Blessings for Ishmael and Isaac

October 20, 2013 Background Scripture: Genesis 15 – 17; 21:9 – 21; 26:1 – 25 Lesson Passage: Genesis 21:12 – 14, 17 – 21; 26:2 – 5, 12, 13 It’s always refreshing to see a potentially bad situation end on a positive note. I am not suggesting that life in this world should always end: “… and they lived happily ever after.” But there are some bad situations that we get into that only God can get us out of them. Such was the case with Abraham’s family in the text of our lesson. After God’s initial promise of an heir for Abraham, apparently Sarah did not see how she could be a part of the fulfillment of such a promise. Therefore, she unselfishly offered her maid, Hagar, to her husband so that God would bless him with an offspring through her. It was thirteen years later that Sarah learned that she would give birth to an offspring for her husband as well. Oops! As an older woman (75 years old) who had been barren all her life, perhaps Sarah thought she was the reason her husband did not have an heir. Little did she know that God made everything work together for good. Her situation could not, and indeed, would not prevent God from carrying out His plan for Abraham’s life. Since she apparently did not know this or maybe knew it and refused to believe it, she decided to help God deliver on His promise to her husband. Her plan seemed to work fine for thirteen years. Then God reappeared and reaffirmed His promise but this time He made it clear that He would deliver without any schemes on their part. There were no apparent problems yet. However, after Sarah gave birth to Isaac, she no longer regarded Abraham’s first son, Ishmael, as such a great idea after all. Abraham found himself in the midst of a homemade dilemma: Sarah refused to allow Ishmael and his mother, Hagar, to continue to live with them. Sarah understood that such an arrangement would make Ishmael the heir to most of what Abraham owned. How could the son of a servant have privilege over her son who she carried and gave birth to? According to their custom, Ishmael would legally claim a double portion of whatever Isaac inherited as long as he stayed around. The only way out of this was for Abraham to disown Ishmael, his first born son, and send him away. What an awful dilemma this was for Abraham—and an uncomfortable one for Ishmael I might add. How do you choose between your first born son and the son born to you of your wife? To make matters worse, the first born son was the result of a plan hatched by his wife. This is where God stepped in. (Cue the Hallelujah Chorus!) God declared that He would bless both sons because both of them were Abraham’s offspring. God advised Abraham to listen to his wife and send Ishmael and his mother away. To ease Abraham’s pain because of their departure, God promised to provide for Ishmael and He went on to tell Abraham about the offspring that would come from him. On the other hand, Isaac was the heir God promised Abraham. As time progressed, God renewed the promise to Abraham that the blessing would indeed pass down through Isaac and his offspring would be nations. After Abraham died, his two sons, Isaac and Ishmael, came together and buried their father. God continued to bless Ishmael and Isaac because they were both Abraham’s seed. Robert C. Hudson October 9, 2013