Abram, later renamed Abraham by God Almighty, lived from c. 2,000 BC to c. 1,800 BC.  He was born and raised in the midst of a people who followed Nimrod and who built the tower of Babel, where God Almighty confounded people so that they could no longer understand the language of one another.

Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.  Genesis 11:9  NASB

Abram’s father, Terah, led the family from Ur of the Chaldeans up the Euphrates River where they settled at Haran, a town with the same name as Abram’s deceased brother.

And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and settled there.  Genesis 11:31

God Almighty called Abram to leave Haran and complete the journey to Canaan.  It takes obedience and faith to leave a (fortified?) city and to live in tents among strangers and enemies, and so Abram, at the age of 75, went by faith to the Promised Land with his wife and his nephew Lot.

God Almighty’s call of Abram included a multifaceted covenant regarding Abram’s descendants.  One facet of the covenant was that the world would be blessed through Abram’s descendants.

Now the LORD said to Abram, “ … And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”  Genesis 12:1,3  NASB

When Abram arrived in the land to which he was called, God Almighty added a second facet of His covenant with Abram, and that was to grant habitation of the land of Canaan to his descendants.

And the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants [seed] I will give this land.”  So he   built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.  Genesis 12:7  NASB

And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants [seed] forever.”  Genesis 13:14-15  NASB

The land that Abraham looked upon so long ago is the land now called Palestine at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea.  The third facet of the covenant was that Abram’s descendants would become a multitude of nations.

Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty;  /  Walk before Me, and be blameless .  /  And I will establish My covenant between Me and you,  /  And I will multiple you exceedingly.”  And Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you,  /   And you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.”  Genesis 17:1-4  NASB

This covenant with Abram is to last for 1,000 generations.

He has remembered His covenant forever,  /  The word which He commanded to a thousand generations,  /  The covenant which He made with Abraham,  /  And His oath to Isaac.  Psalms 105:8-9 (Same as 1Chronciles 16:15-16)  NASB

If a generation is 20 years, then God Almighty’s covenant with Abraham lasts for 20,000 years.

God Almighty twice renewed His promise of seed/offspring/descendants to Abram.  After Abram and his nephew Lot separated when the land could not support all of them, God Almighty spoke to Abram about descendants.

“And I will make your descendants [seed] as the dust of the earth; so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants [seed] can also be numbered.  Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you.”  Genesis 13:14-17  NASB

Abram, in his eighties and without any descendants, questioned God Almighty’s promise that his descendants would be large in number, and God Almighty gave a second renewal.

And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.”  And He said to him, “So shall your descendants [seed] be.”  Genesis 15:5  NASB

This time using stars, God Almighty again made the point that Abram’s descendants will be essentially uncountable.

The two things by which God Almighty represented the quantity of Abram’s descendants/seed offer insight about fulfillment.  The first renewal is in terms of the dust of the earth and suggests an earthly or natural fulfillment, and years later Joshua led the Israelites, Abram/Abraham’s descendants, into that land Abram had looked upon.  Now, centuries later, the population there is a mixture of Muslims, whose ancestry is through Abram/Abraham’s son Ishmael, and Jews, whose ancestry is through Abram/Abraham’s son Isaac.  Thus, in the natural, Abram/Abraham’s seed, as promised by God Almighty, occupies the land that Abraham looked upon.

The second renewal was in terms of the stars of heaven and suggests fulfillment by spiritual sons of Abram/Abraham.

Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith that are sons of Abraham.  And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “ALL THE NATIONS SHALL BE BLESSED IN YOU.”  So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.  …  in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.  Galatians 3:7-9,14  NASB

Therefore, the spiritual sons of Abram/Abraham, numerous as the stars, are a blessing to all the nations.

“And those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven [firmament], and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”  Daniel 12:3  NASB

Abram’s name, meaning “Exalted Father” or “Glorious Father,” was prophetic of God Almighty’s promises to him.  Abram was renamed by God Almighty as Abraham, which means “Father of a Multitude,” and indeed the followers of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all trace their linage to Abraham.

These promises about descendants were made to Abram while he and Sarai were childless, and Abram and Sarai remained childless for years.  Frustrated and impatient, they sought to accomplish by their own actions that which God Almighty had promised but had not yet fulfilled.  Abram and Sarai chose to use Hagar, Sarai’s maid from Egypt, to claim God Almighty’s promise of a son, and a son Ishmael was born to Abram and Hagar.  A type for Abram’s first-born son is the first-born son of the first couple, Cain.

Each first-born is described as difficult.  Adam’s first-born son, a murderer, was identified with Satan.

not as Cain, who was of the evil one, and slew his brother.  And for what reason did he slay him?  Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.  1John 3:12  NASB

The angel of the Lord prophesied that Abram’s first son would have difficulty getting along with people.

“And he will be a wild donkey of a man,  /  His hand will be against everyone,  /  And everyone’s hand will be against him;  /  And he will live to the east of his brothers.”  Genesis 16:12  NASB

Each of these sons persecuted the younger brother.  Cain killed Abel.

And Cain told Abel his brother.  And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against his brother and killed him.  Genesis 4:8  NASB

Ishmael persecuted Isaac.

Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she bore to Abraham, mocking [Isaac].  Genesis 21:9  NASB

The apostle Paul characterized the interaction between Abram/Abraham’s sons as persecution.

But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also.  Galatians 4:29  NASB

Because of their behavior, these first-born sons are disinherited.  Cain is disenfranchised.

“And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.  When you cultivate the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you, you shall be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.”  Genesis 4:11-12  NASB

Ishmael had no inheritance from his father.

Therefore she said to Abraham, “Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son Isaac.”  Genesis 21:10  NASB

Now Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac;  Genesis 25:5  NASB

The first-born sons are sent away.  Cain must leave.

Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.  Genesis 4:16  NASB

Ishmael was sent away.

So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her away.  And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.  Genesis 21:14  NASB

The first-born sons lived to the east.  Cain moved to the east.

Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.  Genesis 4:16  NASB

Ishmael lived to the east.

“And he will be a wild donkey of a man, His hand will be against everyone, And everyone’s hand will be against him; And he will live to the east of his brothers.”  Genesis 16:12  NASB

Thus Cain is a pattern for Ishmael.

As always, humanity’s efforts to act in place of God Almighty produced a counterfeit.  What Abram, Sarai, and Hagar got for their effort is the grief that goes with substituting the efforts of the flesh for the work of the Spirit.

And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done me be upon you.  I gave my maid into your arms; but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her sight.  May the LORD judge between you and me.”  But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight.”  So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence.  Genesis 16:5-6  NASB

And the matter [conflict between women] distressed Abraham greatly because of his son [Ishmael].  Genesis 21:11  NASB

In time, God Almighty promised Abram a son by Sarai/Sarah.

But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac [he laughs]; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.”  Genesis 17:19 NASB

Prior to the birth of the promised son, Sarai must transform into Sarah, and Abram must undergo transformation into Abraham.  The nature of these changes is more than a name, and we start with Sarai.

In the garden of Eden, the woman Eve was shown things by Satan that were good for food, that were a delight to the eyes, and that were desirable to make one wise (Gen 3:6).  Similarly, when taken into Pharaoh’s harem (Gen 12:15), Sarai would have been shown things that were good for food, that were a delight to the eyes, and that were desirable to make one wise.  Both Eve and Sarai, influenced by the one who showed them these things, became unfaithful.  The woman Eve was unfaithful to her betrothed in his role as keeper/guardian/protector of the garden and consequently produced Satan’s spiritual offspring/descendants/seed (Section 2-7).  Likewise Sarai, as a member of Pharaoh’s harem, was expected to be unfaithful to her husband (I took her for my wife, Gen 12:19) and to produce Pharaoh’s offspring/descendants/seed.

Therefore Sarai is in need of being set free from allegiance to one other than her husband.  The transformation of Sarai begins with God Almighty freeing Sarai from the house of Pharaoh.

But the LORD struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.  Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me?  Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?  Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife?  Now then, here is your wife, take her and go.”  Genesis 12:17-19  NASB

Sarai, though bound to Pharaoh, returned to her husband as a free woman.   Thus we have the transformation of Sarai, a woman beholden to Pharaoh, into a free woman, and she is later given a new name.

Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai [my princess] your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah [Princess] shall be her name.”  Genesis 17:15  NASB

Sarah, a free woman, is now ready for her role as the mother of the promised son.

Years after Abram, Sarai, and Hagar conspired to produce an heir for Abram, God Almighty began the process to fulfill His promise to Abram, who, like his wife Sarai, was in need of transformation before he can become the father of the promised son.  The first step in the transformation of Abram to Abraham is the change of name.

“No longer shall your name be called Abram [exalted father], But your name shall be Abraham [father of a multitude]; For I will make you the father of a multitude of nations.”  Genesis 17:5  NASB

We have noted in earlier discussions that when one names another, it is suggestive of dominance of the one who names over the one who is named.  Even more, to be renamed by God Almighty, as Abram and Sarai were, signifies something special for them from God Almighty.

As with Sarai, Abram’s transformation has root in the garden and the first couple.

And the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.  Genesis 3:21  NASB

Recall that clothing is symbolic of one’s nature.  Hence, when the man and the woman were clothed by God Almighty with skin or flesh, it meant that they received a fleshly/beastly nature with heighten input from the physical and diminished input from the spiritual.  One symbolic act of the removal of Abram’s fleshly nature is his sending away the son of the flesh and the child’s mother (Gen 21:14).  Another symbolic removal of this fleshly nature was circumcision, the second step in the transformation of Abram into Abraham.

God said further to Abraham, “Now as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.  This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you; every male among you shall be circumcised.  And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you.”  Genesis 17:9-11  NASB

Circumcision was passed to the descendants of Isaac (Israelite/Jew), among whom it is compulsory and nearly universal.  Circumcision was passed to the descendants of Ishmael (Muslims), among whom it is optional. Currently, 37%-39% of males world-wide are circumcised.

The ages at which Abram, Ishmael, and Isaac were circumcised have symbolic meaning.  Abram was 99 when circumcised.

Now Abram was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.  Genesis 17:24  NASB

99  =  3 (Divine completeness, Perfection)  x  33 (Promise).  Here then we have the suggestion that circumcision was necessary as a component of the fulfillment of the promise of a son by Sarai.

Ishmael was 13 (Depravity, Rebellion) when he was circumcised.

And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.  Genesis 17:25  NASB

Rebellion is consistent with the description of him given by the angel as a wild donkey of a man (Gen 16:12).

Isaac was eight days (New birth, creation) when he was circumcised.

Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.   Genesis 21:4  NASB

Eight days was set as the mandated time for circumcision in the Mosaic Law.

The choice by God Almighty to represent the removal of our fleshly nature by the removal of flesh from the male reproductive organ is not random.  For circumcision, when seen as symbolic of cutting off the entire organ, suggests the emasculation of the human male, which would render him incapable of reproduction and thereby eliminate the means of the perpetual production of members of the kingdom of darkness.  Therefore, the covenant of circumcision includes a promise from God Almighty that there will be an end to the kingdom of darkness on earth. 

Clearly circumcision in the flesh is symbolic of the cutting-off and shedding of the clothing of skin, i.e., the hereditary, beastly, fleshly nature given to humanity by God Almighty.  Here is the spiritual meaning of circumcision.

For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.  But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.  Romans 2:28-29  NASB

and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ;  Colossians 2:11  NASB

Circumcise then your heart and stiffen your neck no more.  Deuteronomy 10:16  NASB

Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God.  1Corinthians 7:19  NASB

Humanity is to be circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, that transformation of an individual which occurs when the Spirit of God Almighty is active in one’s life.

With a new name and the covenant of circumcision, the transformation of Abram to Abraham is complete, after which God Almighty announced the conception and birth of the promised son.

And he [an angel] said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.”  And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him.  Genesis 18:10  NASB

The promised son is given the name Isaac–he laughs–that commemorates his parent’s behavior.

Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old?  And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”  Genesis 17:17  NASB

And Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”  Genesis 18:12  NASB

Both Abraham and Sarah laughed at the idea of them producing the promised child so late in life.

Thirteen years after Ishmael was born to Hagar, God Almighty announced the coming of Sarah’s son.  God Almighty set a date for the birth of the promised son.

“But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.”  Genesis 17:21  NASB

One year later, God Almighty fulfilled His promise of a son to Abraham and Sarah.

Then the LORD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had promised.  So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him.  And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.  Genesis 21:1-3  NASB

The apostle Paul contrasted Abram/Abraham’s first two sons and their mothers.

For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman.  But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise.  Galatians 4:22-23  NASB

The following table displays other fundamental differences between these two mothers and their sons.

Hagar was a foreigner and a bondwoman from Egypt, and her son Ishmael received God Almighty’s blessing.

“And as for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly.  He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.”  Genesis 17:20  NASB

On the other hand, Sarah was his wife from Abram’s Mesopotamian family and her son Isaac received God Almighty’s covenant.

“But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, who Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.”  Genesis 17:21  NASB

Ishmael left the Promised Land and lived to the east.

“And he will be a wild donkey of a man, His hand will be against everyone, And everyone’s hand will be against him; And he will live to the east of his brothers.”  Genesis 16:12  NASB

Isaac lived in the Promised Land, and there is no indication that he ever left.

And the LORD appeared to him [Isaac] and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shall tell you.  Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham.”  Genesis 26:2-3  NASB

Each of Abraham’s sons takes a wife from his mother’s homeland.  Ishmael’s wife was from Egypt.

And he [Ishmael] lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.  Genesis 21:21

Isaac’s wife is from Abraham’s relatives in Mesopotamia.

“and I will make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, but you shall go to my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”  Genesis 24:3-4  NASB

and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian, to be his wife.  Genesis 25:20  NASB

There is a generation of twelve sons in the linage of each of Abraham’s sons.  Ishmael is the father of twelve sons.

“And as for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiple him exceedingly.  He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.”  Genesis 17:20  NASB

Isaac is the grandfather of the twelve sons of Jacob.

…  Now there were twelve sons of Jacob —  Genesis 35:22  NASB

Ishmael was denied the birthright of the first-born and received no inheritance whatsoever.

Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking.  Therefore she said to Abraham, “Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son Isaac.”  And the matter distressed Abraham greatly because of his son.  But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named.  And of the son of the maid I will make a nation also because he is your descendant.”  So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her away.  And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.  Genesis 21:9-14  NASB

Isaac is the heir of all that Abraham had.

Now Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac;  Genesis 25:5  NASB

Abram was renamed Abraham, which means father of a multitude of nations.  Today, Abraham is considered the father of three religions — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  Of course Judaism is naturally traced back to Abraham, and Christianity is traced to Abraham through Jesus, a Jew.  Islam is traced to Abraham through Ishmael, who was blessed by God Almighty to become a great nation.  But, even though God Almighty renewed His covenant with Isaac, the followers of Islam claim God Almighty’ promises to Abraham as theirs, based on the birth right of the first-born son.  They view the claims of the Jews and Christians to the promises as illegitimate because such claims usurp the right of Abraham’s first-born, Ishmael.  Furthermore, followers of the religion of Islam believe that Ishmael, rather than Isaac, was the son whom Abraham was willing to sacrifice to God Almighty.  Today, the descendants of Ishmael and followers of Islam are indeed a great nation.  However, just as Ishmael was produced by the flesh as a counterfeit of the promised son, so also the religion of Islam is a counterfeit of the true worship of God Almighty.