Setting: Genesis 17:1-22
Extra-biblical Sources: Bereishit Rabbah 47:1,4
I was eighty and six years old when Hagar bore unto me my only son, Ishmael. I was ninety and nine, and my son Ishmael ten and three, when Adonai next appeared to me.I was sitting at the door of my tent in the heat of the day, silently meditating on the goodness of God, when Adonai was suddenly before me.
He said resolutely, “I am El Shaddai. Walk before me, and be you perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.”
I fell on my face in fear. What name was this, this El Shaddai? Surely it was El Elyon who is Adonai, but by the name of Shaddai I had never before known Him. And what did he mean by this command, “be you perfect”? What mortal can satisfy a god’s desire for perfection? I was about to plead with El Shaddai to lower his standards when He continued to speak in a commanding tone:
“As for me, behold, my covenant is with you, and you will be a father of many nations. Neither shall your name be called Abram any longer, but your name will be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made you. And I will make you exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations out of you, and kings shall come out of you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you in their generations, as an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you, and to your seed after you. And I will give to you and to your seed after you the land wherein you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”
My head was spinning at the import of His words, and their impossibly poetic arrangement. I wanted to hold onto them forever but I feared lest they leave my mind before I could properly commit them to my memory. I feared that in my sudden turmoil I may have missed some question that He had asked me, for now it was silent and I knew not what to say, But then, he went on:
“You, therefore, will keep my covenant; you and your seed after you in their generations. This is my covenant which you will keep between me and you and your seed after you: Every male child among you will be circumcised. And you will circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant between me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of your seed. He that is born in your house, and he that is bought with your money, must be circumcised. And my covenant will be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised male child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
I had heard of this practice of circumcision before, and it was a mark of honor among certain castes of the Egyptians. I had not guessed that El Elyon would require it of his devotees.
I rose to my feet at this command of circumcision, for I would not waste even a moment in disobedience when Adonai gave a word. But it was as I looked around for a knife to do this thing that Adonai required that He continued to speak, and I was truly and utterly shocked by what El Shaddai said next:
“As for your wife Sarai, you will not call her name Sarai, but Sarah is her name. And I will bless her, and give you a son also by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she will be a mother of nations. Kings of people will be from her."
I fell on my face once more, and I laughed with wonder and with joy. What an incredible thing this was! Did I understand correctly? Would Sarai be the mother of Ishmael, or would she indeed bear a son truly her own, from her own womb? I treasured the wonderful question in my heart: would one be born to he that was a hundred years old? And would Sarah (for that was now her name!) who was ninety years old, bear a child?
I dared not assume that I had understood my Lord correctly. Surely he meant instead that Ishmael must be counted as Sarah’s own. Or perhaps he meant to test me by promising me things that could never be, then to disappoint me and to see if I remained faithful.
I said to my God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before you!”
I wanted nothing more. I needed no son from Sarah to be happy.
And yet, God did reply, “Sarah your wife will indeed bear you a son; and you will call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Look, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. Twelve princes she will beget, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah will bear to you at this same time next year.”
And God left off talking with me, and God went up from me.
I laughed with joy that such an impossible thing was soon to take place, and I went to find Sarah, to inform her of her new name at once, and also that we might get to work accomplishing God’s will without delay.
That night as I lay with Sarah in my tent, I wondered at what might be the meaning of her new name, and God revealed to me that my princess was no longer mine, but was to be a princess for all mankind. And I thought that it is a wonderful thing to possess a beautiful woman, but it is more wonderful still to give her to the world.