Abram's Son Ishmael

Abram believed God would provide a son for him, but his wife Sarai could not bear children so she devised her own plan to make that happen through her handmaiden.

About ten years passed since God promised Abram he would have a son. I imagine he began to wonder if it would ever happen. Could God’s word be trusted?

God spoke to Abram again. “Don’t you worry, Abram. I, your God and King, will care for you and reward you abundantly.”

Abram responded, “Master, You have given me all I could ever want . . . except for a son. When I die, my servant will receive all my wealth because You have given me no children.”

“Oh no, he won’t,” God answered. “You will have a son of your very own, and he will receive everything you have. Look up at the stars. Count them if you can. That’s how many descendants will come from you!”

Abram believed God, and God considered him in right standing with Himself.

What Abram had suggested about his servant being his heir was not wrong. In fact, it was quite common for the servant of a childless couple to become the heir. Another common practice for a barren wife was to give her handmaiden to her husband so that he could have children through the servant. That’s probably why Sarai told Abram to take her Egyptian maid, Hagar, and try to have a baby with her. These practices were accepted in the culture, but it was not God’s plan to fulfill His promises of blessing and land for Abram and Sarai.

However, Abram listened to his wife and had intercourse with Hagar, who became pregnant. This created strife between the two women, Sarai mistreated her, and Hagar ran away.

But God saw Hagar in the desert, heard her cry, and sent an angel to encourage her. The angel said, “Go back to Sarai and humbly submit to her, and I will bless your descendants abundantly. Listen, the baby growing inside you is a boy. I want you to name him Ishmael (God hears) because God hears and cares about you. Ishmael and his descendants will be like a wild donkey, always roaming and contrary, living to the east of their relatives.”

Hagar called that spring Beer-lahai-roi (a well to the Living One Who Sees Me), realizing God had seen her affliction. Then she went back to Abram and Sarai.

When Abram was 86 years old, Hagar’s son was born. Abram gave him the name Ishmael.

A few years later, God told Abram again that he would have a son, and God changed his name from Abram (Revered Father) to Abraham (Father of Many Nations). Then God said, “Abraham, your wife’s name will now be Sarah. I will bless her; she will have a son, and some of her descendants will even be kings.”

Abraham fell on his face and laughed! “Shall I, an old man of 100, and Sarah, an old woman of 90, have a son? Why not just let Ishmael be my heir?”

“No! You and Sarah will have a son; his name will be Isaac (laughter), and my everlasting promise will pass to him and his descendants. As for Ishmael, I have heard you and will bless him; he will be the father of twelve princes, and his family will become a great nation. But your son, Isaac, will be born about this time next year, and My promise to you and your family will be for him and his descendants forever.”