Of Ishmael, GOD said, "I have blessed him, and I will make him a great nation; but my covenant will I establish with Isaace." Ishmael mocked at the feast which was made in celebration of the weaning of Isaac, wherefore Sarah" said unto Abraham, Cast out this bond woman and her son; for the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaacs," And Hagar departed with the child, " and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. And she went and sat her down over against him a good way off; for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lifted up her voice and wept. And GOD heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of the Lord called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? Fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is; arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand, and I will make him a great nation. And GOD opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water, and she went and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink, and whom "GOD hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death 7." 7 Acts, ii. 24. • Gen. xvii. 20, 21. 8 Gen. xxi. 10. f Gen. xxi. 8, 9. GOD was with the lad." They who mock at Christ and his covenant of freedom are, at present, cast out; they who adhere to the covenant of bondage (of which Ishmael was a figure), wander in the wilderness; but, if they turn to the Lord with weeping, their eyes shall be opened, so that they shall see the well of living water, and they shall drink thereof to "the saving of the soul," for that water shall be in them "a well of water springing up into everlasting life"," and GoD shall be with them. "When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth them for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them; I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the vallies: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water." When Moses foretold that Israel should be scattered" among the nations, and said, Thy life shall hang in doubt before thee, and thou shalt fear night and day, and shalt have no assurance of life," he predicted, that when all these things were come upon him, he should return unto the Lord and obey his voice; and then, said Moses, "The Lord thy God will turn thy captivity and have com h Gen. xxi. 14-20. i John, iv. 10. * Hebr. x. 39. 1 John, iv. 14. m Isaiah, xli. 17, 18. n Deut. xxviii. 64. · Deut. xxviii. 66. passion upon thee, and will return, and gather thee from all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee P." "I will do a new thing," saith the Lord; "I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert ;I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen ¶.” As Hagar and Ishmael, then, after being cast into the wilderness, had their eyes opened, so that they saw a well of water whereof they drank, so that they were saved from death; so "Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children" (and of which Hagar and her son were figures'), shall have their eyes opened, when "the vail shall be taken aways," so that she shall behold the well of living water, that her children may become "fellow-heirs" with the children of the covenant of freedom, and partake of an inheritance in "the Jerusalem which is above, and is free, and is the mother of us allt," where there is neither "bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all "*" "For GOD is able to graff them in again";" "for," says St. Paul, "I would not, brethren, ye should be ignorant of this mystery, that blindness in part, is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, and so all Israel shall be sayed." Thus we find, not merely that there were several particulars in the characters and lives of the two sons of Abraham, which were figures illustrative of Christianity: but, that those sons were born with especial reference to the Christian covenant; they were made to be, in every particular," an allegory"." Esau and Jacob, the sons of Isaac, were twins". Esau was the first-born; but the Lord had foretold, before their birth, that the elder should serve the younger. This preference given to the younger, was a continued figure of the adoption of the covenant of Christ. "Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the fieldc;" he sold his birthright for "bread and pottaged," and he is, therefore, called " a profane person. And they who labour for the meat which perish * Rom. xi. 25, 26. y Gal. iv. 24. * Gen. xxv. 24. a Gen. xxv. 25. b Gen. xxv. 23. * "For [the children] being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of GOD according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth, it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger!." 1 Rom. ix. 11, 12. Gen. xxv. 27. d Gen. xxv. 31-33. • Hebr. xii. 16. eth, who prefer it to "that meat which endureth unto everlasting life," are also profane persons, and they will forfeit that birthright, that "inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, which is reserved in heaven h" for them that are "begotten of GOD." Esau, then, was a figure of "the children of this world." "Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents';" he represented Christ who tabernacled in the flesh *. The promises, which had been made to Abraham and to Isaac, were ' John, vi. 27. h 1 Peter, i. 4. 1 John, v. 18. * Luke, xvi. 8. 1 Gen. xxv. 27. Hebr. xi. 9. * Jacob left his father's house and became a servant unto Laban, that he might obtain his daughters as wives; he served for each wife; he first married the elder sister, but he loved the younger sister better than the elder1. Christ, having left the kingdom of his father, “made himself of no reputation, and took upon himself the form of a servant 2," that he might espouse Israel the elder sister, and Judah the younger sister3, "Aholah and Aholibah," " the daughters of one mothers." Jacob appeals to Laban as to the care with which he had tended the flock committed to his charge, and asserts that none of the number were wanting"; Christ," the good Shepherd"," says of his sheep", "Holy Father-I kept them in thy name; those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost 8." |