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Genesis 16 & 17 Study/ "Hagar & Ishmael" - “Circumcision: Sign of the Covenant” ...

Note: There are two videos the first one is 22:15 and the other is 2:57 - I had to reexplain something I got side tracked so I made a correction …

Genesis 16 Study – “Hagar and Ishmael” – (vv. 1-16)


Hagar and Ishmael



16 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 [a]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. 4 So he went into Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her [b]eyes.

5 Then Sarai said to Abram, [c]“My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between you and me.”

6 So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.” And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence.

7 Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”

9 The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.” 10 Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.” 11 And the Angel of the Lord said to her:

“Behold, you are with child, And you shall bear a son. You shall call his name [d]Ishmael, Because the Lord has heard your affliction. 12 He shall be a wild man; His hand shall be against every man, And every man’s hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”

13 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-[e]the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here [f]seen Him who sees me?” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi;[g] observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

15 So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.


Notes Genesis 16 Study – (vv. 1-16)

16:1: In (Galatians 4:21-31) St. Paul uses Hagar and Sarah as an example, representing two covenants … Hagar and Ishmael represent the old covenant of the Law, which gives birth to bondage … Sarah and Isaac represent the new covenant, which gives birth to freedom … The Jerusalem below is made up of those who are under the law in bondage, but the Jerusalem above is the Church, those under the freedom of God’s grace …


Galatians 4:21-31

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 [a]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




16:7: THE LORD is the Father, and THE ANGEL is His Son – (HilryP) … And the prophet Isaiah calls Him “the Angel of Great Counsel” – (Isaiah 9:5) … “The Son is called Angel because He alone reveals the Father” – (AthanG) …


Isaiah 9:5: I will read from my Orthodox Study Bible - the Protestant Bible is different ...



16:8: The Lord asked Hagar questions, not because He was ignorant, but for Hagar’s sake and ours … After He became Man, He also asked questions in the four Gospels, not because He was ignorant, but for the sake of the immediate listeners and of the faithful … For He is God in the flesh, and therefore, never ignorant of anything – (JohnDm) …


16:9: Since He is God, the Angel commanded Hagar … She obeyed – (v. 15) … This Angel is the Word of God …


16:10: This statement by the Angel could have been made by a created angel, for only God can say – “I WILL SURELY MULTIPLY YOUR SEED EXCEEDINGLY, THAT IT MAY NOT BE COUNTED BECAUSE OF ITS MULTITUDE … “No created angel can do this … The Angel is God the Son …


16:11: The Angel then spoke to Hagar concerning the Father and said, “THE LORD HAS TAKEN NOTICE OF YOUR HUMILIATION” …


16:13: Hagar called the Angel who appeared to her both Lord and God … The Church knows Him as the Only-Begotten of the Father – (John 1) … As the Father’s Only-Begotten, He is “true God of true God” – (CREED) … One meaning of the name God is, YOU ARE THE GOD WHO SEES ME … The Only Begotten sees everything … So do God the Father and God the Holy Spirit …



Genesis 17 Study – “Circumcision: Sign of the Covenant” – (vv. 1-27)

The Sign of the Covenant

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am [a]Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. 2 And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” 3 Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: 4 “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of [b]many nations. 5 No longer shall your name be called [c]Abram, but your name shall be [d]Abraham; for I have made you a father of [e]many nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. 7 And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. 8 Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in[f] which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

9 And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. 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. 12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. 13 He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14 And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but [g]Sarah shall be her name. 16 And I will bless her and give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.”

17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!”

19 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. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. 21 But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.” 22 Then He finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.

23 So Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very same day, as God had said to him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 26 That very same day Abraham was circumcised, and his son Ishmael; 27 and all the men of his house, born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.


Notes Genesis 17 Study – (vv. 1-27)


17:1: Thirteen years after the birth of Ishmael – (Genesis 16:16), THE LORD APPEARED TO ABRAM again and identified Himself as God, for He said to him, “I AM YOUR GOD …” This appearance is another of the personal appearances of the Son of God to Abraham …


17:2-4: The covenant is established in Christ – (Galatians 3:17) … God established it before the Mosaic covenant … Therefore, the law of Moses, which came later, could not cancel it … Abraham’s faith is MULTIPLIED EXEEDINGLY in the Church … For he is the FATHER OF MANY NATIONS – (see also Romans 4:16-17) …


Galatians 3:17: 17 And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God [a]in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect.


Romans 4:16-17: 16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be [a]sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all 17 (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;


17:5: Abram’s name – (meaning “exalted father”) was changed to Abraham – (“father of many”) … This very name change proves the gospel of salvation is for MANY NATIONS, The Gentiles as well as the Jews …


17:7: The God of THE EVERLASTING COVENANT is the Holy Trinity, for the Son is God of God, the Only Begotten of the Father … The Holy Spirit is also God of God, for He “proceeds from the Father” – (CREED) …


17:10-14: The rite of circumcision was not the covenant itself … It was A SIGN OF THE COVENANT – (v. 11) … It was a temporary sign, because it applied only to Abraham’s GENEALOGY – (v. 12), that is, to Abraham’s physical lineage, and to those born in his house or bought with his money … So, the rite did not apply to the “many nations”, or Gentiles, to be made righteous by the faith in the gospel – (v. 3; see also Romans 4:9-17) … Christ Himself fulfilled this rite and brought it to an end when He was circumcised on the eighth day after His birth from the Virgin – (Luke 2:21) …


Luke 2:21: Circumcision of Jesus

21 And when eight days were completed [a]for the circumcision of the Child, His name was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.


17:19-21: God’s covenant with Abraham was established in Isaac, because his birth was based on the promise of God – (Romans 9) … it was not based on physical lineage, for Abraham and Sarah were past the age of childbearing at the time … Therefore, salvation is based on the promise of the Word of God, and not on Abraham’s physical descendants, such as the Ishmaelites or the Jews, or on any of the other physical offspring of Abraham, such as the Midianites – (Genesis 25:1-2) …






















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