These two chapters give us an account of Abram's effort to obtain the promised seed by hearkening to the voice of his wife, and also of God's mode of teaching him the unprofitableness of such an appeal to the mere energy of nature as that which his effort involved.
At the very opening of Abram's course we find his faith put to the test in the matter of the famine, but here we find him tried in quite another way, a way moreover, which involved a far higher exercise of faith and spiritual power. "His own body now dead and the deadness of Sarah's womb;" although, in the main, "he considered them not," must have acted upon his mind to a considerable extent.
Now, as in the case of the famine already alluded to, Egypt was at hand, holding out a refuge from anxiety as to present supply, so here, "_an Egyptian maid_,"--one of those maid-servants, doubtless, which Abram had gotten during his sojourn in that evil place--was presented to him as a relief in the time of anxiety touching the promised seed. "_Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai._"
But why introduce the element of bondage into his house? Why did not Abram's mind shrink from the thought of "the bondwoman and her son" as much as it had shrunk from the thought of "the steward of his house?" Might not the question, "Lord, what wilt thou give me," be asked in connection with one as well as the other? Surely it was as much opposed to the divine economy to grant the inheritance to the seed of "_a bondwoman_," as to a "_servant_." In either case it would be an allowance of the claims of nature, which cannot be.
The principles involved in this act of Abram's are fully laid open to us in the inspired commentary given in the Epistle to the Galatians. There we read, "Abram had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the free woman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all." (chap. iv. 22-26.)
The churches of Galatia had been led away from the simplicity and liberty of Christ and had returned to "_the flesh_." They were beginning to substitute religious ceremonies for the energies of the Spirit of Christ. Hence it is that the Apostle, in the course of his reasoning with them on their unhappy movement, refers to the matter recorded in our chapters, and the way in which he expounds it to them renders it unnecessary to dwell longer upon it. This step of Abram's only "gendered to bondage;" it introduced an unhealthy and an unhappy element into his house which, as we shall see when we proceed further with our subject, he had to expel ere he could reach the highest point of elevation in his course.
In chapter xvii. we have God's remedy presented to us, and most consolatory it is to observe how the Blessed One at once comes in in order to lead back His servant to the _simple_ yet _difficult_ position of faith in Himself--simple, because therein we have but _one object_ with which to be occupied--difficult, because therein we have to contend against the workings of "an evil heart of unbelief," leading us to "depart from the living God."
"And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I AM THE ALMIGHTY GOD; _walk before_ ME, _and be thou perfect_." Here was at once the effectual cure for all impatient anxiety. "_I am Almighty_"--I can quicken the dead--I can call those things that be not as though they were--I can, if needs be, raise up of stones, children unto you--no flesh shall glory in My presence. "I am Almighty, walk before Me and be thou perfect."
It is perhaps one of the finest principles with which the mind can be occupied, that our God desires that He may ever be learnt, in the variety of His perfections, by the need of His people. We have already met a striking illustration of this important principle, in the matter of Abram's conflict with the king of Sodom, in chapter xiv. There, when Abram was tempted by the offers of the enemy, he found relief in the apprehension of God's character as "the Most High God, the possessor of heaven and earth." The character of the communion into which Melchizedek led the soul of Abram was suited to the circumstances in which he stood. So is it exactly in this 17th chapter. Communion with God as "the Almighty" was the sole remedy for impatient anxiety as to the fulfillment of any promise.
Now, when once the Lord exhibits Himself in His character of "Almighty," there can be no obstacle whatsoever to the outflow of His grace; for, when almighty power and almighty grace combine in behalf of the sinner, faith may count upon a rich and an abundant harvest.