"From your own body..."

Genesis 15:1-4 says:

After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying,
"Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you;
Your reward shall be very great."
And Abram said,
"O lord GOD, what will THOU give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?"
And Abram said,
"Since thou has given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir."
Then behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying,
"This man will not be your heir, but one who shall come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir."

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The bold statement directly relates to marriage, and the literal meaning of "they shall become one flesh." (Gen. 2:24)

Since Abram's wife, Sarai, doubts that she will ever bear a child herself, she convinces Abram to have sex and impregnate one of her maids, so that God's promise might be carried out.

The maid is Hagar, and the son is Ishmael, and is indeed from Abram's son. So why then would God discount Ishmael as the son of promise, as a son not "from [his] own body"?

I believe the answer to this is multi-layered, but I believe that when God says that Abram will have a child "from your own body," he is not simply referring to Abram's body, but the "one flesh" body that was the married couple, Sarai and Abram.

God made good on his promise, and from Abram's "own flesh," that is to say, Him and his wife, Sarai has a child.

From that child was a line of offspring, some of whom men, some of them women; some prostitutes, and some kings, came Jesus, born without an earthly father, who had no sin of his own, but took on the sin of all people so that all might be reconciled to God and to each other in perfect love.

May God continue to strengthen marriage as he offers so often to strengthen it.

Sg