Circa BC 1875 nothing much happened in the plain of Mamre (barring occassional visitations by God) .
Little wonder there was no news in the Mamre Morning Post that day.
The pages were blank – absolutely – and the editors were not pleased.
It appears, the last of the enterprising reporters perished in the Deluge, after enjoying a whale of a time pounding away about old man Noah’s ridiculous enterprise! As the plimsoll line on the Ark came close to disappearing under the flood waters when the pachyderms stepped in, they watched in dismay. Some of them managed to swim to the Ark just in time to see the Lord “shut the door” but sadly they did not live to file their reports.
The point is Abram was merely pretending to bury his head in the empty pages of the Post in order somewhat to stifle the 100 db volume of Sarai’s ravings and rantings.
The problem was Hagar had conceived!
I don’t know if Hagar was so emboldened by her new status that she said something like what Elizabeth Gaskell writes in Wives and Daughters: “Your husband this morning! Mine tonight!”
Sarai was not one to take this lying down. The moment it is clear that Hagar was carrying, her countenance changes. Curious, since this was the whole purpose of the drama – story, script, cast, screen-play and all – end to end stage-managed by her ! (sorry we cannot present all the details to you since the production is labeled Solo Adulti and I have no idea of your level of maturity). “ Women are so flighty, fickle, changeable, susceptible, and inconstant”; I must hasten to add that those are not my words. It was Christine de Pizan who wrote that – in passing – but I am not sure that was her conclusion too. Anyway there is little doubt Sarai pretty much embodied fickleness in this instance and what is more, fierceness was scowling her face.
This is apparent from the way she turns around and talks to Abram . Read Genesis 16:
5 Sarai said unto Abram, “My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the Lord judge between me and thee.”
Her wifely submission to Abram as the husband goes out to the window. The woman who was so far addressing Abraham as Lord ( 1 Peter 3:6) turns around in sharp accusation; she even goes to the extent of calling the lord God to stand as judge between Abraham and her – when it is clear for all to see that the whole dubious scheme was her clever (by half) strategem.
How do you like that? Whilst this episode was her own brainchild, Sarai has no qualms whatsoever in laying the blame at Abram’s door. “My wrong be upon thee” …………………”the Lord judge between me and thee.” Pretty thick, eh?
And she was blaring. No amplification needed. Fortunate there were no neighbours around for 100 miles 360 degrees.
Abram – poor sod – wilts in the face of such vehemence. (After all he had had his pleasure and what is more, an heir seemed to be in the offing!). And he decides that discretion is the better part of valour. Wives can sometime be violent; there is no knowing what will come flying from the kitchen if Abram stands up. So he humbly submits to his wife a second time in succession.
Sin compounded
This is an interesting case by which to study how God views ruptures in human relationships.
We know that God had told Abram when He called him out of Haran that “2 (He) will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing” Gen. 12
When sometime later, Abram protests to the Lord saying it looks like his servant, Eliezer of Damascus was going to be his heir. Then:
“4 behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir“. (Gen. 15)
It is to be noted here that this concerns Abram and X. Sarai is not mentioned by name. And apparently Sarai did not take to it kindly. For:
“ 2 Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai“.Gen.16.
Now, who is at fault here? It looks as though Sarai was taking it upon herself to fulfill the promise of God. She is not the only one in the Bible to run ahead of God but she is pretty beastly about it. Indeed, she is so upset with God and in a way cocks a snook at Him by bringing Hagar into the picture. People, do you realize she is practically offering her husband a guilt-free-pass to commit adultery at home!
This is the beginning of sin which was later compounded (as we saw)
Abram should have known better, you think. But he finds the proposal interesting (as most men would) and oh come on, he is really sexcited. No protest is recorded. I guess you can’t blame him; just take a look at Hagar! Phew!! Temptation does look attractive, what? And it is being offered on a platter ! Maybe – just maybe – he had an eye on her all along!! Who knows – men can be so lecherous !!
Anyway, Father Abraham seems to have been quite successful in suppressing his unholy glee behind his graying beard (lest Sarai get annoyed and change her mind)! A beard may be an indication of sterling character but to be sure, it has multiple benefits and diverse applications (I should know).
Now here comes a big question.
IS THIS WHOLE BUSINESS ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF GOD?
I guess most people would say “nay”. This is according to Sarai’s will and Abram’s weak (but privately enthusiastic) aquiescence!
It may be that Abraham thought this is the way God was embarking in order to fullfil his promise of making him a ‘great nation’. It appears he has not quite realized that to God, the means are just as important as the end. Relishing the (delicious?) prospect of sexual relationship outside marriage he takes leave of his deepest convictions and falls in line with Sarai’s shortcut shenanigans without enquiring how God feels about this.
Let’s turn the spotlight on Hagar, hitherto a submissive handmaiden to Sarai.
“4 And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes”. Gen. 16
This is an era when child-bearing was important. And I guess Hagar was no longer the humble hand-maiden.
Sarai was enraged. When Abram realized that his wife had passed the buck to him and (metaphorically) left him holding the baby, he stuttered:
6 …..Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thine hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.”
If women are sometimes vixen men are sometimes mean. Abram manages to avoid a rupture in his relationship with Sarai (and save his marriage) by this invertebrate behavior; but not without consequences. This gives rise to another rupture – this time between Sarai and Hagar – as Abram fastens his eyes on another blank page of the Post. Not a very noble thing to do after sharing the bed with the slave girl (maybe a little better than Amnon’s treatment of Tamar several generations down the line, but inexcusable nevertheless).
Now we can raise the question “WAS GOD AWARE THAT EVENTS WOULD TURN OUT LIKE THIS, IN A WAY – as we can surmise – THAT WAS NOT QUITE ACCORDING TO HIS PERFECT WILL?
You bet He was. He is omniscient and He certainly did foresee this unfortunate turn of events, which proves absolutely pivotal in the history of mankind and has made the Middle East a powder keg with world-wide repercussions to this day.
We can ask another question (when we get to heaven): WAS THIS PREDETERMINED BY GOD?
How do we know that God was aware that things would pan out like this?
God had made plans.
He despatched His angel the moment Hagar was unceremoniously driven out of Abram’s household and he was ready and waiting. Read on in Genesis 16:
7 And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.
From Daniel 9:23 we know that sometimes it takes angels a while to travel. So it stands to reason that the angel of the Lord journeyed and caught up with Hagar.
“8 And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai”. Gen. 16
What a woman, this Sarai! Practically booting out her maid – impregnated by her own husband at her instance – into a Godforsaken wilderness. Surrogacy gone so very sour!
God was not pleased with this turn of events and the injustice meted out to Hagar by Sarai and Abram. So He goes about setting in place measures to repair the rupture in this relationship.
Continuing:
9 And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.
10 And the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.
11 And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
13 And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?
14 Wherefore the well was called Beer lahai roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
It then appears that Hagar returned unto her mistress in obedience to the angel’s instruction, for we read further:
15 And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.
16 And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.
It is not revealed to us how Sarai comported herself in the face of this confinement; she is not in the picture. Maybe at last she realized that ‘three’ is a crowd and went AWOL for a while .Going by later chapters,we can conclude that Ishmael was part of Abram’s household at least up to age 13. For a second time Hagar was sent away at Sarai’s instigation – but this time with a proper ceremony that underlined the care Abram showed (Gen. 21: 12-14). He had redeemed himself somewhat by the grace of God. Sarai was no on hand to accord Hagar a farewell party when it was eventually time for Hagar to leave. We read in Genesis 21:
14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
No, God is not pleased with rupture in our relationships!
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Brilliant.
Very encouraging Daisy, thanks