We are doing a lot of reading tonight! We’re skipping through several chapters of Genesis just to understand a single verse:
Sarah saw that [Ishmael] whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking (Genesis 21:9)
Whom was Ishmael mocking, and how, and for what reason?
We begin today’s story when Abram is 85, and his wife Sari is 75.
Genesis 16:1-12 [Note: "Ishmael" means “God hears”]
What sort of person would you expect Ishmael to turn out to be?
Now fast-forward ahead 14 years ...
Genesis 17:1-5,15-22
Notes:
"Abram" means “father of many”
"Abraham" means “father of many nations”
"Sarai" and "Sarah" both mean "princess"
"Isaac" means “he will laugh”
How many reasons can you give for Abraham laughing? How many are wrong or disrespectful?
Just a few days later, the Lord came to Abraham again ...
Genesis 18:10-15
How many reasons can you give for Sarah laughing? How many are wrong or disrespectful?
Finally, a year later ...
Genesis 21:1-10
Rabbi Daniel Lapin notes that laughter is a very human characteristic; no other animal truly laughs. “Laughter is a defining mark of humanity because only humans understand that there are norms in the universe” (Buried Treasure, p 46) ... and humor is the recognition that the norm, the expected, is out of whack! We say that Isaac (or yiTZCHaK in Hebrew) means “he will laugh.” However, the dark side of humor appears when evil ruptures the natural order of the universe; a miTZaCHeK is the one through whom this evil comes: the pervert; the sadistic brute; the wild donkey of a man. Whatever Sarah caught Ishmael doing, he was the miTZaCHeK, and she sent him as far away from her son as she could. Ancient Jewish tradition is that Sarah caught Ishmael committing the three gravest sins: idol worship; sexual immmorality; murder. Definitely not a laughing matter! Armed with what you now know, go back through these passages and look for more evidence of trouble to come. What do you find?
Two sons. Two pictures of TZCHK, a violation of the natural order of things. One, a blessing wrought by the Lord, prompts his parents to laughter. The second, a deviant, is destined to be no end of trouble. Lapin notes, “And should you ever find yourself doubting God, that He exists and that He loves us, the best proof that your doubts are unfounded is not the complicated theoretical proof in which theologians delight. It is the smile and laughter on the face of a newborn baby, and the joy it provokes in all who see it” (Buried Treasure, p 51).
A closing thought: “Laughter” (TZCHK) is related to a similarly-pronounced word for “sex” (SCHK). How many ways can laughter lead to sex, or sex lead to laughter?
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