Women in white raiment

by John Lemley

But along with the growing child is the mocking Ishmael. He was fourteen years of age at the birth of Isaac, and therefore in the first years of Isaac, appears as a playful lad, and true to his nature, doubtless developed a characteristic trait of jealousy which would not escape the ever watchful eye of Sarah, as she observed his dancing and leaping, and now and then making hateful faces at the mother’s darling, mocking his childish fears and appeals to the mother for protection. This seems to have been endured by Sarah until the great feast day, held to celebrate the weaning of Isaac. Seeing special attention paid to Isaac by all the invited guests, his jealousy suddenly developed into envy, and this, in turn, found expression in mockery. Sarah could endure these mockings no longer, for to her sensitive nature, Ishmael’s mocking the child of promise was but the outward expression of his unbelief in the faith of his parents, and therefore the word and purpose of God. His conduct revealed his unbelief, and hence was unworthy and incapable of sharing in the blessing, which then, as now, was secured only by faith, and which had already cost her so much. Hence she said to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son.” The treatment may seem harsh, but there could be no peace or happiness in that household until the mocking Ishmael was out of it. This mother, whose spiritual faith had been quickened in a marvelous manner, was clear-sighted enough to see that the purposes of God in reference to Isaac could only become actual through this separation. The fact that the prompt, sharp determination that “the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir” with Isaac, “was very grievous in Abraham’s sight,” shows that his prejudice in favor of the rights of the natural first-born needed correction. And God confirmed the judgment of Sarah. For the exclusion of Ishmael was requisite not only to the prosperity of Isaac and the line of the promise, but to the welfare of Ishmael himself. And the man of faith, who should later offer up Isaac, must now be able to offer up Ishmael also.

After the sending away of Hagar and her son Ishmael, there is but one incident recorded in the life of Abraham, namely the treaty or covenant of peace with Abimelech, King of Gerar, though probably several years passed away between the departure of Hagar and the last great test or trial of Abraham in the offering up of Isaac on Mt. Moriah.

The son of promise had grown to be a lad of sixteen or seventeen years of age, when the voice of the Lord called unto Abraham, saying, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” It would seem that this message came to Abraham while asleep—in a dream as we would say—and therefore all the more trying as such a revelation, under such circumstances might well be questioned. Upon waking out of his sleep he might reasonably question the import of such a dream, especially since Isaac was his only child, and the son of promise. But it appears that Abraham did not stop to explain away this command, and we must believe that he did not even inform Sarah of this heart-crushing revelation, for neither she nor Isaac knew at the time the special object of the journey. Promptly Abraham made the necessary preparations, and set out on the three days’ journey. His obedience is absolute. There is not even a question raised as to his correctly understanding the duty required of him. To suppose that Abraham did not have the bleeding heart of a father in this great trial, would be to destroy the force of this testing of his faith. And the fact that he had three days’ time in which he could change his purpose, made the conflict within him all the harder.

The lad and the mother could easily see from the wood, and the fire, and the knife, that he went not merely to worship, but to sacrifice. The testing was still more heart-breaking when, at the end of the journey, at the foot of Moriah, while Abraham is in the act of laying the wood upon the obedient Isaac, the heir of promise said, “My father, behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” How the bleeding heart of the father must have been touched afresh as he looked upon Isaac as “the lamb,” yet, as if the hour for the fuller revelation had not yet come, made answer, “My son, God will provide Himself a lamb.”

And so the two, the father and the son, slowly climb the rugged sides of Moriah to its very summit, and Abraham built an altar, as he so often had done before, for, wherever Abraham had a tent, God had an altar, and in the building of this altar we may well believe the loving, obedient Isaac assisted. Then the wood was laid upon it. All was ready for “the lamb!” But God had not yet provided the victim.

What passed between father and son the Sacred record has not revealed. However, we must believe it was the Gethsemane struggle with Isaac, and that in the end he said to Abraham, as Christ, under similar circumstances, said to His heavenly Father, “Thy will be done.” And, perhaps, this loving self-surrender of Isaac made it all the harder for the father’s heart. But, somehow, we can not understand it, only in the light of complete self-surrender to the will of God, he “bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood,” and, nerving himself for the last great act, he “stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.”

But God, during this scene on Mount Moriah, was an interested spectator. He saw that the obedience of faith—the complete self-surrender of Abraham’s will—was perfect. “And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, ‘Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him, for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me.’”

It is worthy of observation that, while the command to offer up Isaac came in a dream, and therefore open to misgiving, the command to stay his hand is spoken by the angel of Jehovah out of heaven. Abraham was perfect in his faith, and how far it reached into the great love for God and self-surrender to His will, we shall never know. Paul, speaking of this wonderful victory over self, said that Abraham accounted that God was able to raise up Isaac, “even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.” Though all his hope, humanly speaking, perished out of his heart when he took up the sacrificial knife on Moriah, yet his faith overleaped human limitations into the infinite ability of God to raise up Isaac out of the ashes upon his altar.

Such faith was possible for Abraham, for God asks no impossibilities at the hands of men, and what was possible for this man of faith is possible for any of us, if we are willing to pay the price. Let no one think, however, that such fruits of righteousness drop into the lap of the faithless.

But through this severe testing, Sarah nowhere appears on the scene. It may be, infinite love would spare the mother’s heart. It may be, also, the last great trial of her faith took place in the tent, stretched under the oaks, in the plain of Mamre. There is a Jewish tradition that when Sarah fully learned the nature of the journey to Moriah, and the scene which there took place, the shock of it killed her, and Abraham found her dead on his return home. This may do as a tradition, but not as the finale of God’s dealing with His people. The potter, as he fashions the vessel upon the wheel, does not seek to break it. So God does not test us beyond our capacity to endure. Then, also, if Isaac was born when Sarah was ninety years of age, and she died at the age of one hundred and twenty-seven, and the scene on Moriah took place when Isaac was a lad of sixteen or seventeen, she lived for twenty years after that event, to be a comfort and a blessing in her home.