Laughter of Joy or Doubt?

Good morning. I am back from youth camp. It was a great week, there were over 300

students saved and over 2000 salvation over the eight weeks of youth camps. Next on the list school starts back on the 16^th.

We are in Genesis 17, verse 9-27 this morning. Have you ever found yourself thinking, “I know God is capable of doing all things, but maybe in my case He needs a little help.” This what happened with Abram and Sari. They were both really old, and yet still no son. So they tried on their own with Sari's handmaid. Through Abram's union with Hagar came Ishmael, but he was not the promises heir.

We start this morning with a symbol of the covenant between God and Abram and his descendants.

1. CIRCUMCISED (vv. 9-14) 

As a symbol or token of the covenant, Abraham and his descendants were to adopt the rite of circumcision and carefully obey the regulations concerning it. For a Hebrew to refuse circumcision was to cut himself off from the covenant community. In circumcision they would give neighboring peoples a perpetual reminder of their dedication and full commitment to Jehovah.

Circumcision was not a new rite. Neither was it confined to the Hebrew people. It was widely practiced in many parts of the world, especially in Egypt and Canaan. Assyrians and Babylonians, however, refused to have any part in it. Note that David scornfully refers to Goliath as an "uncircumcised Philistine" (1 Sam 17:26; cf. Gen 14:6).

God commanded Abraham to seal the covenant between them with the symbol or token of circumcision. Now it would forever be the "outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible relationship." Every male child of Abraham's household was to experience this divinely commanded rite on his eighth day.

2. WHAT’S IN A NAME? (vv. 5-16)

Sarah. The name Sarai had been borne by Abraham's wife for many years. Now God commanded that her name be changed to Sarah, Princess. It is the feminine form of (sar), "prince." This new name emphasized the role Abraham's wife was to play in the future, as a mother of nations. Abraham is looked upon as "Father Abraham" by Jews, Mohammedans, and Christians. It would be well to remember that Sarah, too, played a vital part in the drama of the ages.

(From The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1962 by Moody Press)

3. DOUBT OR JOY (vv.17-19)

Was Abraham’s laughter a lack of faith or a sign of joy? We can’t be sure, however most scholars believe it was laughter of joy. Abraham had come to look upon Ishmael as his heir and to believe that the golden promises must be fulfilled through him (v. 18). Now he faced the sure word that Isaac would be born to be the child of promise.

"Abraham fell upon his face and laughed." From the reverential attitude assumed by Abraham we infer that his laughter sprang from joyful and grateful surprise.

"Said in his heart." The following questions of wonder are not addressed to God; they merely stir up in the heart of the astonished patriarch. And so, his irrepressible smile arises not from any doubt of the fulfillment of the promise, but from surprise at the unexpected mode in which it is to be fulfilled. Laughing in Scripture expresses joy in the countenance, as dancing does in the whole body.

(From Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)

The blessings of the covenant are reserved for Isaac, but common blessings were abundantly promised to Ishmael.

(From Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)

From Ishmael proceeded the various tribes of the Arabs, called also Saracens by Christian writers. They were and still continue to be, a very numerous and powerful people. "It was somewhat wonderful, and not to be foreseen by human sagacity," says Bishop Newton, "that a man's whole posterity should so nearly resemble him, and retain the same inclinations, the same habits, and the same customs throughout all ages.” These are the only people besides the Jews who have subsisted as a distinct people from the beginning, and in some respects they very much resemble each other:

1. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, are descended from Abraham, and both boast of their descent from the father of the faithful.

2. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, are circumcised, and both profess to have derived this ceremony from Abraham.

3. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, had originally twelve patriarchs who were their princes or governors.

4. The Arabs as well as the Jews, marry among themselves and in their own tribes.

5. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, are singular in several of their customs, and are standing monuments to all ages of the exactness of the divine predictions, and of the veracity of Scripture history. We may with more confidence believe the particulars related of Abraham and Ishmael when we see them verified in their posterity at this day.

(From Adam Clarke's Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Biblesoft)

4. ABRAHAM AND HIS HOUSEHOLD ARE CIRCUMSIED (vv. 22-27)

When God had finished His address and ascended again, Abraham immediately fulfilled the covenant duty enjoined upon him, by circumcision himself on that very day, along with all the male members of his house. Because Ishmael was 13 years old when he was circumcised, the Arabs even now defer circumcision to a much later period than the Jews, generally till between the ages of 5 and 13, and frequently even till the 13th year.

(From Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)