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The Amorite is one of the Canaanite nations that held the land against the true seed,
and although Divine justice in longsuffering permits the true heirs to suffer until the
iniquity of the Amorite is full, yet the narrative goes on to show that Abraham even then
was assured that his seed should possess the land:
"In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I
given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates . . . . . the
Amorites, and the Canaanites . . . . ." (Gen. 15: 18-21).
Chapter 18: records the coming of the Lord with two angels, and the promise:
"I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife
shall have a son" (Gen. 18: 10).
The promise is repeated after Sarah's incredulity was manifested with the prefatory
words:
"Is any thing too hard for the Lord?" (Gen. 18: 14).
Chapter 21: opens with the fulfillment of this promise:
"And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as He had
spoken" (Gen. 21: 1).
Before examining these words more closely, let us note the following disposition of
the chapters before us. We have quoted from chapters 15:, 18: and 21: but must now
take particular note as to what the intervening chapters relate. Chapter 16: relates the
birth of Ishmael.
"Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children", and as ten years had passed since the
promise made in Gen. 12:, the strain upon the flesh was great. The result was an
attempt to help God accomplish His purpose and an Egyptian, Hagar, gives birth to
Ishmael, son of the bondwoman, but not the true seed of promise. This is followed by
that extraordinary rite, circumcision. Abram's name is changed to Abraham `father of
nations' in the very chapter that repudiates the flesh, and that follows the tragic descent
into the flesh and the taking of Hagar, and it was only consequent upon the institution of
the covenant of circumcision, that the promise concerning the true seed became specific,
and `Isaac' is named (Gen. 17: 21).
Following the promise of the seed in Gen. 18: 1-16, comes the references to Sodom
and Gomorrah, cities whose names are for ever associated with gross sins of the flesh, to
which must be added the taking of Sarah by Abimelech. In order that the reader may
perceive this continued alternation of covenant purpose regarding the seed, and the
different interferences of the enemy, we set out this large section as a simple repeated
alternation, without attempting any subdivision of the subject matter.