Saints Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees about the year 2000BC (I still prefer BC and AD, not CE and BCE). At Haran his father died, and at God's command Abraham moved to Canaan - the Promised Land.

God made a covenant with Abraham, even though he was of advanced age and childless, that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the dust of the earth.

He and his wife Sarah had a child in their old age, and they named him Isaac.

To test Abraham, God commanded him to take his only son Isaac, and to offer him up as a burnt offering at a place the Lord would show him. Abraham did this, taking firewood he made a sacrificial altar on which he laid the bound Isaac, and just as he raised the knife to slay his son, an angel of the Lord appeared to him and stopped him.

Then God revealed to Abraham the greatness of his posterity as a reward for his obedience to God's command.

Abraham later died at the very advanced age of 175 years.

Isaac was proclaimed the sole legal ancestor of God's chosen people. He married Rebekah, and they had two sons Esau and Jacob.

By disguising himself as Esau, Jacob deprived his elder brother Esau of his birthright, and then fled to his uncle Laban at Haran, when he heard that Esau was threatening to kill him in revenge.

His uncle Laban gave his two daughters Leah and Rachel to Jacob as his wives. Jacob had twelve sons, who became the ancestors of the twelve tribes of the Hebrew people. (See Genesis Chapters 12-28)