The call of Abraham marks the beginning of the story of the people of Israel. He leaves his home city of Ur in Babylonia and travels to somewhere new. God tells him that this is the land he will give to his descendants, and so a new chapter in God�...

The characters of Abraham and Lot come out very clearly in this brief story. They are both substantial figures, with large numbers of livestock and large households. When competition for resources leads to conflict, it's Abraham who suggests a p...

This passage follows a rather complicated account of skirmishes between nine 'kings' – we're probably better thinking of them as tribal chieftains – which end up with Abraham's nephew Lot and his household being taken prisoner.

The story of Hagar is one of the Bible's small domestic tragedies. It arises when Abraham's faith wavers. He has believed God will give him a son, but nothing seems to be happening so with Sarah's encouragement he takes matters into hi...

According to the story, Abraham's faith in God has by now been severely tested. It is 13 years since the birth of Ishmael, and there is no sign of a son for Sarah. Now the sign of circumcision is to be imposed on all the males of his household a...

This chapter begins a story of high drama. Sitting at the entrance to his tent, Abraham receives angelic visitors, sometimes envisaged as representing the Trinity, as in the famous icon painted by Andrei Rublev in the 15th century.

The men – only two of them by now – who'd visited Abraham were now with Lot. They were faced with sexual assault, which Lot tries to avert by offering his virgin daughters instead. The potential offence against the ancient code of hospital...

One of the shocking things about some of the Old Testament stories is how routinely women are treated as property. This was normal in the ancient world, but implicit in the way these stories are told in the Bible is God's condemnation of this be...

It should be party time. We’ve journeyed with Abraham and Sarah through the rough path of infertility, seemingly unfulfilled promises and a very long wait -- by anyone’s standards. But after 25 years, Isaac is now born! God has fulfilled his prom...

If there’s anything you’ve picked up in the story of Abraham, it’s likely to be the significance of his role as a father of great nations, and that of his son Isaac through which this promise will come to pass. You don’t need me to tell you h...

Today we say goodbye to Sarah, with whom you've perhaps had a rollercoaster relationship as you've read the text. We've seen her good moments and her bad moments. She's a very human person caught up here in the purposes of God. A...

There are a few surprises in today’s reading – if not to us, who may be very familiar with it, then certainly to its characters, and its first hearers.

As famine pushes Isaac out of the land he loved, we head into two mini-narratives that feel strangely familiar. The first is the promise of God to Isaac. Isaac hears God for himself, receiving a similar promise to that of his father – an assurance ...

This story takes place as tensions between Jacob and Esau are rising. It's becoming clearer that Jacob is the son through whom God will make a nation and bless the world. His dream of a ladder up to heaven with angels going up and down is a symb...

Jacob's brother Esau has been marrying women from Canaan, who worshipped other gods. Jacob has been sent on a long journey to find a wife from his own people. Those were very different times: polygamy was standard, and the individualism, persona...

The opening words of the Bible are perhaps the most famous ever written: in the beginning, God created. The rest of the chapter unfolds as a picture of every part of creation being carefully made to fulfil its own purpose. There's a refrain that...

Matthew 8 contains a series of miracles and encounters with Jesus, each of which illustrates something of his power and his character. This little story is multi-layered. In demonstrating his power over the tempest, it refers back to Old Testament im...

The hillfort of Masada overlooks the iconic Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth. This beautiful landscape is the setting where patriarchs like Abraham would have travelled. It is also the backdrop to Bible stories; Sodom and Gomorrah were here, wher...

Christmas carols are full of Bible truth. Knowing the biblical background helps us sing with understanding.

In the first few verses of chapter 22 John writes of the 'river of the water of life' flowing from the throne of God, down the street of the city, and of the 'tree of life' on either side of the river.