Abraham
69
for he knows not what course to take. The Lord informs Abraham,
through his angels, to listen to the voice of Sarah his wife, and that
he should not let his affections for his son, or for Hagar, prevent his
compliance with her wishes. For this was the only course he could
pursue to restore harmony and happiness again to his family. Abraham
has the consoling promise from the angel, that Ishmael, although
separated from his father’s house, should not die, nor be forsaken of
God; that he should be preserved because he was the son of Abraham.
God also promises to make of Ishmael a great nation.
Abraham was of a noble, benevolent disposition, which was mani-
fested in his pleading so earnestly for the people of Sodom. His strong
spirit suffered much. He was bowed with grief, and his paternal feel-
ings were deeply moved as he sends away Hagar and his son Ishmael
to wander as strangers in a strange land.
If God had sanctioned polygamy he would not have thus directed
Abraham to send away Hagar and her son. He would teach all a lesson
in this, that the rights and happiness of the marriage relation are to
be ever respected, and guarded, even at a great sacrifice. Sarah was
the first and only true wife of Abraham. She was entitled to rights,
as a wife and mother, which no other could have in the family. She
reverenced her husband, calling him lord; but she was jealous lest his
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affections should be divided with Hagar. God did not rebuke Sarah
for the course she pursued. Abraham was reproved by the angels for
distrusting God’s power, which had led him to take Hagar as his wife,
and to think that through her the promise would be fulfilled.
Again the Lord saw fit to test the faith of Abraham by a most
fearful trial. If he had endured the first test, and had patiently waited
for the promise to be fulfilled in Sarah, and had not taken Hagar as
his wife, he would not have been subjected to the closest test that was
ever required of man. The Lord bid Abraham, “Take now thy son,
thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee unto the land
of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the
mountains which I will tell thee of.”
Abraham did not disbelieve God, and hesitate, but early in the
morning he took two of his servants, and Isaac his son, and the wood
for the burnt-offering, and went unto the place of which God had told
him. He did not reveal the true nature of his journey to Sarah, knowing
that her affection for Isaac would lead her to distrust God, and withhold