Abraham Hosts God's Messengers

God Destroys and Recreates

Abraham and Sarah Birth God's People

Genesis 17:15-22 The Message

15-16 God continued speaking to Abraham, “And Sarai your wife: Don’t call her Sarai any longer; call her Sarah. I’ll bless her—yes! I’ll give you a son by her! Oh, how I’ll bless her! Nations will come from her; kings of nations will come from her.”
17 Abraham fell flat on his face. And then he laughed, thinking, “Can a hundred-year-old man father a son? And can Sarah, at ninety years, have a baby?”
18 Recovering, Abraham said to God, “Oh, keep Ishmael alive and well before you!”
19 But God said, “That’s not what I mean. Your wife, Sarah, will have a baby, a son. Name him Isaac (Laughter). I’ll establish my covenant with him and his descendants, a covenant that lasts forever.
20-21 “And Ishmael? Yes, I heard your prayer for him. I’ll also bless him; I’ll make sure he has plenty of children—a huge family. He’ll father twelve princes; I’ll make him a great nation. But I’ll establish my covenant with Isaac whom Sarah will give you about this time next year.”
22 God finished speaking with Abraham and left.

For Reflection

Two nations and two primary spiritual paths from one source.
One blessed with a covenant and the other blessed with a great nation.
Both both blessed under one covenant.

Ishmael was a product of human reproduction.  Isaac was the product of miraculous birth. Ishmael was bestowed material blessings. Isaac was given spiritual blessings. In common sense, Ishmael was the epitome of material success, Isaac began the line of Solomon, David, and eventually Christ. The arrangements reveal one of the major themes of Scripture, contrasting the spiritual and material ways of being.

Pray
Pray so that you will understand the difference represented in the contrast of material and spiritual ways of seeing and acting.  Pray so that you will understand the deeper meaning of a God who loves and blesses all of us. 


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