Here is finally the pericope that we have been waiting for, the birth of the promised son, Isaac or Laughter. God fulfilled his promise against natural law, as both were old. Abraham circumcised him as an act of covenant and remembrance of His promise and the writer allocate a space to tell Sara’s musing about how now God had made her laugh (heartily) when the miracle happened against common sense.
Right after that, the conflict happened between Sara and Hagar. Sara requested Abraham to drive them away and Abraham did so. Apostle Paul quoted this as a metaphor later in his letters (NT):
– Hagar (and Ishmael) is the symbol of law and has to be driven away
– Isaac is the promised son, gifted as grace not by own righteousness but by gift.
Actually Paul played a very complicated dance play, where he was telling the reader at his time, the radical idea of his writing:
– Whoever follow the law, including the Jews, actually became the cast out, driven out, and not the lineage of Isaac, and no longer became heirs.
– Whoever receive the grace by faith, will be part of the lineage of the promised son, Isaac, and become heirs – including the Greeks, which is viewed as the infidel outsider, by the Jews
Hagar was driven away and ran out of water. She wept.
The writer dedicated long story (longer than the Isaac’s birthday above!!!) to show how God loved Hagar and Ishmael and saved them. God reached to her and showed them a well, then God took care of Ishmaels and made him into great nations.
Further playing with the metaphor of Paul’s glassview, I’ll comment; That none of us will be able to grasp the full extent of his grace, nor are we able to have perfect faith. Our day to day life, sometimes are mixed with our own self righteousness and flesh, so the story of how God reached out to Hagar, is a story of him reaching out to us everyday. God had compassion to Hagar and he loved her.
Or you can read, that as God called them out, God wants us to call others outside the lineage and grab them to become the heirs too!
The next story is about Abimelech again. Abraham had a small dispute about the well with him and Abimelech quickly agreed with whatever Abraham proposed. Abraham did not take advantage and he paid what he must paid (that’s honor). The story shows how God maintained his dignity in front of the king and his army commander. In fact Abimelech asked Abraham not to “cause” harms anymore to him. They made a pact at Bersyeba and Abraham still stayed long in that foreign land, as recorded in New Testament later.
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