Genesis 17:15-27--Isaac's Birth Promised

READ:  https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2017%3A15-27&version=ESV
LISTEN:  https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Gen.17.15-Gen.17.27

Isaac's Birth Promised
15 And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” 19 God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”
​
22 When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. 23 Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all those born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 26 That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. 27 And all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

---

Last time we focused on God's message to Abram about His covenant promise to Him the sign of circumcision that was given and the change of identity for Abram to Abraham.  Now God has a message for Sarai.  Her name will now be changed too to Sarah.  God promises to bless her and she would be the mother of great nations and kings.

We get after Sarah for laughing when she hears this news, but Abraham was right there and he also laughed.  Abraham takes note that both he and his wife are old.  While having children at these ages was no problem in the first few chapters of Genesis, sin has taken its toll on the human body and both Abram and Sarah would understand that they are well beyond their child-bearing years, but Abraham forgot that God has been a miracle worker from the beginning.  Again, Abraham tries to talk his way out of the situation by coming up with a Plan B for God.  He asks God why Ishmael can't just be his heir and walk before God in God's blessing and be the recipient of God's covenant.  God would confront this issue head-on the next time it arises in chapter 18 and ask, "Is anything too hard for the LORD?" (Genesis 18:14) and God will have to repeat this question to His people through the prophet Jeremiah later in Jeremiah 32:27, "“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?"

God says clearly that Abraham and Sarah will have a son and they will name him Isaac which means "laughter," since both Abraham will laugh at the news of his birth.  God is clear that the covenant promises will pass to Isaac and not to Ishmael, but that God heard Abraham's request for Ishmael to be blesses and would also give him great lands and great people.  He would father twelve princes and be the father of a great nation (think of it in the same way as how Jacob would have 12 sons that would each lead a tribe but all the tribes were united as a single nation of Israel.  God would do something similar for Ishmael.)  God then reaffirms that His covenant will pass to Isaac and his descendants and that Sarah will herself bear Isaac and that by this time next year he would be born to them.

Abraham immediately obeyed the command that he had been given by God to circumcise all the males in his family, and there is special mention by the author of Genesis that Ishmael was among those that were circumcised.  Remember that all adult males would do this as a vow to follow the Lord faithfully all of their days and to walk in a way that was upright and blameless before Him.  This occurred when Abram was 99 years old and Ishmael was 13 years old.  And all the males in the household whether born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner were circumcised that same day.  We won't see anything like this again until the book of Joshua when the people realize that they have not kept the sign of circumcision while they were slaves in Egypt and all the men are given the choice to be circumcised and walk blamelessly before God or to leave and not inherit the land of promise.  The nation of Israel won one of its greatest battles that day even with all of its men in great pain.  It was clear that the battle belongs to the LORD that day (and every day).

Next time, we'll talk about the three visitors and how they remind Abraham (and tell Sarah) about the birth of Isaac and bring news about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.