Was Abraham Pagan?

A week ago I made this statement to a friend of mine in our book club: “Abraham was not Hebrew before his covenant with God.” After a slightly normal heated conversation that we can have at times, on this particular occasion it turned into him later stating that I needed to disabuse myself of nefarious slander of our father in faith. Being slightly blown back by that comment I understood well that this individual was not looking to burn me at the stake. I believe he was deeply concerned that I was heading in a direction that could be contrary to the faith which can cut me off from my salvation. After a follow up conversation with him which I enjoyed. I always enjoy talking to him. I believe having people in our life that we can discuss topics and be comfortable to throw out ideas is a gift from God. What is even more of a gift is when you have a person who generally cares about your soul. In the case of soul-mates, they have you dive deeper into thinking about what it is that you say or do. For me, I ended up talking to various priests and even went to my spiritual advisor. What a gift. To contemplate God is also a blessing. So what did I conclude?

As I write this article, I feel that there still may be a conversation to be had, but I will begin here with my conclusion. My conclusion is as follows:

Abraham is Hebrew and belongs to 

the lineage of God's Covenant.

It cannot be denied that Abraham was Hebrew because we read in Genesis 14:13:

“A man who had escaped came 

and reported this to Abram the Hebrew.” 

How could I possibly think that Abraham was anything else but Hebrew? It would seem there could be no other interpretation of Scripture which is an authority of the Church. Well, I think a good question to ask is how do we interpret Scripture? We do so by the letter (literal), canonically and spiritually. For the letter or literal sense, all text in virtue of being written is literal, and it is viewed by St. Thomas as a necessary foundation when senses are being discussed. The canonical interpretation views the entire authorship of the Bible as being inspired by the Holy Spirit, and its hermeneutical golden rule is that every text in Scripture forms a part of a larger whole. Here is where the spiritual interpretation enters in what John Cassian, a Church Father recognized as christological, moral and eschatological. Uniting all of these we have the reading of the Catholic Church which is the literal in that we are taught what happens so that we can relate, act, and discover what awaits us. How can this be applied to Abraham?

There is no doubt, “Abram the Hebrew” in the literal sense means he is Hebrew. Canonically, however, we cannot fix this text, especially the word Hebrew, in time and space. I look to St Augustine who is a master in revealing the movements of the Holy Spirit in the Canon of Scripture. In his City of God in Book 16 chapter 11, the Saint explains in the context of this movement of our Salvation with the word Hebrew and how it is connected to Abraham. He explains that the family of Eber spoke the language once spoken by all mankind, but once languages were divided St. Augustine explains,

“This explains why this language was thenceforward called Hebrew.

For at that point it had to be distinguished from the other tongues by a proper name.”

St. Augustine in his Book talks more about the preservation of a language of a nation, but he does go on to call it the “Hebrew Nation.” This nation, under the family of Eber which St. Augustine points out as being the name that the word Hebrew originates from is undoubtedly a people whose language was preserved and passed on eventually leading to Abraham as St. Augustine says later in Book 18 chapter 39:

“Hebrew was preserved by Heber (whose name is the origin of the name ‘Hebrews’)

and that from him it passed on to Abraham.”   

Abram the Hebrew without a doubt is a man who speaks Hebrew. St. Augustine says, “It is not without significance that Hebrew was the language used by Abraham,” but was this language truly a nation? If we look at Scripture, we will not find a nation being called Hebrew until we arrive at Abraham, however there is a nation that is the lineage of the City of God which St. Augustine is following closely in his book City of God. From Cain and Abel all the way to Christ, there are two cities, the City of Man and the City of God. The lineage from Eber to Abraham is part of God’s city which leads to Christ. The family that God chose to maintain the Hebrew language is without a doubt a nation, a nation of God. Seeing it with these eyes, is doing so spiritually and following the City of God in this sense, once again undoubtedly we see His salvation moving through the Hebrews, but now we arrive at an important point. Just because there is a line that leads to Christ, this does not mean that those who fall in this lineage are always morally right, that is, that there are no sinners to be found that turned from God. Besides the obvious that all men are sinners, we read in Scripture. First in Joshua 24:2 that Terah, the father of Abraham, that is, a descendant of Eber worshiped other gods. Terah was an idolatry, that is, a pagan. Second, we read in 1 Kings 11:1-13 how Solomon, the son of David, the same lineage of Eber in his old age becomes idolatrous. We read that “He worshiped Astarte, the goddess of Sidon, and Molech, the disgusting god of Ammon.” This is after Abraham of course but the point is that this line periodically breaks from God. So now returning back to Abraham I arrive at the question, was he pagan? 

If we continue with Joshua we read in Joshua 24:3:

“Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River 

and led him through all the land of Canaan, and 

made his offspring many. I gave him Isaac" 

The word in bold in the original Hebrew is connected to the same word Hebrew found in Genesis 14:13. Both words found in Scripture are in fact rooted in the idea of “crossing.” So in a literal sense we can read that Abraham was at one moment on one side of the Euphrates River in pagan lands, and in his “crossing” we see him on the other. Spiritually however, we see something else, something more profound happening. For the first time in the new land, the land of Canaan we find Abraham as “Abram the Hebrew.” Like it was already mentioned, this is the first time we find the word Hebrew in Scripture, but something else significant happens during this spiritual crossing: we get God’s covenant and the change in Abraham's name. First, the change of name is not random. Rather with God, it changes a person's identity, destiny or mission. St. Paul and St. Peter are two great examples. Saul was a man who persecuted Christians but having an encounter with the Risen Christ, converts and becomes Paul. Simon was a fisherman, but recognizing Christ as the Messiah, he became Peter, a fisher of men. In the case of Abraham. At one moment he is Abram, and in his “crossing” becomes our father of the faith, Abraham. Does he go from a pagan to a Hebrew like Saul and Simon crossing have them go from Hebrews to Christians?

The simple answer, Scripture does not give a clear answer to the question if he was pagan or not. What is absolutely clear is what is said in Genesis 12:1 and Genesis 15:6-7. In Genesis 12:1, God tells Abraham to leave his country, people and his father’s household. To dive into all three with the forms in which Scripture can be interpreted extends the length of this article. In Genesis 15:6-7 however, we get a more succinct reflection. Abraham cannot be credited as being truly righteous until after he is pulled out of Ur. What is even more important to note is Abraham is first called righteous when he believes in the one true God which again comes after the crossing, and it is here where Abraham enters into  God’s covenant. Does this give us enough evidence of Abraham being pagan? No, no it does not, but here is where I return to my conclusion, but now with more clarity in what I am saying.

Abraham was a Hebrew just like his father was a Hebrew. First in respect to the language conserved in Eber’s line after the fall of the Tower of Babel. If it was a nation, this nation with the arrival of Terah broke from worshipping God. This is why God tells Abraham to walk away from his country, people and father. Was Abraham participating with his father in paganism? We do not know. All we know is Abraham is part of the line of the City of God, the line that leads to Christ. If he was pagan which can simply mean here that he did not yet worship the one true God, how does that change anything in our Salvation History? Returning to Solomon, God says, “because you have deliberately broken your covenant with me…I will give it to one of your officials…” (1Kings 11:11). Man can turn from God but God never turns from us and continues working for our salvation. I believe with this reflection and question about what Abraham was or was not can lead me to contemplating the sovereignty of God and his saving Grace as being more profound, more far reaching and more transformative than I can imagine. God is never limited based on what I am–a sinner. Through his grace any sinner can become righteous who declares that they believe in the one true God.