When it is added, "And when the sun was now setting there was a flame, and lo, a smoking furnace, and lamps of fire, which passed through between those pieces," this signifies that at the end of the world the carnal shall be judged by fire.For just as the affliction of the city of God, such as never was before, which is expected to take place under Antichrist, was signified by Abraham's horror of great darkness about the going down of the sun, that is, when the end of the world draws nigh,--so at the going down of the sun, that is, at the very end of the world, there is signified by that fire the day of judgment, which separates the carnal who are to be saved by fire from those who are to be condemned in the fire.And then the covenant made with Abraham particularly sets forth the land of Canaan, and names eleven tribes in it from the river of Egypt even to the great river Euphrates.It is not then from the great river of Egypt, that is, the Nile, but from a small one which separates Egypt from Palestine, where the city of Rhinocorura is.
CHAP.25.--OF SARAH'S HANDMAID, HAGAR, WHOM SHE HERSELF WISHED TO BEABRAHAM'S
CONCUBINE.
And here follow the times of Abraham's sons, the one by Hagar the bond maid, the other by Sarah the free woman, about whom we have already spoken in the previous book.As regards this transaction, Abraham is in no way to be branded as guilty concerning this concubine, for he used her for the begetting of progeny, not for the gratification of lust; and not to insult, but rather to obey his wife, who supposed it would be solace of her barrenness if she could make use of the fruitful womb of her handmaid to supply the defect of her own nature, and by that law of which the apostle says, "Likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife,"(3) could, as a wife, make use of him for childbearing by another, when she could not do so in her own person.Here there is no wanton lust, no filthy lewdness.
The handmaid is delivered to the husband by the wife for the sake of progeny, and is received by the husband for the sake of progeny, each seeking, not guilty excess, but natural fruit.And when the pregnant bond woman despised her barren mistress, and Sarah, with womanly jealousy, rather laid the blame of this on her husband, even then Abraham showed that he was not a slavish lover, but a free begetter of children, and that in using Hagar he had guarded the chastity of Sarah his wife, and had gratified her will and not his own,--had received her without seeking, had gone in to her without being attached, had impregnated without loving her,--for he says, "Behold thy maid is in thy hands: do to her as it pleaseth thee;"(4) a man able to use women as a man should,--his wife temperately, his handmaid compliantly, neither intemperately!
CHAP.26.--OF GOD'S ATTESTATION TO ABRAHAM, BY WHICH HE ASSURES HIM, WHEN NOW OLD, OF A SON BY THE BARREN SARAH, AND APPOINTS HIM THE FATHER OF THE NATIONS, ANDSEALS HIS FAITH IN THE PROMISE BY THE SACRAMENT OF CIRCUMCISION.
After these things Ishmael was born of Hagar; and Abraham might think that in him was fulfilled what God had promised him, saying, when he wished to adopt his home-born servant, "This shall not be thine heir: but he that shall come forth of thee, he shall be thine heir."(2) Therefore, lest he should think that what was promised was fulfilled in the handmaid's son, "when Abram was ninety years old and nine, God appeared to him, and said unto him, I am God; be well-pleasing in my sight, and be without complaint, and I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will fill thee exceedingly."(2)Here there are more distinct promises about the calling of the nations in Isaac, that is, in the son of the promise, by which grace is signified, and not nature; for the son is promised from an old man and a barren old woman.For although God effects even the natural course of procreation, yet where the agency of God is manifest, through the decay or failure of nature, grace is more plainly discerned.And because this was to be brought about, not by generation, but by regeneration, circumcision was enjoined now, when a son was promised of Sarah.And by ordering all, not only sons, but also home-born and purchased servants to be circumcised, he testifies that this grace pertains to all.For what else does circumcision signify than a nature renewed on the putting off of the old? And what else does the eighth day mean than Christ, who rose again when the week was completed, that is, after the Sabbath? The very names of the parents are changed: all things proclaim newness, and the new covenant is shadowed forth in the old.For what does the term old covenant imply but the concealing of the new? And what does the term new covenant imply but the revealing of the old?
The laughter of Abraham is the exultation of one who rejoices, not the scornful laughter of one who mistrusts.And those words of his in his heart, "Shall a son be born to me that am an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?"are not the words of doubt, but of wonder.And when it is said, "And I will give to thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land in which thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession," if it troubles any one whether this is to be held as fulfilled, or whether its fulfilment may still be looked for, since no kind of earthly possession can be everlasting for any nation whatever, let him know that the word translated everlasting, by our writers is what the Greeks term <greek>ai?w?nion</greek>, which is derived from <greek>ai?w?n</greek>, the Greek for soeculum, an age.But the Latins have not ventured to translate this by secular, test they should change the meaning into something widely different.For many things are called secular which so happen in this world as to pass away even in a short time; but what is termed <greek>ai?wnion</greek>
either has no end, or lasts to the very end of this world.
CHAP.27.--OF THE MALE, WHO WAS TO LOSE HIS SOUL IF HE WAS NOT CIRCUMCISEDON THE