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Genesis 17 · a question people ask

Abraham laughed at God's promise. Was it faith or doubt?

Interpretation

"Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, 'Will a child be born to him who is one hundred years old?'" (17:17). In this chapter God doesn't rebuke him, and he tells Abraham to call the son Isaac (17:19), a name Brown-Driver-Briggs glosses "he laugheth". Protestants read the laugh two ways.

How Christians read it

Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.

Amazed joy

He fell on his face, as he did when God first spoke to him in this chapter (17:3). And Paul says of Abraham, "Without being weakened in faith, he didn’t consider his own body… he didn’t waver through unbelief, but grew strong through faith" (Romans 4:19-20).

Genesis 17:3 · Romans 4:19-20

Honest disbelief

His question in his heart, and his plea for Ishmael instead (17:18), show him struggling to believe it. Sarah later laughs within herself at the same promise (18:12), and the LORD asks, "Why did Sarah laugh?" (18:13).

Genesis 17:17-18 · Genesis 18:12-13

The verses

“Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to him who is one hundred years old? Will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth?””
Genesis 17:17 · World English Bible
“God said, “No, but Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son. You shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.”
Genesis 17:19 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Genesis 17

Genesis 17: New names

After thirteen years Genesis passes over, God calls himself God Almighty for the first time, renames Abram and Sarai before the promise comes true, and gives the sign of circumcision to the whole household, men bought from foreigners included. The Bible's first use of the word laugh is Abraham's, and it becomes Isaac's name.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions