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One Sin Leads to Another

After a chapter where all the initiatives were taken by the LORD Himself we now come to a chapter where that just is not the case. But that does not mean that the LORD is either passive or inactive – indeed as we consider the chapter together we'll see that the LORD is presented to us as a God who hears – who sees - and who exercises mercy.

The fact that Abram still has no child remains the problem that must be faced. This time however the focus shifts to Sarai and it is she who takes the initiative in setting off the disastrous round of events that is chronicled for us in this chapter.

The chapter opens with simple factual statements: Sarai is Abram's wife and she has borne him no children. The scene is set for Sarai to make her contribution.

Sarai is very conscious that she has not been able to give Abram any children and attributes this directly to the LORD's action. Was this a simple statement of faith: the LORD is sovereign over all things? Or was it a complaint: the LORD is the One who is to blame for the mess?

Whichever it was it is of interest that Sarai does not refer to the promise the LORD had made to Abram that he would sire offspring. It is clear that Sarai herself had no hope of becoming the mother of Abram's children. After all they had been in the land some 10 years now – she was too old and surely 10 years was a long enough time to be patient! She's about to make a suggestion that will, she imagines, help things along.

Sometimes when there is a long delay in the accomplishment of the LORD's promises we too can be tempted to take things into our own hands:

Pr.16:25 "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death."

The trouble is taking things into our own hands usually involves some compromise – that is just what we find in the suggestion that Sarai comes up with. As the episode is referred to in the NT it is interpreted as being a merely human effort at finding a solution.

Gal.4:23 "But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise."

I don't imagine it was easy for Sarai to put this suggestion to her husband. Although their marriage had experienced some strains in the past the LORD had intervened to protect them as a couple and they had been together a long time now. But no children and Sarai wants to resolve the problem. Interestingly the text suggests that she wants children for herself and it's her interests that she puts to the fore not the LORD's promise!

And so she resorts to a practice that existed in the surrounding nations. And how easy it is to rationalize our behaviour in tough circumstances! Others do it – we say – and so we do what is unacceptable in God's sight! And make no doubt about it even if this practice was followed by others in the region it did not match up to God's blueprint for marriage! Moses has already written about marriage in ch.2:

2:24 "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."

Jesus would later underline the sanctity of faithful monogamous marriage in his teaching against divorce. The writer to the Hebrews in similar vein would urge:

Heb.13:4 "and let the marriage bed be undefiled,"

And with Sarai's proposition we are introduced to the first set of triangular relationships to hit a marriage.

It's is Sarai who has made the suggestion but why oh why does Abram go along with it? How careful we should be as to the type of counsel we will listen to and accept!

Perhaps Abram genuinely thought that this was an acceptable way to get the child he so longed for. Perhaps he simply liked the idea of some sexual hanky-panky with Hagar – all with the approval of his wife too! Perhaps he did what Sarai wanted for a quiet life – if that were the case how wrong his estimation would prove to be!

Moses merely writes that Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. Just a few chapters earlier Moses had written of how another had listened to the voice of his wife! Both situations led to tragic consequences.

Once again in this chapter Abram is far from acting in a praiseworthy manner. And I for one am glad – not because I have some secret desire to pull down our heroes but because I see that God calls this man to follow Him. God doesn't only call fine, good, upstanding people to know Him – He calls struggling, weak and blameworthy people such as Abram – for such too am I!

So far neither Sarai nor Abram have appeared in a very good light – will Hagar fare any better. She is something of a victim isn't she? A pawn in the game. But no passive pawn. Obliged to do what her mistress demands, she becomes a second wife or concubine to Abram. Sarai gave Hagar to Abram hoping she would become pregnant and that is just what happened. But then the way Hagar reacts only serves to make what was already a far from perfect arrangement worse!

Pregnant and Abram the father of the child she carries! How cocky she now becomes. Sarai hadn't been able to satisfy her husband but now Hagar could!! And she looks down upon her mistress now and that in such a way that it was obvious to those around.

Even in circumstances where we are more victims than protagonists our actions and reactions remain our own and remain our responsibility. Hagar gets matters all wrong and makes a right hash of an already tense situation.

Sarai has been the instigator of the whole mess and now she turns herself into a victim. She goes complainingly to Abram with cries for justice on her lips. But it is not really justice that she seeks but vengeance and revenge. This comes out quite clearly when as soon as she gets the opportunity justice is exchanged for harshness as she takes it out on foolish Hagar.

Abram on the other hand seems incapable of standing up to his wife and allows her once again to lead the dance. Anything for a quiet life and Abram abdicates his responsibilities one more time.

And that is what sin does to us all. It leads from one mess to another – one compromise to another – one abdication of responsibility to another – one abuse to another.

We can understand Hagar's reaction to it all in running away but that too will be seen to be an inappropriate reaction on her part as well when the LORD meets her, questions her and sends her back to occupy her rightful place again.

The phrase "angel of the LORD" is used four times in vv.7-11. This person turns out to be none other that a visible representation of the LORD God Himself cf.v13. Hagar is found out by a messenger who is the LORD Himself – all such manifestations of God are associated with the Second Person of the Trinity. The Invisible God revealed Himself visibly through the Son who finally became incarnate as the man Christ Jesus.

Up till now in this sordid little section the LORD has not put in any appearance but now He does so to bring order and comfort to a disordered world.

How encouraging to read that the angel of the LORD found Hagar! She was running away heading back to her native land of Egypt. In running away from Abram's family group she was turning her back upon the only family through which the nations of the world could and would be blessed. The LORD in His mercy meets her and stops her doing that and sends her back to the safety (if not exactly the comfort) of Abram's encampment.

Hagar is not going to figure prominently in the Bible's unfolding narrative nor will her son be in the promised line. And yet the LORD in His mercy comes to find her and to bring comfort to her. We have no indication that she was looking to Him for help or calling out to Him but He came nevertheless. How encouraging for us too – most if not all of us who will remain largely unknown to the world at large – that the LORD is concerned by the little people!!

The questions He puts to Hagar are not for information but to bring Hagar to her senses and to help her realize just what she should be doing. The questioning once over is followed by some clear cut instruction. But she is not just sent back with her tail as it were between her legs – she is sent back but in possession of some encouraging words too.

The child she is carrying is a son and he will be born safely and grow into a multitude. While she is a slave and subject to the oppression inflicted upon her by her mistress the same will not be true of her son. She is told that her son will never be thus subjected to the domineering rule of others. He'll be a stubborn man, his own man. He may well live in close proximity to his kinsmen but he will live in a measure of independent hostility towards them. She is to call her Ishmael as a constant reminder that God does indeed hear in affliction!

Hagar is aware of the something of the significance of what has taken place as she has met with the LORD.

He has spoken of being a God who hears and Hagar now completes that with speaking of Him as being also a God who sees. He has seen her in her distress and affliction and come to care for her. But her description doesn't just mean that "God sees" it also means that "He has been seen" – she has in fact seen this God as manifested in the angel of the LORD and yet she has lived. She realizes that He has revealed Himself to her not in order to destroy her but for her well-being. "I have seen Him who looks after me" she declares.

And she leaves her mark upon the place. Abram when he first came to the Promised Land had a habit of constructing altars. Hagar doesn't construct an altar but she does leave a place name on the maps! As this encounter took place alone in the wilderness with only herself and the LORD present she must have told others about it all for the name to have stuck!!

Our chapter ends with Hagar back in Abram's camp once more. Her boy is born. This is not going to be the child of promise though that doesn't become clear to Abram for a number more years yet.

Sarai who had initiated everything at the beginning as a means for her to have children disappears and isn't mentioned as the chapter closes. All her conniving hasn't brought her the joy she was desperately trying to manipulate for herself and it would seem that she never developed any close relation to Ishmael as Abram most certainly did.

How careful we should be to avoid setting aside God's directives with our own reasonings and justifications.

How tortuous and sticky sin can be!

How good is the God we adore!