Monday
Monday
The Birth of Isaac
The LORD did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age.
Genesis 21:1–2
At the time when the promise of descendants was made to Abraham, he and his wife Sarah were childless, apparently infertile. So God’s promise strained their credulity to the limit. How could they have a stream of descendants if they did not have even one?
Once Abraham complained that, since he remained childless, the heir to his estate would be his servant Eliezer of Damascus. But the Lord assured him that his heir would be his own son coming from his own body (15:1–4). And Abraham believed God.
Next, Sarah had the bright idea that she would give her Egyptian maidservant Hagar to Abraham as his concubine. “Perhaps I can build a family through her,” she said. Abraham agreed, Hagar conceived, and Ishmael was born. But Sarah became jealous, and it was obvious that Ishmael was not the promised child (16:1–6).
Meanwhile, far from withdrawing his promises, God confirmed them, even changing the chief actors’ names, calling Abram “a father of many nations” and Sarah “the mother of nations” (17:5, 15–16). As if to reinforce this, three men (who collectively are identified as “the LORD”) visited Abraham in his tent. The Lord promised him that in about a year’s time Sarah would have a son. Eavesdropping near the tent’s entrance, Sarah laughed, incredulous that she and Abraham could possibly have a child at their advanced age. No wonder the Lord asked Sarah, “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (18:14). Rebuked, Sarah told a lie, affirming that she had not laughed, although she had.
In due course the Lord was gracious to Sarah, as he had said. She became pregnant and bore Abraham a son. Abraham gave the child the name Isaac (“Laughter”), for the laughter of incredulity had now been replaced by the laughter of celebration and joy (21:1–3, 6).
For further reading: Genesis 18:1–15