February 1997
Genesis Chapter 21
Throughout the history of Abraham depicted in earlier chapters of Genesis, God committed several times that Abraham and Sarah would have a son. God made this covenant even after Abraham and Sarah were aged, far past child-bearing year, and Sarah had been barren all her life.
We recall from the 17 chapter that the Lord told Abraham that Sarah, in excess of 90 years old, would bear a son of the name of Isaac in whom God would establish an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. Gen. 17:19. When Sarah heard of this upon the visit to Abraham by the three angels (Gen. 18:12), she laughed because she knew she had never been able to conceive a child and now she was too old to bear children.
But the Lord again assured her: "Is there any thing too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return to thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son." Gen. 18:14.
Sarah already had once given up on God's covenant when she offered her maiden Hagar as a substitute through which Abraham had a son named Ishmael. Gen. 16:1-16. The Lord made Ishmael a great nation (i.e. the Arabian nation), but he again emphasized that the Lord's covenant would be established through Sarah's yet-to-be born son, Isaac. Gen. 17:19-21.
The fulfillment of God's promise of Isaac is described in the first two verses of Genesis Chapter 21: "And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him."
Abraham named the child Isaac and circumcised him after eight days according to the instructions by God in Genesis 17:11 as a token of the covenant.
Isaac was the fulfillment of God's promise and Isaac was to become the forefather of the Jewish nation. Following Isaac's birth, Hagar and Ishmael were sent away at the urging of Sarah, although Abraham grieved at the decision. The Lord told Abraham not to grieve, but that He would make Ishmael a nation because the young man was the seed of Abraham; but that it was in Isaac that "thy seed be called." Gen. 21:10-13.
Hagar and Ishmael soon ran out of food and water in the wilderness, and Hagar gave up on life. She hid her son under the brush, afraid because she did not wish to see her son die. The Lord sent and angel to assure Hagar that in Ishmael would be blessed a great nation. God provided water for Hagar and Ishmael in the desert.
The story of Isaac and Ishmael is one of the great stories of the Bible. Many facets of life, and the conflict of two of the earth's great nations (Arabs and Jews) are traced to the birth story of these two boys. Both were sons of Abraham. Ishmael was the first born son, yet did not received the traditional heirship of a first born son. Isaac received the covenant blessing from the Lord, yet God still promised to make Ishmael a great nation, which he has done.
Both the Arab nation and the Jewish nation trace Abraham in their ancestry, but through two different sons (half brothers) by different mothers.
The story of Ishmael and Isaac thus is the beginning of a great religious and cultural difference among two primary nations that causes the world great conflict even today.
Next: The Lord commands Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice