Real quick outline here:
EDIT: I’m not sure that it’s really possible to be brief.
Abram was born in Ur (northern Iraq) some time around 2167 BC. His father was Terah, and he had two brothers: Nahor, and Haran. Haran had a son named Lot. As was fairly common back then, when he came of age, he married his half-sister, Sarai. They were, as you no doubt recall, unable to have children.
Terah took Abram, Sarai, and Lot with him on a journey to the land of Canaan, but before they got there, they settled in a place called Haran. (I am unclear whether the name of the place has anything to do with Lot’s father.) They became very prosperous, and gathered up thousands of livestock and hundreds of servants, and did extremely well for themselves in Haran.
Terah eventually died in Haran, and it was then that things really started to get interesting.
It was while he was burying his father that Abram had the revelation from God that changed the history of the world; God commanded him to take up all of the people and all of the possessions that he had gathered, together with Lot and Sarai, to seek for the Promised Land, where, according to the promise of God, he would become the father of a mighty nation.
Imagine, if you will, something the size of California’s Disneyland - all of the people, all of the animals, and all of their stuff, on the move. (Somehow I had always pictured these lonely three people walking along, but rereading it, I see that they brought everybody and everything that they had acquired in Haran, with them.)
They went to a great many different places before finally finding the Promised Land. Along the way, they picked up a woman named Hagar, who became Sarai’s maid. Because Sarai was barren, Sarai insisted that Abram have a child with Hagar. When Hagar became pregnant, she began to lord (lady?) it over Sarai, who then became jealous of Hagar. Hagar gave birth to Ishmael, and Ishmael was considered to be Abram’s heir.
When Ishmael was 13 years old, Sarah gave birth to Isaac. When Isaac was two years old. Sarah put Hagar and Ishmael out of the camp, in the hopes that they would die in the wilderness.
Hagar and Ishmael survived, and because of God’s promise, Ishmael also became a mighty tribal leader; he is considered to be the ancestor of the Muslims.
When Isaac was 13 years old, God came to Abraham to test him, and required of him that he should sacrifice Isaac. At the last moment, an angel came to his rescue, and he was not sacrificed. Instead, he grew up to marry Rebecca, and had two sons: Jacob and Esau.
Many other things also happened; I don’t know if you want to get into all of it.
Abraham died in about 1991 BC. Isaac and Ishmael came together to bury him.
