(Genesis 16–22 )
The years rolled by, and the tents of Abram grew larger, yet the silence within his house weighed heavier. Sarai's womb remained barren, and with every season her face grew more shadowed, her laughter dimmer. The promise of God still burned in Abram's heart, but doubt began to gnaw at its edges.
One evening, Sarai sat by the fire, her gaze fixed on the embers as they collapsed into ash. She turned to Abram, her voice low but sharp with pain.
"Behold now, the Lord has kept me from bearing children. Go in to my maidservant, Hagar. Perhaps through her I may build a family."
Abram hesitated. He remembered the stars, the voice of the Almighty, the covenant sealed in fire. Yet he also felt the weight of years pressing upon him. He nodded, and so Hagar, the Egyptian maid, became his wife.
In time, she conceived. Her belly swelled with life, but with it swelled her pride. Sarai, seeing her maid look upon her with scorn, was wounded deeply. "May the wrong done to me be upon you, Abram!" she cried. But Abram said only, "Behold, your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please."
Sarai's harshness drove Hagar into the wilderness. She fled, tears streaking her face, until she collapsed near a spring. There, a voice called her name — not Abram, not Sarai, but Hagar.
"Where have you come from? And where are you going?"
She lifted her eyes to see an angel of the Lord. Trembling, she answered, "I am fleeing from my mistress, Sarai."
The angel said, "Return to her and submit. Yet know this: you shall bear a son. His name shall be Ishmael, 'God hears,' for the Lord has heard your affliction. He shall be a wild man, his hand against all, and all hands against him."
Hagar fell to the ground in awe. She whispered, "You are the God who sees me." And she returned, bearing Ishmael into Abram's arms.
Years passed, and Abram was ninety-nine. His hair was white, his face lined like dry riverbeds. He sat at the door of his tent when the Lord appeared once more.
"I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless. I will make My covenant with you and multiply you exceedingly."
Abram fell on his face. God said, "No longer shall your name be Abram, but Abraham — father of many nations. And Sarai shall be called Sarah. Kings and nations shall come from her."
Abraham lifted his head in disbelief. "Shall a child be born to a man a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, ninety years old, bear a son?" He thought of Ishmael and pleaded, "Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!"
But God said, "No. Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac — laughter. With him I will establish My everlasting covenant."
One hot afternoon, Abraham sat beneath the oaks of Mamre. The heat pressed heavy on the earth when suddenly he looked up and saw three men standing nearby. Their presence shimmered with something more than mortal. Abraham ran to meet them, bowing low.
"My lords," he said, "do not pass by your servant. Rest under the tree, and let me bring water to wash your feet, and bread to strengthen your hearts."
They agreed, and Sarah baked cakes while Abraham set before them curds, milk, and the choicest calf. The three ate, and one of them said, "Where is Sarah your wife?"
"In the tent," Abraham replied.
The man said, "I will surely return in due season, and Sarah shall have a son."
Inside the tent, Sarah overheard and laughed bitterly to herself. "After I am old, and my lord is old, shall I now know pleasure?"
The Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh? Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time, I will return, and Sarah shall have a son."
Sarah, frightened, denied it. "I did not laugh."
But He said, "No. You did laugh."
When the men rose to leave, they looked toward Sodom. The Lord said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, their sin grievous."
Abraham's heart trembled, for Lot dwelled there. He drew near and said, "Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city — will You not spare it?"
The Lord answered, "If I find fifty righteous, I will spare the whole place."
But Abraham pressed on — forty-five, forty, thirty, twenty, ten. Each time the Lord replied, "For their sake I will not destroy it."
Abraham dared not go further. He bowed low, and the Lord went His way.
The next day, smoke rose from the plain like a furnace. Fire from heaven had consumed Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot and his daughters fled, but his wife, longing for what was lost, looked back — and became a pillar of salt. Abraham saw the devastation from afar and knew the judgment of God had fallen.
At last, the promise came. Sarah's barren womb quickened, and in her old age she bore a son. She laughed — not with bitterness now, but with joy. "God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me." They named him Isaac.
Ishmael, now a youth, mocked the child, and Sarah's heart turned sharp. "Cast out the slave woman and her son," she demanded. Abraham was torn, for Ishmael was his blood. But God said, "Do not be distressed. Through Isaac shall your offspring be named. Yet I will make a nation of Ishmael also."
So Hagar and Ishmael wandered the wilderness until the waterskin was empty. Hagar wept, but God heard the boy's cry and showed her a well. Ishmael lived and grew strong, a wild archer of the desert.
Years later, when Isaac was a boy, Abraham's faith faced its hardest test. God said to him, "Abraham."
"Here I am," he answered.
"Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love. Go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you."
Abraham's heart cracked like dry earth. The child of promise, laughter himself — how could this be? Yet he rose early, saddled his donkey, and took Isaac and two servants. For three days they journeyed in silence.
On the third day, Abraham saw the mountain. He told the servants, "Stay here. The boy and I will go worship, and we will return."
Isaac carried the wood on his back; Abraham carried the fire and knife. As they climbed, Isaac spoke: "My father?"
"Yes, my son?"
"Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the offering?"
Abraham swallowed hard, his voice breaking. "God Himself will provide the lamb, my son."
At the summit, Abraham built the altar and laid the wood. He bound Isaac, who looked at him with wide, trusting eyes, and laid him on the altar. His hand lifted the knife —
"Abraham! Abraham!"
The voice rang from heaven. "Do not lay a hand on the boy. Now I know you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."
Abraham's tears fell as he looked and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. He loosed Isaac and offered the ram instead.
He named the place The Lord Will Provide, for on the mountain of the Lord, provision was given.
Then the angel of the Lord called again:
"By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord: because you have not withheld your son, your only son, I will bless you. Your offspring shall be as the stars of heaven and the sand on the seashore. Through your seed, all nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."
Abraham descended the mountain with Isaac alive at his side. His heart was scarred, but his faith unbroken, and the promise was now stronger than ever.