The Era of the Patriarchs opens with an obscure but skilled herdsman named Abram, who will in time become many things: warlord, father to nations, recipient of God's covenant. Or is that covenants, plural? Today on the Third Hour Podcast, we investigate Abram's identity, the nature of God's favor, an influential supporting character named Melchizedek, and the uncomfortable sexual politics that will come to dominate the lives of Sarai and Hagar and their descendants.