Overview
Abraham
Quick Reference
In the Bible, the Hebrew patriarch from whom all Jews trace their descent (Genesis 11:27–25:10), directed by God to leave his own country for another land. In Genesis 22 he is ordered by God to sacrifice his son Isaac as a test of faith, a command later revoked. Abraham's bosom is where the righteous dead are said to lie at peace; the term comes from Luke 66:22.
Abraham man a former or occasional inmate of the Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem in London, licensed to beg on his discharge, or a similarly licensed beggar discharged from a charitable institution (perhaps in allusion to the biblical story of the beggar Lazarus in Luke 16). The term was current in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Subjects: Religion
