06.4.5. Abram's Efforts to Be Fruitful by Hagar
V. -- ABRAM’S EFFORTS TO BE FRUITFUL BY HAGAR
NOW comes a well-known scene. True faith, though it justifies, does not therefore prevent us (while the Lord yet waits till self-will be dead) from trying our own strength. Here these efforts and their results are shewn, proving that, even of the fruits of faith, "that is not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural." Here the means which the spirit of faith adopts to be fruitful, -- how it comes to use such means, -- and the result, -- all are represented perfectly. The means are these. Abram takes Hagar, hoping by her to obtain the promised fruit (Genesis 16:3). Women are always the affections of the will. Hagar is the natural self-will, Sarai, the submissive spiritual will: the former the type of that in us which affects law; the latter, of that purer and truer will which affects spiritual truth; so that, generally speaking, we may say Hagar is law, and Sarai grace (Galatians 4:22-25); (Note: Origen speaks at great length on this: Hom. xi. in Gen. The whole passage is well worth turning to.) our principles ever being what our affections are. Here we see both these wills working in connection with the spirit of faith; and faith, having so long looked in vain to Sarai, now turns to Hagar, hoping by the energy of the flesh or by works to aid, if not to accomplish, God’s promise. God’s purpose is, out of the death of self, by His own power to bring forth a heavenly life; for He knows, if we know not, that the flesh profiteth nothing, and He would in our ruin shew His resources. But without exception, though we are elect, -- though through faith righteous, -- though we have stood beside the sacrifice, -- though we talk about the cross, and profess to believe it, -- yet have we not learnt to distrust sense, and put away all fleshly hopes. The truth is on our lips, that by strength no man prevails, -- that when we are weak, then are we strong, -- that except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but that, if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. As to our acceptance we may have learnt this: but as to our service, as to our fruitfulness, as to our obtaining Christ’s image, how few live in it! We cannot think that the death of our own strength, and of our own will, even when that will is to serve and please God, -- that weakness, disappointment, failure, in self, -- that this can indeed be the right way, -- this seems impossible. So we seek to live rather than to die, and strive to call forth our own energies rather than to be patient at their dissolution. It is not till we have got the fruits of such a course, -- till we have personally experienced the consequences of having seed by Hagar, -- till we have tried all we can do, and having tried it have heard God say, that this fruit which we get by Hagar, that is by the energy of the flesh, is "a wild-ass man" (Genesis 16:12), (Note: In our authorized version, Ishmael is called here "A wild man." Heb. pereh awdawm [H6501 H120], that is, literally, "a wild-ass man." So in Ezekiel 36:38, the elect are in the Hebrew called "Sheep-men;" tsone awdawm [H6629 H120], rendered in the common version, "Flocks of men.") and cannot be the heir, "for in Isaac shall the seed be called," that is, in the son or fruit of the long-barren freewoman; -- it is not till we have expressed our regrets for Hagar’s son, and have sighed, "Oh, that Ishmael might live before thee," and have seen all his behaviour to the true seed, and his mockery of him when at last he is given to us; -- it is not till we have gone through all this, and much more, and are worn out, and "as good as dead," that we can give up the flesh with all its hopes, and giving them up find that the death of self, which we have so struggled against, is but the appointed way to gain the promise. So, till we are content to be dead, we take Hagar, and with various experiences of her, and with her, we keep her, till Isaac, the spirit of sonship, being weaned, the bond-maid is no longer wanted, and we learn to say, though not without a struggle even to the end, "Cast out the bond-woman and her son." But this is anticipating. We are now to see what woman, spiritually, what principles, the spirit of faith embraces here, as a means to gain the seed.
She was "a bond-maid," -- "Sarai’s maid" (Genesis 16:1). And self-will is yet a "bond-woman," and "gendereth to bondage" (Galatians 4:22-25). All the elect learn this. With each a time comes, when fruit is sought "as it were by the deeds of the law," and in our own strength. We long to "bear the image of the heavenly," and we look for it through our own energy. Some fruit is borne: Hagar is not barren: but the spirit of sonship is not obtained in this way. The proof is, a bond-maid yet is in the house, and her fruit, the spirit of bondage, is not cast out.
Further, this maid was "an Egyptian." Egypt is the ground of sense, that is the outer world. To this Hagar belongs. In her we lay hold of that which in its very nature is of this world. For "the law is not made for the righteous, but for sinners" (1 Timothy 1:9); in seeking help from it, faith is using a worldly principle. But how comes faith to use such means? Several circumstances combine to lead to this.
First, "Sarai was barren; she bare no children" (Genesis 16:1). Sarai is the principle of grace, the affection of spiritual truth. From this the spirit of faith looks for seed; but years pass, and there is still barrenness. Faith does not therefore cast out Sarai; for she is ever loved and regarded as the true wife; but because she is barren, we look elsewhere, not yet knowing that these inner affections must be fruitless, till the self which yet cleaves to the spirit of faith be "as good as dead." When at last in self-despair we are thus dead, then, and not till then, Sarai will bear fruit. Indeed, if at first we could have had our way, Sarai, even as Hagar, would have been made fruitful through our energy. The principle of grace would have been as another law, requiring strength in us to make it productive; whereas the truth is, that while we are thus strong the Lord cannot let us have fruit by Sarai. From Hagar, or law, God may grant some fruit, such as it is, through the elect’s own energy. But from Sarai no seed shall be so obtained: she is, and must be fruitless, till our own strength is put away. But this is learnt only by long experience. Here faith has not learnt it: therefore, seeing Sarai barren, it is tempted to have recourse to other means.
Then Hagar is at hand: -- "Sarai had a handmaid." Abram had not to seek her: there she was, already serving him. How she came to be there is hinted in the fact, incidentally noticed, that Hagar was "an Egyptian;" telling that Abram had been in Egypt, and possibly had received this woman as a reward of his unfaithfulness there respecting Sarai. Be this as it may, Hagar now is there, already occupying position in attendance on the true wife; and being there, and useful in her place, through the impatience of the elect ere long she usurps another’s place. Just so the inner affection of spiritual truth has the principle of law waiting upon it as a servant. And, as a handmaid, law is in its place in Abram’s house; a place whence it should not be expelled, at least until the spirit of sonship has obtained a certain growth. The evil is, that this service of law, though useful in itself, and needed for a season, through the impatience of the elect, becomes the occasion for that further trial of the flesh, which like all such trials is doomed to end in disappointment. But Sarai’s barrenness and Hagar’s being at hand are not Abram’s only inducements to turn to the bond-maid. The free-woman herself stirs up Abram to this: -- "Sarai said unto Abram, Behold the Lord hath restrained me from bearing. I pray thee, go in unto my maid. It may be that I may obtain seed by her" (Genesis 16:2). There is a stage when grace itself, and the promise of fruitfulness which is connected with it, by acting on our impatience, may so excite, as to lead the spirit of faith to try carnal means, even though for ends which God has promised. Indeed impatience, a zeal for God, without a corresponding faith in the zeal of the Lord of hosts, is ever leading to this. Even to faith it is hard to wait on God, and let Him do His own work in His own way. With right principles exciting us, we may be marring His work, by our haste in attempting to do it for Him. So even Sarai may, and does, mislead us, if, instead of patiently awaiting the Lord’s time, that inward affection stirs us up, in connection with other means, to try our own strength. Thus did Abram hearken to Sarai; and thus excited even by the truth, and with right ends, does the elect yet try his own resources. The present age gives countless proofs of this. Christ, the true seed, is by many longed for ardently. Both in Church and world we wait for His appearing. But He tarries. Then Sarai speaks to those, who, though men of faith, are so far from "being as dead," that they are still full of self-will. The result is one scheme after another, all aiming to obtain the promised seed, by doing rather than by dying. Vain hope! Ishmaels enough may be thus gotten. Isaacs are not so born. But to trace the results, as figured here. The first is, Abram gets a son: Hagar is fruitful (Genesis 16:4); but her son is not the promised heir. For to Abram and his seed were promises made; "He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to Thy seed; which is Christ" (Galatians 3:16). For Abram or faith has many seeds; but that form of life, which, though of faith, is produced by self-will, (and the first fruit of faith is ever such,) is not elect, and cannot be the true heir. Hagar’s son is but "a wild-ass man." The spirit of faith has indeed thus produced another form of life, and thus something at first appears to have been gained. The end proves, that, as far as the true heir is concerned, all this effort has availed nothing. Faith by self-will has only got "a spirit of bondage again to fear." The "spirit of adoption" is not thus begotten. (Note: Jerome gives the inward sense, that while our faith deals with the law and the letter, Isaac is not come, but Ishmael only is born in us; whereas Isaac is come, if we enjoy spiritual things. -- Hieron. in Epist. ad Galat. l. ii. c. 4. Ambrose too, after tracing the outward, gives in substance the same inward application. -- De Abr. l. ii. c. 10, § 73.) The next result is as unsatisfactory. "When Hagar saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised." If carnal strength succeeds in bearing any fruit, the immediate result is contempt of better things. For the flesh can achieve nothing without being exalted. Sarai, therefore, instead of being "built up," as she hoped, by Hagar, reaps through her fresh humiliation. Nor is this all. For this contempt, Sarai deals hardly with the bondmaid, who therefore flees out of the elect house (Genesis 16:6). If through faith’s impatience the principle of law is exalted out of its place, and thus dishonour is done to grace, that is the free-woman, a re-action follows, for grace or Sarai is best loved, and though barren never loses her rightful empire over the believing heart. The principle of law is harshly judged, and so, being abused, for awhile departs and is lost sight of. Who that knows this path but has seen how the affection of law, when contempt has through it been poured upon a higher principle, is ejected even from that place, where as hand-maid it might be most useful. So does legality lead to antinomianism, and this when law as yet cannot be dispensed with. The time comes, indeed, after Abram is circumcised and Isaac is born, when there is no further need for the bond-maid, and she is cast out for ever. But this is not yet. At present the bond-maid is needed. She is therefore sent back by the Lord to her true place as "Sarai’s maid" (Genesis 16:8-9). For "the law is good, if it be used lawfully" (1 Timothy 1:8). The sorrow comes from exalting it out of its proper place.
Thus goes the life of faith. And here exercises begin in reference to law, which only end in the final dismissal of the bond-maid. At the point where this chapter ends, this conclusion is not foreseen; for after this the elect yet beseeches that the fruit of the flesh may be his heir (Genesis 17:18). But exercises of soul here begin which only end in the perfect discovery of God’s mind upon the subject.
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I need not shew how here, as throughout, this history has had its fulfilment upon every platform where God has worked in man. We are familiar with its accomplishment in the dispensations. In the history of God’s dealings with mankind, before the death of the flesh is known, and before Sarai conceives, that is, before the Gospel times, the actings of the spirit of faith are found in connection with Hagar or law throughout a whole dispensation; thus on the broadest scale developing the results of dealing with the flesh to gain the seed. We know how when the fulness of time was come, and the true Isaac was born, Ishmael, the seed according to the flesh, mocked and rejected Him; and we know how since that hour the bond-maid and her seed have been cast out, though for that seed in its time a suited blessing tarries. This fulfilment in the dispensations is so well known, that I need but allude to it. (Note: Jerome, Comment. in Ep. ad Gal. l. ii. c. 4. Ambrose, De Abr. l. ii. c. 10, § 72 and 74. Augustine, Enar. in Psalm cxix. (E.V. 120), § 7.) But there is also the fulfilment in the outward kingdom now. Here, men of faith, because the gospel is so long unfruitful, turn to law, by law and human energy to raise up a seed to fill the elect house. In the Church, because Sarai is barren till the flesh in the elect is dead, the impatience of believers, as yet not dead, by the flesh has sought and obtained a seed. But it is "a wild-ass man," with the "mark of the beast" upon it. The true seed now, as of old, only comes out of death and barrenness through resurrection power. (Note: Augustine often expounds this view; see Enar. in Psalm cxix. (E.V. 120), § 7, and elsewhere.)
Thus are we shewn here, outwardly, what men, -- inwardly, what in man, -- shall inherit the kingdom. The inward fulfilment is that which first concerns us. May we there apprehend what we are apprehended for!