2.21.10 – Abram and Sarai and Hagar and Ishmael

We’ve been singing and thinking this morning about Thanks. Thanking God. Everything we have comes from God, right? That’s easily acknowledged …

But it’s not always easily lived. With our mouth we give thanks and credit to God, but then we live our lives as if we are in charge.

Genesis 16

This is one of those passages that I—in my infinite wisdom (ha!)—kinda wish weren’t in the Bible. Not only is it hard to preach through, it reminds me that even the greatest heroes of the faith have feet of clay sometimes.

This is also what makes the Bible seem so authentic (even if we didn’t know all the historical and archeological data that backs it up). When Moses penned Genesis, he could have burnished Abram’s character by leaving this part out. Would have helped Sarai’s reputation if this little incident had been ignored, too.

There are a lot of questions to be asked, and some of them may not be the ones you have asked before.

You see, Abram lived around 1600-1400 B.C., in the “Ancient Middle East”. So sometimes it’s easy to look at what he did and say, “He messed up there!” and be unduly harsh; but there’s also a temptation to look at an episode like this and cut Abram some slack that he might not deserve just because he’s “a patriarch”. He was a patriarch, and he’s called in Scripture a “friend of God” and a “prince of God.” And Jesus called heaven “Abraham’s Bosom.” So he was greater than we may imagine, but he was also human and a sinner like us.

First, let’s talk about what probably strikes most of us as “weird”. Ladies, be honest, if you were unable to bear children of your own, how many of you would say, “I think I’ll tell my husband to sleep with the maid and get her pregnant”? That just doesn’t track with most of us.

According to many archeological finds of ancient laws from this time period, this was not just acceptable behavior, but encouraged behavior. Such a child, conceived in this way, would have been legally just as much Sarai’s as Hagar’s.

And maybe we look at this story and think it strange that Hagar would have put up her Egyptian maid for all this. After all, Abram and Sarai were from the line of Shem and Hagar was (presumably, but it’s not a guarantee) from the line of Ham. Well, look at who Hagar was: Sarai’s handmaiden. This isn’t just the household maid, this is a woman who was probably (before this) a treasured friend of Sarai. It’s possible she started her “employ” as a slave, but to rise to the rank of handmaiden—especially while still in her child-bearing years—she has endeared herself to Sarai.

If you remember from elsewhere in Genesis, this scene is reenacted with Abram and Sarai’s grandson Jacob as Rachel and Leah each give him their handmaidens to provide him with offspring.

But, we want to argue, Abram’s jumping the gun here. God wanted Sarai to be the mother of the promise. As I said, under the laws of the time, Sarai would have been the legal mother of Ishmael. But, if you go back and read through the last couple chapters of Genesis, you’ll see that God never told Abram who this child was going to come through on the female side. Abram’s anxious to have an heir (look back at his pleading in chapter 15) and maybe he thought this was the way to go about getting one—in a way that was completely legal and accepted in his culture.

And then, check out what happens at the end of chapter 16: God had promised that Abram’s seed would become a great nation. It isn’t from the line of Ishmael that the promised of salvation ultimately comes … but God is still faithful to his word: he makes of Ishmael a great nation.

Maybe Abram and Sarai are jumping ahead of God, but that’s not Ishmael’s fault. God still blesses Ishmael. In fact, if you skip ahead and read chapter 25, you’ll find that after the death of Sarah, Abraham remarries and has more children, who all become pretty big men in their own right!

When God promises something, he doesn’t renege and he doesn’t let up!!

God credited Abram’s belief to him as righteousness. Yet, God had to know that Abram was still imperfect and would continue to sin.

Take a look at

1 John 4:11
Dear friends, if this is how God loved us, then we should love one another. (GNB)

CC Crawford wrote, “The noblest motivation to the Spiritual Life is neither the fear of punishment nor the hope of reward, but love for God simply because he is God.”

All of this makes us a little squeamish, though, because we know that the grace of God is a free gift and that none of us are capable of earning our way into God’s love. So it confuses us (and makes some people downright angry) to suggest that following Christ requires anything on our part.

It’s “faith only” some cry. But James makes it clear that faith without works is dead; it’s a pseudo-intellectual acquiescence that lacks any kind of real commitment.

Romans 8:1-2
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. (ESV)

Christianity demands far more than obedience to the Law of Moses, it demands complete commitment to the “law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus”. And then, the Holy Spirit is there to carry us through the living of this spirit life!

What do I DO with this?

Some people would take from this event in the life of Abram the idea that our actions are less important than our motivations. That it was OK for Abram to do what he did because he heart was in the right place.

I don’t think that’s the point at all!

Our motivations are important. Our actions are important. God is a “total God”, paying attention to all the details. Therefore, we should give all the details over to him.

Not just with spoken words of thanks, but with total submission!