We can approach waiting on God’s promises in two ways: wait for Him or deal with it in a human way. This devotional reading look at how Sarai and Abram dealt with waiting for their promised son.
Nuggets
- Sarai tries to take matters into her own hands to get Abram an heir, but it only shows how dysfunctional Abram’s family is.
- Sarai had a slave named Hagar.
- A slave in that culture could be used as a surrogate mother, but that isn’t what God wanted.
- In the Hebrew, Hagar was given the title isha (wife), not philegesh (concubine).
- Sarai’s plan came to fruition – and it didn’t work out the way she wanted.
- After she became pregnant, Hagar held Sarai in contempt.
- Sarai blamed Abram, even though it had been her plan.
- We don’t read that status elevation happened in Abram’s eyes, either.
- When Sarai treated Hagar harshly, Hagar ran away.
A couple of devotions back, we said that Sarai and Lot both gave Abram troubles. We’ve seen how Lot did.
Now, it is Sarai’s turn. It wasn’t because of her beauty.
Sarai knew about God’s promise, but she wanted to help it along.
Let's Put It into Context #1
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Devotions in the Abraham the Patriarch series
Let's Put It into Context #2
All of Genesis 15 was God reassuring Abram that he would get a son. Remember our timeline.
- 1960 BC — Abram born (Gen. 25: 7)
- 1890 BC — Terah, Abram, Sarai, and Lot move from Ur to Haran (Gen. 11: 31)
- 1885 BC — Abram called at age 75 (Gen. 12: 1-3)
- c. 1880 – 1875 BC — Abram defeats King Chedorkiamer to rescue Lot (Gen. 14)
- 1875 BC — God promises an 85-year-old Abram that he will have a son (Gen. 15)
- 1876 BC — Ishmael born
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If Abram had been in Canaan ten years (Gen. 16: 3), Chapter 16 had to happen fairly soon after the events of Genesis 15.
Isn’t that so like God. He gives us a mountaintop experience to immediately throw us into a testing.
Sarai and Hagar
“Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, ‘The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.’ And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal. So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.)” (Gen. 16: 1-3 NLT)
Sarai tries to take matters into her own hands to get Abram an heir, but it only shows how dysfunctional Abram’s family is.
Sarai Was Barren
It was very important for women to bear children in those days.
It would have been difficult for Abram because it was his legacy. It would be an embarrassment that Sarai.
Remember what God said in the last chapter. “Then the Lord said to him, ‘No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir’” (Gen. 15: 4 NLT).
They were going to have a baby — together. It was a promise from the Sovereign God.
But seriously! They were 85 and 80 respectively. It was impossible, right?
Two things. They were looking at the promise from their perspective. They thought they needed to understand before it could happen. They were wrong on both counts.
Added to that, they were unwilling to wait on God for His time.
Hagar the Slave
Sarai had a slave named Hagar.
First off, let’s establish Hagar’s status in this verse. “Now Sarai Avram’s isha bore him no children; and she had a shifchah [female slave of the lowers rank], an Egyptian, whose shem was Hagar” (Gen. 16: 1 OJB).
Don’t let our modern translations fool you. Hagar was a slave, not a bondservant.
In fact, Hagar performed menial duties. She wasn’t a slave that was a leader of the household like Joseph was. He was a mefake’ach or overseer.
It sounds like Hagar was a slave with one of the lowest ranks.
We aren’t really told much about Hagar. She was Egyptian.
Sarai’s Plan
A slave in that culture could be used as a surrogate mother, but that isn’t what God wanted.
Sarai couldn’t see how God was going to keep His promise that she would have a biological son. So, she took matters into her own hands.
We tend to look at things around us and try to figure out what can help us to get the promise fulfilled. This especially happens when we can’t see how the promise can be fulfilled.
Sarai did just that. Her slave would serve as a surrogate so that Abram and Sarai would have a child.
Surrogacy was a common practice. In fact, there were even laws regulating the practice.
In today’s society, Abram would have donated sperm, and Sarai would have donated eggs. Hagar would just have a gestational surrogacy.
That wasn’t what happened here, but it was even more than a traditional surrogacy. This wasn’t a clinical fertilization.
Abram “… went in unto Hagar …” (Gen. 16: 4 OJB).
Dykes instructed us as to how the practice originated. He felt that the inhabitants of the earth at that time were compelled to replenish the population of the earth. Maybe, maybe not as the earth with right back to its lawless state.
The other reason given by Dykes was the culture of servitude. He wrote,
“The other [peculiarities of society in Abram’s day] was the complete surrender of a serf’s legal and social rights into the hand of his master, which in the East characterized domestic servitude. Every home slave stood at the disposal of his lord for whatever service the lord might require.”
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In other words, messing with the slave girl wouldn’t be looked upon as broken marriage vows.
So, what is really at stake here? Leale had an interesting statement. He wrote, “Religion hereby degenerates into fanaticism.”
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Think about it. We know it solely isn’t about religion — the worship aspect. It is about building a relationship with Sovereign God.
We haven’t any clue where Sarai is at on the Sanctification Road. In fact, we don’t know if she has even jumped on it.
We are only told about Abram’s faith and obedience.
Did Sarai have as strong a faith as Abram did? Or did she just say, “I’ll believe that when I see it!”
We can see that Sarai was all in on the plan of her having a child. It probably was natural instinct to do all in her power to get the baby she had probably wanted for years.
The problem was that her desire for a child overshadowed the fact that it was going to be God Who gave it to her. She probably had a little fear in the back of her mind as as to whether or not God could do as He promised.
But what if Sarai’s faith was as strong as Abram’s? Maybe Sarai fell into the trap we all do at some point or another — we try to make it a works-based salvation, not a faith-based salvation.
None of our fleshly works can justify us with Jehovah God.
Besides, did Sarai really think this plan was going to be the answer? Doesn’t “two is company, three is a crowd” apply to marriage?
God is one to keep clean blood lines.
- Abram and Sarai were both children of Terah (Gen. 20: 12).
- Judah and Tamar, a descendant of Shem (Gen. 38: 18).
- Joseph and Mary were both descendants of King David (Mt. 1: 6; Lk. 3: 31).
God was going to have the line to the Messiah go through Sarai, not an Egyptian slave. (True, Jesus’ ancestors did have Gentiles in it, but not in this case.)
Dykes brought up an interesting argument. Sarai sacrificed the sanctity of her marriage in an unselfish act to, in her mind, make sure that a son could be born. (Note, Dykes thinks marriage to Hagar was not considered by either Abram or Sarai.)
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From a worldview perspective, that is admirable. But it wasn’t what God had in mind.
Regardless, Sarai’s faith here was bruised at best. So, she thought she would hurry things along by instituting her own plan.
Wife or Still a Slave?
In the Hebrew, Hagar was given the title isha (wife), not philegesh (concubine).
Let’s look at what Sarai actually said. “And Sarai Avram’s isha took Hagar her shifchah the Egyptian, after Avram had dwelt ten years in Eretz Kena’an, and gave her to her husband Avram to be his isha” (Gen. 16: 2 OJB emphasis added).
Looks the same status to me. Yes, Sarai would have had a little more prestige being the first wife, but Hagar was a wife. Concubine would have been philegesh, or a secondary wife with lower legal and social status.
In a couple of verses, we have another Hebrew word used. “And Sarai said unto Avram, My wrong be upon thee; I have given my shifchah [female slave of the lowers rank] unto thy kheyk [closest intimacy]; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes; Hashem judge between me and thee” (Gen. 16: 5 OJB emphasis added).
Well, I don’t know if we can interpret anything from that. Abram and Hagar were having a close, intimate relationship even if feelings and emotion weren’t involved.
But this seems to go against what Dykes said about society wouldn’t have seen as Abram as breaking his marriage vows by messing with Hagar. I tend to go with that, as I’ll support in the next section.
Sarai’s Plan Implemented
“So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt. Then Sarai said to Abram, ‘This is all your fault! I put my servant into your arms, but now that she’s pregnant she treats me with contempt. The Lord will show who’s wrong — you or me!’ Abram replied, ‘Look, she is your servant, so deal with her as you see fit.’ Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away” (Gen. 16: 4-6 NLT)
Sarai’s plan came to fruition – and it didn’t work out the way she wanted.
The Result of Hagar’s Pregnancy
After she became pregnant, Hagar held Sarai in contempt.
What was Abram thinking? How did he even think that was going to turn out well?
Most importantly, why did Abram think God would sanction this?
If Abram’s God was not Sarai’s God, why did he go along with the plan? Why was he letting a non-believer — if that was what she was — call the shots on implementing the promise to him?
Part of the problem was Hagar’s actions. It says that “… when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress” (Gen. 15: 4 ESV). Maybe Hagar thought she was going to be elevated from concubine to wife when she produced an heir.
Sarai’s Response
Sarai blamed Abram, even though it had been her plan.
Part of the problem could have been Sarai. She could no longer in her mind say she wasn’t the problem that she and Abram didn’t have kids.
Instead of taking responsibility for her actions, Sarai tried to shift the blame onto Abram. It hadn’t been his idea. It was hers.
But then, if Sarah gave Hagar to Abram as his isha, she shouldn’t have switched back to shifchah. “And Sarai said unto Avram, My wrong be upon thee; I have given my shifchah unto thy kheyk …” (Gen. 16: 5 OJB emphasis added).
Sarai may have been a little mad that her plan blew up in her face.
But then, how many times do we complain about the bad things that happen because of our great plans? We try anything to excuse ourselves of the fault associated with our actions.
Abram’s Response
We don’t read that status elevation happened in Abram’s eyes, either.
Back to the Hebrew.
I doubt someone Abram considered his wife would have been treated as a servant. “But Avram said unto Sarai, Hinei, thy shifchah [female slave of the lowers rank] is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her face” (Gen. 16: 6 OJB). That shows how little Abram thought of Hagar.
Both still considered Hagar the shifchah, not isha. This may have been a
I tried to look up hinei but didn’t really get anywhere on it. I did find another place in God’s Word where it is used.
“And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Hinei, this hath touched thy lips; and thine avon (iniquity) is taken away, and kapporah is made for the purging of thy chattat (sin). Also I heard the voice of Adonoi, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us? Then said I, Hineini; send me” (Isa. 6: 7-8 OJB).
In both instances, it translated in some form of look or see. I could see Abram saying, “Look. Keep me out of the middle.” I can hear the seraphim saying, “Pay attention, Isaiah.”
The interesting one is in Isaiah 6: 8. The Hineini is usually translated as here. But if we add a little jumping up and down while waving his arms, I can see Isaiah saying, “Hey, look. I’m right here. Don’t look any farther.”
I wonder if this goes back to the kind of man Abram was. Remember when they went to Egypt, Abram’s deception may have been borne of his dislike of confrontation. He was, in essence, a peaceful man.
Hagar’s Response
When Sarai treated Hagar harshly, Hagar ran away.
But Hagar didn’t understand the function of a surrogate. “… she looked on me with contempt …’” (Gen. 16: 5 NLT). The son was now Sarai’s, not hers.
It seems to me that Hagar thought she was better than her mistress. It probably stemmed from the fact that Hagar could provide what Sarai couldn’t – a child.
Yep, pride stepped in. Insolence was given a breeding ground to flourish.
Because Sarai was probably mad on a couple of fronts, she mistreated Hagar. She was taking her frustration and hurt out on the person she put in the middle in the first place.
I get it that Hagar may have thought she was going to get to be an isha, but she was still a shifchah in everyone’s eyes but her own. She was asked to do one thing – which would have, in her mind, elevated her son to firstborn status and set him for life.
Hagar’s response was to run away. That wasn’t what God wanted.
We might judge the situation based on culture today. We shouldn’t. Rather, we should put it into context of the culture of that time in that place.
To me, probably both women were at fault. Sarai should have trusted in God and not taken things into her own hands. Hagar should have realized what was expected of her because Sarai’s status wasn’t going to change, especially in Abram’s eyes. But then Abram has his share of the blame if he still treated her as a servant instead of a wife.
Making the Connections #1
I have to take a deeper look at what Spurgeon said. He wrote,
“When the soul is graciously enabled to perceive its complete justification by faith, then it more distinctly discerns its calling. Now, the believer perceives his privileged separation, and discerns why he was convinced of sin, why he was led away from self-righteousness and the pleasures of this world, to live the life of faith; now he sees his high calling and the prize of it, and from the one blessing of justification he argues the blessedness of all the inheritance to which he is called.”
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- Seeing our complete justification. If we don’t fully believe that Jesus has justified us by Hs death and resurrection and our accept of the Plan of Salvation, we’ve missed Jesus’ mission.
- We more clearly see the purpose of salvation. We are are convicted of our sin.
- We turn from thinking we are righteous in our own right to knowing we are only righteous and following worldview pleasures to living a life of faith.
- Because Abram kept faith, we all are blessed through One of his descendants — Jesus.
Making the Connections #2
We have to get over thinking that God’s promises are going to be fulfilled almost instantaneously. There are going to be what we see as hindrances and delays.
We have to leave it to God to do what He is planning.
Making the Connections #3
We tend to think of God’s promises as a reward. “You are My child, so I am going to give you this wonderful thing because you’ve been such a good boy/ girl.”
What if we flip that around and look at it as a testing? Testings aren’t given just to evaluate our faith, but it is also used to grow it.
We might think we are a strong disciple, but even we can be tested — and fail the test. “If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall” (I Cor. 10: 12 NLT).
It might be easy to say this was Sarai’s testing, as she came up with the plan. However, God can and does use others to test us — Abram included.
Because really, Abram failed the test, too. Yes, it was Sarai’s plan, but it was Abram’s son that was born nine months later.
Yes, Abram had been doing things right. He was walking with God. He believed. God called him righteous (Gen. 15: 6).
Ooo, baby! Can things change in an instance!!!!
This is what we are told to remain strong. “But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Mt. 24: 13 NLT).
How Do We Apply This?
- Focus on the promise God gives us, even if it seems impossible, rather than how it will come to pass.
- Resist any temptation to help a Father out to get the promise fulfilled.
- Realize our flesh is going to promote that we act instead of wait.
- Resist temptation.
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Father God. So many times, we get impatient waiting on Your promises. Forgive us. We would be much better waiting for Your time. Amen.
What do you think?
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