Galatians 4:24-25 24These things may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.
Paul makes his interpretive method clear in v. 24. Allegorical interpretation is when parts of a story have deeper meaning than the literal or surface meaning. Paul lists several comparisons in these verses: Hagar, Jerusalem, the son of slavery, and the covenant of Sinai. He compares Hagar and Sarah to two different covenants. Hagar is the focus of vv. 24-25 and represents the covenant on Mount Sinai. This is a reference to the laws given to Moses during the exodus from Egypt in Exodus 20. These laws enslaved Israel because of the problem of sin. Israel could not follow the laws because they followed the way of idolatry and immorality, represented in the act of forming the golden calf in Exodus 32. Although the law is holy, righteous, and good, it still becomes a trap because it allows the sinful nature to draw people away from faith in God in fulfillment of the lusts of the flesh.
This was the problem the Jews of Paul’s day were experiencing. He identifies this as the slavery of Jerusalem and those who lived in it. It is possible and likely that the opponents in Galatia had originated from Jerusalem and represented the type of Jewish Christians who caused Paul problems in his visit mentioned in ch. 2. Jerusalem becomes symbolic for those who are caught up in works of the law, which lead to the trap of legalism. The Jews were trying to be righteous by their own efforts to obey the law given to Moses on Mount Sinai. Paul wants the Galatians to realize that the issue is much deeper than circumcision or any other law. The deep issue is one of sovereignty and who will be in control: Jesus or self. Where will one place one’s faith, in what Jesus did not the cross or in one’s ability to keep a set of laws or pious practices?
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