parashat vayera God's Loophole
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The Torah portion read in synagogues around the world this week is parashat vayera. Parashat vayera runs from Genesis chapter 18 to the end of chapter 22. In parashat vayera God begins to make good on his promise to make Avraham father of many Gentiles. In the previous parasha God chooses Avraham to be the ancestor of every human being with a part in the plan of salvation. Now in parashat vayera we have issues over Avraham’s heritage. Avraham’s heritage is contested. In parashat vayera it becomes apparent that God has not only chosen Avraham to be our father, but God has also chosen Sara to be our mother. Genesis 21:1-13
“Then HaShem visited Sara as he had said. And HaShem did to Sara as he had spoken. Sara conceived and bore Avraham a son of his old age, at the time of which God had spoken. And Avraham called the name of his son who had been born to him, which Sara bore him, Yitzchaq. Avraham circumcised his son Yitzchaq when he was eight days old as God commanded him. Now Avraham was the son of one hundred years when his son Yitzchaq was born to him. Sara said, ‘God has made me laughter, everybody who hears will laugh with me.’ She also said, ‘Who would have said to Avraham, Sara nurses children? For I have born a son of his old age!’ And the boy grew and was weaned and Avraham made a big party on the day Yitzchaq was weaned. Now Sara saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian whom she had born to Avraham making laughter. She told Avraham, ‘Divorce that maidservant and her son, because the son of that maidservant will not inherit with my son, with Yitzchaq.’ And the thing was very evil in the sight of Avraham, due to the circumstances of his son. And God said to Avraham, ‘Do not let it be evil in your eyes on account of the young man and on account of your maidservant. Whatever Sara says to you, listen to her voice, for in Yitzchaq seed shall called for you. The son of the maidservant I will also make a Gentile, for he is your seed.”
The story of our Torah is not only what it literally says, but how God’s people have engaged the story and struggled with the story during their walk with him. Nobody reads a bare-bones Bible. Even during the time the 2nd temple stood, Israel already read a pre-interpreted Bible. For better or for worse, that previous understanding influences the way each successive generation hears the story.
The next chapter, Genesis 22, begins abruptly, “And it came about after these things that God tested Avraham.” The story that follows is the one where God calls Avraham to offer his son Yitzchaq up as an ascending offering. But the Torah doesn’t spell out what “these things” were or what they might have to do with God’s strange demand. Ancient readers had their own idea about “these things” that transpired between Avraham’s divorce and his binding his son on the altar.
I’m going to read Genesis 22 verse 1 from the Aramaic translation known to us as Targum pseudo-Yonatan. The translation turns a short verse into a long story. Instead of just, “And it came about after these things that God tested Avraham,” this is how 1st century synagogue worshipers heard the simultaneous translation in Aramaic when the Torah was read in Hebrew.
“And it came about after these things, after Yitzchaq and Yishmael had quarreled. Yishmael was saying, ‘I deserve to inherit my father since I’m his firstborn.’ Yitzchaq said, ‘I deserve to inherit my father since I’m the son of Sara his wife and you’re the son of Hagar my mother’s maidservant.’ Yishmael answered, ‘I’m more righteous than you since I was circumcised as a thirteen-year-old. Had I wanted to delay I wouldn’t have surrendered my soul to be circumcised. But you were only eight days old when you were circumcised. If you had had a mind of your own, perhaps you wouldn’t have surrendered your soul to be circumcised.’ Yitzchaq answered, ‘Behold, today I’m thirty-seven years old. Should the Holy One blessed be He desire every member of my body, I would not delay.’ Immediately, these things were heard by the Lord of the universe, and immediately the mamre of HaShem tested Avraham.”
According to Genesis 21:9, Yishmael was a boy of thirteen making laughter over the new baby. “Making laughter” is actually a pun on the baby’s name: mtzacheq, Yitzchaq. But in Genesis 22:1 they’re now big boys; Yishmael is fifty and Yitzchaq is thirty-seven. The Aramaic translation has turned sibling rivalry into a theological quarrel over who is more righteous. Yishmael claims that non-Jewish men who voluntarily undergo circumcision as adults are more righteous than Jewish men who never have any say in the matter.
Now the Apostle Shaul has a problem with the congregation he’s planted in Galatia, which has been infiltrated by synagogue Gentiles who’ve undergone adult male circumcision. They’re claiming that Yeshua’s call in and of itself is insufficient to bring the Gentiles to the God of Avraham. They’re claiming that truly righteous Gentiles must still undergo adult male circumcision. They’re claiming that in order to be included in all Father Avraham’s blessings, Gentiles must still become Jews just the same as it was before Jesus inaugurated the world to come. They’re claiming this is still the only designated way of joining God’s family.
Guess what story the Apostle Shaul is going to preach on? Yishmael is the perfect story. By bringing in Yishmael, the Apostle Shaul warns that circumcision doesn’t cut it. Yishmael was circumcised and Yishmael was the son of Avraham, but Yishmael was a slave and Yishmael was a Gentile. Israel’s inheritance comes through Mother Sara. And of course, the Apostle Shaul is going to access the synagogue version of the story, the version where Yishmael brags he’s more righteous because he underwent circumcision as an adult. That version fits what he wants to say even better. Galatians 4:21-5:4.
“Tell me, those who want to be under Torah, don’t you listen to the Torah? For it is written that Avraham had two sons, one of the slave woman and one of the free woman. But the one of slave woman was born according to the flesh, while the one of the free woman by promise. These matters are to be interpreted allegorically. For these [women] are two covenants, one from Mt Sinai, who gives birth to slavery. She is Hagar (for Sinai is a mountain in Arabia). She corresponds in the column opposite the present Jerusalem, for she slaves with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, who is our mother. For it is written, ‘Rejoice, O sterile woman who does not bear, sing and shout, you who does not go into labor! For many are the children of the desolate woman, more than the one having a husband.’ [Isaiah 54:1] But we, brothers, are children by promise according to Yitzchaq. But just as the one born according to flesh persecuted the one according to spirit, so also now. But what says Scripture? “Divorce the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son” [Genesis 21:10] of the free woman! Consequently, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. For freedom Mashiach has set us free. Stand fast then, and do not again submit to the yoke of slavery. Look here, I, Shaul say to you that if you undergo circumcision, Mashiach will profit you nothing. Again I testify that every person who undergoes circumcision is indebted to perform the entire Torah. You who are trying to have righteousness by Torah are nullified from Mashiach; you are fallen from grace!”
Shaul’s allegory of Hagar and Sara has been almost universally misinterpreted. The earliest Christian on record to interpret Galatians 4 was Marcion in the early 2nd century. Marcion went about his interpretation by changing the Bible. Marcion changed Galatians 4:25-26 to,
“She is Hagar (for Sinai is a mountain in Arabia). She corresponds to the present Jerusalem, the synagogue of the Jews, for she slaves with her children. But the Jerusalem above, the holy church, is free, who is our mother.”
Marcion’s contemporaries didn’t accept his changes to the Bible, but for the most part they did accept his interpretation. Hagar supposedly represents the synagogue, while Sara supposedly represents the church. To this day this has been the most popular interpretation of the Hagar/Sara allegory.
Another common interpretation is that Hagar represents law, while Sara represents grace. Another common interpretation is that Hagar represents the old covenant while Sara represents the new covenant. Among Christians you’ll still hear these explanations.
Historically, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to claim that the Apostle Shaul was lecturing the Galatians on the church versus the synagogue. During the time of the Apostle Shaul “the church” was still the synagogue! Old and new covenants doesn’t fit the bill particularly well either, because in Shaul’s elaboration of his allegory the two covenants are simultaneous, not sequential.
What was the situation that Shaul was addressing? Shaul is addressing Gentiles who’ve been hanging around the synagogue, but without completely renouncing idolatrous society. Culturally, and in some sense spiritually, they’re still pagans. But these Gentiles also owe a great deal to the synagogue. In synagogue they’ve learned to pray and comport themselves at a minimal standard of biblical decency. In synagogue they’ve recently learned about Jesus’ love. But certain persons are urging these synagogue Gentiles to continue with full conversion to Judaism by undergoing circumcision. The Apostle Shaul responds that the old route of joining God’s family has been shut down.
The Apostle Shaul discusses the former status of the persons comprising the Galatian congregation in terms of curse [Galatians 3:10-14], in terms of sin [Galatians 3:19-22], and in terms of slavery to false gods. In this presentation I’ll limit myself to his discussion of slavery to false gods.
In Galatians 4:3 Shaul, speaking in the first person plural to identify with his Gentiles, remarks on their former servitude.
“Thus we also, when we were children, were enslaved by the cosmic elements.”
In verses 8 and 9 Shaul again speaks of the Gentiles’ former servitude.
“But indeed when you did not know God, you slaved for those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God, or rather you are known by God, how is it you again revert to the weak and impotent elements to whom you wish to be enslaved again?”
In Colossians 2:20 also Shaul speaks of the Gentiles’ former submission to the cosmic elements.
“If you have died with Mashaich from the cosmic elements, why do you submit to regulation as though you lived in the world?”
In Galatians 5:1 Shaul speaks of the Galatians’ former servitude.
“Do not again submit to the yoke of slavery!”
The Apostle Shaul is warning the Galatians about reverting to their pagan past. Like the wild branches who’ve been grafted into the Israel olive tree over in Romans 11, Shaul warns the Gentiles that their new status is in jeopardy. Adopted sons and daughters of Sara can revert to slave sons and daughters of Hagar.
Ancient Judaism understood that God’s sovereignty over his creation was expressed in two different ways. Over his own people Israel, God’s sovereignty was personal, direct, liberating, and life-giving. Over the Gentiles, God’s sovereignty was indirect. He ruled the Gentiles through the mediation of angels and cosmic elements. The angels and cosmic elements didn’t rule the Gentiles particularly well. They enslaved the Gentiles. This ancient understanding of God’s sovereignty is based on two passages in the Book of Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 4:19-20 teaches that the Gentiles were given over to serve the sun, the moon, and stars, and that Israel alone had been chosen to serve the true and living God.
“And lest you should lift up your eyes heavenward and you should see the sun, the moon, the stars, all the host of heaven. And you are compelled to sprawl to them and to serve them, whom HaShem your God has apportioned to all the peoples under all the heavens. But you, HaShem has taken and brought you out from the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be people to him, an inheritance as of this day.”
Deuteronomy 32:8, 9 has much the same idea in different words. Notice that in both passages in Deuteronomy the privilege of worshiping the true God is a matter of inheritance. This helps us understand why inheritance is such a big deal in the Apostolic Writings. In the thinking of 1st century Jews Israel has the right inheritance; non-Jews have the wrong inheritance. Deuteronomy 32:8, 9.
“When the Most High allocated the Gentiles their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. For the portion of HaShem is his people; Yaakov the portion of his inheritance.”
1st century Jews understood Deuteronomy to mean that God expects true worship only out of Israel. For the time being non-Jews are a write-off. God has allocated non-Jews a different inheritance than his own people. God has apportioned them to worship sun, moon, and stars. Psalm 82 dresses down the false gods for their misrule of the Gentiles. The Psalmist prays that someday HaShem will inherit the Gentiles. Someday HaShem will rule the Gentiles himself.
“A Psalm of Asaf. God stands among the assembly of El. Among the gods he judges. ‘For how long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Try the case of the needy and the orphan! Acquit the oppressed and the impoverished! Deliver the needy and the poor! Rescue them from the hand of the wicked!’ They have neither known nor understood. In darkness they walk about. All the foundations of the earth totter. ‘I say to you guys, You are gods; sons of the Most High everyone of you. Yet like humankind shall you die; like one of the government officials you shall fall.’ Rise, O God, judge the earth! For you shall inherit all the Gentiles.”
From these passages in the Hebrew Bible we understand when the Apostle Shaul teaches that the Gentiles who’d recently received Mashiach were once enslaved to the cosmic elements, he wasn’t saying anything startlingly new. Like many 1st century Jews, Shaul had been looking forward to the time when God would free the Gentiles to serve him directly. Shaul had been looking forward to the time when God would call the Gentiles to serve him as Gentiles, without the necessity of becoming Jews anymore. If you don’t pick up on this traditional Jewish hope for Gentile inclusion, you won’t make heads or tails out of the Sara/Hagar allegory in Galatians.
Deuteromomy 33:2 is another example of a long story from a short verse. Here, instead of the long story being incorporated in the translation, the long story remains in the department of preaching. Deuteronomy 33:2 simply says,
“HaShem came from Sinai, dawned from Se’ir for them, he appeared from Mt Paran and came from ten thousands of holiness from his right hand was the fire of law for them.”
But because Deuteronomy 33:2 describes God coming from the south, and lists mountains located within the territory of Yishmael (Se’ir, Paran), the Jewish legend grew that God had first offered his Torah to Yishmael before offering it to Israel. While God was on his way to Mt Sinai, so the story goes, he visited other mountains in the vicinity, and asked the locals whether they might be interested in what he held in his hand. I’m reading the version in the Mikhilta.
“Therefore the nations of the world were appealed to, in order that they might not have excuse to open their mouth and claim, ‘If only we had been appealed to, we already would have accepted.’ But, you see, they were appealed to, and they didn’t accept, as it says, ‘HaShem came from Sinai, dawned from Se’ir for them, he appeared from Mt Paran and came from ten thousands of holiness’ [Deuteronomy 33:2]. He revealed himself to the children of the Wicked Esav. He asked them, ‘Will you accept the Torah?’ They asked, ‘What’s written in it?’ He told them, ‘You shall not commit murder.’ They replied, ‘But that’s our inheritance which we inherited from our father.’ As Scripture says regarding Esav, ‘By your sword you shall live’ [Genesis 27:40]. He revealed himself to the children of Ammon and Moav. He asked them, ‘Will you accept the Torah?’ They asked, ‘What’s written in it?’ He told them, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ They replied, ‘But we’re all children of adulterers!’ As Scripture says regarding Moab and Ammon, ‘The two daughters of Lot got pregnant by their father’ [Genesis 19:36]. He revealed himself to the children of Yishmael. He asked them, ‘Will you accept the Torah?’ They asked, ‘What’s written in it?’ He told them, ‘You shall not steal.’ They replied, ‘But that’s the blessing our father pronounced over us.’ As Scripture says regarding Yishmael, ‘He shall be an outlaw man, his hand shall be on everything’ [Genesis 16:12]. Yosef also testifies concerning the sons of Yishmael who brought him down to Egypt, ‘Indeed, I was stolen from the Land of the Hebrews’ [Genesis 40:15]. But when he came to Israel ‘from his right hand was the fire of law for them’ [Deuteronomy 33:2]. All of them opened their mouth and declared, ‘Everything which HaShem has spoken we will do and hear’ [Exodus 24:7]. Thus Scriptures says, ‘He stood and measured the earth, he looked and exempted the Gentiles’ [Habbakuk 3:6].” [Mkhilta, bachodesh yitro parasha 5]
That last phrase “he exempted the Gentiles” is the interpretation of a difficult verb in Habbakuk. The ancient Jewish interpretation that the Gentiles, particularly the children of Yishmael, rejected the Torah, explains why Gentiles and Torah don’t mix in the teaching of the Apostle Shaul.
The Gentiles at Galatia mistakenly suppose that by conforming to Torah standards or by adopting Israel’s behavior they can position themselves closer to the God of Israel. Non-Jews get caught in the spiritual trap of using Torah to work out their standing with God. But Torah is no good for working out a non-Jew’s standing with God. Righteousness is not by Torah. Torah was never meant for people who rejected God’s direct sovereignty at Sinai. Torah is only for people who God brought out of slavery in Egypt. Torah is only for the redeemed. Gentiles who slave under angels and cosmic elements aren’t yet among the redeemed. As the Mkhilta interprets Habbakuk 3:6, when the Gentiles refused God’s sovereignty, he exempted them from Torah.
Among the Gentiles, Torah actually has a negative function. The Apostle Shaul terms God’s indirect rule of the Gentiles being “under Torah.” The Torah never tells us how idolaters can turn to the true and living God; how people who once rejected God’s direct rule and were enslaved, can be freed. Without the direct relationship to God, Torah doesn’t work. Torah administrated indirectly by the cosmic elements and mediators produces death instead of life. Shaul again. Galatians 3:19-25.
“Why then the Torah? It was added for the sake of transgressions, until the Seed should come to whom the promise was made. It was administered by angels by the hand of a mediator. The mediator however, is not one [of a kind], but God is one. Is the Torah then contrary to the promises? Far from it! For if the Torah given had been able to give life, then standing with God would have been through Torah. But Scripture confined everything under sin in order that the promise should be given through the faithfulness of Yeshua Mashaich to those who are faithful. Prior to the coming of faithfulness, we were under guard by the Torah, confined until the future faithfulness was disclosed. Thus the Torah was our school escort until Mashiach, that we might have standing with God by faithfulness. Since the coming of faithfulness, we are no longer subject to a school escort.”
It’s critical to understand that the Apostle Shaul’s “we” in Galatians 3 is not a personal “we” or autobiographical “we.” As an observant Jew, the Apostle Shaul was never “under Torah,” never “under guard by the Torah,” never “confined” or “subjected.” The apostle Shaul was never enslaved to the cosmic elements. The Apostle Shaul always freely served the God of Israel, both before and after he met Jesus. The Apostle Shaul says “we” in order to identify with his Gentile audience. We should never imagine that the Torah had a negative function for faithful Jews. From the day Israel willing accepted God’s gracious offer to be his kingdom of priests, the gift of his Torah has always been a blessing. For Jews Torah has always been positive. But prior to the coming of Mashiach, Torah operated differently for Gentiles than for Jews. We’re now in a position to understand the Sara/Hager allegory. As Shaul says,
“For these [women] are two covenants, one from Mt Sinai, who gives birth to slavery. She is Hagar (for Sinai is a mountain in Arabia). She corresponds in the column opposite the present Jerusalem, for she slaves with her children.”
Sara is the covenant of freedom, the spiritual situation of those whose ancestors accepted God’s direct sovereignty. Their yoke is the yoke of God’s kingdom. For the sons of Sara, circumcision is the sign of God’s promise. Their male member is a sign they’re already members of God’s family.
Hagar is the covenant of slavery, the spiritual situation of people whose ancestors rejected God’s direct sovereignty at Sinai. Their yoke is the yoke of servitude to false gods. Circumcision doesn’t really help the sons of Hagar. They’re just Gentiles missing a bit of skin!
What probably has thrown most Christian readers off the track here is that the Apostle Shaul says Hagar is from Mt Sinai. When most Christians think of Mt Sinai, they automatically think of the covenant God made with Israel. Christians then assume that Hagar in the allegory must represent Israel, or Israel’s covenant, or Israel’s Torah, or at least something Jewish.
Most Christian readers are unfamiliar with the ancient Jewish interpretation that Hagar is the mother of the Gentiles who rejected God’s covenant at Sinai. According to ancient Jewish interpretation, the descendants of Yishmael did receive a sort of Torah at Sinai, but it was Torah without a direct, personal relationship to God. The Torah which the Gentiles received provided them a certain moral awareness and responsibility, but it was administered by harsh angel mediators and cosmic elements. This Torah only served to confine them until Mashiach should bring them the blessings of Avraham and Sara’s inheritance. The Apostle Shaul compares this Torah for Gentiles to the slave in antiquity, who escorts rich kids to school to ensure they don’t get into trouble. Mashiach brings the Gentiles into a direct, personal relationship to the God of Israel, so they no longer need mediators, administrators, a school-escort, or a second-rate Torah. Galatians 3:23-25 again.
“Prior to the coming of faithfulness, we were under guard by the Torah, confined until the future faithfulness was disclosed. Thus the Torah was our school escort until Mashiach, that we might have standing with God by faithfulness. Since the coming of faithfulness, we are no longer subject to a school escort.”
Another feature which has thrown Christian readers off the track is the verb sustoice,w in Galatians 4:25. This verb unfortunately occurs nowhere else in all the Bible. But the verb sustoice,w, which literally means “to columnize,” was used by ancient orators in the sense of comparing two lists in two separate columns, so we have some idea what it’s about. Deciphering the Hagar/Sara allegory is a matter of figuring out which items go in the “Hagar column” and which items go in the “Sara column.”
Yishmael obviously goes in the “Hagar column,” Yitzchaq obviously goes in the “Sara column.” Yishmael is born according to the flesh, that goes in the “Hagar column,” Yitzchaq is born according to the promise, that goes in the “Sara column.” Slavery goes in the “Hagar column,” freedom goes in the “Sara column.” That much is pretty straightforward.
The question comes with “the present Jerusalem” and “the Jerusalem above.” Most readers put the present Jerusalem in the “Hagar column” and the Jerusalem above in the “Sara column.” But this identification creates two problems.
Problem number one, the “Hagar column” already has Mt Sinai for a location, so if we also put Jerusalem in the “Hagar column,” the “Hagar column” has two locations. In what sense would Hagar be both Mt Sinai and Jerusalem? If this is what the Apostle Shaul meant, he doesn’t help us sort it out.
Problem number two, is that in ancient Jewish texts, Jerusalem below and Jerusalem above are never contrary. Instead, the two Jerusalems are always complimentary. The two Jerusalems are two aspects of the same reality. Jerusalem below reflects Jerusalem above. Jerusalem above illuminates Jerusalem below. If the Apostle Shaul meant to pit the two Jerusalems against each other, he doesn’t explain what such an opposition might entail.
For these two reasons I want to suggest that both Jerusalems go in the “Sara column.” The syntax of the Greek allows for this possibility. If both Jerusalems go in the “Sara column,” the allegory makes perfect sense.
“For it is written that Avraham had two sons, one of the slave woman and one of the free woman. But the one of slave woman was born according to the flesh, while the one of the free woman by promise. These matters are to be interpreted allegorically. For these [women] are two covenants, one from Mt Sinai, who gives birth to slavery. She is Hagar (for Sinai is a mountain in Arabia). She corresponds in the column opposite the present Jerusalem, for she slaves with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, who is our mother. For it is written, ‘Rejoice, O sterile woman who does not bear, sing and shout, you who does not go into labor! For many are the children of the desolate woman, more than the one having a husband.’ But we, brothers, are children by promise according to Yitzchaq.”
If Mother Sarah has more children than Mother Hagar, it’s because Jesus is calling the Gentiles from the “Hagar column” into the “Sara column.” Hagar doesn’t have fewer children because she was a bad person. Hagar was honored to become the mother of a wonderful group of people. As we read in Genesis 21:13 God promised Avraham,
“The son of the maidservant I will also make a Gentile, for he is your seed.”
Hagar simply was not chosen to be the mother of the promised son.
What solution is the Apostle Shaul suggesting to the Galatians? How do synagogue Gentiles really get in on Avraham’s inheritance? God has promised Avraham that he will inherit the whole world, at least according to Romans 4:13. In Mashiach, God has opened the way for Gentile inclusion among the promised children. Gentiles are accepted into a right relationship with God on the basis of Mashiach’s faithfulness. For non-Jews God bypasses Mt Sinai, bypasses his covenant with Israel, and bypasses his own Torah. God creates a legal loophole. Non-Jews are the exception. Non-Jews are that special in his sight. If you’re non-Jewish, he’s made an exception just for you. Between you and me, I’d highly recommend that you take immediate advantage of this exceptional provision.
What solution is the Apostle Shaul suggesting for his opponents who insist on adult male circumcision in order to get in on Avraham’s inheritance?
“Divorce the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son!”
Shaul is saying, “Throw them out of the house, they don’t belong in this family!” In chapter 5 verse 12 Shaul adds, “And I hope the knife slips!” The Torah forbids males with mutilated genitals to enter the congregation of HaShem [Deuteronomy 23:1]. A botched circumcision will permanently exclude you from the congregation. Shaul is saying these troublemakers don’t belong in the congregation. The Apostle Shaul’s Letter to the Galatians is not an attack on the synagogue, not an attack on Israel’s covenant, not an attack on Israel’s circumcision, not an attack on Israel’s Torah. It’s an attack on the troublemakers in Galatia.
The Apostle Shaul has only positive things to say about Jewish circumcision. In Romans 3 he says circumcision is of “much advantage in every respect.” In Acts 16 Shaul provides an example by himself circumcising Timothy, the son of a Jewish mother. In Acts 21 Shaul was accused of teaching Diaspora Jews not to circumcise their boys, but the apostles do their best to help him dispel this slanderous accusation. But as ardently as he supports Jewish circumcision, he passionately opposes Gentile circumcision. The only circumcision that counts with God is performed on a Jewish boy. Others need not apply.
Last week in parashat lekh lkha we learned the importance of becoming a descendant of Father Avraham. This week in parashat vayera we learn the importance of becoming a descendant of Mother Sara. Yo’ Momma is just as important as yo’ Daddy.
If Avraham isn’t your natural father, not to worry, Mashiach will make Avraham your supernatural father. If Sara isn’t your natural mother, not to worry, Mashiach will make Sara your supernatural mother. Even Hagar’s children can all be adopted as Sara’s children. After all, Sara’s children have always been supernatural children. Supernatural birth is not a problem for God. As God promised Avraham earlier in our parasha,
“Can anything be too wonderful for God? At the appointment I shall return to you, at the time of life, and Sara will have a son.” [Genesis 18:14]
shabbat shalom.
