Fear No Fear

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

“God said to Abraham, “Don’t let it be grievous in your sight because of the boy, and because of your servant. In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice. For your offspring will be named through Isaac. I will also make a nation of the son of the servant, because he is your child.””
(Genesis 21:12-13)

It doesn’t appear that God waited for Abraham to call on Him. It appears that He saw the pain of His friend (James 2:23) and answered before the question was posed.

God is speaking a promise to Abraham about Ishmael. But this isn’t the first time the promise was made. God actually made this promise to Hagar when she first ran from Sarah in the early days of her pregnancy (Genesis 16:10-12). He had made that promise to Hagar because of His covenant with Abraham, but no one had told Abraham of it. Here, God tells Abraham of the promise – speaking of it as an accomplished thing (Romans 4:17) – in order to ease Abraham’s mind about the situation.

Abraham was told to hang onto Sarah and do as she asked. Ishmael was his son, but Ishmael was not God’s plan. It was not God’s will that His promises would be fulfilled in any but the descendants of Isaac. We need to be careful not to operate in our own will and create Ishmael’s of our own. They may be good on their own, but we will be unable to hold onto them if we are going to be obedient to God’s will for our lives. It is better not to create them, than to create something we have to release.

The sage Haamek Davar writes: ‘Concerning the youth and concerning your maidservant: The Holy One, blessed be He, did not say, “concerning the maidservant and concerning her son” – as he is certainly his son. But the verdict was nevertheless with Sarah. Listen to (be, literally, in) her voice: And He did not say, “listen to (le) her voice” – the implication of which [would be] that he should do like she said, like the language of Scripture above (Genesis 16:2), “And [Avram] listened to the voice of Sarai, his wife.” But the implication of, “in her voice,” is that he be precise and contemplate her words. And see what I have written on the Book of Deuteronomy 30:2, proving this intention. For it is through Yitzchak that your seed will be called: Relative to Yitzchak, he is certainly not considered a son, as only he will be called your seed.’

The sage Malbim writes: ‘And he said: Based on this, God said to him, “Do not let it be bad in your eyes concerning the youth and concerning your maidservant.” Since the main thing that was bad in your eyes was concerning the youth – and due to him, it was also bad in your eyes concerning your maidservant, as she is the mother of the youth – from this, it is understood that you consider him to be like your son. Therefore “listen to the voice (bekol) of Sarah” (it has been explained with me that listening bekol is to do like her words) – that if you think that he is your son who will inherit you like Yitzchak, it is a mistake. For it is only “through (lit., in) Yitzchak that your seed will be called” – as the heart and the treasure is only in Yitzchak, meaning in Yaakov who will be born from him. And the Sages, may their memory be blessed, said (Nedarim 31a), “‘In Yitzchak,’ and not all of Yitzchak.” And they said that one who makes a vow [not to benefit] from the seed of Avraham is permitted [to benefit from] the seed of Yishmael and Esav, since they are not called by the name of Avraham but rather by the name of Yishmael and Esav. And if you are concerned about sending him away from you, lest he die of hunger or that which is similar, I promise you – even though he is the son of the maidservant and is not related to you but only to her, nevertheless – “I will make him into a nation,” from the perspective “that he is your seed.”

The sage Rav Hirsch writes: ‘V. 12. שמע בקול, real true obedience is expressed by שמע בקול not by בדבר, listen to the voice of another, not to his words, obey him because he says it, never bother about what he says. Listen to the voice of Sarah, obey her, even if you can not agree with her words, depend on her judgment, she goes deeper than you do, as altogether women have a deeper insight into character. Your seed will be called after Isaac, יקרא לך, in him, you will be called; Ishmael (V.13) זרעך הוא, he is your seed, he comes from you, he will have a good deal of the material and something of the spiritual from you. But to be called “the son of Abraham”, for that he is not worthy, your spiritual heir he can not be. ביצחק not יצחק, as our sages remark, not Isaac but in Isaac will descendants mature for you. Do not let it be too hard and painful to separate from one son; from Isaac too, not all will remain your spiritual heirs, on the best of trees not every fruit ripens, and to keep right seed pure for the People of God some will have to be separated out as unfit. V. 13. Ishmael is your seed, he has some germs of your spirit in him, and those will I allow to develop in the life of a nation.’