Genesis 16:1-5

2007.Apr.16 02:46

Dumb—-s in the Bible: Let the Contest Begin!

Read Genesis 16:1-5 Full Chapter

Abram’s wife Sarai had not been able to have any children. But she owned a young Egyptian slave woman named Hagar, and Sarai said to Abram, “The LORD has not given me any children. Sleep with my slave, and if she has a child, it will be mine.” Abram agreed, and Sarai gave him Hagar to be his wife. This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan for ten years. (Genesis 16:1-3, CEV)

Let’s get some timing set here. This event happens after Abram and Sarai have been in Canaan for ten years. “Abram was seventy-five years old when the LORD told him to leave the city of Haran” (Genesis 12:4, CEV), so he’s probably a few years beyond 85. Sarai is about nine years younger than her husband (Genesis 17:17), so she’s around 75. Hagar is “young”; she may have become Sarai’s slave when she and Abram stopped in Egypt during the famine, probably a few years back.

Sarai is barren to this point, which is apparently looked down upon by this culture. The appropriate and correct thing to do, I think, would have been for Sarai and Abram to discuss the issue (Abram, likewise, is concerned about not having children). They ought to have then (or whilst discussing it together) prayed to Jehovah that they might have children together (as God has directly promised descendants to Abram), and had faith that the God who had so protected and blessed them would work this out.

Nope. Sarai and Abram try to “fix it” on their own, by Abram having sex with Sarai’s slave, Hagar. Gosh, let’s see how this turns out.

Later, when Hagar knew she was going to have a baby, she became proud and was hateful to Sarai. Then Sarai said to Abram, “It’s all your fault! I gave you my slave woman, but she has been hateful to me ever since she found out she was pregnant. You have done me wrong, and you will have to answer to the LORD for this.” (Genesis 16:4-5, CEV)

Both Hagar and Sarai may feel that Hagar has succeeded where Sarai has failed. Despite being a foolish attitude to begin with–in my opinion–this leads to dissension between the two, Hagar being “proud and hateful to Sarai”, Sarai being jealous and hateful to Hagar. I’ve heard discussion tracing Arab-Jewish violence in the Middle East to this situation, which assumes the Ishmael, Hagar and Abram’s son, is an ancestor of some Arabs; I don’t know–beyond a quick glance through Wikipedia–whether there’s any true to this ancestry, and if there is, if that line of discussion has any value anyway. I mention it only because I like to mention random things.

Hagar and Sarai, who may or may not have been close, now despise each other and the household is full of anger. Sarai, who proposed this mess, now places the full blame on Abram. And he does deserve much of the blame. But so does Sarai. I have a hard time much blaming Hagar in this, since she may have had zero choice in the matter, and, although still wrong, her becoming prideful is certainly understandable. But Sarai and Abram both chose to try to fix what they considered a problem on their own without seeking God.

As a man, I want to focus a particular moment on Abram. Sinning as a husband because your wife asked you too or did something that resulted in your action is still sin of which you bear the full responsibility. Blaming is a cop out, and God calls everyone to responsibility for their own sin (Ezekiel 18:30, Deuteronomy 24:16). Pleasing someone else, even your spouse, is never a justification for sinning.

In Abram and Sarai’s lives, we see a lot of faith, but we also see several situations, such as this, wherein they reject faith, and they and others suffer because of it. But I think it’s worth pointing out that ultimately we consider their lives successful. Yep, we all fall short of the glory of God, but he redeems us if we let him. (Romans 3:21-26–and guess who Romans 4 talks about).