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Introduction
Abraham has always been one of my more favorite Bible characters, and so I have been enjoying this series on his life.
Because my specialty is the Old Testament and I frequently give seminars on Old Testament Survey, I tend to spend a lot of time thinking about Abraham and his place in the great plan of salvation.
However, since there is usually limited time in a survey seminar, it is not often possible to get into the details the way a sermon series does, and I often have to skim over Hagar’s story.
That is a shame, because Hagar and Ishmael are important characters in the Bible and the relationships that they have to Abraham, Sarah, and Yahweh are fascinating to consider.
Hagar is one of the most badly treated characters in the Bible, both by her employers, as well as later on symbolically.
Most of this is not even her fault, as we shall see.
But in Hagar’s story we see one of the clearest examples of God’s care for the downtrodden and helpless.
We realize that Yahweh is the God who sees the affliction of his people and cares for them.
[Click] One thing I would like to demonstrate today is how to exposit a narrative text in Scripture.
Narratives are both the easiest and most difficult of literary genres to exegete correctly.
[Click] That is because we are dealing with real-life events that happened once in history with their own cultural and historical context.
[Click] Yet they are included in Scripture, as Paul writes, as examples and warnings to us (1Co 10:6,11).
[Click] Narratives explain how God progressively reveals himself and his plan throughout history.
[Click] They also reveal truths about humans and about God.
Not all of these truths are comfortable, and — if they are in the text — they will be repeated and reiterated in clear teaching passages in Scripture.
[Click] Therefore, as one exposits a narrative, one must be certain to support any principles and practices gleaned from the narrative with other passages, giving preference to those that are not of the narrative genre.
Failing to do so can and often does result in unbiblical and even heretical teaching.
[Click] Regardless of the literary genre of a text, the final goal of any teaching must be to see our thoughts being brought in line with revealed truth.
This should result in a transformation that manifests itself in action in line with God’s will.
The Christian faith is a faith of deeds, not of mere words.
As Harold pointed out last week, it’s belief in God, not belief about God.
Belief about God is held in the head and has no bearing on everyday action.
Belief in God, however, will transform our mind, will and emotions, resulting in a living, acting faith; in our being doers of the Word as well as hearers.
That, brothers and sisters is where we will hopefully go by the end of this sermon.
[Click] But before we begin, let us pray.
So, let’s read our narrative from Genesis 16.
Please open your Bibles to follow along during the sermon, as I will read this narrative once today.
I will be reading from the ESV, as it renders the original text very well in this instance.
Please rise for the reading of the Word of God.
This is the Word of the Lord.
May it’s reading be blessed in this place.
The Narrative and its Interpretation
[Click] As we approach this narrative, we likely already have a bad taste in our mouths.
There is a lot of nastiness in this passage; nastiness perpetrated by those we consider the most godly people of that day and age.
There are things that rub us wrong culturally and we can naturally try to reject this and move on.
It is not a pleasant passage to read.
However, when we look at this passage in its various contexts, it contains some very important and very amazing elements regarding the progress of redemption and the revelation about God.
[Click] Since we in this church believe that this book is God’s word from cover to cover, word for word, down to the littlest jot and tittle, we will assume that God specifically adds such narratives to make a point.
But to understand that point we need to consider certain important background points.
[Click] First, God did not reveal everything about himself and his will at once.
One of the things we see is how revelation in Scripture is progressive.
Today we have the whole revelation from Genesis to Revelation, so we can see how things fit together in the big picture.
This was not the case with Abram and Sarai.
[Click] We also must remember that Genesis was written by Moses about 650 years after the events recorded here for the express purpose of explaining the origins of Yahweh’s dealings with humanity.
It is one vignette in a whole for a greater goal.
So we need to look at it in that greater context.
[Click] These events also take place in a certain cultural and historical context, where certain cultural norms, privileges, responsibilities, and expectations existed.
This text reflects those — interestingly without passing judgment overtly.
Things are described as they were.
It is the context of the narrative and some of the literary forms used that suggest God’s displeasure about what happens here.
So, let’s first consider where we are historically, beginning with the biblical events that we have already discussed.
According to verse 3, Abram and Sarai have been sojourning in Canaan for ten years.
[Click] All of the events recorded in Genesis 12–15 took place in this ten-year span.
[Click] The Bible gives us the order of these events, but not when they take place in the timeline.
This recounting of Ishmael’s conception and birth is different.
Timing is important here, as it will reflect on the covenant of circumcision in chapter 17 that we will look at next week.
[Click] It isn’t clear how much time has passed between the events in chapter 15 and the events in chapter 16.
Personally, I think that chapter 16 happens only a few months after chapter 15. [Click] My reasoning for this arrives from an observation of how Moses shapes the greater narrative about Abram and Sarai.
If we look at Genesis 12, we have Abraham’s obedience in the first half of the chapter, followed by his failure.
In Genesis 13, we have Abraham’s expression of faith compared to Lot, followed by his putting himself at risk on Lot’s behalf in Genesis 14.
In Genesis 17 and 18 we have the promise of a son from Sarah’s womb, contrasted with Sarah’s unbelief.
Genesis 18 contrasts Abraham’s righteousness and care for humanity with Lot’s selfishness and indifference in Genesis 19.
In Genesis 20 we again see Abraham’s failure followed by God’s blessing in the first half of Genesis 21 and Abraham and Sarah’s cruelty to Hagar and Ishmael in the latter half of Genesis 21.
Moses consistently contrasts and compares Abraham’s righteousness with his sinfulness.
So it is logical that Abraham’s weakness would be highlighted after his amazing display of faith in chapter 15.
Though here, in chapter 16, Sarai is the instigator of Abram’s bad decision.
[Click] Sarai knows she’s barren.
She is 75 years old at this time.
Under normal circumstances she would have gone through menopause by now.
And yet Abram received a promise that a child of his own body would be his heir.
So Sarai decides to take things into her own hands and provide her husband with the heir that both of them long for.
[Click] One of the commentators I read pointed out that the language in the first six verses of Genesis 16 parallels the language used in Genesis 3:6, when Eve gives in to temptation.
It seems Moses is making the point that, as Eve attempted to possess God’s glory by her own means, Sarai is trying to reach God’s goal by her own efforts.
[Click] What Sarai does is perfectly acceptable according to the cultural norms of the day.
If she can’t have a baby, she’ll provide her husband with a surrogate wife who can. [Click] Hagar is called a “female Egyptian servant” in the ESV, though the word “slave” would be more appropriate.
The Hebrew word used here specifically emphasizes Hagar being the possession of Sarai.
Sarai most likely acquired Hagar when she and her husband were sojourning in Egypt (Genesis 12:16).
Slavery in the age of the patriarchs was a major form of employment.
A person was bound to a benefactor, whether by their own choice or by that of another.
The owner was responsible for the well-being of their slave.
They had to provide for the slave’s needs and protect them.
On the other hand, the slave was responsible to do the bidding of their owner.
Payment could be given for services rendered, but more often food, board, clothing, protection and small gifts were all that were provided.
The text specifically emphasizes how Sarai eventually “deals harshly” with Hagar.
This suggests that Abram and Sarai were generally kind to and caring of their slaves.
[Click] Because Hagar belongs to Sarai, it is Sarai’s right to give her to her husband as a concubine.
However, because Hagar belongs to Sarai, any child Hagar bears will automatically be counted as Sarai’s child, not Hagar’s.
In Sarai’s eyes, Hagar is Sarai’s surrogate womb from which Sarai’s heir will come.
[Click] Interestingly, Abram agrees to this scheme.
It certainly is a very clear, practical solution to obtaining a child from his own loins and thus seeing the fulfillment of Yahweh’s covenant with him.
We must remember here that Yahweh had not yet revealed that the promised son was to come from Sarai.
So, Abram takes Hagar as a second wife most likely because of his faith in God’s promise, not despite it.
[Click] It is here that we first see the negative side of Hagar’s character.
Look at verse 4:
Hagar naturally looks down on her aged mistress, because the text suggests that Hagar succeeded in getting pregnant in her first try, accomplishing what was denied Sarai in decades of marriage: she is giving Abram a child.
This suggests to me that Hagar is probably still quite young, perhaps in her late teens or early twenties.
She does not seem to understand the import of what her attitude exhibits.
Sarai is obviously ashamed that she is unable to produce children, which was a primary function that a woman in that day and age was expected to fulfill.
These factors make the slave girl’s contempt even worse, especially considering it was Sarai who enabled Hagar to conceive in the first place by allowing her husband to take Hagar as a second wife.
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