286. Abram is the earliest Biblical character who can be connected rather remotely and speculatively, to recorded world history. There is still no specific proof of this individual outside of the Bible, but these are the first clues that the Biblical world he lived in was the world as history knows it.
287. In the Biblical list of Abraham's ancestors (Gen. 11:10-26), many family names are the same as those of several towns around Haran. Abraham's relatives either took their names from the towns where they lived or were important enough to give their names to these towns. Abraham's father, Terah, who is said to have worshiped idols for several years (Josh. 24:2), moved his family from Ur to Haran. Terah lived there until he died at the age of 205.
288. Habiru (or "Hebrew") was a word of disparagement, probably meaning "the dusty ones." It did not refer to the Hebrew people in particular but rather to all the land-hungry Semites who led a nomadic life. In the Book of Genesis (14:13), Abraham is called "the Hebrew," and so this general name was finally limited to his descendants.
289. Abraham's journey southward from Haran led through the entire length of Canaan, through the Negeb Desert to Egypt, and finally northward again to the Promised Land. His caravans were not like the camel caravans seen today in the deserts of the Near East. It is possible that until he reached Egypt he traveled on foot, with no beasts of burden except perhaps a few donkeys.
290. Abram was given his new name, Abraham, when God came to him in his ninety-ninth year. At that time he had one son. The new name meant "father of many nations." Abraham must have been puzzled over how God would bring him into a full understanding of his new name with but one child when he was already quite old.
291. After Lot chose to travel to the lower Jordan Valley, he settled near the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. These cities were destroyed by what the Bible calls "brimstone and fire" (Gen. 19:24 KJV). No one knows for sure when the last volcano eruption took place in the Holy Land, but it may have been as recently as the Middle Ages. Geologists can see clear evidence that the Jordan Valley has been a center of volcanism in the past.
292. The remains of the Twin Cities of Sin have never been found, as of 2002. Myth has it that they lie buried beneath the Dead Sea. This theory may provide an explanation of why the Dead Sea area is rich in bitumen, or tar, supposedly left after the destructive "brimstone and fire." Bitumen was used in the Egyptian mummification process. Bitumen was also used for "tarring" houses and was one of the key trade items in this area.
293. The Sodom and Gomorrah story has always been useful as a moral tale of God destroying evil. But a subtext to the story has been even more influential. It is all about the sin to which the name Sodom is attached. This story has always been cited as one of the basic Biblical injunctions against homosexuality.
294. Abraham was given a covenant child as was promised to him by the three angels who visited and prophesized of the event. Sarah delivered a healthy infant son and they called him Isaac. He was a miracle-his mother was in her nineties and his father was one hundred!
295. Hagar was the servant of Sarah, Abraham's wife. She had become pregnant by Abraham and bore Ishmael. Sarah was jealous and treated her poorly and eventually Hagar was sent into the wilderness of Beer-sheba when Isaac was born. But God protected Hagar and her son and raised them up to be their own people. They were under Abraham's covenant, but Ishmael was not the promised son who would continue the lineage of the Hebrews.
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