The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 251

the Law, do ye not hear the Law?" The apostle makes a. fresh appeal to convince the Galatians of the essential difference between the La.w a.ad the promise. The rea.sonin:s is conveyed in limgnage of affectionate remonstrance. Consider- I. Tum IMPORTANCE OF ms ARGUMENT. The Law itself, upon which the Ga.la.tians laid such stress, showed that they were not meant to be nnder it. If he could prove from the Law of Moses that .Abraham's children by faith were_ free from the bondage of the Law, no further argument was needed to show that obedience to the Law was not necessary to sal va.tion. II. THE ARGUMENT AS EMBODIED IN THE HISTORY. "For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondrnaid, the other by the freewoman; howbeit, he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, but he of the freewoman was of the promise." Here we ha.ve: 1. Two sons of Abraham-Ishmael and Isa.a.c, Ishmael being mentioned first, because he was born first. .Abraham had other sons by Keturah, but they had no relation to the particular illustrations desired by the apostle. 2. Two different mothers-the bondmaid Hagar whom Sarah gave to .A.bra.ham that he might not be without offspring; and the freewoman, Sarah. 3. Two entirely different condi- tions of birth. Ishmael was born in bondage and in the common course of nature; Isaac was born in freedom and against nature, when Sarah was old, according to " the promise." These are the simple historic facts which form the basis of the apostle's allegorical explanation. 4. They are Scripture facts. "It is written," as if to show that God's Word is decisive upon the question. Ver. 24.-Allegorized interpretation of the facts. "Which things are to be alle- gorically -treated." I. THE FACTS ARE CAPABLE OF THIS TREATMENT. The apostle does not mean to signify that the facts are not historical; nor does he mean to explain them away as if they were allegory like Bunya.n's 'Pilgrim's Progress;' nor does he mean that Moses shaped his narrative in Genesis with a view to this allegorized treatment. It is more correct to say tha.t the lives of these rea.l personages were so shaped by Divine provi- dence as to afford a striking illustration of other events or objects. The two covenants were prefigured in the Old Testament under the image of the two wives of Abraham and their seed respectively. There is nothing in the apostle'~ usage to justify the allegorizing methods of Origen and the rabbis, which destroy the true sense of Scripture. If we admit the apostle's inspiration, we cannot reject his a.llegurical interpretation of the ancient facts. II. THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE TWO COVENANTS. "For these "-that is, the two women-" are the two covenants." Hagar and Sarah represent the two covenants in three important points of contrast. 1. In the historic origination of the covenants. (1) One dates from Mount Sinai-" one, indeed, from Mount Sinai; " "which is Hagar; for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia." This was the covenant of La.w, which finds its true representative in the religious attitude of "the Jerusalem which now is." (2) The other dates from the promise made by God to .Abraham. This was the covenant of promise, which finds its representative in "the Jerusalem which is above "-the ideal metropolis of Christ's kingdom, "the heavenly Jerusalem." 2. In their religious effects. (1) The covenant of the Law" gendereth to bondage," a.nd answers to" the Jerusalem which is in bondage with her children." The apostle ha.d already described this very bondage under the Law, under schoolmasters, under stewards and tutors, under "elements of the world." (2) 'fhe covenant of promise involves freedom and corre- sponds to "Jerusalem which is free, the mother of us a.II," whether Jews or Gentiles. Believers a.re therefore "to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ bas made his people free." 3. In their future expansion. Both l-fagar and Sarah were to have larg6 posterity, but Sarah was to have the larger family, according to Scripture prophecy itself. The original promise-" In thee and in thy seed shall all families of the earth be blessed "-implied this pregnant fact. But a voice from Isaiah sets it forth in a.n impressive light, "Rejoice, thou barren, that bearest no~," that is,_ Sarah, or the Abrahamic covenant; "break forth and cry, thou that travmlest not: tor the desolate hath many more children than she" (Hagar)" which bath the husband" (A.bra.ham). Thus Sarah wa.s to become " the mother of nations." Thus .Abraham was to become Lhe heir of the world, and Jews and Geutiles were to enter into his wid~ inheritance.  'l'HE EPISTLE. TO THE GALATIANS, (oa. 1v. 1-31.