"Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai 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." And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, 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 Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 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!" 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. Genesis 16: 1-6 ESV
Abram, in the last chapter, has entered into a covenant with God, who has promised that one from his own body will be his heir. His wife Sarai has been barren, and in a time not so far off from the command to be fruitful and multiply. To have an heir must seem significant both in the time and to fulfill the promise. It was God who walked between the sacrificial halves, and so it was God that would uphold the covenant. Abram believed God, God was the creator of life, Abram attributed his victory in battle to God and was blessed by God's priest. God has talked to him, has given him great possession and entered a blood oath with Abram. God had already rejected the appointing of an heir from his household; it was God's covenant and His choice.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1
What Abram's wife, Sarai, could see was that she had no children and was probably well past her prime. The promise of God, when bringing it down to mortal knowledge and experience would seem ridiculous at this point, or Sarai thought that the promise was not to include her. She may have attributed these natural limitations of men, to a Sovereign, almighty God. Sarai points out her circumstances to Abram, and he accepts her alternative solution. He has a child with Sarai's maid servant, and this creates an instant conflict between his wife and her servant, Hagar. It is not illogical in it's premise, and is probably a way for barren women in this time to adopt and have an heir, but it is not God's promise. The child of faith would lead to doubt, but the child of doubt would lead to contention.
Men hate to wait upon the Lord, to study and pray, to trust and obey; we would build our own towers and not disperse into the world. We would form our own cliques and make fun of those who were lost as we once were. When we do not repent of these things or our own lack of love and faith, then have we really believed? It is easy to judge Sarai after the fact, but she is no different then us, and I myself have often trembled, in fear of the things which I can see, even though my mind has assented to a God I can't see. He is the God that has created all I do see and has given me His word. He has made His covenant, that was promised from the time of Adam's fall, demonstrated throughout His word, and fulfilled on the cross by His Son.
Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bond woman, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the free woman through promise, which things are symbolic. Galatians 4:21-24 NKJV
And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. ! Corinthians 2:4&5
Abram, in the last chapter, has entered into a covenant with God, who has promised that one from his own body will be his heir. His wife Sarai has been barren, and in a time not so far off from the command to be fruitful and multiply. To have an heir must seem significant both in the time and to fulfill the promise. It was God who walked between the sacrificial halves, and so it was God that would uphold the covenant. Abram believed God, God was the creator of life, Abram attributed his victory in battle to God and was blessed by God's priest. God has talked to him, has given him great possession and entered a blood oath with Abram. God had already rejected the appointing of an heir from his household; it was God's covenant and His choice.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1
What Abram's wife, Sarai, could see was that she had no children and was probably well past her prime. The promise of God, when bringing it down to mortal knowledge and experience would seem ridiculous at this point, or Sarai thought that the promise was not to include her. She may have attributed these natural limitations of men, to a Sovereign, almighty God. Sarai points out her circumstances to Abram, and he accepts her alternative solution. He has a child with Sarai's maid servant, and this creates an instant conflict between his wife and her servant, Hagar. It is not illogical in it's premise, and is probably a way for barren women in this time to adopt and have an heir, but it is not God's promise. The child of faith would lead to doubt, but the child of doubt would lead to contention.
Men hate to wait upon the Lord, to study and pray, to trust and obey; we would build our own towers and not disperse into the world. We would form our own cliques and make fun of those who were lost as we once were. When we do not repent of these things or our own lack of love and faith, then have we really believed? It is easy to judge Sarai after the fact, but she is no different then us, and I myself have often trembled, in fear of the things which I can see, even though my mind has assented to a God I can't see. He is the God that has created all I do see and has given me His word. He has made His covenant, that was promised from the time of Adam's fall, demonstrated throughout His word, and fulfilled on the cross by His Son.
Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bond woman, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the free woman through promise, which things are symbolic. Galatians 4:21-24 NKJV
And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. ! Corinthians 2:4&5
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