Abraham and his son Ishmael are both circumcised on that same day. The parallel — father and firstborn son, together, on the same day — marks a moment of covenant household unity. Whatever the complicated story of Hagar and Ishmael, Abraham stands with his son in the covenant sign on the same day. The family that will be divided in Genesis 21 is for this one day a unified household under the covenant sign. The application: covenant practice has a way of uniting what other dynamics divide. The act of participating in covenant signs together — whatever the other complications of family or community — creates a shared identity that is deeper than the complications.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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