Galatians 4:24

Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. WHICH THINGS, [ hatina (G3748)] - the which things; all which things; all the circumstances of the history. ARE AN ALLEGORY - `are allegorical;' i:e., have another besides the literal meaning. THESE ARE THE TWO COVENANTS - `these (women) are (i:e., mean. Omit "the," with A B C Delta G. But 'Aleph (') has it) two covenants.' As the bondage of the mother determined that of the child, the children of the free covenant of promise, answering to Sarah, are free; the children of the legal covenant of bondage (Hagar) are not so. ONE FROM - i:e., taking its origin from mount Sinai. Therefore, he is treating of the moral law ...

24._These are the two covenants_. I have thought it better to adopt this translation, in order not to lose sight of the beauty of the comparison; for Paul compares the two διαθὢκαι, to two mothers, and to employ _testamentum_, (a testament,) which is a neuter noun, for denoting a mother, would be harsh. The word_pactio _(a covenant) appears to be, on that account, more appropriate; and indeed the desire of obtaining perspicuity, as well as elegance, has led me to make this choice. (76) The comparison is now formally introduced. As in the house of Abraham there were two mothers, so are there also in the Church of God. Doctrine is the mother of whom we are born, and is twofold, Legal and Evangelical. The legal mother, whom Hagar resembles,_gendereth to bondage_. Sarah again, represents the second, which gendereth to freedom; though Paul begins higher, and

21-27 The difference between believers who rested in Christ only, and those who trusted in the law, is explained by the histories of Isaac and Ishmael. These things are an allegory, wherein, beside the literal and historical sense of the words, the Spirit of God points out something further. Hagar and Sarah were apt emblems of the two different dispensations of the covenant. The heavenly Jerusalem, the true church from above, represented by Sarah, is in a state of freedom, and is the mother of all believers, who are born of the Holy Spirit. They were by regeneration and true faith, made a part of the true seed of Abraham, according to the promise made to him....

Verse 24. _WHICH THINGS ARE AN ALLEGORY_] They are to be understood _spiritually_; more being intended in the account than meets the eye. _Allegory_, from αλλος, _another_, and αγορεω, or αγοπευω, _to speak_, signifies a _thing that is a representative of another_, where the _literal sense_ is the representative of a _spiritual_ _meaning_; or, as the glossary expresses it, ἑτερως κατα μεταφρασιν νοουμενα, και ου κατα την αναγνωσιν· "where the thing is to be understood differently in the interpretation than it appears in the reading." _Allegories_ are frequent in all countries, and are used by all writers. In the life of _Homer_, the author, speaking of the marriage of _Jupiter_ and _Juno_, related by that poet, says: δοκει ταυτα αλληγορεισθαι, ὁτι Ἡρα μεν νοειται ὁ αηρ-Ζευς δε, ὁ αιθηρ· "It appears that these things are to be understood _allegorically_; for Juno

WHICH THINGS - The different accounts of Ishmael and Isaac. ARE AN ALLEGORY - May be regarded allegorically, or as illustrating great principles in regard to the condition of slaves and freemen; and may therefore be used to illustrate the effect of servitude to the Law of Moses compared with the freedom of the gospel. He does not mean to say that the historical record of Moses was not true, or was merely allegorical; nor does he mean to say that Moses meant this to be an allegory, or that he intended that it should be applied to the exact purpose to which Paul applied it. No such design is apparent in the narrative of Moses, and it is evident that he had no such intention. Nor can it be shown that Paul means to be understood as saying that Moses had any such design, or that his account was not a record of a plain historical fact. Paul uses it as he would any other historical fact that wo...

EXPOSITION GALATIANS 4:1 NOW I SAY (λέγω δέ). A form of expression usual with the apostle when introducing a new statement designed either to explain or elucidate something before said (of. Galatians 3:17; Galatians 5:16; Romans 15:8, according to the Received Text; 1 Corinthians 1:12. So τοῦτο δέ φημι, 1 Corinthians 7:29;...

WHICH THINGS ARE AN ALLEGORY,.... Or "are allegorized": so Sarah and Hagar were allegorized by Philo the Jew p, before they were by the apostle. Sarah he makes to signify virtue, and Hagar the whole circle of arts and sciences, which are, or should be, an handmaid to virtue; but these things respecting Hagar and Sarah, the bondwoman and the free, and their several offspring, are much better allegorized by the apostle here. An allegory is a way of speaking in which one thing is expressed by another, and is a continued metaphor; and the apostle's meaning is, that these things point at some other things; have another meaning in them, a mystical and spiritual one, besides the literal; and which the Jews call מדרש, "Midrash", a name they give to the mystical and allegorical sense of Scripture, in which they greatly indulge themselves. An allegory is properly a fictitious way of speaking; but...

Galatians 4:1. _Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons._ Like little children, the Jewish believers were under the law. They observed this ceremony and that, just as children, even though they may be heirs to vast estates, yet, while they are in their minority, are under tutors and governors. But now in Christ we have come of age, and we have done with those school-books and that tutorship, and we have received the adoption of sons. Now, we have joy and peace in belie

AGAR Hagar....

CHAPTER 4 _ 1. Under the law in the state of minority. (Galatians 4:1)_ 2. The Son revealed to redeem. (Galatians 4:4) 3. Because ye are Sons; the Spirit of Sonship. (Galatians 4:6) 4. The backsliding Galatians. (Galatians 4:8) 5. The sons of the bondwoman and of the free woman. (Galatians 4:21) Jewish believers were, before Christ had died, the children of God, and as such they did not differ from servants. They were in a state of minority, as children who do not know the father's thoughts, nor cou