Genesis 21 ​

The chapter opens with Sarah conceiving and giving birth to Isaac. Abraham obeys the command of God and circumcises his son on the 8th day after his birth.

The most obvious lesson in this chapter is that God keeps His promises. Whether it is for a 100-year-old man to become a father or to send the Messiah to redeem the lost or to return one day to judge the living and the dead. We can be confident that God always keeps His promises.

But what about Hagar? Despite the many flocks and wealth Abraham built, he sent her and his son into the wilderness with a loaf of bread and a skin of water. Was that based on faith that God had promised to also provide for Ishmael, or was it selfishness in not wanting to provide more? He could have sent them away with flocks and some herdsmen and enough material wealth to at least survive until they reached another town. Is God endorsing Abraham’s treatment of this woman who had clearly been mistreated time and time again by Abraham and Sarah?

When God says, “Do not be distressed about the boy and your slave,” it’s not because God approves treating them poorly. It’s because they are going to be in God’s care. God has already established a plan for Ishmael. He will provide for them and make a great nation out of him as well. But it won’t be the nation through which His promise comes.

It’s important to remember that God’s promise to Abraham was that “through you all nations will be blessed.” That wasn’t about material blessings for those who support Israel.

That was a reference to the coming Messiah, who would come through the line of Isaac, not Ishmael, and who would bring redemption to all, including the descendants of Ishmael.

God’s love and provision aren’t limited to a people group, a family line, or even a specific denomination. His salvation is available to all who will trust in the promised Messiah. His promise to Abraham was a promise for all people that was fulfilled through Jesus. God keeps His promises.

This is one of those chapters that strengthens my faith in the veracity of the Word of God. Let’s face it. No man would have willingly decided circumcision was a requirement unless it were commanded by God. But seriously, anthropologists tell us this ritual existed long before Abram and that he was likely first introduced to the practice when he lived in Egypt (in chapter 12).

Our pastor spoke this weekend about Jesus’s Sabbath-day healing of the man born blind in John 9. He talked about how we often dwell on the cause of our suffering, rather than God’s purpose for it. Although all suffering is the result of sin in the sense that the first sin introduced suffering to God’s perfect creation. The creation we live in is now broken, not as it was originally created, and not as it will one day be re-created to be. But God is able to take even this brokenness and give purpose and meaning, to bring something good out of something bad.

So in the context of Abram and the rite of circumcision, we may not fully understand why God chose to use this practice as a sign of His covenant with Abram. We may wonder if it offered practical health benefits in an era where basic hygiene was difficult. We may wonder why cultures as far-flung as Oceania and South America had similar rituals.

But there are several purposes this rite achieved:

First, it required Abram and each one who submitted to it to make themselves completely vulnerable and to trust God.

It set apart those who followed God in a physical, permanent way.

Similar to the Christian ritual of baptism, it illustrated dying to self and living anew according to God’s standards.

It’s important to note that, as hard a command as this might be, Abram followed it the same day. And he compelled every man in his household, including his thirteen-year-old son Ishmael, to do the same.

God often commands us to do far less and we balk at it. We delay or make excuses or ask for a sign that He really, REALLY wants us to do what He’s clearly told us in His Word. He's not asking us to cut off a piece of flesh, but we still find obedience difficult. Or maybe that’s just me.

Although the context of this chapter seems archaic, it provides so many lessons for us today!

First, we see how tempting it is to try to orchestrate what only God can accomplish. Our human pride strives to be in control and chafes at the notion that God is ultimately sovereign. In Abram and Sarai’s case, they believed they could “help” God provide their family, by using Sarai’s maidservant as a surrogate. The rest of the story, of course, is the strife and hardship their efforts to “help” cost.

Another lesson is found in the dynamics between Sarai and Hagar. The bitterness and abuse that occurs when we force our will on someone else always comes back to harm us as well. It’s easy to read this and make one of two errors:

The first error is to assume that the Bible is endorsing slavery. Nothing in this passage, or any other in the Bible, endorses or supports slavery regardless of how it may be twisted. It does, however, acknowledge the existence of slavery in our fallen world and demand humane treatment and provision for those under such authority.

The second error is to assume that such conditions were limited to ancient history, to Rome, or to the early American experience. Over 40 million men, women, and especially children are held as slaves today around the world. Over 60,000 are held in the United States, excluding those who are incarcerated in for-profit prisons. Although Mauritania, the last country to officially outlaw slavery, did so in 2007, it fails to enforce this law and as much as 20% of its population is enslaved.

Another key lesson from this chapter comes from Hagar’s experience with God. This exchange illustrates God’s love and compassion for all of His people, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. He is, indeed, the “God who sees me.”

Finally, God’s blessing on Ishmael illustrates His power to turn the messes we make into something good. Romans 8:28 tells us that “He works all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose, that we might be conformed to the image of His Son.” That doesn’t mean everything that happens is good, or everything we do is within His will, but it does mean no matter how badly we mess things up, He is able to still create good from our mess.

I love the details included in this account — the kings of the Dead Sea Valley had been oppressed by Kedorlaomer for twelve years. When Abram went after them to rescue his nephew Lot, he took 318 trained men born in his household. What purpose do these specific numbers serve? Do they represent some cosmic equation?

​No. They are included because the story of an actual event is being told and when you report an event, you include the details.

This story records the first time God provided a military victory, allowing Abram and his 318 trained men to route an army from five kingdoms (probably representing five cities or large towns).

God gave victory to Abram even though he was allied with Sodom and Gomorrah, which have already been identified as wicked. Just because God grants success does not prove that those who have won are godly. God is able to use even those outside His will to accomplish His purposes. In this case, God’s eye is on Abram, on the promises He made to Abram, and on growing the mustard seed of faith that Abram demonstrated in leaving Haran.

Abram recognizes the hand of God in His victory when he offers the first tithe, through Melchizedek, to honor God.

Melchizedek is one of my favorite people in the Bible even though we know almost nothing about him. Not where he came from, whose family he descended from, or who were the people he served as priest. It’s a great lesson in how “God is doing 10,000 things in your life at any moment, and we are only aware of about 3 of them,” to quote John Piper.

Melchizedek's appearance tells us that Abram was not the only human worshipping God at this time. There was apparently a group, even in the vicinity of the sinfulness of Sodom and Gomorrah, who were still worshipping the Most High God.

Abram also demonstrates an important precept when he refuses the king of Sodom’s offer to keep the plunder from his victory. We often make the mistake of aligning ourselves with sin for the sake of material gain, but Abram wanted nothing to do with Sodom. His purpose was to rescue his nephew, not to forge a relationship with those in rebellion against God. He also notes the power that partnering with sin exerts. “I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’”

Paul advised the church at Corinth, “Don’t become partners with those who do not believe. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14) We often apply this verse to marriage, which is reasonable, but it is not only about marrying an unbeliever. It also applies to entering into business partnerships or employment relationships with those who have a different foundational worldview. When we are financially dependent on those who reject God, we risk our mind and spirit being corrupted by materialism.