That is, this history not only narrates about this, but points to something else as well. Therefore it is also called an allegory. That was a figure of the present.
Gal. 4:24. This is two covenants: one from Mount Sinai, giving birth to bondage, which is Hagar,
Gal. 4:25. For Hagar means Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, because she is in bondage with her children;
"These." Which ones? These two wives allegorically represent the New and Old Testaments. In what way? Hagar represents the Old Testament. For the law was given from Mount Sinai. And Sinai is located in Arabia, and in the Arabic language it is called "Hagar." It corresponds to Jerusalem, that is, it is in the vicinity of, borders upon, or is likened to the earthly Jerusalem; it is compared with it, is transferred to it, since there is a resemblance between the two. Just as Hagar was a slave and bore children into slavery, so also the law, given from Mount Sinai, which is called Hagar and is likened to Jerusalem, bears into slavery those who hold to it. For in the law there is much that is unfree and slavish, because virtue too was grounded upon perishable reward — upon earthly blessings, I say — and the avoidance of evil was instilled through punishments and fear.
Gal. 4:26. But the Jerusalem above is free: she is the mother of us all.
In that is the type of Hagar. Look also at the type of Sarah; for she prefigured the heavenly Jerusalem. It is the city of believers, from which our law also comes: for the Gospel is from heaven. This city is free from the observances of the law, and everything in it is ordered freely and with noble dignity. For nothing among us is done for the sake of a visible reward, nor are we threatened with bodily punishments, but both the promises are more divine, and the punishments are befitting the noble — namely, excommunication from the mystical table and penances.
Gal. 4:27. For it is written: "Rejoice, O barren one, who does not bear; break forth and cry out, you who are not in labor; for the desolate one has many more children than she who has a husband."
He is not satisfied with these prefigurations, but refers to the testimony of Isaiah, who calls the church from the Gentiles barren and not having a husband; and indeed, she was deprived of the knowledge of God and childless, since she produced not a single prophet of God or teacher. And the Jewish synagogue he calls the one having a husband, either because she had the law, which guided her actions, or because she had God Himself.
"Shout" is used instead of "shout with a voice of joy," because you now have a multitude of children: both prophets and teachers and sons of God have come from you; you have given birth to the whole world, and not just one nation, like the Jewish synagogue.
Gal. 4:28. We, brethren, are children of promise, like Isaac.
Gal. 4:29. But, as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
The Church, he says, being barren like Sarah, not only became the mother of many children, as she did, but also gave birth in the same manner as she. Just as it was not nature but the promise that made her a mother (for He Who said, "I will return to you at this same time" (Gen. 18:10) entered the womb and formed the fruit), so also with us, as was said above, the divine words pronounced at baptism accomplish a new creation. Then, lest someone say: what kind of freedom is this, when the Jews scourge the believers, and those who think themselves free are subjected to persecution? — he says that it was the same way back then too. Ishmael persecuted Isaac, but nevertheless this in no way prevented the one being persecuted from being the lawful son of Abraham and the master of the one persecuting. Thus, from this very persecution of us by the Jews, our likeness to Isaac and our kinship with Abraham is revealed.
Gal. 4:30. What then does Scripture say? Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman.
Lest someone say: so what of it? Is it consoling for believers, who are now being persecuted by the Jews, that Isaac too was persecuted back then? – he says: listen to what Scripture says, and you will receive instruction: for the temporary persecution that Ishmael inflicted on Isaac, he is completely cast out. And as punishment he not only suffers banishment, but much more – he is deprived of participation in what has been prepared for the son. And this punishment is all the more severe because it has its origin not in the persecution, but in the decision and decree of God. Note also that the one who was not deemed worthy of the inheritance he called the son not of Abraham, but of the bondwoman, indicating that he is also of very lowly origin. So then, look, he has proven that the law itself points to its own abolition, since everything that was said, being a foreshadowing of what is now taking place, is written in the law, that is, in the books of the Old Testament.
Gal. 4:31. So then, brethren, we are children not of the bondwoman, but of the free woman.
All of this is directed toward showing that everything that has now happened to us was prefigured many years before. How then, after this, is it not strange, having received freedom so many years before, to voluntarily become slaves again?