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The Offering of Isaac: Test of Faith
This chapter is based on Genesis 16; 17:18-20; 21:1-14; 22:1-19.
Abraham had accepted the promise of a son, but he did not wait
for God to fulfill His word in His own time and way. God permitted
a delay to test his faith, but he failed to endure the trial.
In her old age, Sarah suggested a plan by which the divine pur-
pose might be fulfilled—that Abraham take one of her servants as a
secondary wife. Polygamy was no longer regarded as a sin, but it
was a violation of the law of God and was fatal to the sacredness
and peace of the family. Abraham’s marriage with Hagar resulted in
evil—not only to his own household, but to future generations.
Flattered with her new position as Abraham’s wife and hoping to
be the mother of the great nation to descend from him, Hagar became
proud. Jealousies between Sarah and Hagar disturbed the peace of
the once happy home. Forced to listen to the complaints of both,
Abraham tried to restore harmony, but without success. Though
Sarah had urged him to marry Hagar, she now blamed him as the
one at fault. She wanted to exile her rival, but Abraham refused to
permit this because Hagar was to be the mother of his child—as he
dearly hoped, the son of promise. She was Sarah’s servant, however,
and he still left her to the control of her mistress. “When Sarai dealt
harshly with her, she fled from her presence.”
Hagar made her way to the desert. As she rested, lonely and
friendless beside a spring, an angel appeared. Addressing her as
“Hagar, Sarai’s maid,” he told her, “Return to your mistress, and
submit yourself under her hand.” Yet words of comfort were mingled
with the reproof: “The Lord has heard your affliction. ... I will
multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be
counted for multitude.” She was instructed to name her child Ishmael,
“God shall hear.”
When Abraham was nearly one hundred years old, the promise
of a son was repeated: “Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and
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