Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #31 of Genesis, chapter 21.  We will be reading Genesis 21:21:

And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.

Remember that Ishmael’s mother was Hagar.  Hagar was likened to mount Sinai in Arabia.

We know what happened historically.  She was an Egyptian bondmaid for a long time.  Now she is on her own with her son in the wilderness of Paran, and God is going to help her.  It said that God would make nations of him, so he would do well. 

Hagar went back to the land she knew, and she took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.  That is understandable.  It is very natural, as people are most familiar with their own people and she wanted Ishmael’s wife to be from a nation she understood.  We have no problem with this on an historical level, but, spiritually, it is much more difficult because we know that Ishmael was evicted and cast out from the camp of Abraham, along with his mother.  Hagar is used as a figure of the covenant of works wherein people attempt to get right with God by keeping His Law or commandments and, yet, they will remain in bondage.   So, she was a bondwoman from Egypt, and Egypt is called the house of bondage in the Bible.  She gave birth to Ishmael who was called a child of the bondwoman.  On one hand, he is a picture of those that are not saved and cannot get right with God because they try to do so on the wrong grounds.  On the other hand, we also see that Ishmael is a type and figure of his own descendants that would live upon the earth in our time and God saved many of them during the little season of the Latter Rain that fell during the second part of the Great Tribulation period; that is, many of the “sons of Ishmael” that are his descendants from Arabic nations became saved when God saved the great multitude from every tribe, nation and tongue.

But when it says that his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt, we must ask the questions: 1)What does Egypt represent? 2) Who does Hagar represent? 3) Who would his wife represent? 4) Who does Ishmael represent?  If we look at the previous spiritual picture, it does not make sense that Ishmael is continuing to represent his descendants that would be counted among the elect, which we have been discussing during the last few studies.  God does not “arrange” for a future wife of the bride of Christ.  We are His wife.  So, it is a difficult problem that is not easy to solve. 

The only way I can see to answer these questions is to look at Ishmael and his mother in a different way, as another underlying Gospel meaning. 

Regarding Hagar, let us turn again to Galatians 4.  We have read it many times, but it never hurts to read it again.  It says in Galatians 4:23-25:

But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman 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.

Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and that is where the Law of God was given, and it is where the “Ten Commandments” were given.  Since Hagar represents the Law, let us ask a follow-up question: What is the Law?  The Law is the Word of God, the Bible.  The Bible is a Law book.  We read in Romans 7:14 that the Law is “spiritual.”   We compare Law with Law or Scripture with Scripture.  It is all synonymous.  So, Hagar can picture the Law and those that attempt to get right with God by keeping the Law, but since the Law is the Bible, she can also represent the Word of God.  And her son Ishmael was brought forth by her or by the Word of God.  Therefore, Ishmael can represent the Lord Jesus Christ.  Then we have a better spiritual understanding.  His mother (the Word of God) took him a wife out of the land of Egypt (the world).  That is exactly what has happened.  God’s Word, the Bible, was sent forth into the world to seek and to find a wife for Christ.  If we look forward a couple of chapters, we will find that Abraham sent forth his servant to find his son Isaac a wife.  That is a beautiful picture of the Gospel going out into the world, because the “bride of Christ” is made of a vast number of elect from all the nations of the world.  As they became saved, the “woman” began to form and the bride came into being.  So, the Word of God took Christ a wife out the world, and that is a fact.  I will not say this dogmatically because of there being two other major spiritual pictures, and I just hesitate to offer a third (spiritual) picture, but it appears to be a solution to this verse.

Let us move on to Genesis 21:22-32:

And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phichol the chief captain of his host spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest: Now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son: but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned. And Abraham said, I will swear. And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away. And Abimelech said, I wot not who hath done this thing: neither didst thou tell me, neither yet heard I of it, but to day. And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant. And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What mean these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by themselves? And he said, For these seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that they may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well. Wherefore he called that place Beersheba; because there they sware both of them. Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines.

I will stop reading there.  We have already met Abimelech because he was central in the previous chapter in Genesis 20.  Remember, he had taken Sarah into his own home, so God had shut up the wombs of all his wives.  The Lord came to him and threatened him so that he restored Abraham’s wife to him, as it said in Genesis 20:14-15:

And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife. And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee.

We saw that Abimelech was a type and figure of Satan and his house was plundered as Abraham took spoil from him because it was a picture of Christ ransacking the house of Satan.  We read in the New Testament: “Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.”  That is what Christ did when He went to the cross; He bound Satan for “a thousand years,” a figurative number that represents the 1,955 years of the church age.  When He bound Satan, He spoiled Satan’s house as He delivered the elect during the church age and the great multitude during the second part of the Great Tribulation.

So, we saw that Abimelech was a type of Satan, and he also gave Abraham free reign to dwell in his land.  He was one of the kings over a city state in the land of the Philistines.  Now Abimelech comes back into view, as it says in Genesis 21:22:

And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phichol the chief captain of his host spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest:

Phichol was not mentioned in Genesis 20, but he is introduced here.  His name is a compound word comprised of two different words that mean “mouth of all.”   Phichol was a chief captain of Abimelech, a type of Satan, and he was doing his bidding as chief captain of the host of his army.   He is “mouth of all,” and I think we can see how that relates to the unsaved of the world that are in bondage to sin and to Satan and, therefore, do his bidding.  They are those under his power and authority throughout history, and so forth.  Again, it says in Genesis 21:22:

And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phichol the chief captain of his host spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest:

This is strange and unusual spiritually, but not historically.  This is the reason why reading the Bible for its plain, literal and historical meaning is “child’s play.”  This is the reason God identifies this with the “milk of the word.”  It does not take much to look at the historical context.  Of course, they would dig into the secular records to try to find out if there was someone like this Abimelech and whether there is archaeological evidence for his existence.  This leads them right out of the Word of God and that is where they are most comfortable.  Then they come back and tell you there was this chief captain of his host and they might share some secular history about the Philistines.  Then they think they have studied the Word of God, but they have not even scratched the surface.  It is nothing at all.  As a matter of fact, for an elect child of God that has ears to hear the voice of Christ, we would be bored, and we would find very little significance in that kind of study.  OK, you may have found some nice tidbits of information by looking at secular records, but what does it mean spiritually?  Why did God say it? 

Of course, we do not always have the answer to these questions, and this is another difficult passage on a spiritual level.  I will admit that right now, and I do not know how much we are going to learn, but that does not mean we should not ask these questions or attempt to find out what God has hidden here.  That is the true purpose of why God has given His Word in His book, the Bible.

So, we must ask a question.  We recognize Abimelech from a previous chapter and we saw that his name means “father of kings,” and we saw how that could relate to Satan.  In speaking of natural unsaved mankind, Christ said, “Ye are of your father the devil.”  Mankind was originally created to be a king to rule over the creation, but Satan became his spiritual father through the right of conquest when man was deceived and believed the lie above the truth of the Word of God.  He obeyed Satan.  God had said not to eat of the tree, but in encouraging them to eat of the tree, Satan was giving his command.  Adam and Eve disobeyed God and obeyed Satan, and you are the servant of whomever you obey.  If you obey God, you are a servant of God.  If you obey lies and lies are of Satan, then you serve Satan.

Here, we know that Abimelech represents Satan and he is meeting with Abraham, who can represent God or the elect.  Then Abimelech said to Abraham, “God is with thee in all that thou doest.”  Looking on the spiritual level, it is as though Satan and the fallen angels are saying to God or the people of God, “God is with you in all that you do.”  This is a true statement.  It is also a positive statement.  It is a recognition of a truth concerning the Person of God and the true elect children of God.  God is with us in all that we do.  If it is true that Abimelech represents Satan, someone might say, “Why is he giving that kind of acknowledgement? So your spiritual understanding is off – that is the danger of spiritualizing.  It is better to play it safe and just look at the plain, literal and historical meaning of the Bible.” 

But even if they are taught the Bible only in the spiritual dimension, it would be lifeless to the one that is spiritually dead.  They cannot perceive the “living Word,” which is quick and powerful, and sharper than a twoedged sword.  The Bible is like “dynamite” in the spiritual realm.  It is like an explosion of spiritual riches, but in the hands of natural-minded theologians, preachers, elders, deacons and teachers, it is turned into a “little matter.”  It is as though they are handling some human text book in math or science and they try to approach it in that manner, but they do not understand what they have in their hands.  It is like having the greatest of treasures, but not realizing what you have.  That is the case when people have the Bible, but do not hear it or teach it in the way it should be heard and taught.

Let us look at some places where we find Satan and the fallen angels (devils) as they encounter the Lord Jesus Christ, or as they encounter the people of God and recognize that God is with them.  It says in Mark 1:34:

And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils; and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew him.

It could have said they acknowledged or recognized Him, but they knew Him.

It also says in Luke 8:26-28:

And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not.

Again, do you see how this devil knew who Jesus is?  “What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high?”  It was a very accurate and true declaration of who Christ is, and remember what God tells us in James 2:17-19:

Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

Here, God indicates that it does not matter if people profess to believe and say they have faith, if they lack works.  And, of course, the “work” that is in focus in James 2 is the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ that was performed on behalf of the elect at the foundation of the world. 

Now we have a church institution that is about two billion strong, and if you ask them if they love the Lord Jesus, they will say, “Oh, yes, I love the Lord!  I believe in Jesus!”   They say they believe.  They say they have faith.  But, you see, the “man” speaking here is Christ Himself: “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works.”  It is like Christ is saying, “You say you have faith, but I have works.”  Then He adds, “shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.”  There are all kinds of people that attempt to show some kind of work: “Lord, Lord, have I not done many wonderful works in thy name?”   But that is not the “work” God looks for.  No man is justified by the works of the Law in the sight of God.  It is the work of Christ and the faith of Christ that justifies His elect people.  That is God’s point:  “You believe there is one God.  That is the truth.  But believing there is one God or believing Jesus is God or believing that Christ died for sinners, do you think that saves you?”  You believe there is one God.  You do well because it is always good to believe something that is true, but remember “the devils also believe, and tremble.”  In other words, your belief has no more ability to save you than the belief the devils had to save them, because it all comes down to the work that was performed by Christ for certain ones.  Did Christ make payment for the sins of any devils?  No – and that is why their belief is worthless and cannot save them.  However, He did make payment for certain human beings called the elect, but not the entire human race.  So, the profession of faith must match up with His work.

Lord willing, when we get together in our next study we will relate these things back to Genesis 21.