NOTES for Gen 16:1-16
The story of Hagar cannot help seeming strange, at the very least, to a modern reader. Meanwhile, in the age of the Patriarchs people often acted this way, because a child, even one born to a slave woman, could still inherit from the master of the house, provided the master of the house was his father. And among ancient people childlessness was considered a grave misfortune and a sign of the gods' anger. In Abraham's case, the situation was made still heavier by Sarah's impatient expectation: she knew about the covenant and the promises God had given no less than her husband did. Meanwhile, ten years had already passed (v. 3), and Sarah naturally became more and more anxious: she was growing old, her husband was growing old too, and the heir promised by God still had not appeared (vv. 1-2). Everything for which Abraham had once left the land of his fathers and moved to a foreign, unknown country was collapsing. And a thought arose in Sarah's mind on its own: should she not speed up the course of events? Perhaps this was exactly what God expected of her? Of course, a slave woman's child was not her own, but at least he would still be considered an heir, and God's work would continue. That is how Ishmael came into the world, and with him came contempt and jealousy (v. 4). It would seem, what rivalry could there be between a mistress and a slave woman? But slavery among the Hebrews was never like slavery among the ancient Greeks and Romans, or among the ancient Egyptians, where slaves were sometimes not even counted as people. Slavery among the Hebrews was mild and patriarchal, and slaves were essentially regarded as younger, not fully entitled members of the tribe, who of course had no vote in the tribal council, but otherwise were like everyone else. It is no accident that in ancient times the Hebrews used the same word for an adolescent and a slave. And if a slave woman became the mother of the heir and the master's concubine, the wife's position in the household became ambiguous (v. 5). Abraham, apparently, regarded all Sarah's complaints and reproaches as not entirely fair: after all, Sarah herself, on her own initiative, had created the situation from which she was now suffering. So he gave her the opportunity to resolve the situation as she saw fit (v. 6). The decision was quick, though hardly just: Hagar and her child were effectively driven out of the house (v. 6). Apparently, a woman's jealousy outweighed all the considerations that had earlier led Sarah to approach Hagar with the proposal that she bear the master an heir. After everything that had happened, Abraham and his wife must have understood that God's plans cannot be carried out by human effort alone. Sometimes, as it turned out, the best help one can give God in carrying out His plan is patient waiting. Still, God does not abandon the runaways (vv. 7-12): in the end, He is the One who has to solve the problems created by people who want to serve Him but do not know how. Everything is resolved well, and another people appears in the Middle East with its own future and its own history. God finds a place under the sun for everyone. And yet, while reading today's passage, the question involuntarily arises: is it worth creating unnecessary problems both for God and for ourselves?