Prophet Abraham’s Many Covenants

Rabbi Allen Maller

Prophet Abraham is famous for the numerous ways God tested him especially the terrible tests of banishing his wife Hagar and his first born son Ishmael (Qur'an 2:124 & Genesis 9:9-21) and bringing his son to a special place as an offering to God. (Qur'an 37:100-113 & Genesis 22:1-24) Most Muslim commentators say the son, unnamed in the Qur'an, was Ishmael. Some Muslims assert it was Isaac.

Perhaps both participated in the test at different times, so that each son could produce descendants who in time would become a blessing for many other nations of the earth. (Genesis 22:16-18 & Qur'an 4:163) In any case, Abraham's test with his son became an iconic sign of faith and trust in God's will for Jews, Christians and Muslims.

In addition to his two sons, Prophet Abraham is unique in the numerous prophets God chose from among his descendants, whose names are recorded in the Bible and the Qur'an. With the exception of Balaam (and perhaps Melchizedek in Genesis 14:18), all Biblical prophets and most of the 25 prophets named in the Qur'an, are descendants of Abraham. “We did grant the Family of Abraham the Book, the Wisdom and a mighty (spiritual) kingdom.” (Qur'an 57:26)

The covenant between the parts (Genesis 15) is a national covenant, between God and the future Jewish People—Israel, and refers to God’s redemption of the future Israel from slavery in Egypt, that will take place centuries later. This is why it takes place in a vision dream.

The covenant of circumcision (Genesis 17), is a personal covenant, between God and Abraham’s family. Abraham and his first born son Ishmael will enter into it that very day, which is why it takes place while Abraham and Ishmael are awake. All of the Prophet’s of the Hebrew Bible, the Greek New Testament, and the Arabic Qur’an are descendants of Prophet Abraham.

The Qur'an states, “You have an excellent example to follow in Abraham.” (60:4) and “Follow the way of Abraham as people of pure faith.” (3:95) What makes Prophet Abraham an excellent example of pure faith according to three different religion’s Sacred Scriptures is that all three  scriptures proclaim Abraham to be the one “whom God chose to be His friend”: the Arabic Qur'an 4:125, the Hebrew Bible Isaiah 41:8; and the Greek New Testament James [the brother of Jesus] 2:23.

Prophet Abraham, “whom God chose to be His friend”, is as far as we know, also the only prophet to have two sons who were also prophets. And these two sons of Abraham, Prophet Ishmael and Prophet Isaac, are the only two Prophets who each had a descendant many many centuries later, who proclaimed a sacred scripture that has become the bases for the two largest religions in the whole world.

Prophet Abraham was the first person to be called a “Hebrew” in the Hebrew Bible (Genesis 14:13). The term Hebrew probably comes from the verb to go over a boundary, like the Euphrates or Jordan river, or to be a migrant. Ten generations later the Philistines in Canaan used the term “Hebrews” to refer to the 12 tribes of Israel: “The Philistine commanders asked, "What about these Hebrews?" (1 Samuel 29:3); and Prophet Jonah identified himself to non-Jewish sailers as “a Hebrew” (Jonah 1:9).

Prophet Abraham was the first Muslim Hebrew as Qur’an 3:67 states: “He (Abraham) was not Yahuudiyyan, "a Jew", nor Nasraaniyyan, "a Christian", but rather a Haniifan.” i.e. a monotheistic Hebrew believer submitting (Islam) to the one imageless God who created all space and time; and who made Prophet Abraham's descendants through Prophets Isaac and Jacob (Israel), into a great multitude of monotheists called the People of Israel-Banu Israel.

Prophet Isaiah said: “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he [Abraham] was only one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him. (Isaiah 51:1-2)

Prophet Isaiah also said: But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, are the offspring of Abraham, my friend;”  (Isaiah 41:8) So the biological offspring of Prophet Abraham (the Banu Israel) became the first ongoing monotheistic community when God rescued them from Egyptian oppression; and made an ongoing covenant with them at Mount Sinai. Prophet Abraham was not born a Jew, but his descendants from his grandson Jacob/Israel became the Banu Israel—Jewish People.

Amazingly both the Gospels and the Qur’an assert that their prophet’s name and role can be found in the the holy book of the Jewish People, who are both the direct physical and spiritual descendants of Prophet Abraham.

Thus, the Abraham Accords may, God willing, be the beginning of the fulfillment   of  the 2700 year old vision of Prophet Isaiah: “In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt, and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. In that day Israel  will join a three-party alliance with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing upon the heart. The LORD of Hosts will bless them saying, “Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance.” (Isaiah 19:23-5)