Abraham
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.
Parashat Vayera: I Have Known Him
Parashat: Genesis 18:1 – 22:24
Haftarah: 2 Kings 4:1 – 37
Abraham possessed a deep understanding of God, which is why he knew what to say, how to respond, and how to approach God. This didn’t mean it was easy though. A short time before all this, Abraham witnessed the hand of God when He delivered Lot and the king of Sodom. Yet, in this situation, Abraham witnessed the difficult reality of justice. Instead of deliverance, he saw destruction. Through the good and the bad, the triumphs and the tragedies, God opens the door to learning. At the same time, we can prove ourselves to God as he experiences us in these moments. We may not all be called to the same testing grounds as Abraham, but each day we are given small opportunities to experience God, to learn from Him and to know Him. He allows us to be where we are, even when it is difficult, so that we can grow in the grace and the knowledge of Him. Even more, God presents these opportunities so that He can also experience us–to know our thoughts, our feelings, our hearts, and so forth. This is our desire: to stand before the God of the universe and hear Him say, “I have known you.” Continue Reading
Parashat Lech-Lecha: I Will
Parashat: Genesis 12:1 – 17:27
Haftarah: Isaiah 40:27 – 41:16
When Abraham heard the words “I will” he knew with certainty that God was affirming the promises, though they were still in the distant future. In other words, Abraham didn’t just cross his fingers and hope that God would bless him, multiply him, and grant him the land. He was convinced that once God spoke it, it was done. Even though Abraham never saw the fullness of God’s promise in this lifetime, he was already certain that he would experience it in the world to come. Thus, where most people’s faith would crumble in doubt and despair, he did not waver in belief but was strengthened in faith… Continue Reading
Now I Know You
“For now I know that you revere God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” —Genesis 22:12
Throughout the scriptures there are various ways in which this word “yada” is used, but the overall implication is that it has very intimate connotations both in how we know something or someone, and how we are known.
In Genesis we see this word being used by God to express His knowledge of Abraham’s heart based on Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice that which is most important to him. Through this act of obedience, God came to know the intimate devotion and faith within the heart of Abraham. It was revealed that Abraham not only believed that God’s promise would come to be, but that it would come about even when the command of God seemed to be stripping His very promise away. Abraham had an incredible amount of faith, and this faith he possessed was demonstrated in the act of offering up his son, even when he knew that he needed that son for the promises to be filled. We know that it would have been easy and even appropriate for Abraham to rationalize his way out of this, for him to say, “I don’t really need to do this because God knows my heart and my intention. On the contrary, Abraham’s way of expressing his devotion and trust in God was to do exactly as God told Him… to carry out the command.
Sure, because God knows everything—even the depths of our hearts, and every action we will perform—He could have said to Abraham, “I know that you love Me and believe My promises, so I am not going to ask you to sacrifice your son because I know that you would do this for Me.” He didn’t say this, and I cannot fully explain why God asks us to do these things, despite the fact that He already knows what would happen and what lies within our hearts. The only thing I can think of is that for some reason or another the act itself is important to God; it pleases Him, and it seems to be something He likes to experience with us. It is equally (or ought to be) equally important for us because it is a confirmation that the faith, trust, and devotion we have in our hearts are more than mere feelings, assertions, or intentions. The action confirms what we profess to “feel” or possess in our hearts. According to James, these actions complete our faith:
“You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was completed” (James 2:22).
What is important to note here is that it’s not just any action that confirms this for God, but it’s obediently carrying out the exact command that God asks us to do because this makes evident that we have faith that His exact word is true and right and beneficial for us, whether we understand or agree with it or not. Abraham was not permitted to modify the plans of God to accommodate his desires, preferences, understanding, comfort, or even his fears. Abraham did not say, “I know God told me to offer up my son, but I’m sure He would still appreciate it if I offered a ram instead because He knows my heart.” Nor did Abraham lean on his own understanding because if he had, it would have been easy to say, “I know God told me to sacrifice my son, but God is love and He is against murder, so what He said must not be true, or He must just want me to think about what this spiritually means.” We have to believe that Abraham struggled because what God asked him to do presented a variety of conundrums, but regardless, he did exactly as God commanded knowing that God had the power to work it all out in the end… and God did work it out in the end.
This is where faith and works intersect, as a way for us to demonstrate to God that we wholeheartedly believe that every word that comes from His mouth is not only true, but given to provide and bring life. Throughout the gospels, Jesus demonstrated and modeled this faith and obedience (he showed us its perfection). He came to this earth to teach and obediently live out the word of God (John 7:16; 4:34; 8:55; 12:44-50; 14:24, 31; Matthew 4:4). Jesus demonstrated exactly what it means to listen and to obey because He always did exactly as He was instructed by the Father. He did not deviate to the right or left, but obediently followed the path God laid out for Him. Even more, Jesus lived each command obediently, not only because He understood the physical implications of each command, but He understood the deeper spiritual truths behind each command.
There are many words that God has spoken or commanded us that seem irrelevant, obsolete, or even contrary to His nature, but the measure of our faith lies in our confidence that if He said it, then it is true. The measure of our confidence in this truth, then, is whether we are willing to obey it despite our every inclination not to. Our obedience confirms our confidence and faith in the truth of God’s word, just as Jesus’ obedience confirmed the truth in and His devotion to God’s word and commandments. Thus, the obedience we live is not our own, but that of Christ (1 John 2:6), and Jesus was fully obedient to the word of God (John 15:10) because he knew that His commandment is life (John 12:50). In doing so, not only will we “know” God as Christ knew Him, but God will know us with the intimacy that He knew Abraham. After all, as we read in Matthew 7:21-23, knowing Christ is not the only essential thing, but Him “knowing” us seems to be of greater importance. How then will He know us? Through our doing the will of the Father (vs. 21). What is the will of the Father? The will of the Father is embedded in law, the prophets, and the rest of the scriptures, magnified in the obedience of Jesus Christ.
In the end, the essential question may not be did you know Me, but does He know “yada” us? Or, what does He know of us? If God knows us the way that He “knew” Abraham, then we will not even have to bother with the first question, because it will be made evident through both our faith and obedience in His word. In other words, if God comes to know us the way that He knew Abraham, then it is clear that we know Him.
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