Stephen
Terry, Director
The
Promise
Commentary
for the May 21, 2022, Sabbath School Lesson
God also said to Abraham, "As
for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be
Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her
so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from
her."
Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to
himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a
child at the age of ninety?" Genesis 17:15-17, NIV
Have you ever gone walking in a
town that was unknown to you? At some point, you come to a corner. The wall
prevents you from seeing what is around that corner. Is it something good, something
bad, or nothing unusual at all? Those who have experience with role playing
games know that it could well conceal a waiting band of kobolds ready to take
your life and your belongings. For those unwilling to have their wits sharpened
by fantasy games, in our cities, it could just as easily be human gang members
intent on the same activity. The news is filled with stories of those who have
become unsuspecting prey under similar circumstances. Fantasy often mimics real
life.
However, there could be something
good around that corner. We could run into someone who will become a lifetime
friend or even a future marital partner. We could find opportunities hitherto
unknown There may be an opportunity for employment that will raise our standard
of living and grow our skill set to take advantage of future opportunities. Or
there may be nothing at all. Perhaps that is why life is often referred to as a
gamble. In most instances it is indeed nothing good or bad, so why do we even
bother to move forward? It is because, despite the risk of the bad, something
good could be just ahead.
Our approach is often shaped by
our experience. If we have just had thirty bad experiences from walking around
corners, we might turn around and go back to where we came from instead of
risking further pain, even if we felt the odds favored our finding something
good. But if all our experiences were good or neutral, we might walk boldly
around that corner into overwhelming danger and the "Game Over" music would
begin to play over the scene of our ruin. While trepidation might seem
appropriate for all corners, we are faced with one indisputable truth. The only
way to know what is around that corner is to see, despite the exposure we face
for attempting that. So, we move forward to find the answer. We may not have
the fabled nine lives of cats, but curiosity can be just as strong in our
hearts as that of the luckless, curious feline. This is how it is at the corner
of Faith Street and Revelation Avenue.
Abraham came upon that corner
several times in his life. Doubtless, this helped him achieve a place in the
famous faith chapter, Hebrews, chapter 11. He spent decades following God's
call to move to Canaan where his descendants would be numerous and would own
the land promised. But he became old and tired and started to waiver in his
faith. Instead of continuing to move forward, he
decided he couldn't wait any longer to see what was around the corner God was
leading him to. He started to explore other streets even though he did not
fully know where they would lead. He considered making Eliezer, a slave given
to him by Nimrod after their historic confrontation in Shinar,[i] the
heir of all he owned. But God flatly denied the viability of that option.
Another path where he went beyond simple speculation was impregnating Sarah's
servant, Hagar, to produce an heir. She gave birth to Ishmael. Even though
Sarah offered Hagar to Abraham, she came to recognize her error, for in a
patriarchal society, the son of a slave could inherit everything and leave her
with nothing. Therefore, Hagar became insolent toward Sarah, knowing that her
son would soon be in charge. Sadly, Abraham was not one to own his mistakes and
eventually Hagar and Ishmael were cast out altogether. At this point, stories
diverge with the Bible focusing on Abraham and Isaac, while Islam tells us that
Abraham continued to also bless Ishmael and interact with him. Even though the
narrative forks at this point, the Bible tends to support the Islamic account
to a surprising degree for we are told that God would bless Ishmael and nations
and kings would be among his descendants. It strains credibility that Abraham
would have little to do with Ishmael after God had blessed him in this way.
According to Islamists, Hagar did not leave alone with Ishmael when she was
finally cast out by Sarah, but Abraham accompanied them to the location that
became Mecca where Hagar discovered a spring after Abraham left and their water
had run out. Others came to settle at that spring and Mecca grew from that
inauspicious beginning. Other than in childhood, the Bible has no record of
animosity between Isaac and Ishmael, so it is likely that Abraham did visit
Ishmael to see how he and his mother were doing, especially once Sarah had
died. An Islamic tradition holds that Abraham assisted Ishmael in the
construction of the Kaaba.
This example shows how even if
we choose another path rather than proceeding to the corner ahead, we will
nonetheless be faced with other corners arising from consequences of our
reticence that we cannot foresee. Abraham could not know that Sarah would
develop such hatred toward Ishmael. Instead, he charged forward around that alternative
corner with Sarah's encouragement, and absent God's blessing of Ishmael despite
Abraham's error, the results might have been dire.
A second major time Abraham
faced a faith corner was when he was told in a dream to sacrifice his son,
Isaac, on Mount Moriah. This was where the Temple would one day be built and
near where Jesus would be crucified. The symbolism is compelling. Type
foreshadows anti-type. We might ask how Abraham could kill Isaac based on a
dream? We are familiar with dreams and know they can just as easily be the
results of that pickle we ate with dinner instead of the voice of God. But it
was like when a family member or close friend calls on the phone. All they must
do is say "Hello," and we know instantly who it is. From long experience, we
recognize their voice. Abraham knew it was God, so he gathered the wood,
grabbed the knife, took Isaac in tow, and headed for the mount. This time he
was going forward around that corner. There would be no discussion with Sarah
and exploration of alternate options. Even Isaac was unaware of what was
transpiring until they reached the mount. He figured out something was amiss
when he noticed they had the wood for the sacrifice and the knife, but they had
brought no animal for the offering. The Bible does not reveal what happened
once Isaac uncovered the agenda. Did he resist? Whatever Isaac's response, he
ended up bound and lying on the wood to be sacrificed. This brought Abraham to
and around that faith corner where he discovered a ram to be offered instead.
God reveals his love for us in
these two instances. Of course, he is pleased with Abraham continuing to stay
the course on Mount Moriah and reiterates his covenant with the patriarch,
extending his loving blessing to all of Abraham's descendants, which includes
Ishmael and his offspring. For Ishmael's inclusion we need only reprise the
terms of God's covenant with Abraham. The seal of that covenant was
circumcision, and Ishmael was circumcised per the covenant before Isaac was
even born.[ii]
This constitutes the second and earlier example of God's love. Despite
Abraham's erroneous lack of faith, God blesses Ishmael and his descendants
anyway. Sarah might have wanted it otherwise, but since she incited Abraham's
error, she made herself weak, losing the moral foundation for her hatred of
Hagar and Ishmael.
We are all flawed to a degree,
whether it is because we go along with bad advice when faced with our own faith
corners or we simply withdraw from moving forward in faith. But God does not
stop loving and blessing us because we falter. Instead, he blesses us despite
our failure and continues to bring us repeatedly to those faith corners,
because unlike random corners we come across in life, God's faith corners
always lead to a blessing in terms of our relationship with him, relationship
with others, or our understanding of ourselves. This is the power of the Bible.
Whether we accept it literally, metaphorically, or somewhere in between, it
speaks to us in our present life experience, and because our experience changes
over time, it always has something new to reveal to us about ourselves, flaws
and all.