LESSON 10
Genesis for Today: Chapters 16-17
by Herb Drake

Copyright (c) 1998, 2020, Herb Drake.

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Sarai and Hagar

Notwithstanding the ritual covenant renewal and God's promises, Abram continues to doubt how he and the barren Sarai can possibly bear the promised son who will carry on the promise to future generations. This time, it is Sari who tries to help God out, giving her slave girl to Abram so that the promise might be carried out though her. As the scheme begins to take shape in Hagar's belly, Hagar begins to take advantage of the situation in the way that she treats Sarai. When Sarai complains to Abram, she is reminded that Hagar is in her power to do anything with her that she wants--a response directly from the ancient code of Harmurabi:

If a man take a wife and she give him a maid servant to her husband, and that maid servant bear children and afterwards would take rank with her mistress; because she has borne children, her mistress may not sell her for money, but she may reduce her to bondage and count her among her maid servants.

She treats Hagar so harshly that Hagar runs away into the wilderness where there is little hope that she and her coming baby will survive.

Hagar in the wilderness

It is not the LORD's will, however, to have Hagar and the baby perish. After all, the child she is carrying is the son of Abram, which makes him a candidate as the promise bearer. So the Angel of the LORD, God's personified help to his people and a type of Christ, makes his first appearance in the Bible. The angel asks another one of the significan questions, best understood as being directed to the reader: "Where did you come from and where are you going." A comparison with Louis Carrol Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is compelling, Alice asking almost the identical question of the Cheshire cat:

"Cheshire-Puss," she bagan, rather timidly,
"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to go," said the cat.
"I don't much care where--," said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the cat.

In Ishmael's described character, we can see the Bedouin people. See Galatians, 4:21-27 for Paul's interpretation. Hagar is told to name the child Ishmael ("God Hears"), which is affirmed by Abram when she obeys the instruction to return to her mistress.

The Sign of the Covenant

13 years after the birth of Ishmael, the LORD visited Abram again, this time changing his name to Abraham. This is the first of several such name chantes (Sarai becomes "Sarah") and is significnt because it shows that God has made a significant change in that person's character. The promise is renewed, but some new requirements are added. Now that the first of Abraham's children have arrived, he needs to be aware of the circumcision rule; men who were circumcised bore the "sign" of the covenant, and their mail offspring needed to have this done at the age of eight days. (It is noteworthy that this is the optimum age from a medical prospecitve, as it avoids a normal dip in Vitamin K that occurs shortly after birth.) This sign is important as it sets the people of the covenant apart. Typical of Abraham's obedience to God, the procedures commence immediately.

The LORD also gives a blessing to Sarah, promising that the son that Abraham has waited so long for will, indeed, be borne by her. Abraham would rather have the son of the promise now in the person of Ischael than to wait any more as his and Sarah's ages continue to add up, making it necessary that he and Sarah experience a miracle. The LORD's answer to that is to give Ishmael a blessing as well, but he must continue to be patient.

Genesis 14-15 | Genesis 18-19