Galatians 4:25 – in alignment

Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. It is on a par with present-day Jerusalem, for it is in bondage with her children.

Hagar, according to Paul, is the model for Mount Sinai, which in turn is “on par with present-day Jerusalem”. This is a good example of associative thinking. That is a type of thinking that connects subjects that are completely unrelated. The slave girl Hagar and Mount Sinai and present-day Jerusalem in themselves have nothing to do with each other. And yet Paul puts them “in line.” What is that one line?

Paul is talking about a line that connects different (parallel) lines. The common denominator between the subjects is ‘slavery’. Hagar is a type of Mount Sinai because both produced “slaves.” With Hagar it is clear because she was literally a slave. Mount Sinai, on the other hand, as the emblem of the law, figuratively produces slaves (4:1-5). And “the Jerusalem present” that seeks to preserve this old covenant of the law is therefore on a par with Sinai and Hagar. She represents Judaism which to this day is averse to “the Son of the promise”…

Delen: