Genesis 16:1-16
Hagar Conceived and Abused by Sarai
Earlier in Genesis 12:1-3, God had promised
Abram, "Go from your
country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show
you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your
name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you
and him who dishonor you, I will curse, and in you all the families of the
earth shall be blessed."
Abram (later renamed to be Abraham) and his
wife, Sarai (later renamed to be Sarah) responded positively to God’s call. They
moved to Canaan. They had lived in the land for ten years. Although they were
prosperous, they faced the problem of having no offspring. Abram was
eighty-five years old and Sarai was already seventy-five years old. Sarai was infertile
by this age.
With Sarai not bearing a child, God’s promise
to Abram apparently was at risk! So Sarai became impatient. She followed the
way of the social custom, said to Abram, “Behold now, the LORD has prevented me
from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children
by her.” (v.2)
And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.
The narrator says: Sarai, Abram’s wife, took
Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife.
And he went in to her, and she conceived (vv3-4).
This scene is parallel to Eve took the
forbidden fruit and gave it to Adam. And Adam ate it.
Sarai and Abram didn’t submit to God’s time
and sovereignty. They wanted to make things happen in their own way. Here we
see the modern form of the surrogate mother.
And when Hagar saw that she had conceived, she
looked with contempt on her mistress. Hagar was immature and arrogant.
So Sarai did not only obtain a child but also
contempt or despise from the servant girl! This scene parallels to Adam and Eve
did not know everything after taking the forbidden fruit but both knew that
they were naked!
And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done
to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she
had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you
and me!”
This scene of putting the blame on others
echoes the same reaction after Adam and Eve sinned against God.
But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant
is in your power; do to her as you please.”
Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she
fled from her. Hagar was a servant girl in a lowly and helpless situation. Who will come to her rescue?
Then angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the
spring on the way to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have
you come from and where are you going?”
She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress
Sarai.”
The angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to
your mistress and submit to her. I
will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.
Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael,
because the LORD has listened to your affliction. He shall be a wild donkey of
a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall
dwell over against all his kinsmen.” (Vv.9-12)
So Hagar called the name of the LORD who spoke
to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him
who looks after me.”(v.13)
Whenever God sees, he provides! Therefore the
well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered (v.14). “Beer-lahai-roi”
means the well of the one who is seeing and who is living!
Hagar humbled
herself now and she was ready to submit
to Sarah. She went home and later gave birth to a son, called
"Ishmael", meaning ‘God hears’! Whenever God hears, he will start the
act of salvation. Tradition says that Ishmael became the ancestor of the Arabs.
Today, we may also fall into seasons of change
or 'out-of-control' situations, as
what happened to Abraham’s family. These unpleasant or threatening situations
surface in our personal lives, in our family, church or nation at large. Will
God look after us amidst these rocking changes? What could we do in order to
stride with these life-challenging situations and even turn them to our
benefits?
God Intervenes into Changes and
Chaos in Life to Bless His Children
Hagar was a Gentile maid, a stranger in
the land of Canaan. She had nothing to depend on and now she was pregnant. She
faced an unknown future. She must be fearful. Yet she fled from home. She surely
had lots of courage to run away.
This suggests that, in the
family or in church, when one suffers unfair persecution, like physical abuse
or mental trauma, one should take the appropriate action to deal with the
problem rather than to endure blindly. He or she could seek counselling and
assistance from church leaders and pastor.
Here for Hagar, something good happened. While
Hagar was fleeing to the wilderness, God came to meet her (found her) there and blessed her.
On the other hand, in time of conflict and
difficulties, another better alternative is to stay cool and do not react on
impulse; for it will make things worse! Take
a step back, take some deep breaths, calm down and pray, and then we can have a clearer mind to
make right decisions.
To our surprise, the angel told Hagar to return to
Sarai. This may pose further danger going back to the abuser Sarai. However,
this is also the place where Hagar will experience God’s blessing and
protection.
At times, when you feel like wanting to make a
“change”, but God said, "not yet, go back to the old situation, humble yourself, submit to authority, and
there you will experience my blessing". Can you accept this answer from
God?
Hagar had the courage to escape
from Sarai, and now she listened to God’s instruction and returned to Sarai,
and this required even greater courage. Hagar’s humility, obedience and dependence upon God is a stark contrast to Sarai
and Abram who rely on their own ways to deal with problems.
Hagar finally received the
blessing of God, gave birth to a son, and has a large number of descendants
thereafter.
Hagar fled from home, she lost
protection from the family; Sarai lost a maid, and Abram also lost the
concubine with a yet un-born child. That is a family tragedy! But God intervenes in a timely
way to remedy the situation and bless the family.
God intervened to relieve the
oppressed Hagar. He took the initiative to meet
Hagar, showed her a way out. God heard the cry of Hagar and
saw her pain, and cared for her (v.13).God has the ability to reverse
the plight of people, turn tragedy into comedy, and make good outcome from human
folly.
We are bound to encounter changes in
life or lose control, not knowing what to do next, for example: broken
relationships among family members, children involved in stealing, "ponteng"
school, financial hardship or conflict of faith, arguments and conflicts in the
ministry or in the workplace, commotion and unstable politics of the country.
During these moments, we are
truly being tested! We must put our trust in God, believing that He will
intervene according to His own way to guide and protect us, but not necessarily in the ways
according to our expectations and requirements. God knows what is best and most
suitable for us, we just have to believe and obey God's leading.
Nevertheless, all the sufferings we have experienced
in life are not endured in vain. Hagar is the first person in the Bible who has an angel appeared
to her, and the only woman who received God’s promise of many descendants. Not only that, she is the first
person to name God, “You are a God of seeing (v.13).”
So, the sufferings we go through
are not in vain but they help us to draw closer to God and further
know God as the Provider.
Today God may put us in an
uncomfortable and difficult situation. We must stay calm and cool to
face the situation. We must believe that God's grace is sufficient for us. By the grace of God, we shall
overcome the trials and hardship and then we will personally realise that, we
have now become so much stronger!
God hears our grievances. He knows
and he cares about the hardships we are going through. We just have to believe, humble ourselves,
submit to God's leading. God will surely intervene according to His own way to
guide and protect us.
Looking Forward Can Help You Get Out
of Present Sufferings and Wounds
The angel of God met Hagar,
asked her: "Where have you come from, and where are you going (v.8)?” Hagar was bewildered and replied: "I am fleeing from
my mistress Sarai. ”
Hagar’s answer was incomplete,
reflecting her preoccupation with the past, without a regard or thought about
the future. When a person is caught in
pain, he is immersed in the past hurts and is unable to see the hope dawning in
the horizon ahead.
But the angel directed Hagar's
attention from the past to the future, thus He commanded her to: "Return
to your mistress and submit to her. I will surely multiply your offspring so
that they cannot be numbered!” (Vv.9-10)
Then the angel further promised
Hagar that: “You are pregnant and shall bear son, you shall call his name
Ishmael because God has listened to your
affliction”. This Ishmael shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against
everyone, and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all
his kinsmen.” (Vv.11-12)
Please take note, the characteristics of the child as
described by the angel were the exact opposite of those of the mother who was a
maid, a concubine under oppression. So, the birth of Ishmael vindicated his mother!
Today, let’s ask the same
question: "Where do I come from or where am I going to?
Are we focussing on God,
believing that He is before us, directing our path? Or do we still linger,
holding on tight to past hurts, failures and sins?
God is challenging you today to
look up, pay attention to the things “you can do and should do”, and then you
will surely walk out of the wounds, conflicts and failures, and enter into
the victory and abundance in and through Christ.
“The things we can and should do” perhaps,
are: Say a word of apology to somebody (spouse/children/parents, a brother or a
sister) to reconcile a relationship; or do exercises or diet to shape up; or
make-up to make oneself more attractive; take up a study course to upgrade
oneself; go for a mission trip to engage with people who are less fortunate
than you, and etc.….Then we will break free from past failures, hurts, phobias
and etc.
没有评论:
发表评论