Genesis 17:15-22
Details, Details, Details –
(Which is Exactly What Abra(ha)m Wants)
Or
Mama’s Got a Brand New Name (Act Three)
“And God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.’” (Genesis 17:15-16, ESV)
And with that proclamation, God modifies his words from verses 5 and 6 of chapter 17 to apply directly to Abraham’s wife. Some commentaries specifically mention that the name change that Abraham and Sarah both experienced was one of God’s ways of solidifying the covenant. (The Jewish Study Bible, p37-38) Granted, in Abraham’s case, the name change reflected his status as the father of many people, where Sarah’s name change wasn’t an adaptation of meaning, since both Sarai and Sarah are both variations of “princess.” (The Torah: A Modern Commentary, p117) However, what is important with these two verses is not that Sarah’s new name wasn’t as revelatory a change as was Abram’s, but that she too was included and deemed equal to Abraham in terms of their roles in creating the Jewish people. (The Jewish Study Bible, p38)
“Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, ‘Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?’” (Genesis 17:17, ESV)
Yup -- you just read it. Your eyes weren’t deceiving you. Abraham just laughed at God and God called him on it. As I have said to many people in the past month, my affinity for Abraham and Sarah has increased greatly during the course of researching, studying, and writing these lessons. I can relate to the Abraham I am coming to know as I read and study his story, while, in the past, I struggled with any attempt to learn from his life. The Abraham you learn about in Sunday School as a child, especially the version that’s influenced by Chapter 11 of Hebrews and flannel-graphs, was this wonderfully fabulous paragon of faith, virtue, and righteousness after whom I should model my life. However, the problem with such an image of spiritual perfection looming in my vision was that I became convinced that I could never attain that status.
But then I read verses like Genesis 17:17 (and later 18:10) and I am reminded that the Patriarchs were imperfect humans just like myself. They experienced, portrayed, and dealt with deep levels of unbelief on a regular basis. “Some feel that Abraham laughed for joy [i.e. Jamieson, Fausset, and Browne’s Commentary, p28] but verse 18 indicated that it was an expression of doubt as he struggled to match his faith to his circumstances.” (Ryrie Study Bible: NASB, p29) Tell me -- who hasn’t been there, right alongside Abraham? If you’ve ever been a human being on this earth, you too have struggled to match your faith with your circumstances.
This is why studying the stories of the Old Testament is so crucial, so important to how we live our lives and interact with the world around us. Each of us is fallen and imperfect; thus, we must remember that exact piece of information so that we can attempt to live a bit more peaceably and see issues from several vantage points. Abraham and Sarah resonate with me as I read their lives – I’ve made those mistakes, you’ve made those mistakes, I’ll make them again, and so will you. By acknowledging, along with Abraham, my lack of faith, we can both have our faith strengthened by listening to God in the subsequent verses.
“And Abraham said to God, ‘Oh, that Ishmael may live before you!’ God said, ‘No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.’” (Genesis 17:18-19, ESV) “But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.” (Genesis 17:21; ESV)
“Isaac means ‘he laughs.’ God specifically designated him, not Ishmael, as heir of the covenant. … Legally, the natural son became the heir, even though born after the son of a slave-wife.” (Ryrie Study Bible: NASB, p 29) “The natural impossibility of her giving birth at 90 (not to mention her life-long infertility) only highlights the supernatural character of Isaac and the nation descended from him (v 17). (The Jewish Study Bible, p38) “By his own sovereign counsel, the Lord elected Isaac, not Ishmael. His [God’s] chosen race would not come by natural selection, but by supernatural grace.” (Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible: NIV, p40)
Abraham and Sarah are reminded here that God remembers their antics from chapter 16 where they attempted to circumvent the promises of God by having Abraham take Hagar to be his concubine, conceiving Ishmael. God wants the couple to remember that their plans aren’t nearly as important as they think they are. However, God redeems the potentially tense situation with the specific naming of their child, to be named Isaac. It is Isaac, all along, who has been the child of promise, the child that Sarah would bring into the world, as the fulfillment of everything God had told them would happen.
“As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.” (Genesis 17:20, ESV)
“Ishmael, however, is not dispossessed. Whereas only Isaac inherits the covenant (and its attendant promise of land), Ishmael inherits a large measure of the Abrahamic promise. Like his nephew Jacob, he will become the patriarch of a twelve-tribe confederation and thus the father of a great nation.” (The Jewish Study Bible, p 38)
To his credit, Abraham is concerned, as a good father should be, for the welfare of his children, no matter the conditions of the child’s origins. Furthermore, God fulfills the promises he has made to both Abram and Hagar over the past 6 chapters. Ishmael will receive a portion of Abram’s possessions, though it will be nothing compared to what has been promised and is due to Isaac. What should be noted is that the Bible does not mention who the descendents of Ishmael become, outside of the 12-son collective mentioned in Genesis 25:13-18. The Bible places no claim and no blame upon Ishmael and the direction in which his descendents would take. Any and all prophecy about Ishmael is relegated to discussing his temperament and that Ishmael would be the father of a great nation, conditions befitting Ishmael’s status as a child of Abraham’s.
Teachers: What do we have here, with this discussion of covenant and name changes? What are we supposed to learn ourselves so that we can best convey these themes to the children in our classes? Simply put, we should talk about how God keeps any promise made, especially in ways that are beyond what us average humans could ever understand. God uses a scheming, barren woman and her doubting, laughing husband to create the Jewish people and still finds ways to declare that these two are full of faith and credited with righteousness. Moreover, it’s also an example of how, even when we don’t quite believe what God has been telling us, God gives us many chances and opportunities to build or reestablish our faith and trust. Furthermore, the idea of covenant must be stressed in that the covenant was God’s way of leaving proof that the Jews were to be a special people throughout world history, subject to much blessing, much assistance, and much responsibility. Might that we are cognizant of God’s blessing, provision, and protection throughout the whole of Old Testament, due in large part to the terms of the covenant arrangement between Abraham and God.
(Which is Exactly What Abra(ha)m Wants)
Or
Mama’s Got a Brand New Name (Act Three)
“And God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.’” (Genesis 17:15-16, ESV)
And with that proclamation, God modifies his words from verses 5 and 6 of chapter 17 to apply directly to Abraham’s wife. Some commentaries specifically mention that the name change that Abraham and Sarah both experienced was one of God’s ways of solidifying the covenant. (The Jewish Study Bible, p37-38) Granted, in Abraham’s case, the name change reflected his status as the father of many people, where Sarah’s name change wasn’t an adaptation of meaning, since both Sarai and Sarah are both variations of “princess.” (The Torah: A Modern Commentary, p117) However, what is important with these two verses is not that Sarah’s new name wasn’t as revelatory a change as was Abram’s, but that she too was included and deemed equal to Abraham in terms of their roles in creating the Jewish people. (The Jewish Study Bible, p38)
“Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, ‘Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?’” (Genesis 17:17, ESV)
Yup -- you just read it. Your eyes weren’t deceiving you. Abraham just laughed at God and God called him on it. As I have said to many people in the past month, my affinity for Abraham and Sarah has increased greatly during the course of researching, studying, and writing these lessons. I can relate to the Abraham I am coming to know as I read and study his story, while, in the past, I struggled with any attempt to learn from his life. The Abraham you learn about in Sunday School as a child, especially the version that’s influenced by Chapter 11 of Hebrews and flannel-graphs, was this wonderfully fabulous paragon of faith, virtue, and righteousness after whom I should model my life. However, the problem with such an image of spiritual perfection looming in my vision was that I became convinced that I could never attain that status.
But then I read verses like Genesis 17:17 (and later 18:10) and I am reminded that the Patriarchs were imperfect humans just like myself. They experienced, portrayed, and dealt with deep levels of unbelief on a regular basis. “Some feel that Abraham laughed for joy [i.e. Jamieson, Fausset, and Browne’s Commentary, p28] but verse 18 indicated that it was an expression of doubt as he struggled to match his faith to his circumstances.” (Ryrie Study Bible: NASB, p29) Tell me -- who hasn’t been there, right alongside Abraham? If you’ve ever been a human being on this earth, you too have struggled to match your faith with your circumstances.
This is why studying the stories of the Old Testament is so crucial, so important to how we live our lives and interact with the world around us. Each of us is fallen and imperfect; thus, we must remember that exact piece of information so that we can attempt to live a bit more peaceably and see issues from several vantage points. Abraham and Sarah resonate with me as I read their lives – I’ve made those mistakes, you’ve made those mistakes, I’ll make them again, and so will you. By acknowledging, along with Abraham, my lack of faith, we can both have our faith strengthened by listening to God in the subsequent verses.
“And Abraham said to God, ‘Oh, that Ishmael may live before you!’ God said, ‘No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.’” (Genesis 17:18-19, ESV) “But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.” (Genesis 17:21; ESV)
“Isaac means ‘he laughs.’ God specifically designated him, not Ishmael, as heir of the covenant. … Legally, the natural son became the heir, even though born after the son of a slave-wife.” (Ryrie Study Bible: NASB, p 29) “The natural impossibility of her giving birth at 90 (not to mention her life-long infertility) only highlights the supernatural character of Isaac and the nation descended from him (v 17). (The Jewish Study Bible, p38) “By his own sovereign counsel, the Lord elected Isaac, not Ishmael. His [God’s] chosen race would not come by natural selection, but by supernatural grace.” (Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible: NIV, p40)
Abraham and Sarah are reminded here that God remembers their antics from chapter 16 where they attempted to circumvent the promises of God by having Abraham take Hagar to be his concubine, conceiving Ishmael. God wants the couple to remember that their plans aren’t nearly as important as they think they are. However, God redeems the potentially tense situation with the specific naming of their child, to be named Isaac. It is Isaac, all along, who has been the child of promise, the child that Sarah would bring into the world, as the fulfillment of everything God had told them would happen.
“As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.” (Genesis 17:20, ESV)
“Ishmael, however, is not dispossessed. Whereas only Isaac inherits the covenant (and its attendant promise of land), Ishmael inherits a large measure of the Abrahamic promise. Like his nephew Jacob, he will become the patriarch of a twelve-tribe confederation and thus the father of a great nation.” (The Jewish Study Bible, p 38)
To his credit, Abraham is concerned, as a good father should be, for the welfare of his children, no matter the conditions of the child’s origins. Furthermore, God fulfills the promises he has made to both Abram and Hagar over the past 6 chapters. Ishmael will receive a portion of Abram’s possessions, though it will be nothing compared to what has been promised and is due to Isaac. What should be noted is that the Bible does not mention who the descendents of Ishmael become, outside of the 12-son collective mentioned in Genesis 25:13-18. The Bible places no claim and no blame upon Ishmael and the direction in which his descendents would take. Any and all prophecy about Ishmael is relegated to discussing his temperament and that Ishmael would be the father of a great nation, conditions befitting Ishmael’s status as a child of Abraham’s.
Teachers: What do we have here, with this discussion of covenant and name changes? What are we supposed to learn ourselves so that we can best convey these themes to the children in our classes? Simply put, we should talk about how God keeps any promise made, especially in ways that are beyond what us average humans could ever understand. God uses a scheming, barren woman and her doubting, laughing husband to create the Jewish people and still finds ways to declare that these two are full of faith and credited with righteousness. Moreover, it’s also an example of how, even when we don’t quite believe what God has been telling us, God gives us many chances and opportunities to build or reestablish our faith and trust. Furthermore, the idea of covenant must be stressed in that the covenant was God’s way of leaving proof that the Jews were to be a special people throughout world history, subject to much blessing, much assistance, and much responsibility. Might that we are cognizant of God’s blessing, provision, and protection throughout the whole of Old Testament, due in large part to the terms of the covenant arrangement between Abraham and God.
posted by APN | 12:35 PM
1 Comments:
I love adam newton. he's my hero.
Jonathan barrick.
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