The end of Genesis 17 is the last discussion between God and Abraham about the covenant. devotional reading looks at Sarai’s and Isaac’s parts in the covenant.
Nuggets
- Sarai not only got a name change, but she also go the promise of a son.
- This was the first time Sarah is directly included in the covenant.
- Abraham’s laughter showed the thought of his heart.
- Since Abraham didn’t believe deep down to his core that God was the God of the impossible, he offered the son he had.
- When God tells us to do something, we need to do it.
Abraham had gotten his name change. Now, it was time for Sarai to get hers.
I wonder which one was harder to deal with. Did they struggle more over their new names or having a son when they were or were about a century old?
But then, Ishmael was also still around. Abraham didn’t want him to be forgotten.
Let's Put It into Context
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Devotions in the Abraham the Patriarch series
Sarah’s Name Change and Role
“Then God said to Abraham, ‘Regarding Sarai, your wife — her name will no longer be Sarai. From now on her name will be Sarah. And I will bless her and give you a son from her! Yes, I will bless her richly, and she will become the mother of many nations. Kings of nations will be among her descendants’” (Gen. 17: 9 NLT)
New Name
Sarai not only got a name change, but she also go the promise of a son.
I bet Abram wasn’t the only one who was laughing. If he told anyone else other than Sarai, they would have seen it as an unachievable statement.
We’re getting ahead of ourselves, but we know that Sarah did laugh when Abraham was told this a second time and she overheard. “So she laughed silently to herself and said, ‘How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master — my husband — is also so old?’” (Gen. 18: 12 NLT).
What is the significance of Sarai’s name changes? It means princess. Remember, “… Your descendants will become many nations, and kings will be among them!’” (Gen. 17: 6 NLT).
When we are called to be God’s children, we become new creations. “So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (II Cor. 5: 16-17 NLT).
Isn’t a name change logical? Abram’s and Sarai’s names were changed to reflect their new duties in God’s kingdom.
Give You a Son from Her!
This was the first time Sarah is directly included in the covenant.
When God and Abraham had talked covenant dealings before, Abraham hadn’t really talked about Sarah’s part of it. There is no talk of who will be the mother of the descendants.
• “I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants” (Gen. 17: 2 NLT).
• “This is my covenant with you: I will make you the father of a multitude of nations!” (Gen. 17: 4 NLT).
• “I will make you extremely fruitful. Your descendants will become many nations, and kings will be among them!” (Gen. 17: 6 NLT).
We know that God believes in the sanctity of marriage. He constituted this divine institution way back in the Garden of Eden. “This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one” (Gen. 2: 24 NLT).
God made marriage to be a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman. They are to remain faithful to each other. “You must not commit adultery” (Ex. 20: 24 NLT).
Jesus confirmed this when He talked about how mankind has perverted marriage. “Jesus replied, ‘Moses permitted divorce only as a concession to your hard hearts, but it was not what God had originally intended’” (Mt. 19: 6 NLT).
Moses really didn’t say anything about Sarah’s faith. Davidson thought she had a strong and loving affection for God. But we do see her arrogance in the way she treated Hagar.
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Still, Sarah had to believe in the promise as much as Abraham did, or I doubt the couple would have been chosen.
Isaac’s Birth Promised
“Then Abraham bowed down to the ground, but he laughed to himself in disbelief. ‘How could I become a father at the age of 100?’ he thought. ‘And how can Sarah have a baby when she is ninety years old?’ So Abraham said to God, ‘May Ishmael live under your special blessing!’ But God replied, ‘No — Sarah, your wife, will give birth to a son for you. You will name him Isaac, and I will confirm my covenant with him and his descendants as an everlasting covenant. As for Ishmael, I will bless him also, just as you have asked. I will make him extremely fruitful and multiply his descendants. He will become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will be confirmed with Isaac, who will be born to you and Sarah about this time next year.’ When God had finished speaking, he left Abraham” (Gen. 17: 16-22 NLT)
Laughed to Himself
Abraham’s laughter showed the thought of his heart.
Abraham and Sarah were both old. They were way past the childbearing years.
The men weren’t living the 900 years that Adam did or even the 600 years that Noah and Shem did. Abraham’s grandfather Nahor (Gen. 11: 24-25) lived 148 years, and his father Terah lived 275 years (Gen. 11: 26-32).
But still, Abraham was well into middle age. More importantly, he and Sarah were both past childbearing age.
Abraham had a good chuckle over the thought that this old couple was going to have a baby. He couldn’t see it happening.
Neither could Zechariah when Gabriel told him that he and Elizabeth would be the parents of John the Baptist. They had the same issue. He paid for his unbelief.
Mary questioned it when Gabriel told her she would be the mother of Jesus. But she believed and accepted God’s plan for her.
God is the God of the impossible (Lk. 1: 37). We can’t limit Him by our human limitations. We have to let Him work in our lives.
So, we have to watch our reactions to God’s Will. Abraham laughed.
Yeah, it was probably a knee-jerk reaction. It probably did, as Leale said, have the elements of adoration and joy in it.
I remember my reactions when God said that I was going to be a pastor’s wife. My question was, “Do you really think that I would be okay at that?”
We have to be careful and not let God’s revelations — no matter how far outfield they sound — paralyze us. We shouldn’t let fear or doubt have any part of our reaction. Our reaction should be obedience.
We can’t have a heart-level doubt of God’s word or His power.
When we do, we run the risk of asserting our way of doing things. That won’t end well.
May Ishmael Live under Your Blessing
Since Abraham didn’t believe deep down to his core that God was the God of the impossible, he offered the son he had.
The laughter was just the outward expression of Abraham’s lack of faith that he and Sarah would have a child. That is the main reason he offered Ishmael as the covenant son.
We can’t lose track of the fact that, the last time God and Abraham had a covenant discussion, Abraham was 85 years old. Now, he was 99. In his estimation, time wasn’t only a-wasting, but it was already gone.
The other reason Ishmael was offered as a substitute was that, regardless of Abraham’s relationship with Hagar — slave, concubine, or wife — he probably saw Ishmael as his firstborn. It was common practice in the culture that the firstborn was the one to inherit. Plus, we know that Abraham probably loved him (Gen. 21: 11).
In that culture, children whose mother was a slave was also a slave. If Isaac hadn’t been born or died before Abraham, according to Dykes, Ishmael could have inherited. This would be along the same lines as Abraham’s servant inheriting (Gen. 15: 2).
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Abraham could have been praying that God not take out his and Sarah’s unbelief on Ishmael. He may have thought that God would end Ishmael’s life when Isaac was born.
At a minimum, Abraham may have thought Ishmael would be banished as Cain was.
Fuller didn’t think any of Abraham’s fears for Ishmael’s life or banishment was out of line. In fact, he thought acceptance of the definition of live before thee would mean it was a distinct possibility. God is in the business of separating and dividing — even to what we would consider extreme measures.
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But I hadn’t thought off it the way the writer in The Congregational Pulpit’s sermon did. Abraham may have been praying for Ishmael’s spiritual condition. It was written,
“WHAT THE CHRISTIAN PARENT SEEKS FOR HIS OFFSPRING. What is meant by living before God? It means to enjoy His forgiving grace, that we be not consumed by His wrath; and to receive His fostering protection and blessing, without which life would be a calamity, and existence a burden. We would not have our children go forth through life neglected of God; still less, contending against Him as an enemy.”
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At the core, Abraham knew that walking with God was how we needed to live. He was asking that Ishmael walk as God had told Abraham to: “… Walk in my presence and be pure-hearted” (Gen. 17: 1 CJB).
We know this by going back to the Hebrew. “And Avraham said unto HaElohim, O that Yishmael might live before Thee!” (Gen. 17: 18 OJB emphasis added).
Abraham wanted Ishmael to have a relationship with God. He not only wanted Ishmael to be living and breathing but also obediently walk with God and worshiping Him.
But God’s refusal to choose Ishmael most assuredly stemmed from one fact. That fact was Isaac was the chosen son.
God assured Abraham that Ishmael — even if he was rejected — would be blessed.
I wonder how much of the blessing came because of Hagar’s obedience. Since Ishmael was to be “… a wild man, as untamed as a wild donkey!” (Gen. 16: 12 NLT), we can see why the covenant wasn’t to come through him.
Acomb reminded us that God had a plan for Ishmael that, unfortunately, didn’t include his walking with God. God wants His children to be self-controlled.
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Leale had a good reminder. When we respond to God’s revelations with patience of faith, we are rewarded with discernment. We get to the knowledge through obedience.
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What had Abraham not done? He hadn’t waited for God to work on His timetable. So, Isaac had a half-brother.
But now, Abraham was waiting for God to work.
Yeah, Abraham probably had been humbled in the process. That’s okay.
Abraham couldn’t — just as we can’t — figure everything out. Our reasoning process isn’t on the same level of God’s.
That is where faith comes in. “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see” (Heb. 11: 1 NLT).
Covenant with Isaac
The bottom line was God’s covenant was through Isaac, a type of Christ.
Regardless of what Ishmael was or wasn’t, Isaac was born only through the grace of God in a distinctive action. Without God giving Abraham and Sarah this child by promised, he would not have been born. This is like Jesus.
Isaac was born free — his mother wasn’t a slave. Biblical Illustrator told us how that compared to Jesus. It was written, “Christ makes men free when they are born into the kingdom of God by His spirit, and thus belong to that holy nation whose children walk in perfect liberty.”
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As promised to Abraham, all nations were blessed through Isaac. Jesus does bless us by giving us life.
Isaac was born within the bounds of matrimony. God is all about working through families.
Immediate Obedience
“On that very day Abraham took his son, Ishmael, and every male in his household, including those born there and those he had bought. Then he circumcised them, cutting off their foreskins, just as God had told him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, and Ishmael, his son, was thirteen. Both Abraham and his son, Ishmael, were circumcised on that same day, along with all the other men and boys of the household, whether they were born there or bought as servants. All were circumcised with him” (Gen. 17: 23-27 NLT)
When God tells us to do something, we need to do it.
Abraham was prompt in getting himself, Ishmael, and all other makes in his household circumcised. He didn’t put it off.
Think about it. Abraham was diligent and circumcised Ishmael even though he knew Ishmael would not be a Hebrew. Maybe he was keeping him as a spare just in case. Maybe he thought God would change His mind.
But Abraham took God at His word. “… Each male among you must be circumcised” (Gen. 17: 10 NLT). He was ultra careful and scrupulous.
Look at it this way. Ishmael was not the chosen son, but he was allowed into the covenant process. He could have chosen to follow God.
Ishmael chose not to follow God.
This wasn’t just a works-based faith. Yes, the circumcision was outward, but it had to be fostered by an inward faith.
No, Abraham didn’t say that he was old, so he wasn’t going to change the way he worshiped God. He didn’t shy away from the pain and blood.
Abraham circumcised his heart. “Therefore, circumcise your hearts and don’t be stiff-necked any longer” (Deut. 10: 16 CSB).
Outward circumcision means nothing without the circumcision of the heart.
Making the Connections #1
I think we need to delve into Leale’s sermon a little farther. What he really was talking about is discernment.
Why does God do what He does? Well, He is Sovereign God.
God doesn’t need us to accomplish His Will. He doesn’t need our advice any more than He needs our help feeble attempts to complete the tasks.
Remember, God is the One Who can do the impossible, not us. “For nothing will be impossible with God” (Lk. 1: 37 NLT).
God even hides His purpose from us sometimes. We don’t need to know the why’s until He is ready for us to.
Leale put it this way. He wrote,
“This concealment must tend to His glory, for it is rendered necessary by His infinite superiority to us. We who are but of yesterday cannot scan the designs of Him who is from everlasting to everlasting. The great deep of God’s judgments is to us unfathomable.”
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God is sovereign and immutable. How can we even think that we know better than Him how things should or shouldn’t happen?
This dependence on God makes faith necessary. He will deal with us in His Will.
But that means we have to figure out what His Will for us is. That is called discernment.
We know that, above all else, God wants salvation for us. “And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Ac.. 2: 21 NLT).
Our walk with God can’t be undermined by us trying to figure everything out for ourselves. Our processing of things has to be done through pondering things in our heart.
We aren’t trying to figure out the how of things but rather the why of things.
Making the Connections #2
James brought up a good point. He wrote, “In the distribution of His [favors] to the human race, God generally connects His bounty with our exertions.”
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The way we’d say it is that God’s blessings are proportionate to our obedience.
God does bless non-believers. He gives them life, a semblance of happiness, and some success (maybe by the worldview standard).
God blesses believers more.
Making the Connections #3
Besides being the chosen son because he came from both Abraham and Sarah, why was Isaac chosen? It had to do with his character.
We aren’t really told a whole lot about Isaac’s faith. What we are told is that he was a peaceful man.
- Ishmael wasn’t nice to Isaac (it couldn’t be a one-and-off thing), but we are never told he retaliated (Gen. 21: 9).
- Isaac submitted to Abraham’s interpretation of God’s Will, even though he was to have been the sacrifice (Gen. 22: 10).
- Isaac didn’t fight back in the quarrels about the wells. He gave credit to God for the peaceful resolution of the quarrel (Gen. 26).
- When Abraham said he was going to find Isaac a wife from his homeland, Isaac made no objections (Gen. 24: 10).
- When the servant returned with Rebekah, she first saw him when he was walking in the field meditating (Gen. 24: 63).
- When the Philistine king Abimelech offered a peace treaty, Isaac accepted (Gen. 26: 28-29).
- Isaac didn’t retaliate against either Rebekah or Jacob when he was deceived out of Esau’s blessing (Gen. 27: 6-7).
Sounds like Isaac had a fairly strong faith.
Making the Connections #4
It isn’t always easy to just accept God’s promise as given, as grace would have us do. That is especially true when the promise involves our children.
But we need to do so.
Making the Connections #5
Dix brought up an important point. Ishmael was born after the flesh, but Ishmael was still a gift of God.
God still had a purpose for him, even if it wasn’t the covenant purpose. Dix took a stab at what that purpose was. He wrote,
“Ishmael, therefore, stands for the promise of this earth, of the world, and of this present life. I do not mean that he represents our sin, nor those evil passions which haunt and afflict us, nor the low, gross life of carnal men: for Abraham, his father, was a man of faith and a servant of righteousness before Ishmael was born; but he stands for the fair good promise of this earth, before a better thing is born in the soul.”
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Yeah, that is our blessings.
How Do We Apply This?
- Renew our covenant when we have sinned.
- Renew our covenant when we’ve been publicly humiliated.
- Renew our covenant in time of social upheaval.
- Renew our covenant to give a testimony to God’s mercy.
- Renew our covenant at the onset of temptation.
- Renew our covenant before we take the Lord’s Supper.
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Father God. Your plan is always what is best for us. Forgive us when we fail to believe that You are the God of the impossible. Help us to walk with You and to teach that to our children. Amen.
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