# 52 2022 Dev. Ge.16:1. Impatience, or lack of faith? Read all of Ch.16 first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s story. How will it affect yours? All passages are taken from the NIV.
Ge.16:1 “Now Sarai, Abrams wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar.”
Chapter 16 is a chapter that gives us some insight into the culture of that day. To be barren was considered by many as a curse from God, also, it was unacceptable for a man not to have an heir. Hammurapi’s’ code allowed for a surrogate as a legal means to acquire an heir. None of this is an excuse for Abram to whom God had promised an heir from his own flesh. More than likely Sarai was past the age of child baring, both Abram and Sarai faced the reality of their situation, humanly speaking. Certainly this situation is impatience with God’s promise, and a lack of faith that had serious implications for them and for us.
Vs.1- 6 Abram’s and Sarai’s decision soon turned their domestic life upside down. Bad decisions tend to do that. What was Abram thinking? Sarai, “May the Lord judge between you and me” an accusatory statement. This conflict did not cease until Abram listened to Sarai again, “put this woman and her son away from us.” God told Abram to listen to her.
Vs.7-10 Sarai retaliated, with Abram’s permission, to Hagar’s indolence to the point that she ran away. “The angel of the Lord”, traditionally, that statement is often considered to be the pre-incarnate Christ, he finds her near a spring in the desert. He tells her to return to Sarai, and to submit to her. Further, he tells her that her offspring will be uncountable. This is what God promised to Abram, that is surprising! Did God promise that because Ishmael was Abram’s son? Or, are Ishmael’s offspring to be a counterfoil to Abram’s offspring to test them and form them? I believe it to be the latter.
Vs.11-13 What the Angel said to her was a little like what the Angel told Mary. “You are pregnant, will have a son, name him Ishmael, (Who he is, what he will do) he will be a wild donkey of a man, and will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” This is being played out in the Middle East today.
Vs.15 “So Hagar bore Abram a son, it does not appear that he was ever Sarai’s son as she had hoped. God is in control in spite of our short comings, but God’s ways are not our ways. He is faithful even if we are not. Praise Him!
Heavenhigh 