Hagar

Throughout Genesis, there are little hints that Abraham is getting it. He has put his faith in God and he is learning to trust and obey the promise.  Then Abraham goes and throws a curve ball in.  In Genesis 18, Sarah comes to Abraham with a cunning plan. It is clear that she is infertile, the problem seems to be with her. So, why doesn’t she get her maid servant to step in as a surrogate.  God has been clear that the promised offspring will be Abraham’s child but that doesn’t mean it has to be Sarah’s does it?

So Abraham sleeps with the servant Hagar and she becomes pregnant. Unsurprisingly, this leads to Sarah envying Hagar, even though it was her idea.  Sarah mistreats Hagar and is cruel with her. Hagar flees. God’s angel meets her, stops her and turns her around, telling her to go back. She will have Abraham’s son, no he will not be the promised one but God has his own promise for Hagar.  Ishamel too will be the ancestor of nations.  Although he and his descendants will live in conflict with the promised brother and his descendants.

We might observe here how Sarah and Abraham’s lack of trust at this point leads to all kinds of trouble. There is trouble in the family but there’s also longer-term trouble. In fact, we can trace back the conflicts in the Middle East today as well as through much of Israel’s history to this point.  God is continuing to unconditionally bless but unbelief has consequences.