Hagar and Ishmael
Covenant Circumcision
Genesis 16:1-17:271
April 30, 2006


[Prayer]

Today’s message is from Genesis 16:1 through 17:27, all of chapters 16 and 17. Chapter 16 is about Abram and Sarai’s attempt to have children through Sarai’s maid Hagar. Chapter 17 is about the circumcision covenant. We won’t read the entire passage because it is long, but I’ll read a lot of it as we go along. Remember, as always, that it’s the word of God breathed, by God’s Holy Spirit, but recorded by men (in this case, Moses) and that it washes us and cleanses us and is able to equip us for every good work.

Also, I exhort you to read your Bible, which is the word of God, every day. It gives us life. It shows us the way to eternal life—and that way happens to be Jesus: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” That’s what Jesus says. And that’s in John 14:6.

Last week I talked about the Abrahamic Covenant and about the Lord’s promise to give Abram offspring that were as numerous as the stars in the sky. The Lord had promised numerous offspring to Abram before, but, as it was, Abram was childless and both he and his wife Sarai were old. According to the rules of the culture he would have been following, a slave born in his household would be his heir.

When the Lord appeared to Abram and told him that he was his shield and that his reward would be very great, Abram complained to the Lord—and I think complaining is the right way of describing what he said—Abram complained to the Lord that he had no children. the Lord told him the this slave born in his household would not be his heir, but one who would come from his own body would be his heir and that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky—so numerous that there would be no way he could count them. Abram believed the Lord and the Lord credited it to him as righteousness. Then the Lord made his covenant with Abram, the covenant to give the land of Canaan to Abram and his offspring forever. It was sealed with a ceremony involving the sacrifice of animals. It was a one-sided covenant. It didn’t require Abraham to do anything. It was not, “If you do this, I will do that,” but simply, “I will give this land to your offspring from the brook of Egypt to the Euphrates River.”

Now let’s look at the first five verses of chapter 16. Here’s what they say:

1Abram’s wife Sarai had not borne him children. She owned an Egyptian slave named Hagar. 2Sarai said to Abram, “Since the Lord has prevented me from bearing children, go to my slave; perhaps I can have children by her.” And Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3So Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar, her Egyptian slave, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife for him. This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan 10 years. 4He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she realized that she was pregnant, she looked down on her mistress. 5Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for my suffering! I put my slave in your arms, and ever since she saw that she was pregnant, she has looked down on me. May the Lord judge between me and you.” (Genesis 16:1-5)

Well, the Lord had told Abram that his offspring would inherit the land and had made a covenant to make it even more secure—and he had told Abram that his offspring would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. But Abram still had no children—and, more importantly, form Sarai’s point of view, Sarai had no children. She told Abram to take her slave, Hagar, as a second wife. According to the custom of that time, any children that Hagar would bear would be counted as Sarai’s.

This was not a good idea. When the Lord created men and women, he intended for one man to marry one woman. He said, “This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.” (Gen. 2:24) How can a man really become one flesh with more than one woman? The Lord later provided in the Law of Moses for a man to have more than one wife, but I believe that it was for the same reason that he provided for divorce, because of the hardness of their hearts. The Lord hates divorce. And it’s clear from the New Testament, too, that it’s not good for a man to have more than one wife. You can also see from examples in the Old Testament that having more than one wife leads to trouble. Abram’s grandson Jacob had more than one wife and there was trouble. But verse 2b says, “Abram agreed to what Sarai said.”

Abram agreed to what Sarai said; literally he listened to the voice of Sarai. (I wonder if Abram knew better just as Adam had known better when he listened to Eve and took some of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and ate it.) In any case, Abram took Hagar as a second wife and slept with her and she became pregnant, which was the desired result.

When Hagar realized she was pregnant, she began to look down on her mistress: “I’m better than you. I’m going to have a baby and you are not able to.” Then Sarai blamed Abram for her trouble: “You are responsible for my suffering! I put my slave in your arms, and ever since she saw that she was pregnant, she has looked down on me.  May the Lord judge between me and you.” Do you think Abram was guilty? He could have and should have said, “No,” just as Adam could have and should have said, “No.” Adam was not the one that was deceived! Adam knew better. Do you think Abram knew better? Abram knew that the Lord would provide children for him because it says, “Abram believed the Lord and he credited it to him as righteousness.”

Now let’s look at verse 6. This is what verse 6 says:

6Abram replied to Sarai, “Here, your slave is in your hands; do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai mistreated her so much that she ran away from her.

Hagar was also Abram’s wife now, but he told Sarai to do whatever she wanted with her. Sarai drove Hagar away.

Now look at verses 7 and 8:

7The Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8He said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
She replied, “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai.”

Hagar was on the road to Shur. According to my Bible dictionary, Shur was south of Palestine and east of Egypt. Hagar was evidently on her way back to Egypt. She was traveling in the wilderness. I don’t think she would have made it alone. If she had made it, she would have gone back to the culture of pagan worship and idolatry, because that’s what they did in Egypt. What she was doing was not good. But the Angel of the Lord found her. The Angel of the Lord asked her where she was coming from and where she was going. She said she was running away from her mistress Sarai.

I believe the Angel of the Lord is Jesus, himself! Although the Old Testament never explicitly identifies the Angel of the Lord as the preincarnate Christ, there’s plenty of reason to believe it’s true. The HCSB translators evidently thought so too, because they capitalized the word Angel.

Yes, Jesus was there all through the Old Testament. He was the Word that God spoke to create the heavens and the earth. He was the one who saw Abraham. He was the one who appeared to Moses in the burning bush. He was the one who went with the Israelites in the desert after they left Egypt. He was the one who met Joshua and said that he was the commander of the Lord’s army. Listen to this:

13When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in His hand. Joshua approached Him and asked, “Are You for us or for our enemies?”
14 “Neither,” He replied. “I have now come as commander of the Lord’s army.”
Then Joshua bowed with his face to the ground in worship and asked Him, “What does my Lord want to say to His servant?”
15The commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. (Joshua 5:13-15)

Jesus was there all through the Old Testament. He just wasn’t called Jesus. And he was there to help Hagar; and he is there to help us too!

Now let’s look at verses 9 through 12:

9Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “You must go back to your mistress and submit to her mistreatment.” 10The Angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, and they will be too many to count.”
11Then the Angel of the Lord said to her:

You have conceived and will have a son.
You will name him Ishmael,
for the Lord has heard your cry of affliction.
12  This man will be like a wild ass.
His hand will be against everyone,
and everyone’s hand will be against him;
he will live at odds with all his brothers.

He will live at odds with all his brothers. The offspring of Hagar’s son Ishmael that were to be too many to count are the Arabs. They have been at odds with the Jews for almost 4,000 years now. But they don’t have to remain at odds, because there is reconciliation in Jesus Christ our Lord.

You know, the apostle Paul used Hagar and Sarai to explain the difference between the Law and grace. The Law would be given through Moses on Mount Sinai 400 and some years after the Angel of the Lord had talked to Hagar in the wilderness. This is what the Lord said concerning his Law after he had given it:

4You are to practice My ordinances and you are to keep My statutes by following them; I am the Lord your God. 5Keep My statutes and ordinances; a person will live if he does them. I am the Lord. (Lev. 18:4,5)

The Israelites didn’t keep God’s Law. The Lord said that a person would live if he practiced his ordinances. Have any of us kept the Ten Commandments? (If you’ve kept the Ten Commandments, raise your hand.) No one is saved by keeping the Law. Here’s what the apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians. He was rebuking those who wanted to be saved by keeping the Law. It’s pride that makes people want to be saved by keeping the Law. We want to be able to say, “I did it myself. I met God’s standards. I saved myself.” (And I might add that the religion of Islam, which was started by the Arabs, the offspring of Ishmael, is a religion of keeping rules and of pride.) Here’s what the apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians:

21Tell me, you who want to be under the law, don’t you hear the law? 22For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave and the other by a free woman. 23But the one by the slave was born according to the flesh, while the one by the free woman was born as the result of a promise. 24These things are illustrations, for the women represent the two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai and bears children into slavery—this is Hagar. 25Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. (Gal. 4:21-26)

We who believe in Jesus are like the sons of Sarai, the free woman. We are born again as the result of a promise that God sealed by the blood of his Son Jesus Christ. We have a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. When Jesus took the cup after supper, he said, “This cup is the New Covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.” (1 Cor. 11:25) And this is what the apostle John said:

16Indeed, we have all received grace after grace from His fullness, 17for although the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1:16, 17)

I’m planning on saying more about these things when we talk about the birth of Isaac.

Now let’s continue in Genesis 16. Verses 13 and 14 say:

13So she named the Lord who spoke to her: The God Who Sees, for she said, “Have I really seen here the One who sees me?” 14That is why she named the spring, “A Well of the Living One Who Sees Me.” It is located between Kadesh and Bered. (Genesis 16:13, 14)

Hagar gave a new name to the Lord. She called him “The God Who Sees.” She understood something completely new to her. There is a God who watches over us! The pagan gods in Egypt didn’t really pay any attention to or care about anyone—and neither do any other pagan gods for that matter. But our God, who is the true God, the God who made the heavens and the earth and who made us also, is the God who sees us. He loves us and watches over us. That is his nature. God is love. He loves the Muslims too. “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. (John 3:16, 17)

The last two verses in chapter 16, say:

15So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son Hagar had. 16Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him. (Genesis 16:15, 16)

Hagar went back to her mistress Sarai according to what the Angel of the Lord had told her.

Now let’s go on to chapter 17. The HCSB give this chapter the title Covenant Circumcision. Let me read the first eight verses:

1When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him, saying, “I am God Almighty. Live in My presence and be devout. 2I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you greatly.”
3Then Abram fell to the ground, and God spoke with him: 4 “As for Me, My covenant is with you, and you will become the father of many nations. 5Your name will no longer be Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations. 6I will make you extremely fruitful and will make nations and kings come from you. 7I will keep My covenant between Me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, as an everlasting covenant to be your God and the God of your offspring after you. 8And to you and your offspring after you I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as an eternal possession, and I will be their God.” (Genesis 17:1-9)

This is 13 years after Ishmael was born. Abram was 86 when Ishmael was born. He was now 99.  The Lord came to him 13 years later. This time the Lord identified himself as God Almighty.  Abram fell to the ground before him, literally, he fell on his face.

The Lord spoke with Abram and reiterated his covenant, this time in very strong terms: “I will make you extremely fruitful and will make nations and kings come from you. I will keep My covenant between Me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, as an everlasting covenant to be your God and the God of your offspring after you.” The Lord also changed Abram’s name. The Lord changed Abram’s name from Abram to Abraham. Abram means High Father. Abraham means Father of Multitudes. Abraham is not just the father of the nation of Israel, he is also the father of all those descended from Ishmael and of many others also. And he is the spiritual father of all those who believe in Jesus Christ.

I’m not going to read all the verses in the rest of the chapter, but God gave Abraham another covenant which he, Abraham, was to keep. He said that it would be a covenant between Abraham and all of his offspring for all generations. Abraham was to circumcise all of the males of his household and all of his offspring after him. Male babies were to be circumcised when they were eight days old. (Jesus was circumcised when he was eight days old.)

In verse 14 God told Abram, “If any male is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that man will be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.” This sounds like the Lord’s one-sided, unconditional covenant can be broken, but what it really means is that those who are offspring of Abraham, either by biological descent or by faith, will be circumcised. But I have to explain something. Circumcision symbolizes the cutting off of the flesh. In the New Testament, the term, the flesh, is used to represent what we call our human nature and what is really our propensity to sin. And circumcision in the New Testament is circumcision of the heart by the Spirit. Here’s what the apostle Paul has to say about it:

28For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh. 29On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart—by the Spirit, not the letter. His praise is not from men but from God. (Romans 2:28, 29)

And, as a matter of fact, when Paul used the example of Hagar and Sarai, the slave woman and the free woman, that I quoted a little while ago from Galatians, the people he was rebuking for wanting to be saved through keeping the Law were teaching that you had to be circumcised physically (as opposed to being circumcised in the heart) in order to be saved. Paul condemned them strongly. He said:

1Christ has liberated us into freedom. Therefore stand firm and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery. 2Take note! I, Paul, tell you that if you get circumcised, Christ will not benefit you at all. 3Again I testify to every man who gets circumcised that he is obligated to keep the entire law. 4You who are trying to be justified by the law are alienated from Christ; you have fallen from grace! 5For by the Spirit we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness from faith. 6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision accomplishes anything; what matters is faith working through love. (Gal. 5:1-6)

Now let me get back to Genesis and read verses 15 through 22. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham; he changed Sarai’s name too. He changed it from Sarai to Sarah. Sarah means Princess:

15God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai, for Sarah will be her name. 16I will bless her; indeed, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will produce nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
17Abraham fell to the ground, laughed, and thought in his heart, “Can a child be born to a hundred-year-old man? Can Sarah, a ninety-year-old woman, give birth?” 18So Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael could live in Your presence!”
19But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. 20As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will certainly bless him; I will make him fruitful and will multiply him greatly. He will father 12 tribal leaders, and I will make him into a great nation. 21But I will confirm My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.” 22When He finished talking with him, God withdrew from Abraham. (Genesis 17:15-22)

Sarah’s son would be named Isaac. Isaac means Laughter! Don’t you think that’s a good name? The rest of chapter 17 says that Abraham circumcised all the males in his household.

[Prayer]



END NOTES
1 Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible ®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible ®, Holman CSB ® and HCSB ® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Genesis 16:1-17:27

Hagar and Ishmael
1Abram’s wife Sarai had not borne him children. She owned an Egyptian slave named Hagar. 2Sarai said to Abram, “Since the Lord has prevented me from bearing children, go to my slave; perhaps I can have children by her.” And Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3So Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar, her Egyptian slave, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife for him. This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan 10 years. 4He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she realized that she was pregnant, she looked down on her mistress. 5Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for my suffering! I put my slave in your arms, and ever since she saw that she was pregnant, she has looked down on me. May the Lord judge between me and you.”
6Abram replied to Sarai, “Here, your slave is in your hands; do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai mistreated her so much that she ran away from her.
7The Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8He said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
She replied, “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai.”
9Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “You must go back to your mistress and submit to her mistreatment.” 10The Angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, and they will be too many to count.”
11Then the Angel of the Lord said to her:

You have conceived and will have a son.
You will name him Ishmael,
for the Lord has heard your cry of affliction.
12  This man will be like a wild ass.
His hand will be against everyone,
and everyone’s hand will be against him;
he will live at odds with all his brothers.

13So she named the Lord who spoke to her: The God Who Sees, for she said, “Have I really seen here the One who sees me?” 14That is why she named the spring, “A Well of the Living One Who Sees Me.” It is located between Kadesh and Bered.
15So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son Hagar had. 16Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.


Chapter 17

Covenant Circumcision
1When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him, saying, “I am God Almighty. Live in My presence and be devout. 2I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you greatly.”
3Then Abram fell to the ground, and God spoke with him: 4 “As for Me, My covenant is with you, and you will become the father of many nations. 5Your name will no longer be Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations. 6I will make you extremely fruitful and will make nations and kings come from you. 7I will keep My covenant between Me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, as an everlasting covenant to be your God and the God of your offspring after you. 8And to you and your offspring after you I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as an eternal possession, and I will be their God.”
9God also said to Abraham, “As for you, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations are to keep My covenant. 10This is My covenant, which you are to keep, between Me and you and your offspring after you: Every one of your males must be circumcised. 11You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant between Me and you. 12Throughout your generations, every male among you at eight days old is to be circumcised. This includes a slave born in your house and one purchased with money from any foreigner. The one who is not your offspring, 13a slave born in your house, as well as one purchased with money, must be circumcised. My covenant will be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant. 14If any male is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that man will be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”
15God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai, for Sarah will be her name. 16I will bless her; indeed, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will produce nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
17Abraham fell to the ground, laughed, and thought in his heart, “Can a child be born to a hundred-year-old man? Can Sarah, a ninety-year-old woman, give birth?” 18So Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael could live in Your presence!”
19But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. 20As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will certainly bless him; I will make him fruitful and will multiply him greatly. He will father 12 tribal leaders, and I will make him into a great nation. 21But I will confirm My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.” 22When He finished talking with him, God withdrew from Abraham.
23Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the slaves born in his house or purchased with his money—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on that very day, just as God had said to him. 24Abraham was 99 years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised, 25and his son Ishmael was 13 years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised. 26On that same day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. 27And all the men of his household—both slaves born in his house and those purchased with money from a foreigner—were circumcised with him.