Genesis 12: 4-20; 16:1-15; 21:8-21 (NKJV)
Welcome back to our study on Hagar! I hope you are enjoying it. Here’s how we ended lesson 5 …
Oh boy! Here we go again only this time, it seems that Hagar and her son are being cast out by Sarah’s choice. Is Hagar going to leave Abraham and Sarah’s home for the second time? Is Abraham going to let this happen, I mean Ishmael is not a babe in Hagar’s womb anymore? Abraham has had several years to grow to love his son, is it going to make a difference?
With the above in mind, let’s pick back up
with Abraham, Sarah, Hagar and Ishmael in Genesis 21:11 …
Verse 11 And the matter was
very displeasing in Abraham’s sight because of his son.
Abraham no doubt loved his son and the
thought of abandoning him by sending him away was not something he wanted to
do. Oh, how that must have hurt!
Both Abraham and Sarah are reaping the
consequences of the choice they made to put Abraham in Hagar’s bed. If only they had asked God to help them wait
on His timing.
Verse 12: But God said to Abraham, “Do not
be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you,
listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named.
Had it not been for God’s direct command to
Abraham to listen to Sarah, I have to believe he would not have sent his son
away. That had to have been an
incredibly difficult thing to even think about doing, much less do!
However, when we choose to disobey God, the
things required to make ourselves right with Him are always difficult.
In Abraham and Sarah’s situation, Sarah’s
misery was the price she paid. Abraham’s
misery and his being told to say goodbye to his son was the price he paid.
Disobedience to God always has a price,
regardless of who we are … even for ‘the father of the faithful/Abraham.’
God seems to be saying to Abraham, ‘don’t
worry. Do what Sarah said for Isaac is
the promised child through which your descendants will be named.”
Even though Abraham and Sarah hadn’t
trusted God and waited on His timing, God was still there and in control.
How many times do we tire of waiting on God
and take matters into our own hands? Oh
that we would learn from Abraham and Sarah that God’s timing is the best
timing.
Verse 13: "And of the son of the maid
I will make a nation also, because he is your descendant."
Because Ishmael was Abraham’s son, God
would make a nation of him also. I have
to pause and wonder about God and Abraham’s relationship. (That would be a great study!) Their relationship
was such that God would honor Abraham in spite of his weak faith and lack of
trust in this situation. God could see
what was in Abraham’s heart and acted accordingly … that just makes me smile
all over! Do we ever make poor choices
due to weak faith and lack of faith in God’s Word? I have and it’s one reason I pray for God to
strengthen my weak faith and to help me trust His word more. The fact of the matter is that I need God to
help me be what He wants me to be … I simply cannot do it on my own!
Do you think God’s assurance to Abraham
that Ishmael would be under His watchful eye as well, helped Abraham be able to
send his son away?
Verse 14: So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin
of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the
boy, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness
of Beersheba.
Here again Abraham could have ignored God’s
instructions and not sent Ishmael away, but this time he obeyed. Do you think Abraham had learned the very
valuable lesson that God knows best?
God’s word is not meant as something that
deprives us of fun in life, nor is it meant to be viewed as some sort of
punishment, it’s simply to be viewed as the path to Him. It’s our choice how we view it, as book of ‘can-do’s
and can’t do’s that leads to a boring life or a book that shows me the path to
God and an eternal home in Heaven with Him.
We get to choose!
This scene brings to mind all kinds of
emotional heartache for Hagar, Ishmael and Abraham.
Hagar was likely in disbelief that Abraham
was actually going to send them away … she was probably really angry at Sarah
too!
Ishmael was likely confused, hurt and
feeling abandoned by his father, not to mention the anger that surely had to be
boiling inside of him towards his father … and he was probably angry at Sarah
too!
Abraham was likely trying to be strong
while falling apart inside. He was
sending away his son, his first-born son and regardless of how it came about,
it had to be most difficult! How was he
feeling towards Sarah right about now … human nature tells us that he, even
though God had told him ‘to do what she said,’ likely felt some bitterness
towards her as well.
If only Sarah had waited on God and His
timing, if only Abraham hadn’t agreed to her plan … lives destroyed, deep
emotional damage done, and events that would change the world set in motion …
all because they didn’t trust God to do what He said He would do! I think there’s a lesson in that for us too!
Before we move on, let’s talk about the
‘bread and skin of water’ Abraham gave to Hagar for their sustenance. That meager amount seems harsh and not in
keeping with what we know about Abraham nor God. Remember, Abraham loved Ishmael, and we know
that God did.
I read a few commentaries, and they all
seem to agree that Abraham sent them away with much more and that the ‘bread
and skin’ of water was what Hagar personally carried.
That makes sense, doesn’t it? God said send them away, He didn’t say send
them away with nothing. In this
situation, God’s love for Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael would have prohibited
total abandonment.
So much pain that didn’t have to be …
Meet me back here next Thursday and when
we’ll not only bring the study to a close, but also look at some things that
Abraham, Sarah, Hagar and Ishmael might tell us about God.
patsy
@ From
This Heart of Mine
~ a place for women to gather and study God's Word ~
Sources used for this study:
Various
translations of the Holy Bible
Various
commentaries
Several
trusted and biblically sound online sources
Dictionary
of New Testament Background, Editors: Craig A Evans & Stanley E. Porter
Archaeological
Study Bible
All
the Women of the Bible by Edith Deen
Daughters
of Eve by Lottie Beth Hobbs
Halley’s
Bible Handbook by H. H. Halley
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