Ishmael is thirteen years old when he is circumcised. The age of Ishmael — thirteen — is the age that Jewish tradition will later fix as the age of bar mitzvah, the age of religious majority. Whether the connection is deliberate or coincidental, Ishmael's circumcision at thirteen joins him to the covenant household even as the covenant itself will run specifically through Isaac. He is marked. He is included in the household's covenant sign. The prayer of Abraham in verse 18 is being answered in this act: Ishmael receives the covenant sign even as the covenant itself runs through another. The application: the inclusion of Ishmael in the covenant sign while the covenant specifics run through Isaac is a picture of God's generous care for the one who is not the central figure of the story. Secondary characters in God's story are not unimportant characters.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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