21) Galatians 4:21-31
Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written, “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.” Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman. (Galatians 4:21-31, ESV Bible)
In Galatians 4, Paul offers us a parable in which he briefly retells the story of Sarah and Hagar and their children, Isaac and Ishmael. He uses that story to illustrate his argument against the influencers in Galatia who were encouraging the Gentile believers to undergo circumcision and become Jewish.
In traditional Christian interpretation, this passage is fairly straightforward and is interpreted by Paul himself. He wrote,' "These women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai ... she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother" (Galatians 4:24-26). Hagar represents the Old Covenant, i.e., Torah and Judaism. Sarah represents the New Covenant, i.e., the gospel and Christianity.
Hagar's children, the Jews, are slaves. Sarah's children, the Christians, are free. "What does the Scripture say? 'Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman'" (Galatians 4:30).
This interpretation of the passage is prevalent and has been around since the early centuries of Christian interpretation. The message is simple: Judaism, bad; Christianity, good. Torah = slavery; gospel = freedom. Jews are slaves; Christians are free.
Judaism = Hagar/Jerusalem Below
Ishmael = Jews (in slavery)
Christianity = Sarah/Jerusalem Above
Isaac = Christians (free)
Under this interpretation, if a Jewish or Gentile believer observes the Torah, he is considered to be taking on a yoke of slavery and ignoring Paul's admonishment to "cast out the slave woman" (the Torah) and her son (the Jews). For the son of the bondwoman (Jews) shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman (Christians).
This is how early Christianity understood the passage. We will work through the passage verse by verse to arrive at a better understanding of the parable.
Desiring to Be Under the Law
Paul prefaced his midrash with the provocative, "Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?" (Galatians 4:21). Paul used the term "under the law" to refer to someone who is Jewish or to a Gentile who has become legally (halachically) Jewish through conversion. When Paul said, "You who want to be under law," he referred to the Gentile God-Fearers of Galatia who were planning on undergoing ritual conversion to become Jewish.
Paul challenged them: "Tell me, you people who want to become Jewish under the Torah, don't you know what it says in the Torah?" Then he briefly retold the story of Abraham's two wives (Sarah and Hagar) and his two sons (Isaac and Ishmael).
Benei Avraham
"For it is written that Abraham had two sons" (Galatians 4:22). Paul regarded the story of Isaac and Ishmael relevant to the subject of conversion because both Isaac and Ishmael were benei Avraham (sons of Abraham). When a Gentile converts and becomes Jewish, he takes the last name "ben Avraham (son of Abraham)." When a Gentile woman undergoes a conversion to become Jewish, she receives the last name "bat Avraham (daughter of Abraham)." The Galatians were trying to achieve that "ben Avraham" status by becoming Jewish. They wanted to join the legal family of Abraham.
In the synagogue world, a ben Avraham is a convert. Paul used the story of Isaac and Ishmael to illustrate two different types of benei Avraham, in other words, two different types of Gentile proselytes. He was not contrasting Jews against Christians, nor was he contrasting Jews against Gentiles. He was not talking about Jews at all. Instead, he used the Isaac and Ishmael analogy to contrast two different types of Gentiles: "For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and one by a free woman" (Galatians 4:22).
Flesh versus Promise
Hagar was a slave woman. She was Sarah's maidservant. Sarah was a freewoman. Paul explained, "But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise" (Galatians 4:23). "According to the flesh" means physically. It does not mean sinful or bad; it means physically or bodily. Abraham and Hagar conceived Ishmael by natural, physical means: "according to the flesh."
Abraham and Sarah conceived Isaac, however, through a supernatural miracle. Isaac was "born through promise." What was the promise? Paul has brought up "the promise" four or five times in the epistle already. He dedicated most of the third chapter to the subject and equated it with the whole gospel message: "And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed'" (Galatians 3:8). Again, in Galatians 3:16:
"Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, 'And to offsprings [seeds],' referring to many, but referring to one, 'And to your offspring [seed],' who is the Messiah."
The Promise: All nations will be blessed in Abraham's seed, the Messiah.
Abraham's wife Sarah conceived and gave birth to Isaac according to God's promise to give Abraham seed. Abraham believed, and God credited it to him as righteousness. Isaac was born through the miraculous promise, but Ishmael was born as a result of Abraham going to Hagar, attempting to fulfill God's promise himself. Ishmael was born in the normal, physical way a son is born: by human, physical efforts.
These Woman are Two Covenants
Paul explained, "Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants." Most traditional church interpretations explain the two covenants as the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. In the context of Paul's epistle to the Galatians, however, the two covenants under discussion are the Old Covenant (from Sinai) and the even older covenant, the covenant God made with Abraham. The parable of the two mothers/two covenants illustrates Paul's discussion about two covenants in Galatians 3:
Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his [seed]. It does not say, "And to [seeds]," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. (Galatians 3:16-18)
Sarah and Hagar are two covenants. Hagar represents the covenant at Sinai. Sarah represents the covenant with Abraham, which is older and cannot be replaced by a covenant made 430 years later, just like Hagar cannot replace Sarah. This totally changes the conventional, replacement theology interpretation of the passage.
Hagar and Ishmael
Paul explained:
Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. (Galatians 4:24-25)
Hagar represents Mount Sinai, which represents Torah. She bears children for slavery. The children born for slavery are not Jewish people or those who keep Torah. The discussion contrasts two different types of benei Avraham, i.e., two different types of proselytes. The parable, it turns out, is actually about two different types of Gentile believers. The children to whom Hagar gives birth by natural means (Sinai and present Jerusalem) are Gentile believers undergoing legal conversion in order to become Jewish. They are proselytes going through a physical (fleshly) conversion.
Paul compared those converts to Ishmael, the son of Hagar, because there was nothing miraculous about the way that they entered the family of Abraham. They became sons of Abraham by physical means. In another passage, he called it the circumcision of the flesh and the circumcision made with hands, according to the flesh. The proselytes became "sons of Abraham," just as Ishmael was a real son of Abraham. Converting, going under the law, and becoming legally Jewish makes a person a legitimate son of Abraham, just as Ishmael really was born as Abraham's son. Ishmael's status, even as a son of Abraham, was that of a slave, so to speak. He was the son of a slave girl, second behind Isaac. His is a second-class status.
Paul said that "Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children." Her children are proselytes. When a Gentile became Jewish, he became legally accountable to the legal authority of the sages, the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem which adjudicated Jewish law-he placed himself under the authority of the Jewish courts. Paul saw this as problematic for Gentile believers, perhaps because in Paul's day (as in our own) the religious authorities were not always friendly toward believers.
Sarah and Jerusalem
Sarah, on the other hand, represented the promises of the Abrahamic covenant, corresponding to the heavenly New Jerusalem of the Messianic Age and the world to come: "The Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother" (Galatians 4:26). Note that Paul said, "She is our mother," not "your mother," because the New Jerusalem is the future city of both Jewish and Gentile believers.
To establish the analogy, Paul quoted a proof text from Isaiah 54, a prophecy addressed to the city of Jerusalem which predicts the final Messianic Redemption, the ingathering, the building of Messianic Jerusalem, and the advent of New Jerusalem of the world to come. In that oracle, the prophet depicts ruined Jerusalem as a barren woman because her children have gone into exile. At the time of the redemption, she realizes she has more children than she thought possible. The Jewish people return to her, and many Gentiles come as well. The rabbis homiletically interpreted the barren woman of Isaiah 54 as Sarah, the barren one who became the mother of a nation. Paul followed that traditional interpretation, making Sarah symbolic for New Jerusalem, and he proved it by quoting the first verse of Isaiah 54.
"Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married," says the LORD. "Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities." (Isaiah 54:1-3)
To Paul and the apostles, the prophecy of Isaiah 54 was especially relevant because it came right after Isaiah 53, the prophecy of the Suffering Servant, which described the sufferings of the Messiah. The result of the Messiah's death and resurrection, described in Isaiah 53, is the redemption of Jerusalem described in Isaiah 54. Paul quoted that proof text in his analogy:
But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written, "Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband." Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. (Galatians 4:26-28)
Children of the Promise
Paul told the Gentile God-Fearers of Galatia, "You brothers, like Isaac, are children of the promise." Paul contrasted them against those Gentile believers who had undergone legal, halachic conversion. To Paul, the God-fearing Gentile who remained a Gentile was a child of the promise that God made to Abraham: All nations will be blessed in your seed. Paul likened the God-fearing Gentile believer to Isaac, who was also a child of the same covenant promise.
On the other hand, the Gentile believers who underwent circumcision and went "under the law" to become Jewish he likened to Ishmael. They set aside the promise that God made to Abraham about all nations being blessed in his seed. The proselyte forfeits that promise by becoming a child of the natural children. The proselyte adopted the natural means, according to the flesh literally, the removal of some flesh-the normal way of becoming part of Abrahams family.
Ishmael Taunts Isaac
Paul took the analogy a step further and said, "Just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now" (Galatians 4:29). When did "he who was born according to the flesh" (Ishmael) persecute "him who was born according to the Spirit" (Isaac)? The story is in the Torah:
And the child (Isaac) grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. So she said to Abraham, "Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac." (Genesis 21:8-10)
Have you ever wondered what Ishmael was mocking Isaac about? Paul knew because the story was well entrenched in Jewish legend. It appears in the midrash and in the targumim. Ishmael mocked Isaac regarding the commandment of circumcision:
Ishmael said to Isaac, "I am more beloved than you because I was circumcised at the age of thirteen." Isaac retorted, "I am more beloved than you because I was circumcised at eight days." Ishmael taunted, "That makes me more beloved. At the age of thirteen, I could have protested the procedure, but I did not ... I am more beloved than you because I was circumcised at the age of thirteen, but you were circumcised as a baby and had no choice in the matter."
Ishmael can one-up Isaac because, unlike Isaac, he underwent circumcision at the age of thirteen, i.e., as an adult. Paul said, "Just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now." Those "born according to the flesh" are Gentile believers in Galatia who, like Ishmael, went through circumcision as adults and became legally Jewish. They were criticizing those Gentile believers who had not taken that step. Like Ishmael taunting Isaac, the proselytes taunt the God-Fearers and encourage them to convert. These are the influencers. The influencers are Gentile believers who had already converted. Like Ishmael, they underwent circumcision as adults. They can claim to be more beloved because they willingly took upon themselves a commandment which the God-fearing Gentiles had not undertaken.
The Point of the Analogy
Just as Sarah had Abraham send Hagar and Ishmael away, Paul urged the Gentile God-Fearers to reject the pressure and persuasion of those who had gone through a conversion. He preached, "What does the Scripture say? 'Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman'" (Galatians 4:30).
"The son of the slave woman," that is, those who became proselytes, "shall not inherit with the son of the free woman," that is, those who remained Gentiles but became sons of Abraham by faith. Paul did not mean that those who underwent conversion lost their salvation, but he broke with their doctrine and dogma. "So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman," he insisted (Galatians 4:31). Therefore, Paul identified the Gentile God-Fearers as benei Avraham, sons of Abraham. They were spiritual proselytes.
It's an analogy, a midrash. Do not take it too literally. It was an illustration, and usually a midrash only attempted to illustrate a single point. Paul's point was that there are two different ways for a Gentile to enter Abraham's family. One is the normal way: according to the flesh, through circumcision and conversion. This is Ishmael. The other is a matter of faith in the promise that God is going to bless all nations (not just one nation) in the seed of Abraham, the Messiah. Through those who chose the latter route, Abraham became the father of many nations. Isaac represents those Gentiles who remain Gentiles yet enter the family of Abraham spiritually by means of faith in Messiah alone. This is the same point he made at the end of the previous chapter: "And if you are in Messiah, then you are Abraham's [seed], heirs according to promise" (Galatians 3:29).
Summary of the Promise
The passage contrasts two types of proselytes: the legal proselyte and the spiritual proselyte. The one becomes part of Abraham's family by conventional conversion, the other through faith in Messiah, the promised seed of Abraham, in whom all nations find blessing. The passage does not contrast the Old Testament against New Testament or the Old Covenant against the New Covenant. It does not equate Judaism and Torah with slavery, nor does it pit Christians against Jews.
It means that if you are a Jewish believer, you should be proud of being Jewish because you are a child of Abraham, legally, physically, and spiritually. It means that if you are a Gentile believer, you, too, are part of the people, a spiritual son of Abraham, and that is remarkable—miraculous even. You are a child of the promise that God made to Abraham so long ago.
Referneces
This lesson was curated from teachings from First Fruits of Zion “Holy Epistle to the Galatians.”