Sarah Holds Baby Isaac as Abraham Looks OnBible World
21:3Genesis 21:3
And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.
Abraham himself called the son Sarah bore to him Isaac, in obedience to God's command, at the set and appointed time when Abraham was one hundred and Sarah was ninety despite her age and barrenness. The name Isaac means laughter, recalling Sarah's laughter at the promise and expressing rejoicing when God fulfilled it by His word and power. Isaac was wholly of God by promise, begotten of the Word and born of the Spirit with no power of the flesh to bring him forth, in contrast to Ishmael born after the flesh through Hagar by human scheming to hasten the promise. As the son of the freewoman he represents the children of freedom under the new and everlasting covenant resting on God's promises, and the pattern for all born again from above by faith with justification resting wholly on God and not on human effort. He is the promised seed and heir with whom God established His everlasting covenant, through whom the promised Seed would come, with the Messiah's genealogy following Abraham through Isaac and not Ishmael.
Birth, Name, and Timing
Abraham himself gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore to him, in obedience to the command of God. The naming was part of the fulfillment of the repeated promise that Sarah herself would bear Abraham a son, and the child was duly circumcised. The name Isaac means laughter, recalling Sarah's laughter at the promise and expressing her rejoicing when God fulfilled it.
The birth came at the declared set and appointed time through God's word and by God's power and not by human devising. It was twenty-five years after the promise was given to Abraham. He was one hundred years old and Sarah was ninety, and the birth fulfilled the promise despite her age and barrenness and long childlessness, as a miracle of divine power through whom the promised line would continue. There was great rejoicing in God over the birth.
The birth stands shortly after the destruction of Sodom and about four hundred years before the giving of the law at Sinai. Isaac was weaned at about five years of age, roughly thirty years after the promise. Ishmael's mocking of him at that time marked the beginning of the four hundred years of affliction, understood as persecution of Abraham's seed. By biblical chronology Shem lived long enough to converse with Isaac for fifty years, placing Isaac among those who received instruction about Enoch's prophecy and translation.
Isaac is the lawful son by Sarah, the free wife and lawful wife, in contrast with Ishmael born through the unwise plan to hasten the promise. He is identified as the next bearer of the promises given to Abraham, through whose family the promised Seed would come. He is counted among the patriarchs who accumulated estates, showing that property ownership was recognized in patriarchal times and that the commandment against theft already had force.
Promise Versus Human Effort
Isaac was wholly of God in purpose, plan, arrangement, power, and result, begotten of the Word and born of the Spirit by promise, for the flesh had no power to bring him forth until the all-powerful word of the Creator was given. His coming was not by human devising, planning, scheming, or ordinary human power, but by God's power alone, impossible by nature for Abraham to beget and Sarah to bear, so that all power and glory for his existence belongs to God. Though Sarah was aged and barren, she bore the child of promise through God's power as God had promised, and the son was duly named and circumcised with great rejoicing in God.
In contrast Ishmael was born after the flesh through Hagar by Abraham and Sarah's attempt to solve what seemed a failure of the promise and to hasten it by human scheming and unwise planning. Abraham had first failed by expecting the promise to come through Eliezer his steward, and failed again by trying to bring it about through Hagar his bondservant. Isaac's birth followed those failures and those attempts to work out how the promise could be fulfilled despite Sarah's barrenness, and showed that Abraham had learned to believe the promise and had at last passed God's test of faith.
Isaac, the son of Sarah the freewoman born by her faith in God's word, represents the children of freedom under the new and everlasting covenant resting on God's promises and power, with citizenship in Jerusalem above. Ishmael, born through human scheming, represents bondage under the old covenant at Sinai resting on human promises, effort, and self-dependence. The two sons thus illustrate the two covenants, the typical and antitypical systems, and literal and true Israel, with Isaac born free and able to inherit all that Abraham had, unlike Ishmael born through Hagar the bondwoman.
Isaac is therefore the pattern for all who are born again from above as miraculous children of promise, just as truly miraculous children of God as he was. Those who are changed in heart, recreated, and born anew into the kingdom by the creative power of God in the gospel are thus the children of Isaac, the children of promise, obedient from a regenerated heart by faith because God works in them. His birth teaches that justification and salvation rest wholly on God's promises through Jesus Christ, not on human effort, with obedience following from receiving life and salvation rather than earning them.
The verse teaches patience in long waiting for God's plan rather than a shortcut, for Abraham and Sarah received Isaac after waiting many years with faith embracing the promise in its fullness. His birth came in accordance with God's plan rather than through Sarah's attempted shortcut, after Abraham had sometimes grown impatient and tried by human means to bring about what only God could do. That birth stands between the earlier failures and the later proving when God asked Abraham to offer Isaac, not to learn whether his faith was genuine and not to tempt him to evil, but so Abraham himself would be blessed, his faith made more precious and proved equal to that test, and he himself made strong.
Covenant, Seed, and Salvation
Isaac is the promised seed and heir through whom salvation comes in God's way and by God's power, with whom God establishes His everlasting covenant. The Messiah is descended from Abraham through Isaac, not through Ishmael, and the genealogy of Jesus follows that line. This belongs to God's providential dealings with Abraham's family as the chosen line through which the promised Seed would come, with Isaac as the next bearer of the promises given to Abraham and as Abraham's heir and ancestor of Christ.
In Isaac shall Abraham's seed be called, and the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with him. At the weaning feast Ishmael the son of the bondwoman mocked Isaac, showing how he that is born after the flesh persecutes him that is born after the Spirit. Because Isaac was the child of promise born free and able to inherit all that Abraham had, unlike Ishmael born through Hagar the bondwoman, the bondwoman and her son were required to be cast out with loss of the inheritance. The two sons thus illustrate the two covenants and the two peoples, literal Israel and true Israel.
Isaac's birth and name illustrate the birth of Christ, for the name expresses rejoicing and his birth came at the appointed time through God's word. By that same word believers are born from above and rejoice in God's salvation. Like Christ's birth, Isaac's birth was not the final fulfillment of the promise to Abraham and his seed to inherit the whole earth as an everlasting inheritance of righteousness, but a step toward its fulfillment at Christ's return and the resurrection.
To demonstrate the covenant lesson and to perfect Abraham's faith came afterward the trial in which Abraham was asked to offer Isaac, in which in figure he received his son from the dead. That birth stood between Abraham's earlier failures by human effort and this later proving, and his faith, having learned to believe the promise, proved equal to the test.
Abraham himself called the son Sarah bore to him Isaac, in obedience to God's command, at the set and appointed time when Abraham was one hundred and Sarah was ninety despite her age and barrenness. The name Isaac means laughter, recalling Sarah's laughter at the promise and expressing rejoicing when God fulfilled it by His word and power. Isaac was wholly of God by promise, begotten of the Word and born of the Spirit with no power of the flesh to bring him forth, in contrast to Ishmael born after the flesh through Hagar by human scheming to hasten the promise. As the son of the freewoman he represents the children of freedom under the new and everlasting covenant resting on God's promises, and the pattern for all born again from above by faith with justification resting wholly on God and not on human effort. He is the promised seed and heir with whom God established His everlasting covenant, through whom the promised Seed would come, with the Messiah's genealogy following Abraham through Isaac and not Ishmael.
Birth, Name, and Timing
Abraham himself gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore to him, in obedience to the command of God. The naming was part of the fulfillment of the repeated promise that Sarah herself would bear Abraham a son, and the child was duly circumcised. The name Isaac means laughter, recalling Sarah's laughter at the promise and expressing her rejoicing when God fulfilled it.
The birth came at the declared set and appointed time through God's word and by God's power and not by human devising. It was twenty-five years after the promise was given to Abraham. He was one hundred years old and Sarah was ninety, and the birth fulfilled the promise despite her age and barrenness and long childlessness, as a miracle of divine power through whom the promised line would continue. There was great rejoicing in God over the birth.
The birth stands shortly after the destruction of Sodom and about four hundred years before the giving of the law at Sinai. Isaac was weaned at about five years of age, roughly thirty years after the promise. Ishmael's mocking of him at that time marked the beginning of the four hundred years of affliction, understood as persecution of Abraham's seed. By biblical chronology Shem lived long enough to converse with Isaac for fifty years, placing Isaac among those who received instruction about Enoch's prophecy and translation.
Isaac is the lawful son by Sarah, the free wife and lawful wife, in contrast with Ishmael born through the unwise plan to hasten the promise. He is identified as the next bearer of the promises given to Abraham, through whose family the promised Seed would come. He is counted among the patriarchs who accumulated estates, showing that property ownership was recognized in patriarchal times and that the commandment against theft already had force.
Promise Versus Human Effort
Isaac was wholly of God in purpose, plan, arrangement, power, and result, begotten of the Word and born of the Spirit by promise, for the flesh had no power to bring him forth until the all-powerful word of the Creator was given. His coming was not by human devising, planning, scheming, or ordinary human power, but by God's power alone, impossible by nature for Abraham to beget and Sarah to bear, so that all power and glory for his existence belongs to God. Though Sarah was aged and barren, she bore the child of promise through God's power as God had promised, and the son was duly named and circumcised with great rejoicing in God.
In contrast Ishmael was born after the flesh through Hagar by Abraham and Sarah's attempt to solve what seemed a failure of the promise and to hasten it by human scheming and unwise planning. Abraham had first failed by expecting the promise to come through Eliezer his steward, and failed again by trying to bring it about through Hagar his bondservant. Isaac's birth followed those failures and those attempts to work out how the promise could be fulfilled despite Sarah's barrenness, and showed that Abraham had learned to believe the promise and had at last passed God's test of faith.
Isaac, the son of Sarah the freewoman born by her faith in God's word, represents the children of freedom under the new and everlasting covenant resting on God's promises and power, with citizenship in Jerusalem above. Ishmael, born through human scheming, represents bondage under the old covenant at Sinai resting on human promises, effort, and self-dependence. The two sons thus illustrate the two covenants, the typical and antitypical systems, and literal and true Israel, with Isaac born free and able to inherit all that Abraham had, unlike Ishmael born through Hagar the bondwoman.
Isaac is therefore the pattern for all who are born again from above as miraculous children of promise, just as truly miraculous children of God as he was. Those who are changed in heart, recreated, and born anew into the kingdom by the creative power of God in the gospel are thus the children of Isaac, the children of promise, obedient from a regenerated heart by faith because God works in them. His birth teaches that justification and salvation rest wholly on God's promises through Jesus Christ, not on human effort, with obedience following from receiving life and salvation rather than earning them.
The verse teaches patience in long waiting for God's plan rather than a shortcut, for Abraham and Sarah received Isaac after waiting many years with faith embracing the promise in its fullness. His birth came in accordance with God's plan rather than through Sarah's attempted shortcut, after Abraham had sometimes grown impatient and tried by human means to bring about what only God could do. That birth stands between the earlier failures and the later proving when God asked Abraham to offer Isaac, not to learn whether his faith was genuine and not to tempt him to evil, but so Abraham himself would be blessed, his faith made more precious and proved equal to that test, and he himself made strong.
Covenant, Seed, and Salvation
Isaac is the promised seed and heir through whom salvation comes in God's way and by God's power, with whom God establishes His everlasting covenant. The Messiah is descended from Abraham through Isaac, not through Ishmael, and the genealogy of Jesus follows that line. This belongs to God's providential dealings with Abraham's family as the chosen line through which the promised Seed would come, with Isaac as the next bearer of the promises given to Abraham and as Abraham's heir and ancestor of Christ.
In Isaac shall Abraham's seed be called, and the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with him. At the weaning feast Ishmael the son of the bondwoman mocked Isaac, showing how he that is born after the flesh persecutes him that is born after the Spirit. Because Isaac was the child of promise born free and able to inherit all that Abraham had, unlike Ishmael born through Hagar the bondwoman, the bondwoman and her son were required to be cast out with loss of the inheritance. The two sons thus illustrate the two covenants and the two peoples, literal Israel and true Israel.
Isaac's birth and name illustrate the birth of Christ, for the name expresses rejoicing and his birth came at the appointed time through God's word. By that same word believers are born from above and rejoice in God's salvation. Like Christ's birth, Isaac's birth was not the final fulfillment of the promise to Abraham and his seed to inherit the whole earth as an everlasting inheritance of righteousness, but a step toward its fulfillment at Christ's return and the resurrection.
To demonstrate the covenant lesson and to perfect Abraham's faith came afterward the trial in which Abraham was asked to offer Isaac, in which in figure he received his son from the dead. That birth stood between Abraham's earlier failures by human effort and this later proving, and his faith, having learned to believe the promise, proved equal to the test.