This week we have been studying Genesis 12-17 in our homeschool. I've been thinking about chapter 16 a lot. It says in 16:1-4:
"Now Sarai Abram's wife bore him no children: and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, Behold now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing: I pray you, go in to my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by (i.e. build a family through) her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes."
The first thing that I was thinking about was that Sarai had a problem and was trying to come up with a solution to that problem. How many times have I done that? Too many to count. But then, Abram just goes along with her. The Bible doesn't tell us that he consults God or that he even discusses it much with her.
The next verses (5 & 6) state:
"And Sarai said to Abram, My wrong be upon you: I have given my maid into your bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the Lord (Jehovah) judge between me and you. But Abram said to Sarai, Behold, your maid is in your hand; do to her as it pleases you. And when Sarai dealt hardly (harshly) with her, she fled from her face."
Here it seems as if it doesn't matter at all to Abram. He was 86 when Ishmael was born. They'd been in Canaan for 10 years. It can be very difficult to wait on God's timing, especially for us women, as you will remember it was Sarai who got antsy and came up with this brilliant plan.
So now, all this reminds me of Adam and Eve. It was Eve who was deceived by the serpent and gave to her husband to eat and thus disobeyed God. It tells us in Genesis 3:6,
"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also to her husband with her; and he did eat."
She had thought this through and yet the Bible tells us she was deceived. (I'd always had it in the back of my mind that Adam had been the one deceived because she gave it to him and he ate it. I had always thought that she didn't tell him what it was and that he was 'duped'. But the Word clearly states that Eve was deceived; 2 Cor. 11:3 backs this up. And maybe he was but it wasn't by the serpent.) I guess she was deceived because the serpent lied to her.
At any rate, part of God's 'judgement' on Eve was that "he shall rule over you." I think this is to protect us from going astray. Look at what the reasonings of Eve and Sarai produced. (Pain in childbirth, husbands ruling over wives, and two nations against each other for all time.)
So as women, we need to be careful to take EVERYTHING to the Lord in prayer and seek His wisdom. We also need to take things to our husbands, who are a covering for us, and ask their thoughts but also ask them to seek God on the issue as well. We need to be careful that we don't try to persuade our husbands to do something that they don't feel they should do; it just may be that they are right and we are not. (Remember the lessons we learn from Eve and Sarai.)
I am reminded of something I heard in a movie. The daughter was telling the mother that the father was set against her doing something. The mother said she'd talk to him about it but the daughter didn't think it would do any good because his mind was made up. The mother responded by saying that yes the father is the head of the house but the mother is the neck and can turn the head to look at things in any direction she wants.
This has some truth to it. We need to be careful that we don't do this but that we bring things to our husbands and ask them to seek the Lord about it with us, so that the RIGHT decision can be made (not our own decision).
One final thought on this passage dealing with Abram: I remember it always being mentioned that Sarah laughed when she heard that she would have a son (Gen 18:12). But if you look at it, it says that she laughed within herself. Look at Gen. 17:17, "Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed,". I picture one of those cartoons where the toon thinks something is so funny that he falls down laughing. It could be that Sarai did NOT laugh out loud because she was eaves dropping and it would give her away if she did. At any rate, Sarai's laughter has been given much attention, whereas Abraham's has almost been overlooked. It seems to me that they both had the same reaction to the news.
Well, I guess that wasn't my final thought, because I've got another one that keeps coming to mind. In Genesis 17:1, it says that the LORD appeared to Abram. I've heard people (ministers) say that it must have been an angel of the Lord that appeared to him but I take the Word at face value . . . so it seems to me that some how, the LORD, Himself, appeared to Abram. (Please don't be confused with me going back and forth between Abram and Abraham. It just so happens that this passage is where God changes his name, as is true of Sarai to Sarah as well.) How can this be? I'm so glad that some day we will have ALL the answers. Until then, the thoughts that come to mind are that: In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (being Jesus). So, in some form, the Lord appeared to Abram.
Well, I hope my ramblings today have been a blessing to you. All scripture quotes are from the Sword Bible—KJVER.
(Me and my dd, Tiffany on an easy to climb tree limb on vacation in VA in 2007.) These are my ramblings on homeschooling and whatever else comes to mind.
Counting Down
The Holidays are over and I'm not quite ready to start a new count down yet. Maybe I should start a counting up the number of days I've stayed on my "diet".
