in kanaan. he and sarah had settled into their old age, perhaps at last enjoying some measure of tranquility after all they had endured. then, unexpected visitors appeared and changed their lives again. abraham looks up. he sees three men. he greets them, he welcomes them. sarah hurries to make them a meal. hospitality is quintessential. in nomadic cultures, travelers in these barren landscapes could never have survived without the kindness of strangers. when you re out wandering into a new village and you meet someone and they offer you a cup of coffee or tea, those are the moments that define abraham for me. thank you. what do we have here? i m christiane. very nice to meet you. abner goran brought me to one
me. what do we have here? very nice to meet you. abner brought me to one spot where this man welcomes travelers of all faiths to share a meal with him. his meal is much like the one sarah and abraham might have offered strangers who came to their home. at that meal, they announce that sarah, now almost 90, will have a child. she laughs with incredulity. what sarah and abraham didn t know, the bible tells us, was that the visitors were actually angels bringing them a message from god. and it did come to pass, sarah gave birth to the child she had wanted for so long, a son named isaac. his descendents became the jewish people. next, a family feud that
where was abraham born? yes. both. he goes down to the promised land, goes to egypt, and comes back. the story is trying to connect him to the entire arc of the region. it s a story shared by about half the world. abraham s path will eventually wind through ten countries. our next stop is in the biblical land of canaan, which is now israel in the west bank. my guide on this part of abraham s path is abner goran and his archaeologist. if somebody is thinking of getting back to roots, coming back to be in touch with god, this is always the place. it s always kind of shocking to me that these immense stories, more than two, three billion people believe in,
0 partner. it s 20 generations after adam and eve that he first meets abraham. when we first meet abraham in the book of genesis, we re told that he had settled with his father and his wife sarah in a town called haran. a place where people were known to worship many different gods. and then out of the blue, this lowly shepherd received a call from the god of the hebrew bible, summoning him to leave his home for a new life at once. god says to abraham, go to this land that i will show you and i will make of you a great nation. it would have been helpful if abraham would have said which land, and by the way, does it have oil. but abraham did not question god s promise, and this one man s unflinching devotion to only one god reverberates throughout the bible. it is the foundation of three great monotheistic faiths. you can t get to god without going through abraham. he quickly left behind the trappings of city life and set off with his family on a journey toward the promised la
in kanaan. he and sarah had settled into their old age, perhaps at last enjoying some measure of tranquility after all they had endured. then, unexpected visitors appeared and changed their lives again. abraham looks up. he sees three men. he greets them, he welcomes them. sarah hurries to make them a meal. hospitality is quintessential. in nomadic cultures, travelers in these barren landscapes could never have survived without the kindness of strangers. when you re out wandering into a new village and you meet someone and they offer you a cup of coffee or tea, those are the moments that define abraham for me. thank you. what do we have here? i m christiane. very nice to meet you. abner goran brought me to one