Abram and Sarai have lived in Canaan for 10 years. Ten years ago, God had told Abram to look up and count the stars. He did, and he believed. God was going to give him an heir, a son and a nation would be born. It was a tremendous promise, but God said He would do it. Ten years later, they were still waiting. This is a story as familiar as history itself. The couples battling with infertility, endless grief and are unable to do anything. We can all add our own different stories to this moment. Ten years, perhaps even longer, of whispered prayers of asking God to step in and help and do what we know He can do, and even promised to do. These years can be so long, and heaven can seem silent. What happened to this couple, especially Sarai, over those years? Did Sarai become hardened and bitter? Was the shame too much to bear? Did she become frustrated with Abram, with herself, with God? Many do. Let’s read.
“Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.” (Genesis 16 v 1-4)
We could think of Abram and Sarai and their pain. We could wonder why, after coming up with a solution, they didn’t first check it with God. However, it is the other woman that we do well to consider. This is her story as much as theirs.
We know from chapters 12, 13 and 15 that Abram was holding onto a promise for a son. Sarai is now 75 years old, and God hasn’t explicitly mentioned that a son would be born through her (that comes in the next chapter). The plan was culturally acceptable. Sarai knew the promise given to her husband, but she didn’t believe it would be directly through her. It is an excellent example for us all when we believe in the promise but cannot accept the method, so we try to help God out if He needs it.
Hagar had no choice. She was not part of the discussion. She was the solution. Being owned as a slave, she was property to be used. Hagar was an Egyptian, a foreigner and less than her mistress in many ways.
One day, Sarai came to her, took hold of Hagar, brought her to Abram, and closed the door. This wasn’t for love. Suddenly, Hagar became a wife, a second wife to this God-fearing man. Becoming a wife is a stretch of the imagination. This was a transaction. Hagar’s womb became a commodity. No one asked her what she wanted. Slaves don’t get asked.
Ten years and nothing. Then, almost immediately, Hagar, the other woman, conceived. The plan had worked. Here was the promise fulfilled. God’s promise comes true. Hagar moved from being a slave to the mother of Abram’s child. Surely if this were not the beginning of the fulfilment of the promise, then Hagar would not have conceived?
There we leave it. The foreign woman. The slave. The surrogate. The mother. Hagar, the second wife of Abram, who carried the promised child … so they all thought.
Missions Paul 