Genesis, Message 18: The Allegory of the Two Women

My Great Delight in God's Word

Crystallization-Study of Genesis, Message 18

The Allegory of the Two Women

There are so many allegories in the Old Testament. The stories were purposefully recorded for us to be able to understand the spiritual truth much better. However, we cannot understand them by our own wisdom. They are too mysterious. To understand an allegory, the best way is to consult the Scripture, as the Scripture itself is the best and the most reliable commentary. Only in the light of God's revelation in the New Testament revelation can we see them clearly and correctly.
For example, Christ used 2 allegories - Jonah and Solomon - to explain about his mission for man (Matthew 12:38-42). With regard to the sign of Jonah, he had to be crucified for the redemption of our sins, buried in a tomb, and raised from the dead on the Easter day. Then like Solomon who built God's physical temple in Jerusalem, He would build up the glorious temple upon Himself after His resurrection, which is the Church.
In this message, we are going to consider another allegory in the bible. It is the allegory of the two wives of Abraham, Hagar and Sarah.

Abram begets Ishmael through Hagar

¹ Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar.
² So Sarai said to Abram, "See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her." And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai.
³ Then Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. (Genesis 16:1-3 NKJV)

In Genesis 12, God appeared to Abraham when he was 75 years old, and gave him the promise that He would give him a seed for the fulfillment of His purpose. Through this seed, all the nations would be blessed. With faith, Abram and his wife Sarai waited year after year, with no any sign that the seed would come. Eleven years later, when Abram was 86 years old, this couple started to be impatient. They could not wait for the promised seed anymore. Sarai then came up with a creative idea. Given that God did not really specify that the seed would come through her, Hagar could do her job, helping God produce the seed.
Abram obediently followed Sarai's plan. The produce of this scheme employing Abram's own effort was Ishmael, who was going to cause a lot of troubles to this family, particularly Sarai and her future son Isaac. Hagar and Ishmael were eventually driven out from the family, and God approved this.

¹⁰ Therefore she said to Abraham, "Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac."
¹¹ And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham's sight because of his son.
¹² But God said to Abraham, "Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called.
¹³ Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed." (Genesis 21:10-13)

Abraham begets Isaac through Sarah

¹ When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.
² And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly." (Genesis 17:1-2 NKJV)
¹⁰ This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised;
¹¹ and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. (Genesis 17:10-11 NKJV)
Then God said: "No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him." (Genesis 17:19 NKJV)

After this accomplishing the scheme of producing the seed by his own effort, there is no record of God's appearing to Abram until he was 99 years old.
One may have questioned, why God allowed them to wait for a long long time? Was not 11 years long enough? Definitely not!
Even at the age of 86 years, Abram was yet too strong. After the birth of Ishmael, Abram was still too strong for God to fulfill His purpose in and through his life. Abram needed to wait for about 13 years until he reached a point where he realised he was as good as dead (Romans 4:19) and could do nothing to fulfil God's purpose. He then realised that all he could do was rely upon the Lord. All he needed was God's grace. And that happened to be one of the cleverest decisions he had ever made in his life.
After the 13 years of silence, God appeared to Abram again, and revealed Himself as "El Shaddai," the Almighty God, which also means the All-Sufficient God. God could do nothing to fulfil His purpose in producing the seed until Abram saw Him as the All-Sufficient One. Only God, without man's effort, could accomplish that. Abram's life had been transformed, and he was given a new name, "Abraham."
Furthermore, God confirmed Abraham with a sign of the covenant. It was circumcision. This ceremony was so crucial to him. It had nothing to do with sin. It dealt with flesh or natural strength. To receive grace needed for the fulfilment of God's purpose, Abram had to have his own natural strength completely terminated so that God could work Himself into his life.
Hallelujah! By God's grace, Isaac, the seed, was eventually given to him through Sarah (Genesis 21:1-5).

Hagar and Sarah represent two covenants

²¹ Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law?
²² For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman.
²³ But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise,
²⁴ which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar ---
²⁵ for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children ---
²⁶ but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.
²⁷ 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."
²⁸ Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.
²⁹ 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.
³⁰ 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."
³¹ So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free. (Galatians 4:21-31 NKJV)

With regard to this allegory, the apostle Paul explained that Hagar, the bondservant, represents the covenant of law. The produce of this covenant is nothing but fleshly endeavour, putting believers into hopeless slavery. This is not the covenant whereby we can get saved and have God's purpose fulfilled in us and through us. The best we can get by this means is Ishmael who was rejected by God.
On the contrary, the proper wife, Sarah, represents the covenant of promise, which is Grace. Only through Sarah can the seed be acceptable to God. Praise the Lord that through faith in Christ, Grace has come to us and into us. To allow God to work Christ into us, we first must see Him as the All-Sufficient One and go through the process of circumcision, terminating our own natural strength. Then God will be able to fully work in us and through is for the fulfilment of His purpose.

In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ (Colossians 2:11 NKJV)
For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3:3 NKJV)

Brothers and sisters, is your mother Hagar or Sarah? Are you serving the Lord with your own strength or relying upon the All-Sufficient One to work through you? If you are using your own effort, perhaps what God wants to tell you today may not be that you have done too little, but that you have done too much. Using your own effort, you may have produced too much Ishmael, which is not only useless to Him, but may also cause more troubles, as Ishmael did to Abraham's family. Please stop right now. Realise that God is the All-Sufficient One, who is everything you need. Allow Him to terminate your own natural strength, go through the process of spiritual circumcision, and live under the covenant of promise. Let Grace work in you and through you. Only by grace without human's effort can we become totally useful to God.

Further reading

• The Holy Word for Morning Revival: Crystallization-Study of Genesis, week 18.

• Life Study of Genesis, messages 46 and 47.

Thirayost Nimmanon (Tony)