Sarah and Ismael: Genesis 17:15-27

God’s power of redemption exceeds what is customary and expected.  He does not merely live up to our expectations, He surprises us in greater ways than we could imagine.  He brings us to places we could not even imagine for ourselves.

God continues to remind Abraham of His plan.  As He did with Abraham, God alters Sarai’s name.  In this case, God renames Sarai to Sarah.

Unlike with Abraham, the significance in this name change is not in the meaning.  Both Sarai and Sarah are the same word.  They both mean princess.  The difference between these words is the context.  Sarai is the name that a family would use to talk about a princess within their tribe or within their clan.  Sarah is the proper word that would be used when speaking to people outside one’s tribe.  Thus, Sarai is the intimate form of princess whereas Sarah is the proper term of state.

God is once more giving a demonstration of his plan.  God is going to take this intimate nomadic family and turn them into a nation.  Currently, the only people who know about Abraham’s existence are the Canaanites who live around him.  After a few generations, the Hebrew people will grow into a nation and be known to kings in the whole area.

God plans to make this change in status through Sarah, not Hagar.  This is why God brings a child from Sarah.  Abraham, however, struggles to comprehend how God’s hand will work.  He knows he is already old, and Sarah is just as old.  It seems incomprehensible that God would use Sarah to give birth to a nation.  Honestly, I would find it just as unbelievable if I were in the same position.

As a part of his difficulty, Abraham reminds God about Ishmael.  There is more to this part of the story than Abraham’s struggle to understand how God could bring forth an heir from Sarah.  Ishmael is thirteen years old.  He’s on the verge of becoming a man and starting to take on responsibilities.  Abraham has invested more than a decade in helping to raise him and train him to be a successful young man.  As God talks about His promise, Abraham wants to make sure Ishmael is not forgotten.  From this perspective, Abraham is showing proper concern for Ishmael.  He doesn’t want the hard work Ishmael is put in to becoming a man to be in vain and discarded by God.

God reassures Abraham that He will remember Ishmael.  While Ishmael will not be the child with whom God makes His covenant, he will become a nation in his own right.  God will bless him and give him many heirs as well.  In the end, God is willing to bless His work and redeem the sinful impulse of Sarah more than a decade earlier.  God’s power of redemption exceeds what is customary and expected.