The Amazing Abraham

[bbyrd009]

The name Abram in the Bible

There's only one man named Abram in the Bible, namely the famous son of Terah, who left Ur of the Chaldeans and headed for a land which YHWH would show him (Genesis 11:31). Since Abram is the first complex character in the Bible, a lot of the Bible's primeurs are his. However, Abram is typically not the first to call upon the name of YHWH, because that went on as far back as the generation of Enosh, the grandson of Adam and Eve (4:26).

He was also not the first to worship the one and only God, because when he arrived in Canaan he found Melchizedek well engaged as priest of El Elyon (14:18). He was also not the first to be called righteous (15:6), because that was Noah (6:9) and in retrospect Abel (Matthew 23:35).

Abram is nevertheless the first on record to be approached by the pre-incarnate Word of the Lord(15:1), the first to be called Hebrew (14:13) and the first to...
The amazing name Abram: meaning and etymology

 

[bbyrd009]

"Abram is traditionally dated very early in the second millennium BC (around 1900 BC) but since Abram's story almost wholly comprises events that mean much more than their simple occurrence (most of what happens to Abram has a strong symbolic significance) it seems much more likely that the literary character of Abram was never intended to portray one historical individual but rather a turning point in the history of humanity in general (read our article on the name Abraham for more on this). Jesus' enigmatic statement that Abraham isn't dead but alive (Matthew 22:32) also suggests that Abra(ha)m is more than just a historical person. And the progression of generations between Noah and Israel suggests the same:

According to Genesis 11:10-26, when Abraham was born, in the year 292 AF (AF = After the Flood), Noah was still alive and would live for another 58 years (Noah died in 350 AF, at age 950). Noah's son and Abraham's ancestor Shem died in 502 AF, at the age of 600, and when that happened, Abraham had already expired at the age of 175, in the year 467 AF. Abraham was survived not only by his great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather Shem, also by his great-great-great-great-great-grandfather Shelah (who died in 470 AF at age 433) and his great-great-great-great-grandfather Eber (who died in 531 AF at age 464)...

The first one to die after the flood was Abraham's great-great-great-grandfather Peleg, in the year 340 AF (at the age of 239, one year before Abraham's grandfather, Nahor, who died at age 148). That means that until Abraham was 48 years old, no male in his direct line had died since the flood. They were all still there — eleven proverbial patriarchs from Noah to Abraham, living curiously parallel lives and..."
ibid

interesting take

 

[bbyrd009]

conclusion

"Much more plausible is that both our names consist of אבר plus הם (meaning they or them) in case of Abraham and just ם (meaning their) in case of Abram. That means that Abram and Abraham basically mean the same: Abar Of Them, for Abraham and Their Abar for Abram (and read our article on the name Abraham for a possible explanation of the difference)

The core of both names comes from the root אבר ('br), meaning to be strong or to protect:

Abarim Publications' online Biblical Hebrew Dictionary

אבר"

ok wow

 

[bbyrd009]

"
Terah famously left Ur of the Chaldeans — Ur means light and the Chaldeans were the priestly caste of Babylon; in other words: Terah was not simply a tourist; he had said goodbye to his religion. Terah died in Haran (means Mountainous and is possibly an image of multiple concentrations of wisdom), but YHWH spoke to his son Abram and he pressed on.

Abram traversed (יעבר, same as "hebrewed") the world as far as Shechem (means Sense Of Responsibility) and the oak of Moreh (Genesis 12:6; Moreh means Teacher and is related to the word Torah) and by the time Abram was called "the Hebrew", he was living at the oaks of Mamre (Genesis 14:13; Mamre probably means Bitter or Strong and is related to the name Mary).

In English all this oak-dwelling sounds like a pretty sturdy affair but in Hebrew it reveals that academically, Abram wasn't doing very well — see our article on the word אלון ('allon), meaning oak; an unmistakable symbol of weakness and foolishness..."
The amazing name Hebrew: meaning and etymology