The Law: Questions, 6of25

~ What Role Does Hagar Have With Respect To The Law? ~

Scripture  ~  “So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water; and putting it on her shoulder, he gave it and the boy to Hagar, and sent her away.  Then she 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 a 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 21:14-21). 

“Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law?  For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman.  But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, which things are symbolic.  For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar—for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children—but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.  For it is written: ‘Rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear!  Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor!  For the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband.’  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.  But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now.  Nevertheless what does the Scripture say?  ‘Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.’  So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free” (Galatians 4:21-31). 

Comments  ~  It is interesting that it is from this point (Genesis 21) in Scripture that we no longer hear about the descendants of Ismael.  However, his descendants (the Arabs) are still with us today.  This Galatians passage is the story of two women—a bondwoman and a free woman.  With regard to Hagar every reference to her is associated with the Law—in contrast Sarai is always associated with grace and faith in Christ.  The bondwoman represents Hagar while the free woman is Sarai.

Reference  ~  You may be interested in a previous “Abundant Life Now” 14 post series entitled “10 Commandments Today” (from March 1 to June 28, 2018).  “Abundant Life Now” also posted a 12 post series entitled “Law vs. Grace” (from January 22 to December 24, 2013).  The Key Passage in this series is: “Do not think that I [Jesus Christ] came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.  I did not come to destroy but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17).

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

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