Fear No Fear

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

“God said, “No, but Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son. You shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.”
(Genesis 17:19)

God is clear: Ishmael is NOT the child of the promise. Sarah, not Hagar, would birth the promised child of Abraham’s seed. The covenant God was establishing would be established through Isaac, not Ishmael, and it would be an eternal covenant – continued through Messiah, who has no end, and all who in Messiah become children of Abraham (Galatians 3:17).

God wasn’t slagging Ishmael (as we will see in the next verses), just establishing clarity. So that no one would ever be able to claim otherwise. No matter how great Ishmael became, or his descendants, they would never be the children of the promise. That specific covenant was being established through a different child. Period.

The sage Rashi writes: ‘והקמתי את בריתי AND I WILL ESTABLISH MY COVENANT WITH HIM — Why is this stated? Is it not already written (Genesis 17:9) “as for thee, thou shalt keep My Covenant, thou and thy seed etc.”? But since is said, (Genesis 17:7) and I will establish My Covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations”, it might be inferred that the children of Ishmael and the children of Keturah (who are all descendants of Abraham) are included in this promise of the establishment of the Covenant, therefore it states here (Genesis 17:19) “And I will establish My Covenant with him (Isaac), not with the others” (cf. Sanhedrin 59b). If so, why is there a repetition of the statement that the covenant will be established with Isaac in the words (Genesis 17:21) ואת בריתי אקים את יצחק “but My Covenant will I establish with Isaac”? But it is repeated in order to add the words אשר תלד so as to teach that he was holy from his birth (Shabbat 137b). Another explanation of why 5:21 is repeated is: R. Aba said, “from here Scripture draws a logical conclusion regarding the son of the Mistress (Sarah) from what is said regarding the son of the handmaid (Hagar): It is written (Genesis 17:20) “Behold I have blessed him and will make him fruitful”, and this refers to Ishmael: Surely then, it follows logically that “I must establish my covenant (of blessing) with Isaac also!” (Genesis Rabbah 47:5). את בריתי [I WILL ESTABLISH] MY COVENANT — The Covenant of circumcision shall be transmitted only to the descendants of Isaac.’

The sage Ramban writes: ‘‘AVAL’ SARAH THY WIFE. This is like the verse, “Aval” she has no son, the word aval meaning “only.” He thus said: “Only the son of whom I informed you, your wife Sarah will give birth to, and with him will I establish My covenant forever and with his seed after him; and Ishmael I will bless by making his children numerous, but this will not be because of My covenant with him.”’

The sage Kli Yakar writes: ‘And regarding what [God] said “and she shall become nations” in plural form, it can be explained that this hinted that in her merit, all the barren women throughout the world were remembered [by God and granted children], and through this it is as if many nations came from her. For from Sarah herself, only Israel emerged — one nation in the land — since Esau is not included [in this count], as it was already stated for in Isaac shall your seed be called.’

The sage Rabbeinu Bahya writes: ‘וקראת את שמו יצחק, “and you will name him ‘Yitzchak.’” Yitzchak was given this name by G-d. This is why we never find that he was given another name such as his father or his son Yaakov who was given the additional name Yisrael. Both Avram’s name and Yaakov’s name had been given them by their respective fathers and not by G-d Himself. I have found a remark confirming this in the Jerusalem Talmud at the end of the first chapter of Berachot. The rhetorical question posed there is: “Why was Yitzchak’s name never amended whereas the names of Avraham and Yaakov were amended?” Answer: ‘’because the latter’s name was G-d-given, whereas the names of the former were given to them by their respective fathers.” The Talmud quotes our verse here as the source for claiming that G-d commanded Avraham to call the name of his son Yitzchak. You might retort that we also encounter Yitzchak’s name spelled with the letter ש instead of the letter צ in Psalms 108,9, and that this is as much of a change as spelling אברהם without the letter ה. Actually, the word ישחק is not a new name at all. The prophet wanted to draw attention to the element fire which was one of the basic elements in Yitzchak’s character as we know from the ספר יצירה where the author writes (edition of Gaon from Vilna chapter 6 Mishnah 2) “there are three אמות which are known as אמ’ש “which are air, water and fire.” Whereas the מ is silent, static, the א is constantly in motion so that the letter ש is an allusion to the great fire, a characteristic of Yitzchak. Another reason why Avram’s name had to be changed whereas Yitzchak’s name did not need to be changed: G-d had given Avraham an additional destiny, i.e. to become a founder of many nations. This had to be reflected in his name being changed. Similarly Yaakov. His additional name Yisrael was in recognition of his having successfully contended with opposing celestial forces as attested to by the angel who struggled with him (Genesis 32,29). Yitzchak had not had similar experiences so that these did not require any changes or additions to his name. He had remained throughout his life on holy soil in the Holy Land.’