Hagar, the concubine of Abraham, signifies the covenant of law. Hence, the position of the law is like that of a concubine. As such, the law has no rightful position in God’s economy. Like Sarah, grace brings forth children unto sonship; like Hagar, the law brought forth children unto slavery. Galatians 4:24 says, “One [covenant] from Mount Sinai, bringing forth children unto slavery, which is Hagar.” Mount Sinai is the place where the law was given (Exo. 19:20; 24:12). The covenant of law, symbolized by Hagar, brings God’s chosen people into the bondage of the law, making them slaves under the law, separated from the grace of God.
Galatians 4:23 says, “The one of the maidservant was born according to the flesh.” Abraham brought forth Ishmael through the maidservant Hagar by his fleshly effort and not by God’s grace. Therefore, Ishmael, as the issue of man’s fleshly effort according to the law, was rejected by God. When man ignores the work of God’s grace and attempts to do something by himself to please God, this brings in the law and joins man to the law. Thus, what is brought forth in this way cannot remain in God’s economy, and it is of no use for the accomplishment of God’s purpose.
According to God’s intention, the covenant of promise came first (Gen. 12:2, 7; 13:15-17; 15:4-21). God had no intention of bringing in the law or of having man endeavor to keep it for the fulfillment of His purpose. Rather, through the effort of man’s flesh, the covenant of law, signified by Hagar, was brought in to frustrate God’s work of grace.
In Genesis 21:10 Sarah said to Abraham, “Cast out this maidservant and her son, for the son of this maidservant shall not inherit with my son Isaac.” The bondwoman Hagar symbolizes the covenant of law, the position of which is like that of a concubine (Gal. 4:22, 24-25). Therefore, what was brought forth through her was not accepted as an heir to the inheritance and had no share in God’s promised good land.
By this we see that the two kinds of children brought forth by the two covenants, the covenant of God’s promise and the covenant of law, signified by Abraham’s wife Sarah and by his concubine Hagar, are different in nature. Those brought forth by the covenant of law are born according to the flesh; those brought forth by the covenant of promise are born according to the Spirit. The children born according to the flesh have no right to participate in God’s promised blessing, but the children born according to the Spirit have the full right to inherit God’s promised blessing. We, the believers in Christ, are not children of the maidservant but of the free woman (Gal. 4:31). We are not children of the law under the slavery of the law but children of grace under the freedom of grace to enjoy the God-promised all-inclusive Christ with all His riches.
After God called Abraham, He gave him the promise, which concerned mainly the seed and the land (Gen. 12:1-2, 7; 13:15-17), and then He confirmed the promise by making a covenant with him (15:4-5, 18-21). However, after Abraham received the covenant, he accepted his wife’s proposal and by his own flesh he brought forth Ishmael through his maidservant Hagar. This was a serious offense against God’s economy for His eternal purpose, and it interrupted the fellowship that came from God. For a long period of thirteen years, Abraham, a man called by God, missed God’s presence. It was not until he was ninety-nine years of age that God appeared to him again.
Then God revealed to Abraham that His name is El-Shaddai, the all-sufficient Mighty One, implying that He would be the source of the rich supply of grace to keep His covenant for the fulfillment of His purpose. Moreover, He again made a covenant with him (17:1-2, 4). In making this covenant, God used circumcision as evidence of the covenant to confirm the covenant of promise which He gave to Abraham. This shows us that although the promise of the good land given by God to His chosen people had been made a covenant by God to His elect, there was still the need to confirm the covenant of God’s promise with the covenant of circumcision. Circumcision was the procedure which God’s chosen people had to pass through to inherit God’s promise. It signifies that God’s elect in the New Testament must pass through the dealing of the cross so that they may inherit and enjoy all the riches in Christ promised by God.