The Bondwoman and Her Son

"Then she [Hagar] departed and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba. And the water in the skin was used up, and she placed the boy under one of the shrubs. Then she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot; for she said to herself, "Let me not see the death of the boy." So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the lad. Then the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, "What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand, for I will make him a great nation." Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad to drink. So God was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. He dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt." (Genesis 21:14b-21)

And so, as Sarah had demanded, Hagar and Ishmael were cast out of the household and sent into the wilderness (actually, Abraham's intent was most likely for them to make it to the nearest town, but they appear to have lost their way.) This seems harsh to us at first glance, yet it was God's command to Abraham that he heed Sarah's words, which tells us that there is something God understands about this situation that we might not understand, yet Sarah did. But Abraham struggled with it, so God relieved Abraham's fears for his son Ishmael by letting him know that Ishmael would survive and even become a great nation.

Ishmael had to go, for he was of the same spirit as his mother: Hagar provided Abraham with a son and then gloated over Sarah's infertility. Ishmael has had a home and a good father all of these years, and yet his heart bears no gratitude towards his father for that goodness; instead, he mocks Abraham's young son and dishonors himself as well as his father by his actions. Ishmael is after all a child born of the works of man (of the flesh) rather than of the promise of God (of the Spirit).

When the pair becomes lost in the wilderness and near to death from thirst, God hears the desperate cries of Ishmael and provides for him by guiding Hagar to a nearby well. The Lord did not hold Ishmael's actions against him; He still cared for Ishmael and He still upheld the promise He made long ago to Hagar concerning Ishmael. Ishmael grows strong again, Hagar finds him a suitable wife, and from Ishmael and his Egyptian wife comes that large nation promised by God that will later be known as Arabia.

What is interesting here is that both Isaac and Ishmael have the same father. Yet, Ishmael is cast out of the "domain" of his father. He once had a place, but has now lost that place due to the works of his own hands, and naturally so. In the natural realm, he is a son of a bondwoman, a female slave, yet his father is free, so he also is free…but not in the spiritual realm. In the spiritual realm he is a slave…to his passions, to his flesh. He does not have a heart of gratitude towards his father; his own jealousy (carnality) has lost for him all that he had. Thus, he is called the "son of the bondwoman" rather than the "son of Abraham." While God does not forsake him (God hears his cries in the wilderness and provides for him) still he has been cast out of his father's house.

The apostle Paul reveals more of the truth of this passage of scripture when he writes to the Galatians concerning what is happening in the midst of these fairly new Christians. Having received Christ as their Lord and Savior BY FAITH alone and not BY WORKS, these Gentile Christians are being misled by a heretical group called "the Judaizers" (Jews from Judea) who are insisting that they cannot truly be saved unless they are circumcised. To trust in circumcision as proof of salvation, Paul says, is to forsake "the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law [the law of circumcision], then Christ died in vain." (Galatians 2:21)

In other words, to set aside true salvation (the gift of God through Jesus Christ) in favor of obtaining what they must think is a more perfect salvation by the works of man (circumcision) is to be of the same spirit as Ishmael, "the son of the bondwoman" versus trusting by faith that they are children of the Promise like Isaac, "the son of the freewoman."

"Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman." (Galatians 4:30 and Genesis 21:10)

Paul exhorts them to "stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage….and I testify to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace." (Galatians 5:1-4)

The Galatians, having received by faith their salvation, and being prompted by the Judaizers, are now second-guessing God (such as Abraham and Sarah did regarding the "child of the promise") and are attempting, by circumcision, to provide what THEY think is necessary to be saved. What they will create for themselves, if they become circumcised, is slavery (bondage to the law from then on) for they have not trusted that God will fulfill His righteousness in them; instead they seek to fulfill their own righteousness.

When the enemy is busy accusing us and highlighting our weaknesses, Paul's words should encourage us: "For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." (Galatians 5:5) We are not finished products; we are still a work in progress; our hope is not in ourselves, but in God who is able to perform all that He desires to do in us, if we will but wait on Him and not get ahead of him as Abraham and Sarah did.