This lesson is compatible with the "Abraham & Isaac" Flash-A-Cards from Abeka Books.
Scripture References: Genesis 16:1-16
“Abram, God promised you that you would have as many children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren as the stars, right?” asked Sarai.
“Yes, dear. He promised.” Abram replied.
“Tell me again all about it.” Said Sarai. She wanted every little detail of the night God took Abram outside and made the promise. [Visual 1.6] She was amazed at how God would even promise to take the punishment if He or Abram broke the agreement. She was ten years older now. Seventy-five. Her husband was eighty-five. They weren’t just old enough to have children, they were old enough to have children who were grandparents! Sarai just couldn’t imagine how she and Abram were going to have children. They had never been able to have kids, and she had given up hope a long time ago. It had always been a struggle of hers, wanting to have a baby, but never having one. She had cried many tears, and prayed many prayers. She begged the false gods she served in Ur for children. They never answered. I imagine she even begged the One, True God for children, once she and Abram began to worship Him. And God had promised to give Abram children. But that was a long time ago. She could barely remember when Abram can running into the house and told her to go get his father, his brother, and his nephew so that he could tell them about his talk with God. So Sarai began to think. She tried to figure God’s plan out. She knew God had promised, and believed God would keep his promise, but she didn’t know how, and she WANTED to know. She wanted it NOW! We all get impatient at times, don’t we? We pray for something and want God to answer right away! But sometimes God waits. God has His own reasons for waiting. Sometimes it is because we are not ready. I think Abram and Sarai were not ready yet. God still had to teach them many things before they could be the parents of a great nation. It would be a very important family, after all. God the Son would come to the earth through this family!
So God kept waiting for the right time to give a baby to Abram. And Sarai began to make plans.
“Abram, look at Hagar, my maid. She looks strong and healthy. Maybe God wants to give us a baby through Hagar. She will have your baby, and I will adopt him! Yes. This is how God will give us a son. You will marry Hagar, and I will adopt her baby.”
“WHAT?! What was Sarai thinking????” you might ask. And that would be a good question!
Remember when Abram got scared that there would be no food for his family, servants, and flocks because of a famine? Where did he go? (Egypt!) [Visual 1.4] While in Egypt, he lied to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. And Pharaoh took Sarai to be one of his many wives because she was so beautiful. He gave Abram lots of animals and servants in return. But God sent what to Pharaoh? (Plagues) So Pharaoh found out the truth and sent Abram away with all the animals and servants he had given him. Hagar was probably one of these servants. In fact, servant is a nice word for it. The truth is that she was a slave! Abram, the friend of God, had slaves from Egypt!
Do you think it was right for him to have slaves? No! Slavery is a horrible thing. In those days, and in that land, it was common for people to have slaves. No one looked at Abram and thought “What a horrible man!” It was acceptable in that place and time to have slaves. Did that make it right? Of course not. Abram should have set the Egyptian slaves free as soon he got them safely out of Egypt. But Abram was a sinner, just like the rest of us. One of the reasons I believe the Bible is because it tells the whole story about people, the good and the bad. If I was going to start a new religion, and was making up a story because I wanted people to join my new religion, what kind of stories would I make up? Ones with heroes who never did anything wrong! I would want people to say “Wow! All the people in this religion are good people. I will join them!”
But this is not what God does. He didn’t want the men he used to write the Bible to only write down the good things. The Bible is NOT about how to be a good enough person to go to heaven. It IS about sinners, who need help getting to heaven because they keep making bad decisions and breaking God’s laws. It is about JESUS who IS good enough, and who died on the cross as a perfect person. Only faith in Jesus can make us clean! I’m so glad the Bible doesn’t just have stories about perfect heroes. It is about ONE PERFECT HERO! JESUS!
And Abram was very imperfect. The Bible says he listed to Sarai his wife, and did what she suggested! He took Hagar like a second wife. He should DEFINITELY not have done that! And Hagar didn’t have much say in the matter. She was a slave! This decision was a horribly bad one, and would cause a lot of trouble in the lives of this family. But Hagar got pregnant. She was very excited to be having a baby. Another custom of that time and place was that a woman who had children was seen as very important. A woman without children was actually looked down on! She was seen as less important! So Hagar was excited to have a baby.
[Visual 1.7] “People will finally respect me!” she thought. “And look at old Sarai. She used to give me orders as her maid, but now I’m the important wife! Since I am pregnant, and she has never had a child, I will move up to her spot of importance. Abram will love me more, and everyone will know how important I am now! My husband is a rich man, so I am a rich woman!”
Hagar began to look down her nose at Sarai. I imagine she would make little comments when she passed by. “Oh, I can’t wait to have a baby. I wonder what it is like to give birth. Oh, that’s right! You wouldn’t know what it’s like. You have never had a baby!” She would laugh at Sarai, too.
For Sarai, this was unbearable! Her slave girl was having the baby SHE was supposed to have! And now she thought she was better than her! Every day was worse the the day before. Finally, she got so fed up she rushed into the tent and began accusing Abram. “This is all your fault Abram! You married this slave girl, and she thinks she is important now. You made this horrible decision, and you need to fix it! God will judge who is right, you or me!”
Wait a minute…whose idea was it in the first place? Sarai’s idea! But now she saw it wasn’t such a good idea after all! Abram had also been wrong to listen to this idea. He should have told Sarai to wait on God because it was wrong to have two wives, especially a slave wife who had no say in the matter! But Abram was fed up with the fighting in the house now. He said “She is your maid, do what you want with her.” Wow! Abram was still making wrong decisions! He should have stood up for Hagar, admitting he was wrong, and asking God for forgiveness and help in their situation. But he didn’t. So Sarai did what she wanted with Hagar. The Bible says she treated Hagar very harshly. It doesn’t say exactly what happened, but I think it is likely that Sarai beat Hagar. How very sad. Hagar was heartbroken and angry and confused. So much so that she ran away. She decided to go back home, to Egypt. She began walking and stopped at a well after a while to rest and drink. This is when something wonderful happened.
The Angel of the Lord found Hagar. Many people believe whenever the Bible talks about the Angel of the Lord, it is Jesus, God’s Son before he took a human body to be born in Bethlehem. Remember that he always existed with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. I believe it was Jesus, also! God saw Hagar, and how bad things were for her. He saw she was hurting both physically and emotionally. God sent Jesus to speak with her and give her comfort! “Hagar, the maid of Sarai, where are you coming from, and where are you going?” he asked. “I’m running away from Sarai.” she said. Jesus said “Go back to Sarai, and obey her. Don’t worry. I will give you a big family that can not be numbered, it will be so big. You will have a son, and you will name him Ishmael, because God heard your cries, and saw your suffering. Your son will live free, and he will be against his family, and his family against him, but they will live in the same land.”
This gave Hagar much comfort! God promised that she would have a blessing similar to Abram. A big family! Ishmael would be the father and grandfather of many people. He would not be a slave, either! He would be free! This was great news, because normally a baby who was born to a slave would also become a slave. But her son would be free! When the Angel of the Lord was done speaking with Hagar, she said “You God see me!” or, “you notice me!”. “I wasn’t noticing you, but you noticed me!” Hagar saw that even though she had not been looking for God, He had been looking for her, and caring about her! I hope that one day, Hagar put her faith in Jesus who would die for her sins. After this, Hagar went back to live with Abram and Sarai. It was good that she obeyed God. God knew what was best for her. If she left and went back to Egypt that day, she would be a runaway slave. She would always be worried about someone catching her and taking her back. She would worry about being punished even worse that before! God knew she needed to be set free before she left. So she stayed, and obeyed God. She gave birth to a son, and called him Ishmael!
Let’s pray now, and thank God for looking for us, and caring about us, even when we aren’t looking for Him! Isn’t He good???