The Bondwoman and the Free Woman: Two Covenants and the Heir of Promise
Old Testament: Genesis 21:9-10
And when Sara had seen the son of Agar the Egyptian playing with Isaac her son, she said to Abraham: Cast out this bondwoman, and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.
Old Testament, also: Isaias 54:1
Give praise, O thou barren, that bearest not: sing forth praise, and make a joyful noise, thou that didst not travail with child: for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her that hath a husband, saith the Lord.
New Testament: Galatians 4:22-24, 26-27, 30
For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, and the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman, was born according to the flesh: but he of the free woman, was by promise. Which things are said by an allegory. For these are the two testaments. The one from mount Sina, engendering unto bondage; which is Agar... But that Jerusalem, which is above, is free: which is our mother... For it is written: Rejoice, thou barren, that bearest not: break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her that hath a husband... But what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son; for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman.
The connection
Paul does not leave this figure to be found; he names it: "Which things are said by an allegory. For these are the two testaments" (Galatians 4:24). Abraham had two sons, "the one by a bondwoman, and the other by a free woman" (Galatians 4:22). Agar, the bondwoman, is "mount Sina, engendering unto bondage", the covenant of the Law; Sara, the free woman, is "that Jerusalem, which is above", "which is our mother" (Galatians 4:24, 26). Ismael was "born according to the flesh", Isaac "by promise" (Galatians 4:23), and "we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise" (Galatians 4:28). Then Paul quotes the sentence Sara spoke at Isaac's weaning as Scripture's own verdict: "Cast out the bondwoman and her son; for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman" (Galatians 4:30; Genesis 21:10). In the middle of the allegory Paul sets Isaias: "Give praise, O thou barren, that bearest not... for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her that hath a husband" (Isaias 54:1; Galatians 4:27). Sara was the barren one, laughed at and past hope, and she became the mother of the promise; the heavenly Jerusalem, childless in the eyes of the world, bears more children than the city that seemed to have everything. Augustine takes Paul's reading as the key to both covenants: "This interpretation of the passage, handed down to us with apostolic authority, shows how we ought to understand the Scriptures of the two covenants, the old and the new", and Agar and her son "were an image of this image" (City of God XV.2).
Moral sense
The two women live in one soul. The bondwoman is the spirit that serves God as a slave serves, from fear, reckoning what is owed; the free woman is the spirit of a child who lives by promise and inherits. Paul names both: "you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear; but you have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry: Abba (Father)" (Romans 8:15). The son of the flesh does not live quietly beside the son of the promise. Augustine sees it in Ismael's play at the weaning feast: "That playing was a mocking; that playing signified deception... The apostle calls it persecution", and he names the two sons as two loves: "Who are born after the flesh? Lovers of the world, lovers of this life. Who are born after the Spirit? Lovers of the kingdom of heaven, lovers of Christ, men that long for eternal life, that worship God freely" (Tractates on John 11.12). So the command stands against the servile spirit and the flesh within: cast them out, and do not share the inheritance with them. "Stand fast, and be not held again under the yoke of bondage" (Galatians 5:1). Freedom is not licence; Paul closes that door at once: "make not liberty an occasion to the flesh, but by charity of the spirit serve one another" (Galatians 5:13). The free son still serves, from love.
Anagogical sense
The free woman's city is not built on earth. "That Jerusalem, which is above, is free: which is our mother" (Galatians 4:26), and the Church is named by that very title: "The Church, further, which is called 'that Jerusalem which is above' and 'our mother', is described as the spotless spouse of the spotless lamb" (CCC 757). John sees her arrive at the end: "the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (Apocalypse 21:2). The barren woman's song is fulfilled there, in children past counting, and the inheritance the bondwoman's son could not share is given whole to the children of promise.
The Fathers
St Augustine, City of God XV.2: "This interpretation of the passage, handed down to us with apostolic authority, shows how we ought to understand the Scriptures of the two covenants, the old and the new." St John Chrysostom, Commentary on Galatians 4:24: "Contrary to usage, he calls a type an allegory; his meaning is as follows; this history not only declares that which appears on the face of it, but announces somewhat farther." St Augustine, Tractates on John 11.12: "Who are born after the flesh? Lovers of the world, lovers of this life. Who are born after the Spirit? Lovers of the kingdom of heaven, lovers of Christ, men that long for eternal life, that worship God freely."
Warrant
Scriptural because the New Testament names the figure itself: Galatians 4:24 calls the history an allegory, in the Latin per allegoriam dicta and in the Greek allegoroumena, and reads the two women as the two covenants. Chrysostom explains the word: "Contrary to usage, he calls a type an allegory; his meaning is as follows; this history not only declares that which appears on the face of it, but announces somewhat farther" (Commentary on Galatians 4:24). Galatians 4:30 quotes Genesis 21:10 almost word for word, Ejice ancillam ... et filium ejus in both, dropping only 'this' (hanc) and changing "my son Isaac" to "the son of the free woman"; Galatians 4:27 quotes the Septuagint of Isaias 54:1 word for word. The allegory is of two covenants, not two peoples, and the moral sense is read inward.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 757.
The verses
Genesis 21:9 · Genesis 21:10 · Isaias 54:1 · Galatians 4:22 · Galatians 4:23 · Galatians 4:24 · Galatians 4:26 · Galatians 4:27 · Galatians 4:30
