Abraham ~ cont. A Short Story

When his people had argued with him he said, ‘Will you argue with me about God, who has granted me guidance? I do not fear your idols, unless my Lord so willed. My Lord has knowledge of all things. Will you ignore all warnings? And why should I fear your idols when you are not afraid of serving idols never sanctioned by God? Which of us is more likely to find salvation? Tell me if you are certain of the truth. Those with faith who do not taint their faith with wrongdoing shall surely achieve salvation, for they follow the right path.’
He said to the people, ‘Serve God and fear Him. That would be best for you, if you only knew it. You worship idols besides God and fabricate illusion. Those whom you serve besides God cannot give you your daily bread. So seek the bounty of God, and worship Him. Give thanks to Him, for to Him you will return.
‘If you deny me, other societies before you also denied their apostles. An apostle’s only duty is to give clear warning.’
‘Is this the truth you keep preaching,’ they asked, ‘or is it but a jest?’
‘Indeed,’ he answered, ‘your Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. It was he who made them as I bear witness. By the Lord, I will overthrow all your idols as soon as you turn your backs.’
Their prompt reply was, ‘Kill him,’ and ‘Burn him.’
He raised his eyes to the stars and said, ‘I am sick.’ And his people turned their backs and went off.
When he stole away to their idols he spoke to them saying, ‘Why not eat your offerings? Can you not speak?’ With that he fell upon them, striking them down with his right hand. He broke them all in pieces, except their supreme god, so that they might consult with him.
‘Who has done this to our deities?’ they asked. ‘He must surely be a wicked man.’
Others said, ‘We know the youth Abraham derides them.’
They responded, ‘Let us all confront him face to face with them as witnesses.’
The people came running to the scene. He said, ‘Would you worship what you created with your own hands, when it was God who created you and all that you have made?’
‘Abraham,’ they said, ‘was it you who did this to our deities?’
‘No,’ he replied. ‘It was their chief who struck them. Ask them, if they are prepared to speak.’
Thus they were prompted to confer among themselves and argued among themselves, ‘You are clearly the ones who did wrong.’ Confounded though they were they said to Abraham, ‘You know they cannot speak.’
He answered, ‘So would you worship them, instead of God, when they can neither help nor harm you? Shame on your idols and on you. Have you just no sense?’
They replied, ‘Build a pyre and avenge our gods when we toss him into the blazing flames since we must punish him.’
He thought, ‘I will take refuse with my Lord; He will give me guidance. Lord, grant me a righteous son.’
‘Fire be cool to Abraham, even keep him safe,’ and from the flames, God delivered him. Surely in this were signs for true believers. He said, ‘You have chosen idols instead of God but your love of them will last only in this shallow life. On the Day of Resurrection you shall disown one another, and you shall curse yourselves. The Fire shall be your home and none shall help you.’
He along with his two brothers and his wife Sarai as she was then known left Ur with Terah his father and settled in Harran.
‘I fear, father, that a scourge will befall you from the Lord of Mercy and you will become one of Satan’s host.’
He replied, ‘Do you still renounce my gods, Abram? Desist, or I will stone you. Be gone from my house this instant.’
‘Peace be with you,’ said Abram, ‘I shall implore my Lord to forgive you, for to me He has been gracious. For myself I will not live with you or with your idols. I will pray to my Lord, per chance my prayers to my Lord may not be in vain.’
There his father, known by the name Azar died at the age of two hundred and five. The Lord spoke to Abram saying, ‘Leave this country, your kin, your father’s house and go to a country I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I shall bless you and make your name so great it will be used in blessings. All the peoples on earth will wish to be blessed as you are blessed.’
That was quite a few years ago when Abram was still only seventy-five. As he traveled with his wife Sarai whose name means ‘mockery’ the land was stricken by a famine and Abram went to Egypt to survive. His wife was so attractive the Egyptians even mentioned her beauty to Pharaoh and she was taken into the royal household. Having been told Sarai was Abram’s sister, Pharaoh treated him well and Abram acquired sheep, cattle, and donkeys, slaves and camels. When Pharaoh discovered that the two were husband and wife he sent them on their way with all the possesses he had acquired.
Abram had become very rich in livestock and in gold and silver and after leaving Egypt, the word of the Lord came to him again in a vision and said, ‘Abram, do not be afraid. I am you shield. Your reward will be very great.’
Remembering his prayer from long ago Abram replied, ‘Lord God, what can you truly give me, seeing I am still childless. The heir to my household is Eliezer of Damascus. You have given me no children, and so my heir must be a slave born in my house.’
The word of the Lord returned to him saying, ‘This man will not be your heir. Your heir will be a child of your own body. Look up at the sky, and count the stars, if you can, so many will your descendants be.’
Abram’s wife had borne him no children. However, she had an Egyptian slave-girl named Hagar and she said to Abram, ‘The Lord has not let me have a child. Take my slave girl perhaps through her I shall have a son.’
Abram agreed to what his wife said and Sarai brought the Egyptian girl Hagar to her husband and gave her to him as a wife. Time revealed that Hagar had conceived and her pregnancy became known. Words were exchanged and Hagar found herself submitting to an uncertain future perhaps outside the household of Abram.
The angel of the Lord came to Hagar while she was alone and said, ‘You are with child and will bear a son. You are to name him Ishmael, because God has heard.’ And Hagar bore Abram a son, and he was named according to the vision. Abram was eighty-six years old when she bore Ishmael.
Early one morning Abraham took some food and a full water skin and gave them to Hagar. He set the child on her shoulder and sent her away and she wandered about in the wilderness. When the water in the skin was finished she placed the child under a bush and ran to a high vantage point. Ishmael cried out from where he had been laid and Hagar ran to another high point but found no sign of help. She passed seven times in all between the two points until coming to a stop she heard an angels voice, ‘What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, God has heard the child crying where you laid him. Go; lift the child in you arms. I will make him a great nation.’ When she picked him up God opened her eyes and she saw a well full of water and filling the water-skin gave the child drink.