Abraham

Abraham is the source of the three monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. He is the ancestor of the Jewish people; for Christians he is the father of faith (
Romans 4.1-3); in Islam he set up the Kaaba in Mecca and is the father of the Arab people through Ishmael.

Abraham is renowned as the first monotheist, who came to the truth of the one God despite growing up in an idol-maker’s household. Then he left home at God’s command and obediently followed to an unknown land. He put his life and his future in God’s hands, trusting that He would provide. Though sojourning as a stranger among the peoples of Canaan, he showed remarkable compassion for them, particularly when he interceded for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Father Moon teaches that God entrusted His entire providence to Abraham, and looked to him as a partner to make the conditions on earth needed to advance the work of salvation. Therefore, every act, every offering, every prayer of Abraham was fraught with significance. When Abraham did well, as when he left home at God’s command without hesitation, God’s providence advanced.

When Abraham made a mistake, as when he failed to cut the birds in two at the important sacrifice described in Genesis chapter 15, God’s providence was set back and prolonged. When there was a quarrel in Abraham’s family, as between Sarah and Hagar, it created a negative condition for enmity between Jews and Arabs that has persisted to this day. Abraham passed through many trials in his walk of faith. The culmination of these, when God asked him to sacrifice his son, is treated in the next section.