January 20th, 2021

Psalm 86; Genesis 16:1–14; Luke 18:15–17

The story of Hagar and the name story of Ishmael has all sorts of racial undertones, at least in an American context, and this must be mentioned. Historically, much focus has been on Hagar’s “disrespect,” not mentioning that she as a slave was raped for her mistresses purposes. It’s remarkable that as passages like these were used to get slaves to be more obedient, the same biblical story critiques those very actions.

There was a cultural practice in the ancient world involving slaves to fill in for barren wombs, but this story seems to serve as a warning to such practices—it did not turn out well. Instead of Sarai “taking” and “giving” as Eve did with the fruit, or Abram “listening to the voice” of the woman and not of God as Adam did, they ought to have trusted God’s definition of good and bad.

That being said, they were old already and they had been in Cannan 10 years at this point! It’s easy to gloss over that in half a verse, but if we were awaiting a promise for 10 years, do we think that we wouldn’t have looked for another way?

We are prone to criticize the characters in the Bible for not following God’s clear command, but I find the longer I sit with the story, the more I realize that I am that character. I don’t think I could have waited 10 years with no sign of progress. The Bible brings me in under my own criticisms and as I identify with the biblical characters, I experience alongside them the generous, forgiving love of God, who blesses them despite their failures.