Abraham’s Fourth Failure: Laughter at Divine Promise – Part 1

Introduction

Welcome back to our study of Abraham’s failure. Throughout his journey with God, Abraham demonstrated himself to be a man of faith and one willing to trust God to lead him. In his revelation to Abraham, God commanded him “walk before me, and be blameless” (Gen 17:1). To be blameless means that Abraham must live a life of faithfulness and loyalty to God.

But Abraham was human, and like any other person, he sometimes let his human weakness influence his walk with God. This is where Abraham can help us in our daily walk with God. If a man whom God called his friend (Isa 41:8) can falter in trusting God and still be used by Him, then we have hope because, just like Abraham, we also fail to trust God when faced with challenges and impossible situations in our lives.

To understand Abraham’s fourth failure, we must remember that each time Abraham failed to trust in God, it was connected to the promise God made to him—that he would become the father of a son in his old age. This was God’s promise to Abraham: “I will make you a great nation” (Gen 12:2) For this promise to be fulfilled, Abraham needed a son.

Each failure relates to this promise. The first failure happened when Abraham went to Egypt and claimed that Sarah was his sister (Gen 12:10–13). Pharaoh took Sarah as his wife. This action threatened the promise because Sarah could have given birth to a son through Pharaoh. Pharaoh’s son with Sarah could not inherit the promise God made to Abraham.

The second failure happened when Abraham adopted his slave as his son (Gen 15:2). By adopting Eliezer, Abraham made him the heir of his household. This act was a threat to the promise because Eliezer could not inherit the promise that God gave to Abraham. Eliezer was not Abraham’s biological son.

The third failure occurred when Abraham married a second wife (Gen 16:1–3). Driven by her desperation to have a son, Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham as a wife so she could become the mother of a son through Hagar. This action threatened the promise because the son born of Hagar could not inherit the promise since he was not a son of Abraham and Sarah.

This brief review will provide the proper background for Abraham’s fourth failure.

Abraham’s Fourth Failure: Abraham’s Doubts God’s Promise

Abraham’s fourth failure happens when God reaffirms His covenant with him. The passage describing Abraham’s response to God’s promise is in Genesis 17:15–21.

“God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.’ Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to himself, ‘Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?’ And Abraham said to God, ‘O that Ishmael might live in your sight!’ God said, ‘No, but your wife Sarah shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; I will bless him and make him fruitful and exceedingly numerous; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year.’”

Thirteen years passed between Ishmael’s birth and God’s new revelation to Abraham. During this time, Abraham likely believed that Ishmael was the son God had promised and the heir to the promise. While Abraham was satisfied with Ishmael as his heir, God had different plans. These years may have served as a test to see if Abraham truly understood the implications of God’s initial promise. Now that Abraham was content with Ishmael, God moved to fulfill the true promise of a son—not born by Hagar, but by Sarah.

Genesis 17:1 states that Abraham was ninety-nine years old when the LORD appeared to him. Abraham was eighty-six years old when Ishmael was born. Thirteen years passed before the LORD appeared to him again. During these years, Ishmael was growing up in Abraham’s house, and like any other father, Abraham loved his son because Ishmael was his son in his old age. God appeared to Abraham as El Shaddai (Exod 6:3), the divine name the patriarchs used to know God.

In his revelation to Abraham, God said that he would establish a covenant with him. He also told Abraham that he would become the father of many nations. To emphasize the finality of the promise, God changed his name from Abram to Abraham. The name “Abram” means “exalted father,” while the new name Abraham means “father of multitudes.” This name change signifies a new beginning for Abraham (Gen 17:5).

This new beginning reaffirms God’s promise to Abraham. God told Abraham, “I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you” (Gen 17:7).

God tells Abraham that this covenant is “an everlasting covenant.” The covenant was not based on Abraham’s obedience but on God’s grace. The covenant God establishes with Abraham assumes that Abraham becomes the father of a son because the covenant will be made with Abraham and his descendants after him for future generations. It will be an eternal covenant. As a result of this covenant, a new relationship is formed with Abraham. God promises to be his God and the God of his descendants who will be born after him. Additionally, God promises Abraham that he will give him and his descendants the land of Canaan as their inheritance.

God also changed the name of Abraham’s wife. God told Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name” (Gen 17:15). Sarah’s name is changed. Her new name means “princess.” The name change is meant to assure Abraham that Sarah is included in the promise.

As a covenant partner with Abraham, Sarah also receives God’s blessings. God said, “I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her” (Gen 17:16). God promises to bless Sarah. Her promise from God differs from the promises given to Abraham. Sarah’s blessing mainly involves opening her womb so she can conceive a son. But what God said about Sarah’s future is significant in a patriarchal society.

God twice promises to bless Sarah. God twice affirms that Sarah will give birth to a son. He also says that nations and kings will come from her. These promises show that Sarah is not just Abraham’s wife; she is a full partner with him in God’s plan to bring the nations to himself.

The Laughter of Incredulity

When God told Abraham that He would bless Sarah and give him a son by her, “Abraham fell on his face and laughed.” Twice in chapter 17, Abraham is described as falling on his face. In Genesis 17:3, Abraham fell on his face in worship of the God who revealed Himself to him. In Genesis 17:17, Abraham fell on his face again, but this time not to worship God, but rather to laugh at the promise of a son, doubting that he could become a father again in his old age.

Abraham’s incredulous reaction to God’s promise was to laugh at God’s words. His laugh reflected disbelief because Abraham knew that he and Sarah were old, and Sarah was past the age when women could have children.

When God announced that Sarah would conceive and give birth to a son, Abraham was 99 years old, and Sarah was 89. Abraham’s response shows his lack of trust in God because he was speaking directly with God, and it was God Himself who told him that Sarah would have a son.

Abraham laughed at God’s words. His laughter reveals his doubt that an old man and an old woman could become parents. From a human perspective, one can understand Abraham’s feelings. He doubted that two elderly people could have children at their age. His laughter is not the laughter of a person of faith, but the laughter of someone who does not fully trust in God. Abraham failed to realize that he was not dealing with a mere human; he was dealing with God, the Creator of the womb, who brings about new life in the womb of the woman He made.

Since he did not believe he could become a father again at one hundred years old, Abraham pleads for Ishmael. “Abraham said to God, ‘Why not let Ishmael be my heir?’” (Gen 17:18 GWN). Abraham is willing to accept Ishmael as his heir. He asks God to let Ishmael receive the promise because he could not believe that, at his age, he could become a father again.

Abraham’s question reveals that he did not fully grasp the promise God made to him. “Abraham completely doubts the promise, laughs a mockingly, and relies on the son already obtained. Abraham, the father of faith, is again shown as unfaithful, unable to trust, and willing to depend on an alternative to God’s promise (Brueggemann 1982:156).”

Brueggemann writes, “We are now able to see the function of Ishmael as a threat to the promise. Abraham is no longer pressed to believe in an heir to be given, for he already has one, albeit in a devious way. Abraham is willing to stake his future on Ishmael. He does not fully understand the promise and its strange character” (Brueggemann 1982:156).

In terms of the vitality of the promise, Brueggemann writes, “the negative implication of the narrative is that Ishmael is a temptation for Abraham to trust in the fruit of his own work rather than trusting in the God who made the promise” (Brueggemann 1982:152).

Abraham’s request indicates that Hagar and Ishmael serve as “an alternative to the promise” (Brueggemann 1982: 152). Abraham’s plea to God to let Ishmael become their heir to the promise shows that he failed to fully grasp the significance of God’s promise.

Brueggemann writes, “Abraham struggles to accept the gap between Sarah’s barrenness and the promise of an heir upon which the covenant is based. God’s power will grant Abraham a child of promise, but Abraham holds onto a son of the flesh. The son of the flesh cannot inherit the spiritual blessings of the promise. Only the son of the promise can inherit the full extent of the blessing. God’s initial promise was never made to Ishmael; it was only to the other son, the son given solely by grace, who would become the heir of the promise” (Brueggemann 1982:156).

God had called Abraham and Sarah to go to the land of Canaan. The son of the promise was the son of Abraham and Sarah, not the son of Abraham and Hagar.

In response to Abraham’s request, God said, “No” (Gen 17:19). The “No” from God is a gentle rebuke to Abraham. God states that the promise will come through Isaac, not Ishmael. He rejects Abraham’s petition for Ishmael because he is not the son of the promise. Then, God reassures Abraham that it is the son born to Sarah who will be the heir of the promise. God said, “your wife Sarah shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him” (Gen 17:19).

God reassures Abraham that the son born to Sarah is the one who will be the heir of the promise. To remind Abraham of his earlier doubt, God told him to name his son Isaac, a name that means “laughter.” For all his days, Abraham would remember that he once failed to trust God. Every time he saw his son “Laughter,” “Isaac,” he would recall that he laughed when God promised him this son. God promises to establish His covenant with Isaac so that Isaac will receive the promise He made to Abraham.

God answers Abraham’s prayer for Ishmael. God said, “As for Ishmael, I have heard you; I will bless him and make him fruitful and exceedingly numerous; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation” (Gen 17:20).

Because Ishmael is Abraham’s firstborn, God will bless him, increase his numbers, and make his family grow. God said of Ishmael, “I will make him fruitful and exceedingly numerous.” This is the same promise God made to Abraham. God told Abraham, “I will make you exceedingly numerous” (Gen 17:2). God also said to Abraham, “I will make you exceedingly fruitful” (Gen 17:6). Abraham would be fruitful and numerous through his firstborn son Ishmael. This promise to Ishmael also fulfills God’s promise to Abraham that he would become the father of many nations. Ishmael will become a great nation, which later on will become Israel’s enemy.

Although God blesses Ishmael as Abraham’s firstborn son, God emphasizes to Abraham that his covenant is with Isaac, the son of Sarah. God said, “But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year” (Gen 17:21).

Completed Studies on Abraham’s Failures

The Five Failures of Abraham (June 14, 2022)
Ur and Haran: Abraham’s Background (February 16, 2023)
The Failures of Faith in Abraham’s Journey
Abraham and Terah: Family Dynamics and Divine Calling
Abraham Before His Call: The Mesopotamian Context
The Call of Abraham: Divine Initiative and Human Response
Abraham and Lot: Separation and Its Implications
God’s Promises to Abraham
Abraham’s First Failure: Egypt and the Wife-Sister Deception
Abraham’s Second Failure: The Eliezer Solution
Abraham’s Third Failure: The Hagar Alternative
Abraham’s Fourth Failure: Laughter at Divine Promise – Part 1
Abraham’s Fourth Failure: Laughter at Divine Promise – Part 2
Abraham’s Fifth Failure: Gerar and Repeated Deception
The Testing of Abraham: From Failure to Faith

NOTE: For several other studies on Abraham, read my post Studies on Abraham.

Bibliography

Brueggemann, Walter. Genesis. Interpretation. Louisville: John Knox Press, 1982.

Claude Mariottini
Emeritus Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

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