A Blessing for Ishmael and Isaac

                                                              Sunday School Lesson
                                  
Lesson: Genesis 21:12-14, 17-21; 26:2-5, 12- 13                                                                                                
Golden Text: “And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed” (Genesis 21:12-13).
 
INTRODUCTION.  Staying faithful when everything goes well for us is easy.  But staying faithful to God in turbulent times, as we find Abraham doing in our lesson, is difficult.  Abraham had no children, and Sarah was well beyond childbearing age.  At Sarah’s suggestion, Abraham fathered a son, Ishmael, by Hagar, Sarah’s handmaid.  Then God reaffirmed His promises to Abraham and included Sarah in His promise that the two of them would have a son.  Now both sons, Ishmael, the oldest and Isaac the youngest were present with Abraham.  However, he found himself in a house divided.  Abraham’s wife and her handmaid were quarreling with each other.  Abraham’s heart was torn between the two sons he had, Ishmael and Isaac.  Our lesson this week shows how God can use strife-ridden situations and turn them around for any chosen and faithful person.  Abraham is that person in our lesson. 
I. A PROMISE TO ABRAHAM (Genesis 21:12-14 ).  Background for the Lesson:  Twenty-five years passed between the time that Abraham was promised that he would become a “great nation” (see Genesis 12:2) and the birth of Isaac, the son of promise.  However, as the years passed the possibility of Sarah having a son seemed more and more remote.  Finally, after living in Canaan for ten years (see Genesis 16:3), Sarah suggested that Abraham have a child by her Egyptian maidservant, Hagar (see Genesis 16:1-2).  Archeological discoveries indicate that this was a common practice when a man’s wife was childless.  While Abraham agreed to go along with Sarah’s suggestion, this was not what God had in mind.  In fact, at no time during the fourteen years between Ishmael’s birth and the birth of Isaac did God put His stamp of approval on this situation.  At any rate, when Abram was eighty-six years old “Hagar bare, Ishmael to Abram” (see Genesis 16:16).  The name Ishmael means “may God hear” or “God hears.”  So when Abraham was one hundred years old and Sarah ninety, they became the parents of Isaac (see Genesis 21:1-5).  We are then told in Genesis 21:8 that Abraham made a great feast the same day Isaac was weaned (probably between 2 and 3 years old).  Therefore, at this time, Ishmael would have been between fifteen and seventeen, and though the details are not given, Ishmael began mocking little Isaac.  Witnessing the abuse of her little boy, Sarah demanded that Abraham “cast out this bondwoman and her son” (see Genesis 21:10).  Since Hagar was Sarah’s slave, she could legitimately make such a request of her husband.  No doubt Abraham had become very attached to Ishmael over the past sixteen years and as a result Genesis 21:11 says that this idea “was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son.”  In other words, Abraham was greatly distressed at the thought of sending Ishmael away from his home to an uncertain world. This is where our lesson begins.
A. A good word from the Lord (Genesis 21:12-13). 
1. (vs. 12). This verse says “And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called..”  God responded to Abraham by telling him not to be distressed about the boy nor his slave woman.  In addition, God told him to listen to Sara and do what she asked him to do because “in Isaac shall thy seed be called.”  This means that Isaac was the promised seed of Abraham that God intended to use to enlarge and bless his descendents. Note: Through difficulty, God does not always take us along the easy path, but instead He expects us to follow His will in spite of how hard it might be.  However, it’s always the way to joy and blessings.Normally the blessing passes on to the oldest son, but it is not unusual for God to put His greatest blessing on the second born and pass over the first born.God chose Abel instead of Cain, Jacob instead of Esau, Ephraim instead of Manasseh, and in this case, He chose Isaac instead of Ishmael.
2. (vs. 13).  God continued to say to Abraham “And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.”  In spite of the natural fears Abraham had for Ishmael’s future, God reassured him that He would bless Ishmael “the son of the bondwoman.”  The Lord would make Ishmael a nation just because he was Abraham’s “seed” or son.  
B. A hard decision (Genesis 21:14).  This verse says “And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.”  Abraham didn’t waste any time in carry out Sarah’s request per God’s instructions.  The very next morning Abraham gave Hagar some bread and a skin of water, which he put on her shoulder and he sent her and the child away.  She soon found herself wandering in the “wilderness of Beersheba.”  This may seem cruel, but Hagar was now free from her mistress and whatever pressures she must have experienced while competing with Sarah for Abraham’s attention and affection.  By sending them away, God saw to it that once the promised son was born, the potential threat to Abraham’s inheritance by Ishmael was removed.  “Beersheba” was located at the southernmost end of Canaan and was primarily desert.  Therefore, finding sustenance for their survival in this hostile environment would have been difficult to say the least.  The “bottle of water” Abraham gave to Hagar when she left would have been a large skin that could’ve supplied their needs for several days until they came to an oasis or other source of water.
III. A PROMISE TO HAGAR (Genesis 21:17-21).  Verses 15-16 are not part of our printed text but in those verses we learn that at some point, the bottle of water ran out, and to protect her son from the heat and avoid further dehydration, Hagar put “the child under one of the shrubs” (vs. 15).  Note:  In spite of the pictures in some Sunday School papers and Bible story books, Ishmael was a teenager at this time and not a child.  The word translated “child” in verse 15 can refer to a fetus (see Exodus 21:22), newborn children (see I Kings 17:18-23), or even young adults (see Daniel 1:3-4).  In this case, “child” refers to a boy at least fifteen years old.  Unable to bear the thought of watching her son die of thirst in the desert heat, verse 16 says that Hagar went a short distance away from Ishmael and began to weep. 
A.  Reassurance (Genesis 21:17-18). 
1. (vs. 17).  At this point, this verse says “And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.”  We are told that “God heard the voice of the lad” indicating that Ishmael was calling upon the Lord.  If this was the case, then we can assume that something of the great faith of his father Abraham had been caught by this young man.  But what was more important than the cry of this distressed boy was the fact that “God heard the voice of the lad.”  Indeed, God hears the prayers of those who cry out to Him in times of trouble (see Psalms 50:15).  On the other hand, there is no assurance that answered prayer is given to those who willfully reject God and live in disobedience to His will (see Psalms 66:18; Proverbs 15:29; Isaiah 59:1-2).  In response to the cries of Ishmael, “the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar?”  The Lord, who often manifests Himself as the Angel of the Lord or the Angel of God when dealing directly with man, asked Hagar, what was troubling her, which is the meaning of “What aileth thee.”  As in many cases when God speaks, He told Hagar to “fear not” because He had “heard the voice of the lad where he is.”  Even though Hagar and Ishmael were on the verge of dying of thirst, God wanted Hagar to know that He was intervening.  God is never early, nor is He ever late; He’s always right on time.  Note:  In an earlier episode, after Sarah had given Hagar to Abraham and she became pregnant, Sarah was jealous and mistreated her.  Hagar then ran away but was found by the Angel of the Lord who told her to return to Abraham’s house.  At that time, the Angel of the Lord told her that He would multiply her seed and that she was going to bear a son. He told her to call him Ishmael, which means “God hears.” God told her to name him this because He had heard her anguish at that moment (see Genesis 16:6-11) and once again in this verse, God is assuring Hagar that she didn’t have any need to be afraid for her son.
2. (vs. 18).  The angel of God continued to say to Hagar “Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation.”  God told Hagar to lift Ishmael up from where he was, and hold him in her arms, because He was going to “make him a great nation.”  Her son was not going to die, but would live and become the beginning of an entire group of people of his own.  Note:  While little is known about the remainder of Ishmael’s life, Scripture does tell us that he lived to be 137 and was the father of twelve tribes of people (see Genesis 17:20; 25:12-17).  This is similar to what would happen with Abraham’s posterity through his grandson Jacob, who also had twelve sons who became the twelve tribes of Israel.  
B. Provision (Genesis 21:19-21). 
1. (vs. 19).  Now we are told that “God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.”  Since God knows our needs before we ask (see Matthew 6:8), He provides for those needs to be met ahead of time.  While Hagar may have thought that she and Ishmael had been wandering aimlessly in the desert, they were actually being led to the very place where their needs would be supplied.  The Lord “opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water.”  She suddenly realized that there was a well nearby.  She was able to fill the water skin that Abraham had given her and she gave Ishmael a drink from it.  Note:  Like Hagar, we may not realize how the Lord will supply our needs until we find ourselves in a situation where we think our strength has been depleted.  It’s at those times that our eyes are often opened so we can see the resources provided by the Almighty.  As Paul discovered when he called upon God to remove his thorn in the flesh, only God’s grace could keep him---and us (see II Corinthians 12:7-10).
2. (vs. 20).  Rescued from what seemed to be imminent death, this verse says “And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.”   As Ishmael grew, he “dwelt in the wilderness” and became adept at archery. 
3. (vs. 21).  Still speaking of Ishmael, this verse says “And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.”   Ishmael and his mother settled in “the wilderness of Paran” which is a reference to the unpopulated region of the desert of Paran (southeast of Beersheba) which is located in the Sinai Peninsula.  This was not far from Egypt so it was easy for Hagar to get Ishmael “a wife out of the land of Egypt.”  Hagar was an Egyptian herself and most likely thought that an Egyptian bride was the best possible choice for her son.  Note:  In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul made an interesting comparison based on the lives of Hagar and Sarah, and their respective sons.In order to explain to the Galatian Christians the freedom they should have been experiencing in Christ (see Galatians 4:21-31), Paul noted that Ishmael---the son of the slave woman and born “after the flesh,” meaning according to human planning instead of God’s---represented the law.He was a picture of bondage.  On the other hand, Isaac was the result of God’s promise and was the real heir of Abraham.  Those trusting in the Mosaic Law for redemption were still in bondage to that law.  Isaac represented freedom from the law thus picturing those who freely trust in Jesus Christ for salvation. 
IV. A PROMISE TO ISAAC (Genesis 26:2-5).  At this point in our lesson, Abraham had successfully passed God’s test of offering Isaac on Mount Moriah (see Genesis chapter 22); there was the death and burial of Sara (see Genesis chapter 23); the procuring of Rebekah to be Isaac’s wife (see Genesis chapter 24) and in chapter 25, we find Abraham marrying Keturah who bares him more children.  But Isaac remained the heir of all that Abraham had; Abraham dies and is buried; Esau and Jacob are born to Isaac and Esau gives up his birthright to Jacob.  Genesis chapter 26 begins declaring that there was a famine in the land of Canaan and Isaac decided to go to Egypt but stopped in Gerar, the land of the Philistines (see Genesis 26:1). 
A. Blessing to come upon Isaac (Genesis 26:2-3). 
1. (vs. 2).  This verse says “And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of.”  After stopping in Gerar, God appeared to Isaac and told him not to go down to Egypt, but to stay “in the land which I shall tell thee of.”  This is a reference to Gerar which was included in all the land that God had promised Isaac and his descendents.
2. (vs. 3).  The Lord continued to tell Isaac to “Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father.”  God told Isaac to stay in the land of Canaan and He would bless him by giving him and his descendents “all these countries” which refers to all the surrounding countries in Canaan.  This is the same land that God swore or promised to give to Abraham (see Genesis 15:18-21).    
B. Blessing to come through Isaac’s descendents (Genesis 26:4-5). 
1. (vs. 4).  God also said “And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.”  Here, the Lord repeats to Isaac the Abrahamic covenant that He had made with Abraham (see Genesis 12:1-4; 15: 3-5) who was now dead (see Genesis 25:7-9).  The phrase “and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” is a reference to the promise of the coming Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ who would be a descendent of Isaac, and through whom the whole world would be blessed.
2. (vs. 5).  In this verse God gave the reason why He was doing all of this for Isaac.  He said “Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”  Abraham had obeyed God and done all that God required of him which included keeping the Lord’s “charge,” His “commandments,” His “statutes,” and His “laws.”  These all refer to everything that God commanded Abraham to do.  Note:  This verse is evidence of the wonderful truth that the obedience of one man can affect those who come after him.  Those who follow us are affected by what we are and do.  We can leave a path of sin or a path of blessing which comes from faithful living.
V. A PROMISE REALIZED (Genesis 26:12-13).  Verses 6-11 are not part of our lesson but they tell us that while Isaac dwelt in Gerar (see Genesis 26:6) he repeated the same weakness that his father Abraham had committed (see Genesis chapter 20) by claiming Rebekah was his sister for fear that the men of Gerar would kill him and take Rebekah for themselves since she was “fair to look upon” (see Genesis 26:7).  His lie was discovered when Abimelech, the king saw him being more friendly to Rebekah than a man would normally be to his sister, so Abimelech confronted Isaac and he had to admit what he had done (see Genesis 26:8-9).  As a result, Abimelech rebuked Isaac for lying indicating that it could have caused one of their men to lie with her thus bringing guilt upon them.  Abimelech then declared that anyone who touched Rebekah would be put to death (see Genesis 26:10-11).  Note:  The Abimelech that Isaac encountered was probably not the same one that Abraham knew, because this part of Isaac’s life takes place more than ninety years later.  Abraham must’ve encountered another Abimelech when he was about 100 years old and he died at the age of 175.  Isaac was over 40 years old when he met this Abimelech (see Genesis 25:7, 20).  Many scholars agree that the name Abimelech may have been a title instead of a personal name, similar to the title Pharaoh in Egypt and Caesar in Rome.  There was more than one Pharaoh and more than one Caesar.
A. (vs. 12).  Now this verse says “Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him.”  Isaac obeyed God and stayed in the land and that same year after he planted, he reaped a hundredfold crop and “the Lord blessed him.”  At the time of his obedience, God began to prosper Isaac.
B. (vs. 13).  Our final verse says “And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great.”  God’s blessing continued until Isaac “waxed great” meaning that he became rich.  His wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy.  According to verse 14 which is not part of our text, Isaac became so prosperous, and enjoyed so much success that Abimelech asked him to leave the area because he had become much mightier than they were (see Genesis 26:14).
                          
VI. Conclusion.  As we obey God, we will be led to the future He has for us.  We have seen how Abraham’s life turned around when he chose to obey God under all circumstances and realized that His plans for him were best.  God has special plans for each of us.  He even has special plans for those we don’t like or love.  We saw this in Sarah’s encounter with Hagar and Ishmael.  When we look to God, we see that He can take our worst situations and use them for our good and for His glory.