Chapter 13—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 did not wait for God
to fulfill His word in His own time and way. A delay was permitted to
test his faith, but he failed to endure the trial.
In her old age, Sarah suggested, as a plan by which the divine
purpose might be fulfilled, that one of her handmaidens be taken by
Abraham as a secondary wife. Polygamy had ceased to be regarded
as a sin but 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. Mutual jealousies disturbed the peace of the once happy home.
Forced to listen to the complaints of both, Abraham vainly endeavored
to restore harmony. Though it was at Sarah’s entreaty that he had
married Hagar, she now reproached him as the one at fault. She
desired to banish her rival. But Abraham refused to permit this, for
Hagar was to be the mother of his child, as he fondly 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 hardly with her, she fled
from her face.”
She made her way to the desert and as she rested beside a fountain,
lonely and friendless, an angel appeared. Addressing her as “Hagar,
Sarai’s maid,” he bade her, “Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself
[90]
under her hands.” Yet with the reproof were mingled words of comfort:
“The Lord hath heard thy affliction.” “I will multiply thy seed exceed-
ingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.” She was bidden to
call her child Ishmael, “God shall hear.”
When Abraham was nearly one hundred years old, the promise of
a son was repeated: “Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and
thou shalt call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with
80