Biblical Figures: Abraham the Patriarch – The Divine Promises and Human Solutions, Part 3
His Holiness Pope Shenouda III presents how Abraham waited for God’s promise of offspring, and how the prolonged waiting drove him to resort to human, temporary solutions, highlighting the effect of that on his spiritual and family life, and God’s stance toward him in the end.
🔹 Delay of the promise and sense of lack
It is narrated that God called Abraham at seventy-five and promised him a great offspring, yet the promise was delayed about twenty-five years causing Abraham anxiety about its fulfillment because children are an inheritance from the Lord.
🔹 Resorting to human contrivance (Hagar)
Abraham and Sarah sought a human method; Sarah proposed that a child be born through the maid Hagar. The method succeeded quickly: Hagar conceived and bore Ishmael, but this birth was not according to God’s will and created tension and spiritual and social obstacles.
🔹 Results of the human solution and failure of its blessing
Human methods produced a swift result (children by Keturah and Hagar later), but they were not blessed according to God’s will; the children of human solutions were not Isaac, whom the covenant intended, and they did not carry the covenantal blessing.
🔹 Gradation of error and its impact on relationships
The lecture explains how a single mistake progressed into habit: Abraham’s fear led him to take actions without consulting God, partial falsehood about Sarah was repeated, and accepting human solutions became a recurring pattern until divine guidance eventually prevailed.
🔹 Sarah’s and Hagar’s positions and emotional effects
When Hagar conceived she was diminished in Sarah’s eyes, who oppressed Hagar who fled; then the angel commanded Hagar to return and submit, yet the episode revealed human weakness even among the saints in face of jealousy and success.
🔹 Testing of faith and affirmation of the divine covenant
Despite errors, God’s covenant remained: God reiterated that Abraham’s seed would be through Isaac, and human non-divine solutions do not replace God’s will. When the time came God gave Isaac as a miracle beyond human capability.
🔹 The climax of obedience: offering Isaac and God’s love
Abraham showed supreme obedience when he complied with God’s command to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice, demonstrating that his love for God exceeded his love for the son he had waited for years. This obedience brought great blessing and spiritual status.
🔹 Didactic spiritual lesson from a Coptic Orthodox faith perspective
The central lesson: relying on God’s will and faithful waiting is better than hasty human solutions. Divine grace is realized through trust and obedience, and human methods may yield results but ultimately fail against the Lord’s covenant. God’s love and obedience are crowned with blessing in the end.
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