Chapter 16 - 17: EL SHADDAI
Sarai was impatient with God's promise and gave Hagar to Abram, to be the surrogated mother. Hagar conceived. This proved that Sarai cannot bear children, and Sarai was greatly hurt. She took it out on Hagar. Abram had to tolerate her abused of Hagar in silence. The pregnant Hagar could not stand it any more and fled into the wilderness
At the well named Beer-la'hai-roi an angel of the Lord appeared to her and asked her to return and submit herself to Sarai. She should name her son Ishmael (meaning the Lord has given heed to your affliction) and he would be the father of a great nation.
God had a covenant with Abram and Abram chose to do it his way. Out came Ishmael. Islam claimed that Ishmael was to inherit the covenant of God to Abraham, while the Israelites claimed that Isaac, as recorded in the Bible, was the designated heir to the covenant. And so the Middle-East crisis was born. If you want to see God, look at the Middle-East crisis. The longest drawn-out crisis in history that is not about to end.
Was God disappointed with Abram? Chapter 16 ends with, "Abram was eighty-six years old when Hager bore Ishmael to Abram. Chapter 17 begins with, "When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram". A lapse of 13 years. The Bible did not tell us what Abram did to reconcile himself with God. It just said, "the Lord appeared to Abram".
The love of the Almighty God for humankind was so great that He dealt with us by grace. He would bend backwards to reconcile Himself with us. Rom 5:6,10 "While we were weak...Christ died for us. ...while we were enemies we were reconciled to God."
The Lord for the first time introduced Himself as El Shaddai, the Almighty God. All along it was the Lord.
First He wanted Abram to have a new name, Abraham, the exalted father. He would now be a father of a multitude of nations, instead of one nation. His descendents will have all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession. And the Lord will be their God. As for Sarai (my princess) she would be known as Sarah (princess).
Abraham would have to circumcise all male born or owned by him; eight days old and above, "that my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant". It is interesting to note that those who are claiming the land of Israel as their home (Jews and Muslims), practise circumcision.
Abraham was cynical and laughed. He was 100 years old and Sarah was 99. Surely Sarah was too old to have children. God ensured him that Sarah would bear him a son and even gave him the name of the son; Isaac (meaning he laughs). God even told him the time of birth. Although Ishmael would be a father of 12 princes, the covenant of God was with Isaac.
When God left him, Abraham immediately circumcised all the males. Abraham was 99 years and Ishmael 13 at the time of circumcision. Circumcision was instituted as a physical act to symbolised the real commitment to the call of God. Humans tend to have short memories. For their sake, God instituted rituals to help them stay focus. Circumcision was one such rituals. It was also meant to prepare Christians to understand the significance of baptism.
A Christian's life is filled with ups and downs. If you prayed and prayed and nothing happened, it is not necessarily that you prayed wrongly, or you are too sinful and God do not want to listen to you. Our prayer is for our benefit, affirming that we concurred with God's plan. But whether we concurred or not, God's plan is unstoppable, and He has a time-table for them. So continue to pray and do not lose heart. It is a spiritual exercise more than any thing else. It is a confession that you believed in God and He is in total control.
