Before we
consider Jacob’s remarkable history, may I turn aside for a moment to Ishmael;
to one of those golden rays of God’s grace that lie hidden to the casual
reader. We know little of Ishmael. He was, perhaps, fifteen or sixteen when he
mocked at his little brother Isaac and so was the cause of his mother and
himself being turned out of his parental home to become homeless wanderers,
parched with thirst. You recall Hagar’s despair as she cast the lad under a
bush, and sat her down over against him a good way off: for she said, “Let me
not see the death of the child”; and she sat over against him and lift up her
voice and wept (Genesis 21:16).
And
what of the boy? He, too, evidently lifted up his voice: not to weep, but to
pray. He was to be a wild man (Genesis 16:12) and perhaps he was a “wild boy”,
but he had not lived all those years with his dear old father, without learning
something of the value of prayer. And indeed you remember his name means “Heard
of God”, Let us remember this, and bear in mind that Ishmael very likely was
jealous of the little boy who had, instead of himself, become “heir of all
things”; he would have been almost more than natural, had this not been so.
Remembering these things, it is peculiarly gratifying to find Ishmael with
Isaac burying his father (25:9). Surely we may see that God was working in his
heart.
Ishmael
and his mother may have suffered very severely on account of their expulsion
from that wealthy home of his childhood, and there was plenty of cause for
bitter repentance for his past sins. How exquisite it is, then, to find that
the name of Ishmael’s daughter Mahalath (28:9) means “FORGIVEN”! (see Dr.
Edersheim). That little girl was probably brought up in circumstances very
different to those surrounding her father’s childhood, and all on account of
his sin. But every time he looked at her, he was afresh reminded that all was
forgiven. There are many lovely names for children in the Old Testament
Scriptures; but I know none that surpass in beauty the name of Ishmael’s little
daughter “Mahalath”.
Nor
is this all. Did Ishmael’s heart sometimes ache that his children were brought
up in such a different home to the one he had enjoyed as a child? Through God’s
amazing grace, we find in Genesis 28:9 that this very daughter of Ishmael,
Mahalath, is as a bride, brought back to the very home that her father had lost
through his sin. To me, this is charming beyond words. Who can tell the worth
of that word “FORGIVEN”, but the one who had known something of its sweetness
through bitter experience of sin? But how doubly sweet, when restoration to the
place lost, follows the forgiveness. May Ishmael and Mahalath comfort and
encourage you, as they have already comforted and encouraged me! But even this
is not all. Esau and Mahalath had a little son whom they called Reuel. And
Reuel, we are told, means “The Fried of God.” This, you remember, is the lovely
name that Abraham, the babe’s great grandfather, bore; see James 2:23; Isaiah
41:8; II Chronicles 20:7. To me, it is very sweet that they chose this name for
their child.
The
pardon that caused Ishmael to call his little daughter “Forgiven”, has been
called “Restorative Forgiveness”, for it showed that the Great Shepherd had
restored his soul. The pardon that gave that daughter the very home he had lost
through sin, has been called “Governmental Forgiveness”: showing that God had
in His governmental dealings remitted to his child the punishment he has
suffered for his sin. There is a third pardon: a pardon that comes first to the
believer: God’s “Eternal Forgiveness.” It is well for us to understand that in
God’s dealings with His people, Pardon, or Forgiveness, must be looked at in
these three aspects. And may we not expect that inasmuch as Ishmael also was a
son of Abraham (See Luke 19:9) that he received Eternal Forgiveness, as well as
Restorative and Governmental? But although it seems that Ishmael received all
this grace from God: we need to remember that he was the grandfather of Amalek,
of whom “the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from
generation to generation.” We cannot lightly sin against God and His people
without very bitter fruits being the result.
Guilty! ‘Twas thus the verdict stood,
Guilty! Yes, Guilty before my God:
Guilty! In thought, and word, and deed:
Guilty! Guilty, Already condemned!
Guilty! Without a word to say,
Guilty! Without a cent to pay,
Guilty! And hopelessly out of the way,
Yes,
Guilty, Already condemned!
Pardoned! O joy!
So the document reads,
Pardoned! ‘Tis just what a guilty one needs,
Pardoned! My thoughts, my words, my deeds,
Pardoned! Pardoned by GOD Himself!
Pardoned! Although I had nothing to say,
Pardoned! Without a cent to pay,
Pardoned! Though hopelessly out of the way,
Yes, Pardoned by GOD Himself!