Gleanings in Genesis by Arthur W Pink

Author:Arthur W Pink [Pink, Arthur W]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781257693085
Publisher: Lulu.com
Published: 2013-03-13T04:00:00+00:00

26. The Offering Up Of Isaac

Genesis 22

“And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt (try) Abraham” (Gen. 20:1). These words refer us back to the context, a context that is rich in typical significance. The immediate context is the twenty-first chapter, where we have recorded the Birth of Isaac—a remarkable type which, with what follows it, needs to be viewed from two standpoints: its individual application, and its dispensational application. In our last paper we considered the former, here we shall deal briefly with the latter.

The birth of Isaac awakened the enmity of Ishmael, and in consequence Sarah came to Abraham saying, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac” (Gen. 21:10). From the Epistle to the Galatians (Gal. 4:22-31) we learn there was a profound meaning to the act here requested by Sarah, that it possessed a dispensational significance. It is to be noted first that Sarah refers to the “inheritance”—the son of Hagar should not be “heir with Isaac.” Now Isaac, as we have shown in our last, not only foreshadowed the Lord Jesus in His miraculous birth, but also pointed forward to those who now become the children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. In a word, Isaac stands for Divine sonship. Only the spiritual family of promise answers to Isaac, and takes the title of “heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” Israel, nationally, does not inherit with the church. Hence, as Isaac in Genesis 21 foreshadowed those who are members of the Body of Christ, Ishmael stands for the Nation of Israel which is now “cast out” during the time that God is visiting the Gentiles and taking from among them a people for His name (Acts 15:14). With this key in hand let us turn to the second part of Genesis 21 and note how the course of Israel as a nation is pursued in the type.

1. “And Abraham rose up early in the morning and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away, and she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-Sheba” (Gen. 21:14). First we note (and we shall be as brief as possible) that Hagar and her son became wanderers in the wilderness. How true the picture. Such has been Israel’s portion ever since she rejected Abraham’s greater Son, the Lord of Glory. Throughout all these centuries, during which God has been building the Church, the Jews have dwelt in the wilderness, and “wanderers” well describes “the nation of the weary foot!”

2. “And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs” (Gen. 21:15). In type, the Holy Spirit is here taken from Israel—the water was spent. This it is which explains the tragic “veil” which is over the heart of the Jews as they read the Scriptures (2 Cor.

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