Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name shall be Sarah. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she will be a mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her.””
(Genesis 17:15-16)

God’s BLESSING is what accomplishes this impossible thing. God BLESSED them, and because of that, they could do what they could not do in their own strength.

God doesn’t leave Abraham’s wife out. She too gets a new name because she too is called into the same position as Abraham. Sarai means ‘a princess’, but Sarah means ‘the princess’. No longer an insular title, but a mother of nations. An outward responsibility. Just like Abraham. Also, the same Hebrew part of God’s name is put into Sarai’s name that was put into Abram’s. They were becoming dedicated to everyone’s service of God. Mother and Father to global offspring – physical and spiritual. Their names became the mark of their broadened leadership.

God specifies here where the promised seed was going to sprout from. It was not Hagar. It will not be any random woman. It would be Sarah herself and no one else. She herself would produce the physical heir of Abraham and the beginning of a line of descendants that would produce not just kings, but THE King – the child of the promise, Messiah Jesus.

Throughout this interaction with Abraham, God is presenting the promises as if they had already happened. As if they are already accomplished. There are no ‘ifs’. There are only ‘wills’ (Romans 4:17).

There is an oral teaching that when God gave this promise to Abram, Abram realized that neither Abram nor Sarai could have children. God’s response was to change their names, to place part of Himself into them, enabling them to change so that they COULD have children. Essentially, God agreed that yes, ABRAM could not father a child and SARAI could not give birth; but ABRAHAM could father many children and SARAH could give birth. When God inhabits us, He changes us. We become virtually different people, with different destinies and with different potentials (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).

Sarah couldn’t do this because Abraham believed. Sarah needed to hear the word of the Lord and believe herself. Which she did, although not right away (Hebrews 11:11). I believe God’s faithfulness to Sarah in bad circumstances (Genesis 20), His protection of her, and His honouring of her showed her that she could believe and trust Him to deliver the impossible.

God does acknowledge that Abraham already has a son, but is very clearly separating that son from the promise. Ishmael is NOT the child of the promise. It seems from this further revelation of who would be the mother and the details of the birth of the child that they could have asked God earlier, questioning the ‘how’ and not the possibility of it happening – much like Mary does (Luke 1:26-38). When we are not doubting God, it never hurts to ask for details when facing an impossible situation. You never know what He will tell you that will help keep you from making a misstep.

The sage Rashi writes: ‘לא תקרא את שמה שרי THOU SHALT NOT CALL HER NAME SARAI which means “my princess”— a princess to me and not to others — BUT SARAH, in a more general sense, SHALL BE HER NAME: she shall be princess over all (Berakhot 13a). וברבתי אותה AND I WILL BLESS HER — And in what did the blessing consist? In that she resumed her youthfulness, as it is said, (Genesis 18:12) “shall I have the pleasure of youth again?” (Genesis Rabbah 47:2). וברכתיה AND I WILL BLESS HER with teeming breasts. And this happened when she really needed this on the day of Isaac’s feast. For people were speaking spitefully about them, that they had adopted a foundling from the street saying, “This is our son.” Every one, therefore, brought her child with her, but did not bring the wet-nurse and she (Sarah) suckled all of them. To this refers that which is said (Genesis 21:7) “Sarah has given suck to children”. In Genesis Rabbah 47:2 this is alluded to in part.’

The Torah: A Women’s Commentary writes: ‘REITERATION OF PROMISES OF A CHILD BY SARAH (17:15–22) God’s power over life is emphasized by the divine capacity to allow a ninety-year-old woman to bear a child. God’s blessing of Sarah parallels that of Abraham, since both will be parents of many significant descendants. However, there are two striking differences. First, the promise is addressed directly to Abraham and not to Sarah. Second, only Sarah’s son is the legitimate heir of the covenant, not any of Abraham’s other sons. (See 25:1–5 for Abraham’s additional sons.) “I will bless her.” The blessing of Sarah is repeated twice in this verse. Like Abraham, she will be the founder of many nations and kings.’

The sage Radak writes: ‘וברכתי, I will restore her youthfulness so that she will begin having her periods again. Another, even greater miracle, will be the fact that she will give birth. This is meant by the additional words וגם נתתי ממנה לך בן, “and I will also give you a son from her.” The word נתתי is similarly used in Genesis 23,13 נתתי כסף השדה “I have given the money for the field,” where also the transaction had not taken place yet, but Avraham made plain that he had already made all the arrangement s from his side. When G’d promised it is as if it had happened already. וברכתיה, with numerous seed which will emerge from her son. This is the meaning of the words והיתה לגוים, “she will develop into nations.” The reference is to her grandchildren Esau and Yaakov, each of whom became founding fathers of large nations. Possible, G’d referred only to the descendants of Yaakov as per Onkelos. This too is meant by the words מלכי עמים, “kings of nations.”‘