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Introduction
A. Outsiders and Insiders
Moby Dick
CHAPTER 1. Loomings
Call me Ishmael.
“Call me Ishmael.”
So begins the famous novel Moby-Dick, by Herman Melville.
Melville employs many biblical names and images to tell a story of self-destruction of the obsessive Captain Ahab.
Ishmael, the narrator, is always the outsider, not quite part of the main drama unfolding around him.
His namesake, the Ishmael of Genesis, also ended up being an outsider.
Today, Muslims see Abraham as their father in the faith, much like Jews and Christians do (compare Romans 4:16).
Muslims, however, trace their spiritual lineage back to Abraham through Ishmael, the son who was cast out of Abraham’s household.
According to the Qur’an (or Koran), the holy book of the religion of Islam, Abraham was told by God to take Ishmael and his mother, Hagar, to a far land.
They traveled many days until they came to a deserted place.
Unbeknownst to them, so the story goes, this was the spot where Adam had built the first place to worship God.
Abraham left Hagar and Ishmael there.
When Hagar and Ishmael were near death from lack of water, the Qur’an claims that the youngster began to kick in the sand, and a well sprang up.
This became the well Zamzam, and the city that grew around it is known today as Mecca.
Muslims falsely believe that a descendant of Ishmael named Mohammed restored true worship of God at this site in the seventh century ad.
Unrest and violence in the Middle East today are partly fueled by different ideas concerning how people are connected to Abraham and his sons.
Jews claim the side of Isaac, the child of promise according to Genesis.
Muslims believe that their ancestor Ishmael was the primary child of promise blessed by God.
Each side sees itself as the “insider” and the other as the “outsider.”
This religious rivalry, combined with politics and nationalism, has led to instability and war, disrupting the lives of many innocent people.
The fundamentalist brand of Islam believes there is no room for accommodation with infidels, those who don’t believe as they do and who don’t follow the teachings of Mohammed to the letter.
This week’s lesson looks at the story of Abraham, Hagar, and Ishmael from the Bible’s point of view.
It is a sad story of a family broken apart because of foolish behavior and bitterness.
We grieve with Abraham as he is forced to choose between his two sons.
Many of those studying this lesson have experienced the pain of family fighting and break-up.
Today’s text offers hope to us in that we see that God did not curse one side of a family squabble while blessing the other side.
B. Lesson Background
Abraham and Sarah were able to have a son in spite of advanced age.
Regarding Sarah specifically, we learned of many admirable qualities: her faith, her courage, and her sense of humor and joy.
Yet there was another side to Sarah that was not so admirable.
Today we see a headstrong woman, who could be jealous and scheming.
In the end one of her schemes backfired, and her jealousy caused her to act with cruelty.
Sarah and Abraham lived in a world where it was common for households to include slaves.
One of their slaves was an Egyptian girl named Hagar (Genesis 16:3).
Hagar was Sarah’s personal attendant.
When Abraham and Sarah’s attempts to produce a child were unsuccessful, Sarah hatched a scheme to remedy the problem: she offered to let Abraham have Hagar as a type of slave-wife, hoping this union would yield a child.
Sarah’s logic in this seems strange to us.
Why would a wife willingly allow her husband to have an intimate relationship with another woman?
This seems to be a recipe for disaster!
But the logic of this practice, common at the time, went something like this: “If my slave produces a child, that child will be mine, just like his mother is my property.”
Sarah thought she could have a son by a secondary way, and thus please her husband.
This plan “worked” (if we can use that word!), and Abraham and Hagar conceived the baby that was to become Ishmael.
But the plan backfired on Sarah in two ways.
First, becoming pregnant had an unanticipated effect on Hagar: she began to think that she was better than Sarah (Genesis 16:4).
Hagar had been successful at becoming pregnant, something Sarah had failed in; this ruined the relationship between the two women and ensured that Ishmael would never be accepted by Sarah.
Second, Ishmael himself displayed his own arrogance after Isaac was born.
This is where today’s lesson begins.
I. Count Your Blessings (Gen.
21:1-8)
Sarah’s laugh of derision eventually gives way to faith, since Hebrews 11:11 tells us that, “Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, … because she judged him faithful who had promised.
A. Promised Son Is Born (vv. 1, 2)
God is present in Sarah’s life to fulfill His promise, and the result is a miraculous pregnancy.
This is not a virginal conception, for that is a unique event in human history.
But this is still a supernatural event—a conception, gestation, and birth that science cannot explain.
Somehow, God reverses the effects of aging on Sarah.
Thus a woman who is some 40 or 50 years past the natural childbearing state is allowed to be as fertile as a 20-year-old wife for the case of this single pregnancy.
B. Promised Son Is Named (vv.
3–5)
In a wonderful bit of irony, the boy is named Isaac, which means, “he laughs.”
This is no longer the laugh of derision or doubt.
It is now a laugh of joy.
In this case, God’s promise-keeping has the providential side effect of giving an elderly childless couple the joy of their hearts.
They have the son they must have asked for in prayer for many years.
God previously had established the circumcision of all the males in Abraham’s household to be the primary sign of his covenant with Abraham.
Accordingly, Abraham had applied the circumcision knife to all the men and boys, including his son Ishmael and himself (Genesis 17:23, 24).
We can imagine the joy that Abraham now feels.
He is able to apply this sign of the covenant to the one who will fulfill the promise of a multitude of descendants for him.
C. Promised Son Brings Joy (vv.
6–8)
We see a side of Sarah here that should endear her to us.
Her original laughter of contempt is reevaluated, and now she is able to see the humor of her situation.
She has abandoned any bitterness she may have harbored for her years of childlessness.
She is not embarrassed to laugh out loud so anyone who hears can share with her, for her laughter springs from a deep joy that God has given to her.
Laughing for Joy
“Did you hear the one about … ?”
So goes the opening line of countless jokes.
Most of us enjoy a good joke, and if the story is told well, it doesn’t even have to be plausible to make us laugh.
Some people like side-splitting, belly-laugh-producing jokes; others prefer subtle humor.
Whatever our preference, laughter is good medicine.
In recent years science has established that laughter is good for our physical, mental, and emotional health.
A good laugh relaxes muscles, reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, and enhances the function of the immune system.
It even reduces pain.
Sarah’s decision to name her child Isaac—meaning “he laughs”—was especially poignant.
At first, Sarah laughed at God’s “ridiculous” announcement.
That was a laugh of derision, and it’s hard to see any “good medicine” in it.
It was a scornful laugh that originated in the pain of barrenness.
But by the time her child was born, Sarah was laughing for joy.
This was a laugh of thanksgiving for a promise fulfilled.
If we see God as Sarah came to see Him, we will also find our lives filled with joyful delight.
Think about it: When was the last time you laughed with joy over something marvelous that God did in your life?
—C.
R. B.
Sarah’s situation is startling: an elderly woman nursing a baby who has an old man as the father.
It is absurd from a worldly standpoint, but marvelous from the standpoint of faith.
Sarah’s joy for having a son is mingled with her pleasure at giving her faithful husband this child.
The rate of infant mortality in the ancient world is very high.
Perhaps 25 percent of live-born babies do not live to see their first birthday.
There is nothing more tragic than the death of a baby, but many societies have done things to protect parents from part of the pain this loss can bring.
In some cultures, for instance, babies are not named until they are several years old.
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