Verse 25
Hagar represents the Mosaic Covenant made at Mount Sinai in Paul’s analogy (illustration). Her descendants represent the Israelites who lived in bondage under the Law. Sarah, not mentioned in Galatians 4:25, represents the Abrahamic Covenant, and her descendants are free, living under the promise.
The earliest identification of Mt. Sinai with Jebel Musa in the Sinai Peninsula, the most popular probable site, comes from the writing of Egeria in the fourth century A.D. Perhaps in Paul’s day the Sinai Peninsula was part of Arabia. [Note: Richard C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians to the Ephesians and to the Philippians, p. 239.] Another possibility is that the real Mt. Sinai was in ancient (and modern) Arabia, perhaps just east of the Gulf of Aqabah.
"Paul is apparently viewing Arabia as the land of Hagar’s descendants and the land of slaves; it was not the holy land that God gave Israel." [Note: Morris, p. 146.]
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