Stories about the Ancestors or Fathers

The fathers
are called Abraham, Isaak and Jacob. We can read these stories in the book Genesis (1st Moses). We call them “fathers” or “forefathers” or “patriarchs” because they are deemed to be the fathers of the people of Israel. They were the first who believed in the one and only God. Abraham is also regarded as a forefather of the Jews, Christianity and Muslims.
That's why they are also called Abrahamitic religions.
Today we can still learn from Abraham that we can trust God and blindly believe in him.
God formed an alliance, a covenant, with Abraham and his descendants. He promised Abraham that he would have many descendants, and through him a nation would come into being. Besides this he promised him land if he moved away from Ur, his hometown. Abraham trusted God so much that he left his home for this promise and went unquestioningly into the unknown.
As the desired child didn’t arrive the couple, Abraham and Sarah, had their doubts about God’s promise. They decided to interfere with it themselves. Abraham fathered his son Ismael with a maid called Hagar. Ismael became one of the forefathers of Islam.
Only at an advanced age did Abraham and Sarah become parents and Isaac, the promised son, was born.
Later God put Abraham to the test. He was supposed to sacrifice his son Isaac. God released Abraham from his promise when he realised how big Abraham’s belief was.
The people of Israel thrived. Today they are called Jews. Later the Israelites moved to the promised land Canaan, which became, in the times of Jesus, a Roman province called Palestine. Today this is the state of Israel.

Lies and Truth
From the stories about Jacob and Esau we can also learn today. To understand the story you should know that God’s promise, (big nation and land), His blessing and vitality were the inheritance of the first-born son. The two sons of Isaac were named Esau (the older one) and Jacob (the younger one). The legend says that they were twins who were born one behind the other in a short time. Both of them wanted to have the blessing of their father. Because of this a story developed in which they lied and cheated to gain the inheritance of the first born.
But even here, God had the last word. With Jacob we can see how God treats sinners. He doesn't punish him for the many lies - Jacob acknowledged God, he is blessed by God again. God's actions can't be compared with what people do in such situations.