ram instead for the sacrifice 

at the last minute.  God blessed Abraham 

again for being willing to obey Him—

even when it was very, very difficult. 

Again, God promised Abraham that 

because of his faith and his obedience, 

God would bless him greatly.

Did God keep His promise to 

give Abraham and Sarah a son?  

How long did it take for God to keep this 

promise?  When have you had to wait a 

long time for something to happen?  How 

did it feel like while you were waiting?  

What do you think helped Abraham while 

he was waiting?

A Man of Faith

Sarah lived to be 127, and when she died, 

Abraham buried her in a cave he had 

bought.  Abraham lived to be 175, and 

when he died his sons Isaac and Ishmael

buried him in 

the cave with 

Sarah. 

Later on, 



Abraham and 

Sarah’s son 

Isaac and his

wife Rebekah, as well as the couple’s son 

Jacob and his wife Leah were buried in 

that cave too.  This place is now known 

as the Cave of the Patriarchs and is one of 

the most special and holy places in Israel.

Today Jews and Christians remember 

this great man.  Jews consider Abraham 

the father of the nation of Israel, and

(Continued on back page)

Abraham—Our Father of Faith



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