by Pat Lee
(Based on Gen 21:8-21)
I have chosen to speak on the Genesis reading today because it’s an example of how not to behave, as people of God’s covenant. It’s also a reminder that God is always greater than we are and can sort us out even when we fail – as Sarah and Abraham did more than once.
First, some previous history. In Genesis chapter 12, God told Abraham to leave his country (Ur and then Haran) and family to go to a land that God would show him, which turned out to be Canaan, but with a detour to Egypt.
God promised him that he would make a great nation of him. Abraham obeyed God and left Haran with his wife Sarah. He was seventy-five years old and had no children.
His first failure was telling the Pharaoh in Egypt that Sarah was his sister! So the Pharaoh took her to be his wife. This caused many problems for Pharaoh. He eventually discovered that Sarah was Abraham’s wife, so sent her back to him.
What happened next? Well nothing much for quite a few years. Sarah got older and still no baby. God spoke to Abraham again in Genesis chapter 15 to affirm his promise, but still no baby, and Sarah continued to age. Eventually she got thinking and wondering if God needed some help to fulfil his promise. Things were very different in those days. It was not uncommon for men to have several wives and a number of concubines, usually their slave girls. They could have children by each of these women, and in their culture it was acceptable that if a wealthy mistress was childless, as in Sarah’s case, the slaves’ children were counted as if they were hers legally.
Chapter 16. Now Sarah decided that she would tell her husband to have sexual relations with her Egyptian slave girl Hagar, so that any child produced would be seen as hers. That was her failure. Foolishly Abraham did as Sarah suggested, another failure, and the result was that Hagar became pregnant. Hagar now felt that she had some status in the family, so she treated Sarah with contempt. So Sarah treated her harshly; and Hagar ran away.
God saw this, and told Hagar (through an angel) to return to her mistress. The angel also told her that God had said that he would enlarge her family by giving her many offspring. So, she returned to Sarah.
I wonder what Sarah thought about that?
There was probably great rejoicing from Abraham, but not for Sarah, as there was still no baby for her. Then Ishmael (whose name primarily represents human effort and the ‘flesh’) was born. Abraham was 86 years old, Sarah about ten years younger.
At one point, Abraham and Sarah journeyed towards the Negev, where they settled between Kadesh and Shur. Abraham had not learnt from his first failure and again passed Sarah off as his sister (to the King Abimelech). But God spoke to Abimelech (in a dream) and told him that Sarah was Abraham’s wife, so he too sent her back.
Some time later while Abraham was sitting outside his tent, God sent three men to him. Abraham gave them refreshments and then they told him that they would return to him in due season, when Sarah would have a son. Sarah was listening at the tent entrance. She laughed. I think I would have laughed too, in the same circumstances.
Isaac was born when the men had said he would be. Sarah (now ninety) said that God had brought laughter to her, and Isaac’s name means “he laughs” or “one who laughs or rejoices”.
Now we get to today’s reading. It was customary in those days for children (hence, Isaac) to be weaned at about three years of age. (!) Abraham gave a feast in celebration, which was also customary. During the feast, Sarah saw Ishmael (who would now be about sixteen, based on ages given in the text) playing with Isaac. ‘Playing’, in Hebrew, can mean several different things; one meaning is ‘making fun of’ or ‘mocking’. Sarah obviously thought that Ishmael was making fun of Isaac, so went to Abraham and demanded that he send Hagar and her son away. Abraham was very distressed because Ishmael had been Abraham’s heir for fourteen years and had grown very fond of him.
God came to Abraham’s rescue and told him to do what Sarah asked, because Isaac was the one through whom his family would have descendants, but that he would make a nation of Ishmael too. So Abraham sent Hagar and her son away. The Hebrew word used in the text is exactly the same as the common phrase for divorcing someone. In other words, he ended all legal obligation between him and Hagar and her son.
That must have been very difficult for Abraham to do, but imagine how difficult it was for Hagar and Ishmael. They were sent off with some food and water, but not much, and ran out of both before very long. But God saw them out in the wilderness and came to their rescue too.
The next part of the text is a little confusing because it speaks of Ishmael as if he were a little child, crying out in hunger and thirst, but he would have been about sixteen. There may have been other factors at play, which we do not know about.
Anyway, “And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called Hagar from heaven, and said to her, ‘What troubles you Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Come, lift up boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him.’ Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink. God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him in the land of Egypt.”
Hagar and Ishmael are not part of God’s original plan. The plan was always going to be through Abraham and Sarah. However, Hagar was still one of God’s created beings so he speaks to her, assuring her of his provision for the future giving her and Ishmael hope.
So, what does all this mean for us today? In the New Testament Abraham and Sarah are held up as examples of faith, but the birth of Ishmael didn’t come about because of their faith. In fact, their faith failed. God had promised that they would have many descendants and God does not break his promises. It’s easy for us to understand why they decided to give God a helping hand, since they were both getting well on in years, but God does not need our help to do what he promises. He needs us to keep our faith and trust him.
Just like we do, Abraham and Sarah failed on several counts; but God did not write them off and he won’t write us off either. God asked them to believe the impossible, and to believe it for a quarter of a century. He asked them to wait patiently for his promise to be fulfilled and he didn’t tell them how long they would have to wait.
We see doubt and impatience, and harsh treatment of a slave, who actually did what they wanted her to do. When they didn’t need her any more, especially Sarah, she was sent off with very few provisions. Not the way to treat a slave or anyone else for that matter.
God wants us to wait for him to fulfil his promises, no matter how long it takes. If God has made a promise to you, wait. He may not have fulfilled it yet, but he will.
One writer says (of the heroes listed in Hebrews 11), “Are these heroes of faith? Maybe, and maybe they’re also ordinary human beings like us. They’ve been formed by attitudes and beliefs of their own culture. They find it hard to trust God for the long haul. They find it hard to treat slaves as their equal, just as many of us today find it hard to treat people of other races as our equals; we may believe they are in theory, but it’s hard for us to feel it. Does God approve of our attitudes? Absolutely not. Does God refuse to work with us because of them? Absolutely not. There are no perfect people available. God only has imperfect people to work with.”
God had Sarah and Abraham and he fulfilled his promise to them, even though they failed many times before it happened.
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