23 But he
who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, 24
which things are symbolic. For these are [a]the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar— 25 for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children—
I like how Paul describes this, calling them symbolic covenants. Because these covenants have not really been made by God and defined, but are understood in the message conveyed by Paul about the calling of God towards some people and not other people. The calling of God to be saved is by election according to promise, that God's people are as Isaac was, children of promise, that promise came from God as it was naturally impossible for Abraham and Sarah to have a son, both old enough to be as good as dead. But God made His promise, that Sarah would have a son and she did, and it was of God, supernatural, and not according to the flesh. And God promised Abraham this too,
Genesis 15:4-6
New King James Version
4 And behold, the word of the Lord
came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” 5 Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
6 And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are many symbolic messages coming from the Father in apocalyptic writings in scripture, which some interpret too literally!
They get hung up on the book of Revelation, Zechariah a lot, while ignoring Christ's teachings and the apostles' doctrines about the same things, then they prefer to read them literally and believe that, even when contrary to the same words from Christ and the apostles, which don't say any such things.