Name Change (Genesis 16 - 18)

Hagar and Ishmael

Sarai couldn't have children so she told Abram to take her Egyptian slave. Her name was Hagar. Hagar got pregnant and she had Ishmael. However, when she was pregnant she despised Sarai. Sarai complained to Abram and he told her to do whatever she wanted. Then Sarai started mistreating her and Hagar ran away. An angel found her by a spring and asked her, "Where did you come from and where are you going?

She explains that she is running from her mistress. The angel tells her to go back and submit to her. The angel tells her that he will increase her descendants so much that there will be too many to count. The angel also tells her that she will have a son and she should name him Ishmael. He will be a wild donkey of a man and he will be against everyone and everyone will be against him. He will also be hostile toward his brothers and visa versa.

Then she tells him that the angel is the God who sees her and the well or spring is called Beer Lahai Roi. What the angel/God told her came true. Abram was 86 years old when Ishmael was born.

Name Change

Fourteen years goes by and Abram is 99 years old. God came to him and said I am God; walk faithfully and be blameless. Then, I will make a covenant between me and you. I will increase your numbers.

Abram fell facedown and God said, "This is my covenant with you: you will be the father of many nations. Your name is now Abraham since you are the father of many nations. I will make you fruitful. Kings will come from you. My covenant is everlasting between you and me and your descendants. I will give you an everlasting possession of the land of Canaan and I will be their God."

God then tells him, "you and your descendants must keep my covenant." You must circumcise all males at 8 days old. This includes everybody including foreigners and those who are not your offspring. This will be the sign of the covenant. If someone does not get circumcised, that person will be cut off from his people.

Concerning Sarai, God says, "her name is now Sarah. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings will come from her.

Abraham fell face down and laughed to himself. "Will I have a son at 100 years old? Will Sarah have a child at 90 years old."

Abraham then says to God, "If only Ishmael can live under your blessing." This sounds like Abraham is attached to Ishmael.

God simply says, "Yes, but your wife will have a son. Name him Isaac.  I will establish my covenant with him and his descendants. I will bless Ishmael, make him fruitful, and his numbers will increase. He will be the father of 12 rulers and his descendants will become a great nation. But my covenant will be with Isaac and he will be born next year this time.

God left and on that same day, Abraham circumcised every male in his house including Ishmael. Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised and Ishmael was 13 years old.

Three Men

Then God appeared to Abraham again near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent on a hot day. Abraham saw 3 men standing nearby and he ran to meet them. Abraham bowed low. He asks them not to pass him by. Abraham wanted to give them water, wash their feet, let them rest under the tree and get them something to eat.

They told Abraham, do as you say. So he told Sarah to bake bread, he got a tender calf and had a servant prepare it, and he got some curds and milk. He served this to them.

One of them asked, were is Sarah? In the tent, Abraham replies. "next year this time, she will have a son. Sarah heard and laughed. "Why did she laugh? Is there anything too hard for the Lord. I will return and she will have a son this time next year. Sarah was afraid and said, "I did not laugh."

"Yes you did laugh," he says.

I do have a question. Why didn't the early patriarchs get struck down for lying and Ananias and his wife get struck down for lying to the Holy Spirit? I'm just curious.

When the men got ready to leave, the Lord said, should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Then the Lord reiterates his blessings and says that he chose Abraham to keep the way of the Lord. This means that they were supposed to do what was just and right.

Then God said there is an outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and it is so great that I am going to investigate. Two of the men left and God stayed with Abraham. Then Abraham goes through this bargaining period and says, if there are so many righteous people, will you destroy these cities? God told him that if he found these righteous people that he would not destroy it. When they finished this exchange, God left and Abraham went home.

My Thoughts

This reads as a story. I like that God would appear and have conversations with Abraham and Sarah. He only appeared to a few humans to keep the scarlet thread running. He did not appear to all men. According to the New Testament, we have God's Spirit who lives inside of us. They did not have that back then. 

Today, God can communicate with all of us if we open our hearts and minds toward him; if we seek his communion. This does not mean that I have voices, bells and whistles going off in my head and calling these the voice of God.  But it does mean that I have thoughts that are good that go against my selfishness or my weaknesses or anything that has to do with my human self. These thoughts change me, mold me and shape me into being someone better than I was before. It is not about selfish gain but rather a surrendering to a will other than my own. This is beautiful but so was God standing in front of Abraham and talking to him. Nothing else here for me. It is really straight forward.

Thant's it for today.