21 Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not listen to the law?
22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman.
23 But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise.
24 This is allegorically speaking, for these women are two covenants: one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar.
25 Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.
Vs. 21 - “do you not listen to the law?” - Doesn’t this sound impertinent? He is rubbing their faces in it. “Okay, you say you want to follow the Law - then follow it. Follow all of it!” Earlier in the Letter, Paul is “amazed”. He also calls them “foolish”. So, yeah, perhaps he is a little snarky here.
Vs. 22 - “Abraham had two sons” - His first son was Ishmael, by Hagar, who was a slave (See Gen. 16). His second son was Isaac, by his wife Sarah. (See Gen. 17:19, 21; 21:3, 12).
Vs. 23
- “born according to the flesh” - In Gen. 15 God promises to bless Abram, who asks how this will happen since he is childless. In fact, Abram’s only heir is his personal servant which is not what God intended, so He repeats the promise. Sarah is impatient. (“Oh you of little faith...”) She offers her servant, Hagar, to Abram. Perhaps God needs assistance because He isn’t acting fast enough for Sarah.
In an interesting display of weakness, Abram agrees. (This happens after Abram was declared righteous because of his faith.) He has sex with Hagar, who immediately is pregnant. As you can imagine, this causes problems. Not good when the slave says, “Neener, neener, neener! I’m preggers and you’re not!” Sarah is not pleased, so she complains to Abram. He says, “Not my problem.” Sarah kicks Hagar out. God rescues Hagar, and assures her Ishmael will be the father of nations. This is the “child of the flesh”, (v. 23, below) because Sarah and Abraham tried it their way instead of relying on God’s promise.
- “through the promise” - God reminds Abram of the promise: that his descendants will be by God’s will. It will be obvious that God brought it about, not machinations of men and women. Fourteen years later (! - talk about needing to be patient - !), Sarah gets pregnant. Abraham (name change!) is 100 years old, Sarah is 99! This is the promised child! Sarah’s pregnancy is only slightly less miraculous than Mary, the mother of Jesus. Isaac was born to people who were way beyond child bearing age. There are extremely long odds for both Abraham and Sarah to be fertile! It is a miracle from God for this to be true. Similarly, the birth of Christ Jesus not a biological anomaly, but a miracle from the Spirit of God.
The pattern of people stepping in to do it their way is seen several times throughout the Bible, usually resulting in bad consequences. For example:
Moses struck the rock to get water, rather than speaking to it as commanded. (Num. 20:8-12 )
The Jews made a golden calf to worship because they were tired of waiting for God to respond. (Exo. 32-1-8)
King Saul did sacrifices rather than wait for the priests to arrive to fulfill their duties. (1 Sam. 13:8-13.)
God did prophesy Ishmael would be the ancestor of many nations, although he was not the ‘child of promise’ and was rejected. Some of the present day ethnic Arab peoples are descendants of Abraham via Ishmael!
Vs. 24
- “allegorically speaking” - Paul is painting a picture using these two women, comparing or contrasting Hagar and Sarah. The account of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar is well-known in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Jesus and David and are descendants of Abraham through Isaac. Islam claims Abraham as their father through Ishmael. Just mentioning their names invoke mental images - especially for the Jewish believers in the early church. Paul almost always started his evangelism in synagogues in the towns he visited. People (Gentiles) unaware or unfamiliar with the Bible story would need to have it told and explained.
versus Hagar - used, abused, rejected and rescued, and kicked out again. |
- “Two covenants “ - The two covenants are the Abrahamic and the Mosaic. The covenant with Abraham was “one way”- God promising and delivering on the basis of faith. (See: Gal. 3:6-8)The Mosaic covenant was “two-way” (that is: conditional) - the Jews would be blessed if they kept the commands given. (Gal. 3:18-20). All Jews are familiar with both covenants.
Abraham - the father of their nation, through whom the world would be blessed. They are still waiting for the promise to be kept (what irony).
Moses - the man who led them out of Egypt to the Promised Land. The man to whom God gave the Law. The man who led them through the desert of their unbelief.
Vs. 25 - “Hagar is Mount Sinai... the present Jerusalem” - Tying the Hebrew’s most holy mountain to a slave woman, and linking both to Israel’s capital and most important city makes us stop and think. What is the connection between these three: a woman whose descendants have beleaguered the Jews, the mountain where God laid out the Mosaic covenant, and the city of David?
- Mount Sinai is the location where God gave the 10 Commandments. (Exo. 24:12, 31:18). Mt. Sinai isn't mentioned until the Exo. 19:2. (
See: Note 1, below)- Hagar was a slave woman twice kicked out of her mistress’s house. The first time because she got snippy with the boss lady. (Gen. 16:4) The second time, Sarah was worried that Ishmael might steal Isaac’s inheritance, plus Ishmael was getting snarky. (Gen. 21:8-13) It seems Sarah still did not trust the Lord to fulfill His promises. She convinced Abraham to banish Hagar and Ishmael. God intervened, saving Hagar and Ishmael. (Gen. 21:14-20).
- Hagar was freed when Abraham sent her away. She was no longer a slave. God rescued her - she did not earn or deserve this - because Ishmael was Abraham’s son. Similarly, the Jews arrived at Mt. Sinai free from slavery to the Egyptians. They escaped by God’s grace and power, nothing more!
- The city of Jerusalem had been attacked by the Israelites from the time of Joshua, through the period of the Judges, and was finally captured and made David’s capital. (See: Josh. 15:63; Judg. 1:21; 2 Sam. 6:5, respectively) From the time of king Saul up until the Babylonian captivity, the Israelites were a basically a free nation (from about 1100 B.C. to about 630 B.C.). When Babylon crushed Judah and Benjamin (that’s all that was left of the 12 tribes), the nation of Israel was a slave nation (if it existed at all) until 1948. Babylonians, Egypt, Greece, and Romans all ruled over the Jews. The nation ceased to exist in 77 A. D., when Rome had enough and crushed Jerusalem. The Temple was turned into rubble. The people were scattered.
- “She is in slavery” - The connection is this: More than physical slavery, Jerusalem was still under slavery to sin. Likewise, Hagar although freed from slavery to Sarah, she was not freed from sin. The Israelites were freed from Egyptian slavery. Even though God gave them the Mosaic Covenant they were still slaves to sin. Jerusalem, the jewel of the nation could not erase the strain of sin, even though reclaimed and rebuilt from the ruin caused by the Medes/Persians/Babylonians. The temple in Jerusalem in Jesus and the Apostle’s time had the form but not the substance of Judaism. It may have had the dimensions, and all of the courts, and gates - even a Holy of Holies. This temple lacked the Ark of the Covenant, with Aaron’s rod, Manna, and the tablets with the Ten Commandments. It lacked the presence of God. The Jews did all the rituals, but it was hollow.
***Note 1: Mt. Sinai and Mt. Horeb may be the same mountain, or Sinai may be a mountain peak in the Horeb range.) It is located in the south one-third of the Sinai Peninsula.
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