Readers Guide: “The Word for Today” Saturday, September 15, 2012 Read – Genesis 15 & 16 The idea of God making covenant with human beings is an important part of the biblical story. We have already heard of one covenant – the covenant God made with Noah and his descendants that God would never again destroy the earth as God had done in the flood. Here the covenant is with Abraham and his descendants that God would create a great people of promise out of Abraham through whom God will bless and redeem the whole world. But the covenant promise God makes seems always to be challenged and threatened. Here the threat is that Abraham has no children and the possibility that he will ever have children is unlikely since his wife Sarah is barren. Abraham is known as a man of faith; however, his humanity comes rushing to the forefront of the story in his and Sarah’s response to their childlessness. Abraham does not trust God’s promise. He and Sarah takes things into their own hands – similar to Adam and Eve’s choice – and a son named Ishmael is born. But Ishmael is not the son through whom God’s promise will be fulfilled. The struggle between God and a fallen humanity is pervasive in the story. God does not abandon Ishmael – God abandons no human beings on this earth, something worth our remembering. But it is also through Ishmael that a rival people will descend. Those who follow the Islamic faith trace their heritage through Ishmael. Human beings certainly do complicate the story don’t they?