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).

Genesis 16:6-16

2007.Apr.20 02:53

Hagar’s Child

Read Genesis 16:6-16 Full Chapter

Abram said, “All right! She’s your slave, and you can do whatever you want with her.” But Sarai began treating Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away. Hagar stopped to rest at a spring in the desert on the road to Shur. While she was there, the angel of the LORD came to her and asked, “Hagar, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She answered, “I’m running away from Sarai, my owner.” (Genesis 16:6-8, CEV)

As I said last entry, I have a lot more sympathy for Hagar than Sarai or Abram in this situation. However, Hagar’s pride comes back to her. We are, after all, responsible for our own sin, regardless of the mitigating circumstances. That Jehovah gives us grace is a gift rather than a right. Abram, who–I assume–had been keeping Sarai from treating Hagar badly, gives in to the pressure from his wife. Sarai and/or Abram could have reprimanded Hagar for her attitude in an appropriate way. Instead, Sarai treats her so harshly that Hagar runs away. Error compounds error, sin compounds sin. Sarai’s desire for a child turned into a lust, which caused her to abandon faith, which led to jealousy, to hatred, to cruelty. Which is to say nothing of Abram’s sins and follies here.

God’s having nothing of this mess though. He has an angel visit Hagar as she’s running away. Hagar makes a first move in getting this whole deal sorted out. When the angel asks her what she’s doing, she responds honestly. God makes himself known through his messenger, and Hagar does not run from him or start throwing out excuses. And suddenly, things start to change. Now, this soap opera is not going to suddenly go happy for everyone, and there’s much more to play out in it, but responding honestly to Jehovah changes the situation from an ever-sliding disaster to one in which appropriate steps can be taken. Now that someone’s listening to God, it turns out he has things to say.

The angel said, “Go back to Sarai and be her slave. I will give you a son, who will be called Ishmael, because I have heard your cry for help. And later I will give you so many descendants that no one will be able to count them all. But your son will live far from his relatives; he will be like a wild donkey, fighting everyone, and everyone fighting him.” Hagar thought, “Have I really seen God and lived to tell about it?” So from then on she called him, “The God Who Sees Me.” That’s why people call the well between Kadesh and Bered, “The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me.” Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to their son, and he named him Ishmael. (Genesis 16:6-8, CEV)

Jehovah instructs Hagar to submit to Sarai. This now becomes a choice on Hagar’s part; she has run away, and does not have to go back, but she can honor God by doing so. That is to pointedly say, this is not a affirmation of human slavery, but rather a reminder that God may call us to submit to inhumane conditions because of a greater purpose. Jehovah does not leave Hagar to imagine what her carrot might be here. The angel tells her one of the blessings Jehovah has in store. Hagar’s child will be born, and while his life will have plenty of difficulties, Hagar’s descendants, like Sarai’s, will be numerous.

Hagar’s response to all this really encourages me. She doesn’t even get caught up in the descendants bit, as Abram sometimes seems to do. She is pleased to know that God has heard her and responded to her. She calls him “The God Who Sees Me”, from then on. She rejoices in the presence of God, makes a personal connection with him, and obeys him. And a situation that had multiple people competing for the dumb—- in the Bible award turns around by the power of God and the willingness of one person. Everything perfect? No, but things are looking up, as Hagar returns, gives birth and has Abram name his first-born Ishmael, in obedience to Jehovah’s instruction to Hagar.

Genesis 21:9-10

2007.Nov.15 04:11

(Too Much) Takin’ Care of Business

Read Genesis 21:9-10 Full Chapter

But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” (Genesis 21:9-10, ESV)

Sarah is in a class with David. For the most part, seems pretty righteous, pretty holy. But with respect to one situation, a punk. I mean, Sarah refrains from actually murdering anyone, but the kind of treating people terribly because of emotions is consistent with these two, and, well, a good half or more of everyone who’s ever tried to be righteous.

For Sarah, Ishmael is a reminder of a foolish and probably sinful decision she made. Tangent: I’ve probably said this before, I’ll say it again: every last one of us humans, including Jesus Christ–can chase the line to our birth back to a sin. Every one of us. If 1) that bothers you, or 2) that makes you think you can judge others whose “ancestral sin” is more identifiable, you need to read the Bible. And, in the second case, be beaten with Texas lawyer’s truck. Ishmael is not punished for Sarah’s decision, except in this case by Sarah herself and his father. And although Yahweh doesn’t give Ishmael the full Isaac blessing, Yahweh does indeed bless Ishmael, quite a bit more than the average nomad of those days.

Anyway, returning from that foray, Ishmael and Hagar’s presence reminds Sarah that her faith in God lapsed and she tried to take matters into her own hands. Well, that’s my guess, actually. I really don’t have any Biblical reason to back that up. Sarah also is jealous of Ishmael’s place as first-born instead of her son, Isaac.

David could have fessed up to Uriah. Sarah could have tried to make this family work. I say could have in the sense of “I can’t imagine how”. Because the sin that results in Sarah turning against her slave and the child she (Sarah) had desired, the sin that resulted in Uriah being murdered, occurred way before. Before even Hagar or Bathsheba came into the pictures. Yeah, at any point either Sarah or David could have changed things, but doing so becomes exponentially more difficult with each step.

And so Sarah finds herself telling Abraham to send away the woman who has been so faithful to her (by any accounts I’ve read) and the child she had so wanted.

It’s not about obsessing over what possible butterfly effects your each action could have. It’s about being obedient to Jehovah, about making decisions about the lines in your life and trying hard not to cross them and every time you realize you have, flying back across. Easy to say. Incredibly difficult to practice. I love about God’s grace that he allows me to keep trying to obey him better.

Genesis 23:1-2

2008.Jan.13 00:21

Sarah

Read Genesis 23:1-2 Full Chapter

Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. (Genesis 23:1-2, ESV)

These are the years of the life of Sarah. She was born Sarai, probably in Ur of the Chaldeans. She journeyed with her husband and his family first to Haran (Genesis 11:31) and then to Canaan, with a side stop in Egypt (Genesis 12). Big moments in her life include not quite becoming a concubine of various kings (Genesis 12, 20), convincing her husband to sleep with her slave, getting mad about it afterwards (Genesis 16), and having her first and only child at ninety (Genesis 21).

So, it occurs to me that the emphatic points of Sarah’s story have to do with traveling and sex. I’m not sure that’s unusual, though.

Anyway, Sarah seems to me to have lived a good life, both in the sense that she received significant blessings from God and in the sense that she was righteous, that is, she was generally obedient and generally had faith. I don’t mean to belittle how she treated Hagar, which was pretty bad for a while, but from my cynical view, being a complete jerk to only one person in your life is exceptionally good.

I think I may have said this before, but Sarah and David strike me as very similar, they lived righteously, with one big except. Where we really see David’s repentance in several passages (Psalm 51, 2 Samuel 12), I don’t know if Sarah ever repented for her treatment of Hagar (and I suppose, it’s my interpretation that Sarah acted sinfully in this matter, but I am confident in that interpretation). For Sarah, her sin was wrapped in a pressing desire for a child. Maybe her desire was primarily cultural, maybe a child is something she deeply wanted, maybe God had placed a specific desire in her heart… Whatever reasons, Sarah let her desire dictate her actions at one point, from which so much bitterness and hurt grew in her home. God’s plan for the eventual birth of Isaac was the same after the birth of Ishmael as before, regardless of Sarah’s faith. But Sarah’s lapse of faith produced pain in her life, whereas later, persisting in her faith produced laughter and joy.

And again, none of this has any bearing, I think, on how we should see Ishmael.

Genesis 25:1-6

2008.Mar.28 04:49

Abraham’s Other Kids

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Abraham married another wife, whose name was Keturah. She gave birth to Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. Dedan’s descendants were the Asshurites, Letushites, and Leummites. Midian’s sons were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. These were all descendants of Abraham through Keturah.
(Genesis 25:1-4, NLT)

A lot of Abraham’s life from the point of view of the narrative of Genesis–indeed a lot of the book of Genesis–has been pretty focused on getting Isaac born and raised. Emphasis on the getting born part. Isaac is the child who is to specifically inherit Yahweh’s promise of giving Canaan to the descendants of Abraham (Genesis 17:17-21).

But after Sarah’s death, the spritely hundred-something year old Abraham gets married (I’m assuming after Sarah’s death) to a lady name Keturah. They have six sons, Midian being the only one with a particularly noted history.

Abraham gave everything he owned to his son Isaac. But before he died, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them off to a land in the east, away from Isaac.
(Genesis 25:5-6, NLT)

Abraham clearly separates Isaac from his other sons, both Ishmael and the sons of Keturah. Isaac is not presented as inheriting a double portion in relation to his half-brothers, but rather as the sole heir of Abraham. Abraham doesn’t leave his other sons out to dry exactly, but gives them gifts, I imagine of some value. “Hey, sorry, no inheritance for you, but here’s some gold,” may be the way his other sons received this decision. One the one hand, it’s nice to be given something, but there may still have been a feeling that they’d been disinherited.

Abraham sends these young men and their mothers (possibly referring to Keturah, Hagar, and maybe one or more other concubines not mentioned?) away to some land east of where Isaac is staying. I would guess this means east of Canaan in general, but that’s not clear to me. I don’t have a good guess as to Abraham’s motives. A couple of possibilities would be to decrease possible economic and/or political competition towards Isaac, or because Abraham thought these kids would for whatever reason be detrimental to Isaac’s dedication to Yahweh (It seems to me that Isaac’s faith was less solid than his parents’).

Another comment, quite aside from these speculations is to note that Abraham does not stop living with the birth of his “promised son”. It’s possible to let a “this is my calling” attitude impede our growth and reception of God’s blessings, when the opportunity to “walk in that calling” is unavailable, including because that function is finished. This happens even for people who don’t buy into the ‘one calling’ mentality, but are simply for a time over focused on something. When God gives me breaks, it’s often for a reason, be it that I need a break or he wants me doing something else for a bit.