Three things weaken the strength of man:--Fear, travel, and sin. Fear, as it is written (Ps. xxxviii. 10), "My heart palpitates, my strength faileth me." Travel, as it is written (Ps. cii. 23), "He hath weakened my strength in the way." ... Sin, as it is written (Ps. xxxi. 10), "My strength faileth me, because of my iniquity." Ibid., fol. 70, col 2. Abraham was three years old when he first learned to know his Creator; as it is said (Gen. xxvi. 5), "Because Abraham obeyed my voice." _Nedarim_, fol. 32, col. 1. The conclusion arrived at here is founded on interpreting the Hebrew letters of the word rendered "because" numerically, in which the value of the letters gives a total of one hundred and seventy-two; so that the sense of the text is, "Abraham obeyed my voice" one hundred and seventy-two years. Now Abraham died when he was a hundred and seventy-five, therefore he must have been only three when he began to serve the Lord. As Abraham plays so important a part both in the history and the imagination of the Jewish race, we may quote here a score or so of the Talmudic traditions regarding him. The traditions, as is like, contributed quite as much, if not more, to give character to his descendants as his actual personality and that spirit of faith which was the central fact in his history. Races and nations often draw more inspiration from what they fancy about their ancestry and early history than from what they know; their fables therefore are often more illuminative than the facts. Abraham was Ethan the Ezrahite, who is mentioned in Ps. lxxxvii. 1. _Bava Bathra_, fol. 15, col. 1. Abraham's mother was Amathlai, the daughter of Karnebo. _Bava Bathra_, fol. 91, col. 1. Abraham was the head of a seminary for youth, and kept both laws, the written and the oral. _Yoma_, fol. 28, col. 2. Abraham observed the whole ceremonial law, even before it was given on Sinai. _Kiddushin_, fol. 82, col. 1.