Genesis 16

Haven’t I Seen This on “The Jerry Springer Show”??
Or
Hagar’s Bogus Journey


I read through this chapter and simply had to feel sorry for Abram and Hagar. I don’t mean to blame Sarai for everything that happens here, but it really is hard not to look at the events of this chapter and wonder what Sarai was thinking throughout all of this. Both Abram and Hagar did exactly what they were told and suffered for it – Sarai blamed Abram for the problems of the household and Hagar ran away, out into the wilderness. Now, I’m not letting Abram slip off the hook here, since he should have been wary of what Sarai proposed and how it didn’t quite match up with the promises of God that Abram had heard so far (as recent as last chapter). But I do question Sarai’s motives and actions throughout this chapter.

The chapter begins with Sarai being rather impatient with God and the fulfillment of what she and Abram had been promised. She felt that, since she can’t bear children, there had to be some way that she could start a family. So, in order to be a mother and begin populating the world according to God’s promises, Sarai offered up her Egyptian servant Hagar (possibly comparable to Eliezer’s standing with Abram) to become Abram’s second wife and bear his children. This was a common arrangement during the patriarchal and monarchical periods of biblical history, both within Hebrew culture and within other cultures as well. Specific examples include Hammurabi’s Code mentioning this type of arrangement, as well as Rachel and Leah giving their maidservants to Jacob (Israel) for procreation purposes in Genesis 30.

But no matter how “legal” the agreement might have been between Sarai, Hagar, and Abram, once again, personal pride entered into humanity’s relationship with God. Sarai had to do things on her terms, ignoring what God might have wanted to do in her & Abram’s lives. And Abram agreed to the proposal. Yup, he did. Thus, no matter how ridiculous Sarai’s request seems to us as readers, Abram himself has to bear a great deal of responsibility for the problems that are soon to come by acquiescing to Sarai’s idea. It is as if Abram said, “OK dear! I’ll sleep with your servant so we can have a family. What you’re asking me to do isn’t faithless and prideful at all. Of course God would want me to sleep with Hagar. Why haven’t we thought of this before?” I just can’t begin to comprehend why Abram would proceed with this course of action without any discussion or hesitation.

What happened next shouldn’t have really surprised Abram and Sarai, unless they were in total denial of human nature. Abram took Hagar to be his second wife, they conceived a child, and Hagar began to resent her status as servant to Sarai. What was she supposed to do – just give over her child to Abram and Sarai when the baby is finally born? Well, technically, yes, she was supposed to do so. She was the legal representative of Sarai in Abram’s bed, and so any child that she bore was to be Abram and Sarai’s.

Granted, in many respects, Hagar could have become an official second wife, earning her the same rights and privileges as Sarai. But regardless of the official implications of the letter of the law, human nature took hold fairly quickly. Both began to resent the status of the other – Sarai was probably resentful towards Hagar over her being able to actually reproduce and Hagar began to despise Sarai for treating her as merely a servant when it was she who was bringing Abram and Sarai their promised child. Thus, while this set-up might be anathema to us, to act in this manner has been standard operating procedure in many cultures for many centuries.

“Then Sarai said to Abram, ‘You are responsible for the wrong that I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.’” (Genesis 16:5, TNIV)

I read this verse and can’t decide whether to be shocked by her audacity or laugh at the surrealism of her chutzpah. Sarai had the gall to complain to Abram about Hagar’s attitude when it was Sarai who suggested their coupling. More than just complaining, Sarai blamed Abram for causing the domestic conflict. Yes, Abram should have accepted some of the blame, since he could/should have rejected Sarai’s idea, and, according to the commentaries I read, he was the person legally responsible for enforcing compliance with the marriage contract. However, it is Sarai’s total reluctance to take upon herself any responsibility for this situation that strikes me as rather ridiculous. (But, maybe that’s my cultural baggage seeping in…)

Upon hearing this, Abram did stand up for himself, deflected the guilt that Sarai was attempting to place upon him, and told her that, since Hagar was her servant, it was Sarai who must resolve this domestic squabble. On one hand, this seems like an appropriate response, since it was Sarai’s attempt to play God that created this situation. However, with Abram rejecting any responsibility in this matter (even though he is the father of Hagar’s child), he allowed Sarai a chance to exercise some of the baser aspects of human nature.

“… Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.” (Genesis 16:6ff, TNIV) And I don’t blame Hagar for this reaction whatsoever. Judging from all of the evidence at her fingertips, she probably felt that her status and standing in Abram & Sarai’s family was either tenuous at best or, at worst, any child she bore will be yanked out of her arms immediately after the baby’s birth, even though according to similar arrangements of the time, the child she was carrying was legally Abram and Sarai’s. But even possessing such knowledge, Hagar chose to flee the tents of Abram and Sarai to seek refuge in the desert, which, unless she knew someone else in another family or was trying to thumb a ride back home to Egypt, was a rather ill-advised idea. The desert is a dangerous place for anyone to be without water, supplies, or a plan of any kind, much less for a pregnant woman.

Nevertheless, as she rested at an oasis located upon the road to Shur (most likely a desert area in the Negev, between Palestine and Egypt), an angel, most likely a theophany approached her. This messenger from God questioned Hagar as to where she had come from, and where she was going – 2 questions that are quite appropriate to ask anyone (much less a pregnant woman) traveling alone in the desert. Hagar responded that she was running away from Sarai, which technically answered neither of the angel’s questions. The angel then told her to return to Sarai and submit herself to her, which Hagar probably didn’t want to hear, since to obey this command would mean that she would have to bear the consequences of showing contempt towards and despising Sarai’s status.

I can see Hagar’s face contort into an ugly grimace as she listened to the angel’s words. Questions probably flooded through her. “Why should I go back? What would I be going back for? What could this angel say that would make me even consider obeying him? He’s never lived with and worked for that woman. He can’t be serious!” However, the angel’s response, in the form of promise, prophecy, and prediction, probably allayed many of those fears and concerns. He declared that God will increase the number of her children until they became too numerous to count, a direct parallel to the promise that God gave to Abram about his descendents. Did this promise come to Hagar because she was to bear Abram’s child, as part of the fulfillment of God’s earlier promise to Abram? Quite possibly…

“The angel of the Lord also said to her: ‘You too now are pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.’” (Genesis 16:11-12, TNIV)

What did all that mean? Does any of that mean anything in terms of world history? Many people directly correlate these predictions to be a reference to either contemporary Arabic peoples or Arabs in general throughout history. Conversely, many people feel that the descendents of Ishmael would form many of the tribes that would harass the Hebrews for centuries. However, one of the best descriptions of this prediction reads, “The fearless and fleet-footed Syrian onager [wild donkey] is a metaphor for an individualistic lifestyle unrestrained by social convention (Job 24:5-8, 39:5-8, Jer 2:24, Hos 8:9). Ishmael’s blessing would occur away from the land of promise; he would live by his own resources. The fierce, aggressive ways [hostility] of the Ishmaelites are contrasted with nomadic lifestyle of the patriarchs.” (Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible – NIV, p39)

Nonetheless, no matter what the means and ends could be for deciphering these statements from the angel, it is Hagar’s response that should receive the most notoriety and attention. She reacted to all that the angel told her with the reverence, respect, and awe that any deity would ever desire. In fact, Hagar even fashioned a specific name for God to commemorate and memorialize her conversation with the angel – “… ‘You are the God who sees me,’ for she said, ‘I have now seen the One who sees me.’” (Genesis 16:13ff, TNIV) Thus, Hagar returned to Abram and Sarai, gave birth to a boy, and Abram, now 86 years old, named his son Ishmael.


Teachers: Read through this whole chapter. Present Hagar here as the key figure from whom we can learn a specific lesson, as she is the central figure of the story in these verses. 1) She fulfills Sarai’s request to become Abram’s wife. 2) She resents and looks down upon Sarai, because she is the one who is bearing the child and not Sarai. 2a) Yes, she did despise Sarai, but maybe that was because she felt that she should have been treated as a wife and not a servant after conceiving a child with Abram. 3) She is abused and mistreated by Sarai. 4) She runs away into the desert to escape the hostile environment. 5) An angel from God visits her, tells her to return to Sarai, and that the son she bears will be the beginning of a numerous people. 6) She returns and bears Abram a son, who is named Ishmael.

Maybe I’m wrong here. Maybe I should have skipped this chapter, deeming it too uncomfortable and too strange to present to kids. However, I think that, as adults, we don’t give children enough credit in terms of their comprehension and understanding. I feel that we can present this story as more than some tragic set of events or wrong choices made by Abram and Sarai (which they were), but as a story about God’s blessing, protection, and love for all people.

So, if you’re not sure how to talk about the above 6 points, here are 2 points to focus upon: 1) Talk about how God took care of Hagar, after Sarai had mistreated her, even though she had treated Sarai rudely herself; and 2) Possibly discuss how Abram and Sarai were wrong in their attempt to play God. They tried to fulfill God’s promises through their means and not God’s. Their efforts to have a child without God’s help or direction only resulted in heartache, hurt feelings, and a disruption of God’s original plans.