Abram and Sarai's Foolishness

Read Genesis 16:1-6

Now many of us know the story of Moses and the Exodus, the 10 plagues and God’s miraculous plan to deliver his people from slavery in Egypt. We were even given a snapshot of it in Genesis 12:10-20. But then we come to the story of Sarai and Hagar.

Interestingly, here it is not Israelites who are the slaves, but an Egyptian, one of Sarai’s maids, Hagar. Now in Abram and Sarai’s foolish attempt to help God fulfill his promise to them, Sarai gives Hagar to Abram to become his wife so that they can have a child who would be their heir. This was not an uncommon practice in the Ancient Near East.

As one could imagine this very quickly sowed discord into the family, as Hagar conceives and Sarai remains barren. This appears to elevate Hagar’s sense of importance, she treats Sarai with contempt, possibly for past mistreatment, maybe just out of egotism. She speaks to Abram on this matter and then he declares that Hagar is her maid again.

She has gone from slave to wife, back to slave, only valued for the baby that she carries. Sarai mistreats her cruelly, just as the Egyptians will one day do to Sarai’s descendants.

Why did God save Israel from slavery? Because they were so much better than the Egyptians. Well here you have their forefathers doing the very thing that they in the exodus accuse the Egyptians of doing, treating them cruelly.

What makes you a better person than other people in the world? What separates you from terrorists trying to blow up hospitals? From Russians torturing their own people in prison camps? From pro-choice advocates pushing for the murder of innocent babies? What makes you better than them?

Are you better because you don’t do, say, or support the things that they do? Why don’t you do what they do? It is not because there is something better on the inside of you, we all have the same wicked heart. It is God’s grace that restrains us.

The thing stopping you from becoming the next Hitler, isn’t that you are a better person than him. But that in God’s grace you are restrained from doing it. The wickedness that enslaved and mistreated the Jews in Egypt, could be found to in those Jews themselves who had been enslaved.

Realising that such little things separate us from the most evil people in history, ought to humble us and make us double check ourselves before we do that thing Christians so often do. Separate themselves from those they view at lesser or worse than themselves.

Prayer:

“Lord, teach me the truth. The intentions of my heart are only wicked continually. The only good in me is you. Humble me with the truth of who I really am, forgive me of my sins which cannot be counted. Praise be to you, for sending your son to spare me from the punishment I rightly deserve. In Jesus name, Amen.”