Fear No Fear

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

“Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to him who is one hundred years old? Will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth?” Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!””
(Genesis 17:17-18)

Abraham was so excited, he collapsed in JOY. This wasn’t questioning ‘how’, this was rejoicing because only God could do this. Abraham’s laughter was worship spilling over. That is why God named the coming son Isaac. Isaac means ‘laughter’. This was the most positive acceptance of a promise ever.

Abraham was joyful and excited, but IMMEDIATELY was concerned for his other son, Ishmael. For thirteen years Ishmael had been part of his life. It is possible that they believed he was the child of the promise. The longed for child. Now that Abraham knew a DIFFERENT child would be the child of promise, he was immediately concerned for what this meant for Ishmael. Would he be shunted aside? Would he even live? Abraham had great affection for Ishmael and immediately sought God for His favour over the child. This speaks to both his character and his commitment as a father.

The sage Rashi writes: ‘ויפל אברהם על פניו ויצחק AND ABRAHAM FELL UPON HIS FACE AND LAUGHED — This word ויצחק Onkelos translates by וחדי which signifies joy (“and he rejoiced’’) but the similar verb in the case of Sarah (ותצחק Genesis 18:12) he translates as meaning laughter. From this you may understand that Abraham had faith and rejoiced, and that Sarah had no faith and sneered, and that is why God was angry with Sarah (when she laughed) but was not angry with Abraham. הלבן SHALL A CHILD BE BORN TO ONE WHO IS A HUNDRED YEARS OLD? — There are some questions expressing astonishment which do not imply a doubt but rather affirm the certainty that the circumstance referred to has happened or will happen, as (1 Samuel 2:2) “Did I reveal myself [unto thy father’s house?]” (Of course, I did) and (Ezekiel 8:6) “Seest thou what they do?” (You, of course, have seen it). This question, too, affirms the certainty that it is possible for God to cause Abraham, at the age of hundred, to beget a son and this is in effect what he said to himself: Would there be done to another man one hundred years old this favour that the Holy One, blessed be He, is doing to me”? (Rashi means that the words must be translated, “would a child be born to any other person who is a hundred years old?”). ואם שרה הבת תשעים שנה OR SHALL SARAH, WHO IS NINETY YEARS OLD be worthy to bear a son? Although the previous generations used to beget at the age of five hundred years, yet in Abraham’s days the length of life had already become shorter and a diminution of strength had come upon people. Go and learn this from the ten generations from Noah to Abraham who begot their children at the then early age of sixty or seventy.’

The sage Or HaChaim writes: ‘ויאמר אברהם…לו ישמעאל יחיה לפניך. Abraham said…. “if only Ishmael will live (a righteous life) before You.” Abraham prayed that Ishmael should enjoy divine assistance to live as a righteous person. The term “to live before You” is the source for the righteous being called “alive” in our rabbinic literature. Abraham “borrowed” a phrase from Deut. 4,11 where the Torah describes the fact that the Jewish people were “alive” at that time as due to their having cleaved to G’d. Abraham saw the need to pray for this as he had observed negative character tendencies in Ishmael (who was still a minor). Had Ishmael been truly wicked at that time, Abraham, though prejudiced as his father, would have been aware of such wickedness, just as any other righteous person could perceive such things. We have explained in connection with 15,2-3 that Abraham had worried about a son of his not being worthy because G’d described his seeds as comparable to dust. At this point Abraham prayed that Ishmael would turn out to be worthy.’