Genesis 12:11-20

2007.Jan.14 15:53

Abusing the Blessing

Read Genesis 12

Now comes the story that makes me question the faith, common sense and human decency of Abram.

It came about when he came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman; and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you.” (Genesis 12:11-13, NASB)

The story is told matter-of-factly and pretty quick, but I’ll summarize anyways. Abram, Sarai, Lot, and slaves made it to Canaan. Then, poof, hey, what’s up, there’s a famine in the land. So, they go to Egypt. Abram then has an idea. His wife is beautiful and he’s afraid the Egyptians will kill him and take Sarai as a wife or concubine for some fine, upstanding Egyptian. Or, whatever. Anyway, he asks her to say that they’re siblings. She agrees. Sarai is “taken into Pharaoh’s house” (15). God makes stuff bad for Pharoah, whilst Abram enjoys financial blessings. Pharoah figures it out, sends them away, Abram the richer for it.

I’m not a big fan of Abram in this story. The Bible doesn’t seem to offer an judgement on this action, just tells the story as it is. Abram even does this again later. So, I may be completely off on my reaction to this story, but hopefully it’s useful regardless.

Abram is under God’s blessing. Even when he decieves the Pharoah and puts his wife in danger, he is blessed abundantly. But instead of letting the blessings of God strengthen his faith, at this point, he takes those blessings and does things his own way, anyway. I contend that he gains nothing from his deception, and indeed subjects his wife to a bad situation. After all, because Abram is letting his fear control him, he puts Sarai into a situation in which, had Jehovah not intervened, she would likely be given the choice between being raped (even if she consents for her husband’s sake, is that not rape, and her husband responsible?) or her husband being killed (or, most likely, both). Added to that, Abram has been promised blessing and protection by Jehovah; he has no reason to fear!

God’s blessings are not just a ‘yay for me’ gift. They are part of Jehovah’s developing my faith and relationship with him, as well as teaching me the value of obedience. Abram, in this story, has accepted the blessing but does not exhibit any faith from it. Indeed, God desired to bless others through Abram, but Abram instead brings a curse against the Egyptians who blessed him.

Like I said, the Biblical account does not explicitly comment on the morality of Abram and Sarai’s actions. Obviously, I feel comfortable applying other Biblical principals to Abram’s activities (to which I should probably have added some references). Sarai is more difficult. To simply say she should have beat sense into her husband would be blaming one of the victims of this charade; it is after all clear that the idea is Abram’s. But I have to wonder about the connection between this lack of faith and Sarai’s later lack of faith regarding the child God had promised them?

How a leader can cause pain when he or she does not walk in faith and obedience to Jehovah.

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.