Feb 08 2006
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.
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