November 1996
Genesis Chapter 16
We learn early in the story of Abraham that God has established with him a covenant. God blesses Abraham as the father of a great nation of people; God promises to Abraham that Abraham's children, whom shall number in the thousands, will inherit the promised land.
God told Abraham "in thee shall al families of the earth be blessed." (Gen. 12:2). And at the 7th verse God tells Abraham "Unto thy seed will I give this land."
Several times God repeats the promise: "For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth; so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered." Gen. 13:15-16.
But we also learn early in the story that Abraham's wife Sarai (later named Sarah) is barren and cannot have children. Gen. 11:30.
Abraham at one point asks God about the "childless" state of he and Sarah: "Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless...? Behold, to me thou hast given no seed...". The Lord responds, again with the promise of a child for Abraham...a child that "shall come forth out of thine own bowels..." The Lord instructs Abraham again: "Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be." Gen. 15:3-5.
Abraham was aging in years, well past 80, as was Sarah; yet they had no children. This situation was of great concern to Sarah. Finally, Sarah took matters into her own hands and offered to Abraham her maid, Hagar, as a wife for Abraham so that a child could be born unto Abraham to fulfill the promise of God. Gen. 16:1-3.
Hagar conceived a child by Abraham, but this only caused problems between Hagar and Sarah. Genesis 16:6 tells us Sarah dealt harshly with Hagar, and Hagar ran away.
It was while Hagar was in the wilderness that an angel appeared and told Hagar to return home to the house of Sarah and submit herself to Sarah's control. Gen. 16:7-9. It was then that the angel made a promise to Hagar with regard to Hagar's forthcoming child: I will multiply they seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude." It was with this promise that the Arab nation, as we know it today, was established.
The angel instructed Hagar that the child would be born a son and that the name of the child would be "Ishmael". But the angel also warned: "he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of his brethren." Gen. 16:10-12.
Hagar returned to the house of Abraham and Sarah, and she bore the son of Abraham that the angel had revealed. And Abraham "called his son's name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.
Abraham was 86 years old at the birth of Ishmael. But it became clear within a few years that Ishmael was not the "seed" God had planned for the covenant he had established with Abraham.