Sons and Daughters of His Promise | Genesis 21:8-21

We now have a tale of two families.  Two sons.  One son born out of sin, through faithlessness.  One Son born out of promise, through faithfulness. Two sons.  Two families.  Two nations.  One family called by God.  One family who isn’t in God’s family, who mocks God and His family. 

 

In Genesis 21:8-21 we have two families.  Two sons and two wives, one the married wife (half-sister—same father different mother) Sarah, and the other is the Egyptian maid servant who had relations with Abraham and conceived Ishmael.

 

A major theme we have unpacked in this series comes to a climax in the collection of these verses: “God is calling His family to be set apart from the world, from everyone else.”  This theme is not JUST an Old Testament theme rather it is a consistent theme we will see throughout the entirety of scripture.  There is God’s Family and Everyone Else.

 

God’s Church family is special, important, because God’s people have the Holy Spirit indwelled in them, they are saved by their Faith in Christ.  The Jewish people in Genesis 21 throughout the rest of Israel’s history are called out by God, set apart for God’s glory and God dwells within them—God’s family is the most important to God.

 

1. Ishmael is not the chosen, promised son, Isaac is the promised son. God’s called out people will come through Isaac, not Ishmael.

 

“And she [Sarah] said, who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.  And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.  And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had born to Abraham, laughing in Jest.”

--Genesis 21:7-9

 

In Genesis 16, We remember Sarai had the idea for Abram to have a son with their Egyptian maid, Hagar, after Hagar conceives Ishmael she is driven out of the camp by Sarai and it is clear how this was a mistake, this was sin.

“And he [Ishmael] will be a wild donkey of a man, His hand will be against everyone, And everyone’s hand will be against him; And he will dwell in the face of all his brothers.”

--Genesis 16:12

 

Now, this is a funny play on history and roles in ancient culture.  The firstborn son of the family was typically the heir of the family, the promised son.  He would inherit the families’ inheritance, belongings, land and double portion of wealth. 

 

“In biblical times, the firstborn was given certain unique rights, responsibilities, and privileges. A married couple’s firstborn male child was given priority and preeminence in the family, and the best of the inheritance. The nation of Israel is identified as God’s “firstborn” in the Bible (Exodus 4:22; Jeremiah 31:9); in other words, Israel held a special place of privilege and blessing among the nations.”

--GotQuestions.org

 

-In the OT ancient culture, the firstborn son was considered sacred by God

-Abel brings the first born of His flock and fat portions in a pleasing sacrifice / offering to God

(Gen. 4:4)

-The Israelites are told by God to consecrate their first-born males and animals.  They must be redeemed and paid back (with money) as a sign of belonging to God (Ex. 22:29-30, Ex. 34:19)

- These symbolic acts represented the Passover. In the final plague against Egypt, God “passed over” the firstborn males of Israel, who were in their homes with the blood of a lamb as a sign on their doors as God had commanded. The firstborn Egyptian males, including the livestock, were struck down (Ex. 11—12:30).

-The first could sell his rights away as Esau did to Jacob (Gen. 25:29-34) Esau despised his birthright (Gen. 25:34), the first born could also be lost as we see in Reuben, Jacob’s first-born son (Gen. 49:3-4) Reuben slept with his father’s concubine and his father took the blessing away from his son.

-Paul references this play on the first born son in Romans 9,

-The Israelites and Israel is considered special to God, they are called the firstborn nation of God’s.

 

 

“And Yahweh said to Moses, ‘When you go to return to Egypt, see to it that all the miraculous wonders which I have put in your hand, that you do them before Pharaoh; but as for Me, I will harden his heart with strength so that he will not let the people go.  Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says Yahweh, ‘Israel is My son, My firstborn.’”

--Exodus 4:21-22

 

“And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac;  for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that the purpose of God according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls,  it was said to her, ‘The older shall serve the younger.’  Just as it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’  What shall we say then? Is there any unrighteousness with God? May it never be!  For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’  So then it does not depend on the one who wills or the one who runs, but on God who has mercy.’”

--Romans 9:10-16

 

Everything that has happened and that is happening is by God’s will for God’s plan and for His ultimate glory. This is vital to know when we look at God’s character in Genesis 21:8-21 and even Sarah’s character.  Sarah understands Ishmael is mocking Isaac because he, Ishmael is the actual firstborn son (the actual first born) and doesn’t understand what God’s plan is.

 

“You will say to me then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?’  On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? Will the thing molded say to the molder, ‘Why did you make me like this’?  Or does not the potter have authority over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?’”

--Romans 9:19-21

 

“Mocking, or ‘laughing in jest.’”  צָחַק tsâchaq, tsaw-khak'; a primitive root; to laugh outright (in merriment or scorn); by implication, to sport:—laugh, mock, play, make sport.

 

In some rabbinical, Jewish traditions (Talmud and Midrash) the use of this Hebrew word typically means to be evil towards someone; or to be full of scorn / full of violence towards someone.  This isn’t some simple funny joke and sarcasm—Ishmael did not like Isaac, Sarah saw this and stood to protect Isaac.

 

“Therefore, she said to Abraham, ‘Drive out this maidservant and her son! The son of this maidservant shall not be an heir with my son, with Isaac.’  And the matter distressed Abraham greatly because of his son.  So God said to Abraham, ‘Do not be distressed because of the boy and your maidservant; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her voice, for through Isaac your seed shall be named.  And of the son of the maidservant I will make a nation also, because he is your seed.”

--Genesis 21:10-13

 

It is clear here Sarah is correct—she is doing what is right in God’s eyes.  God’s family is going to come through Isaac, not Ishmael, the two cannot live in the same family together, this may seem cruel by our eyes and standards, but it is God’s will—it is God’s plan.

 

 

2. God calls His people to not be of the world, to be set a part, to not take part in the deeds of sin.

 

“So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave them Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the child, and sent her away.  So she went and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.  When the water in the skin was finished, she put the child under one of the bushes.

--Genesis 21:14-15

 

Isaac would have been approximately five years old when he was weaned and mocked by Ishmael, Ishmael would have been pprox.. fifteen to eighteen years old when he mocked Isaac.  A teenage and his mother are kicked out of Abraham’s family because the promised son (Isaac) and the son of the flesh (Ismael) do not belong together.  God is setting his family apart.

 

God is a God of order—He has created the governments of the world, the kingdoms and the borders of those kingdoms / regions. 

 

“From these the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, everyone according to his tongue, according to their families, into their nations…The border of the Canaanite extended from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; as you go toward Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.”

--Genesis 10:5, 19

 

“The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;  nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;  and He made from one man every nation of mankind to inhabit all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation.”

--Acts 17:24-26

 

We see that even Nehemiah was called to build the security wall (Ezra was called to build the Temple) around God’s people to keep them secure, to help them, to protect them and so their worship was not disrupted (Nehemiah 2:14-17).  God even has walls around the new Jerusalem, the new city on the new earth after the white throne room judgement in Revelation 21:10-27.  

 

“Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the authority to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city.  Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the sexually immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.”

--Revelation 22:14-15

 

“You shall not do according to what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do according to what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes.  You are to do My judgments and keep My statutes, to walk in them; I am Yahweh your God…For whoever does any of these abominations, those persons who do so shall be cut off from among their people.

--Leviticus 18:3-4, 29

 

“Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”

--1 John 2:15-16

 

If we go back to Romans 9 we are instructed on who is a part of God’s family, who is a part of God’s ancient Israel and modern Israel, those descended through Abraham’s seed and those who are grafted into the family through Christ. 

 

 “…that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.  For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh,  who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises,  whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

 

  But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s seed, but; through Isaac your seed will be named.’ That is, the children of the flesh are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are considered as seed.  For this is the word of promise: ‘At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son.’”

--Romans 9:2-9

 

 

3. God bestows Grace onto, into this world and into our Lives.

 

“Then God heard the voice of the boy crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, ‘What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.  Arise, lift up the boy, and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.’  Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.’”

--Genesis 21:17-19

 

Ishmael is with God and God is with Ishmael.   Why?  Because God is bestowing His grace onto Ishmael and his mother. 

 

“And God was with the boy, and he grew; and he lived in the wilderness and was an archer.  And he lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.”

--Genesis 21:20-21.

 

God, through His angel, promised provision, grace and blessing on earth for Hagar and Ishmael (even their seed).  She was promised multiplication of her seed (Gen. 16:10) and Ishmael was promised a great nation that will dwell I the face of his brothers and everyone will be against him (Gen. 16:12).

 

The Bible says God was with Ishmael as he grew up in the eastern Sinai Peninsula: “He became a skillful archer, and he settled in the wilderness of Paran. His mother arranged for him to marry a woman from the land of Egypt” (Genesis 21:20–21, NLT). When Abraham died, Ishmael attended his funeral (Genesis 25:9), proving that at least occasional and civil communications were maintained between him and his father’s household.

Ishmael fathered 12 sons and a daughter who married Esau (Genesis 28:9; 36:2–3). He lived to the ripe old age of 137 (Genesis 25:17). Scripture says Ishmael’s numerous descendants settled near the eastern border of Egypt and lived in hostility toward all of their relatives (Genesis 25:18).

 

 

God continues to give His world His wonderful, amazing, undeserving Grace.  Paul reiterates the Israel of Promise and the Israel of flesh, in Galatians 4 he talks about the children of Flesh (Ishmael’s descendants) and the children of Promise (Isaac’s descendants) to remind the church in Rome and Galatia there is only one way to become a child of the promise.  That salvation, that adoption into God’s holy family, is not a work we can do or perform rather it is a walk God has done through the perfect birth, life, horrible death and amazing resurrection of Jesus Christ—the firstborn of all creation.

 

 

“Who rescued us from the authority of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins...Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For in Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.”

--Colossians 1:14-16

 

 

“There is no such thing as a great man of God, only weak, pitiful, faithless men of a great and merciful God.”

-Paul Washer

 

“Christ be with me, Christ within Me, Christ Behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me.”

--St. Patrick

 

-We need to stop turning pulpits into pedestals because…

 

It is easy to have plans, to use our human intellect.  It is also easy to think we are the hero of the story when reading God’s word.  “How could Ishmael do that to Isaac?...I never—”.  God has placed this story in His word to remind all of  the world, including the children of His promise, that we are all prone to be Ishmael, or we once were like Ishmael. The only reason we are not because of His saving grace, because of His sovereign plan.