Hagar and Ishmael
Read Genesis 16-17
Questions to consider:
a. What are the promises God gave to Abraham and Sarah?
b. What does it mean to follow or walk in the promises of God?
c. According to these chapters, what are some challenges to faith?
Genesis 16:1
“Now Sarai, Abraham’s wife, had borne him no children.”
This is how the beginning of chapter 16 begins, reminding us that Abraham and Sarah were still without child. As the time begins to pass and the couple continues to age, it’s likely that the wonderings kept getting stronger. In the previous chapters, we hear God tell Abraham that the heir is not going to be his servant Eliezer, rather the promised child will, in fact, come from Abraham’s own body. This likely offered a little reassurance, but here we are again, reminded that Sarah had yet to bear Abraham any children. It is in these times of uncertainty that we will often begin exploring other alternatives. We begin to panic or worry or doubt, which then pushes us to take matters into our own hands. In this case we read the following:
Genesis 16:1-2 NLT
“But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, ‘The LORD has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal.’”
It was custom in these times that if a woman could not bear children for her husband that her servants could do so on her behalf. Here we find Sarah unable to provide children for Abraham, so the next viable option would be to offer her maidservant Hagar. At this point, Abraham and Sarah know that God is going to provide an heir, and we just learned that the heir is going to come from Abraham’s own body. What they haven’t been told, as far as we can tell, is if the heir would come directly from Sarah’s body. So this might explain why, when Sarah approaches Abraham with the idea of bearing the child through Hagar, he doesn’t deny her. In fact, we read the following:
Genesis 16:2-4 NLT
“And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal… So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt.”
Abraham listens to his wife’s advice, and through him Hagar conceives a child. The plan seems to have worked. Hagar becomes pregnant, and the supposed promised child would soon be born. Everything seems to go as planned, but the couple soon discovers that Ishmael will not be the promised child. Ishmael would be blessed by God, but he will not be the one God had been speaking of. Why, then, if this was not the promised child did Abraham and Sarah choose this alternative? Did they lose faith? Why did God allow them to move forward? As we look at this story from the outside, it’s easy to question the hasty decision made by Abraham and Sarah. On the surface it looks like they lacked the faith to trust in God. But we have to ask ourselves: was this move to use Hagar a lapse in faith? Are there not times in our lives when we act in faith, yet our decisions turn out to be wrong or misinformed? The couple was acting on the word that God had given them—that they would have a son, and that son would come through Abraham’s body. Technically, Ishmael was a son and he did come from the body of Abraham. As great as this moment was, it didn’t change the fact that Ishmael was still not the promised son… regardless of how much they wanted or hoped he would be.
God does, in time, bless Ishmael, and as we will soon see, Abraham and Sarah will have Isaac, but all of this still prompts the question: why allow the couple to go through all of this? At this point, why not just fulfill the promise? After all, the birth of Ishmael causes a great deal of contention between Sarah and Hagar, so much so, that Hagar fled. There is a lot of distress on all sides. What ever the purpose of this trial, there is a significant lesson to be learned.
Paul tells us in the book of Galatians:
Galatians 4:22-23 NLT
“The Scriptures say that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave wife (Hagar) and one from his freeborn wife (Sarah). The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise. But the son of the freeborn wife was born as God’s own fulfillment of His promise.”
Abraham had two sons, and in this particular story, Ishmael was born to the slave woman according to the flesh. What does this mean? Abraham and Sarah, though well-intentioned, produced a son through their own planning and efforts. This is what “according to the flesh or according to human attempt” means. Ishmael was the product of their own efforts. When it comes to His promises, God often calls us to faithfully wait upon Him. As we all know, waiting is difficult, especially when we posses the means to work it out on our own. There are certainly times when God calls us to move, to obey, and He even encourages us to produce, but His specific promises will carried out by Him, and in these cases He asks us to trust and follow His lead. Anything done according to our own devices, efforts, planning, and inventions may be successful but will not be according to His promise. In this passage, Paul is speaking of these two types of people. Ishmael represents those who seek, through their own efforts, to fulfill god’s promises. Isaac represents those who by faith, trust that God will bring about His promises.
Humanity’s greatest challenge is and has been to trust and wait upon God, especially when we feel perfectly confident and capable of doing it ourselves. Ishmael was loved by Abraham and by God, but the fact remains that he did not come by the power of God, so to speak; He was conceived through the efforts of man. As long as we try to navigate God’s promises solely on our own terms and according to our own efforts, we will always end up in bondage. Why? Because God not only knows the path to life, He established it, and anything beyond what He has given may appear to be life but its not. Peter expressed this perfectly when he said to Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). His promises and His word are what we cling to and what we wait upon. Sadly, many today remain largely unaware of what God has promised. There are many others who do know, yet choose to set aside the promises and commands of God in pursuit of their own goals and efforts. There are many who do this intentionally, but there are also many honest people who believe that they are carrying out the will of God when they are, in fact, pursuing the promises through their own efforts. We all do this in some way or another, but if we are always open and humble before God, He will set us back on the right course, just as He did with Abraham. In chapter 17, God reassures Abraham of all the promises, and Abraham falls before God, and wonders in his own heart,
Genesis 17:17-18
“Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child… Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!”
Abraham again is honest with God, because from a human perspective, the promises appear to be impossible. He makes one last plea on behalf of Ishmael, but it is to no avail, because God will do as He has promised. Thus, God reassures Abraham, saying,
Genesis 17:19
“No, Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.”
God now unveils the rest of the plan. Ishmael will be blessed, but Isaac will be the one through whom the promises are fulfilled. This is the plan, and God even tells Abraham that within a year, he will see the fulfillment of this promise. From beginning to end, God orchestrates the coming of Isaac. All He asked of Abraham was this: “I am Almighty God. Walk before and be blameless” (17:1). God later gave Sarah the same assurances, and upon hearing God’s promise, she laughed, saying, “After I have grown old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?’” (18:12). And what is God’s response to her?
Genesis 18:14
“Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”
God has mapped out His plan; He knows the beginning from the end, and He has communicated this to us through His prophets, through His Son, and through the writings of the apostles. Either we trust the plan or we don’t. He will work it out, and in the meantime, He asks of us what He asked of Abraham: “I am Almighty God. Walk before and be blameless” (17:1). In other words, trust me and trust in the words I have given to you, for they will guide you and they will make you blameless.
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