Genesis 17:15 God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai, for Sarah will be her name. 16 I will bless her; indeed, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will produce nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
17 Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a hundred-year-old man? Can Sarah, a ninety-year-old woman, give birth?” 18 So Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael were acceptable to You!”
How would you like to be a 90 year old woman and having a baby? I know I would not! How unbelievable can that be? A ninety year old giving birth. No wonder Abraham laughed! My grandmother would always tease me about being pregnant every time my stomach was unhappy. I remember one day she was complaining about her stomach, and I asked her if she was pregnant. She looked at me and said "There ain't no way!" To which I replied, "You could be like Sarah! God may have big plans for you!"
Genesis 17:19 But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his future offspring. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will certainly bless him; I will make him fruitful and will multiply him greatly. He will father 12 tribal leaders, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But I will confirm My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.” 22 When He finished talking with him, God withdrew from Abraham.
Ishmael was not favored by God. Isaac would be. Galatians gives us some insight as to why Ishmael was not acceptable to God.
Galatians 4:22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave and the other by a free woman. 23 But the one by the slave was born according to the impulse of the flesh, while the one by the free woman was born as the result of a promise. 24 These things are illustrations, for the women represent the two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai and bears children into slavery—this is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
Hagar was a slave. She was given to Abraham by Sarah to bear a child because Sarah believed she was too old and could not bare children.
Genesis 17:23 Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the slaves born in his house or purchased with his money—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on that very day, just as God had said to him.24 Abraham was 99 years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised, 25 and his son Ishmael was 13 years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised. 26 On that same day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. 27 And all the men of his household—both slaves born in his house and those purchased with money from a foreigner—were circumcised with him.
So, Abraham did as the Lord asked and circumcised every male in his household.
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