Genesis 23:1-2

2008.Jan.13 00:21

Sarah

Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.
(Genesis 23:1-2, ESV)

These are the years of the life of Sarah. She was born Sarai, probably in Ur of the Chaldeans. She journeyed with her husband and his family first to Haran (Genesis 11:31) and then to Canaan, with a side stop in Egypt (Genesis 12). Big moments in her life include not quite becoming a concubine of various kings (Genesis 12, Genesis 20), convincing her husband to sleep with her slave, getting mad about it afterwards (Genesis 16), and having her first and only child at ninety (Genesis 21).

So, it occurs to me that the emphatic points of Sarah’s story have to do with traveling and sex. I’m not sure that’s unusual, though.

Anyway, Sarah seems to me to have lived a good life, both in the sense that she received significant blessings from God and in the sense that she was righteous, that is, she was generally obedient and generally had faith. I don’t mean to belittle how she treated Hagar, which was pretty bad for a while, but from my cynical view, being a complete jerk to only one person in your life is exceptionally good.

I think I may have said this before, but Sarah and David strike me as very similar, they lived righteously, with one big except. Where we really see David’s repentance in several passages (Psalm 51, 2 Samuel 12), I don’t know if Sarah ever repented for her treatment of Hagar (and I suppose, it’s my interpretation that Sarah acted sinfully in this matter, but I am confident in that interpretation). For Sarah, her sin was wrapped in a pressing desire for a child. Maybe her desire was primarily cultural, maybe a child is something she deeply wanted, maybe God had placed a specific desire in her heart… Whatever reasons, Sarah let her desire dictate her actions at one point, from which so much bitterness and hurt grew in her home. God’s plan for the eventual birth of Isaac was the same after the birth of Ishmael as before, regardless of Sarah’s faith. But Sarah’s lapse of faith produced pain in her life, whereas later, persisting in her faith produced laughter and joy.

And again, none of this has any bearing, I think, on how we should see Ishmael.

Genesis 21:9-10

2007.Nov.15 04:11

(Too Much) Takin’ Care of Business

Read Genesis 21:9-10 | Full Chapter

But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.”
(Genesis 21:9-10, ESV)

Sarah is in a class with David. For the most part, seems pretty righteous, pretty holy. But with respect to one situation, a punk. I mean, Sarah refrains from actually murdering anyone, but the kind of treating people terribly because of emotions is consistent with these two, and, well, a good half or more of everyone who’s ever tried to be righteous.

For Sarah, Ishmael is a reminder of a foolish and probably sinful decision she made. Tangent: I’ve probably said this before, I’ll say it again: every last one of us humans, including Jesus Christ–can chase the line to our birth back to a sin. Every one of us. If 1) that bothers you, or 2) that makes you think you can judge others whose “ancestral sin” is more identifiable, you need to read the Bible. And, in the second case, be beaten with Texas lawyer’s truck. Ishmael is not punished for Sarah’s decision, except in this case by Sarah herself and his father. And although Yahweh doesn’t give Ishmael the full Isaac blessing, Yahweh does indeed bless Ishmael, quite a bit more than the average nomad of those days.

Anyway, returning from that foray, Ishmael and Hagar’s presence reminds Sarah that her faith in God lapsed and she tried to take matters into her own hands. Well, that’s my guess, actually. I really don’t have any Biblical reason to back that up. Sarah also is jealous of Ishmael’s place as first-born instead of her son, Isaac.

David could have fessed up to Uriah. Sarah could have tried to make this family work. I say could have in the sense of “I can’t imagine how”. Because the sin that results in Sarah turning against her slave and the child she (Sarah) had desired, the sin that resulted in Uriah being murdered, occurred way before. Before even Hagar or Bathsheba came into the pictures. Yeah, at any point either Sarah or David could have changed things, but doing so becomes exponentially more difficult with each step.

And so Sarah finds herself telling Abraham to send away the woman who has been so faithful to her (by any accounts I’ve read) and the child she had so wanted.

It’s not about obsessing over what possible butterfly effects your each action could have. It’s about being obedient to Jehovah, about making decisions about the lines in your life and trying hard not to cross them and every time you realize you have, flying back across. Easy to say. Incredibly difficult to practice. I love about God’s grace that he allows me to keep trying to obey him better.

Genesis 20:17-18

2007.Nov.10 03:41

Barrenness

Read Genesis 20:17-18 | Full Chapter

So Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children; for the LORD had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
(Genesis 20:17-18, NKJV)

Quick review:

Abraham and Sarah go to Gerar.
King Abimelech: “Hey, that 90 year old lady [referring to Sarah] is H-O-T!”
Abraham to Sarah: “Say you’re my sis.”
Sarah: “I’m his sis.”
Abimelech says, “Sweet, consider yourself my prisoner.”
God: “Abimelech, Sarah’s married. You’re a dead man.”
Abimilech: “I didn’t know.”
God: “Then fix it.”
Abimelech to Abraham: “Oops.”
Abraham: “Figured you’d kill me.”
Abimelech: “Here’s Sarah… and some silver”

So, now Abraham and Sarah are back together, and a bit richer (Although I would not want to be there when Sarah and Abraham first discuss this fiasco). Abraham responds by praying. Yahweh responds by healing. Various women in Abimelech’s country respond by having babies. Chalk up one by barrenness on the OT themes board.

Barrenness as a concept is strange. The relevant entry from dictionary.com here is “not producing or incapable of producing offspring; sterile”. That’s a big “or”. Not producing offspring and incapable of doing so are pretty different. And —-, there’s a lot of questions in that phrase. Is a women only barren if she is actively trying to conceive. Since barrenness is used metaphorically, is a task only barren if it has been attempted? And, aside from trying to parse the definition, there’s ten thousand cultural issues wrapped up in this concept, including stupidities like woman viewed like land, valued only for what they “produce”. Bleh.

It’s an interesting side note that God orchestrated the birth of the Messiah to require a “fertile” woman (the English language occassionally completely sucks) but not a fertile man. I wonder if Yahweh may have been making a statement there?

To this particular passage though, there’s a few implications (not explicit, so I’m guessing here) that I want to consider:

The women in the king’s household were barren, possibly since the moment Sarah was brought into the king’s…whatever. (the barrenness is explicit; what I’m trying to highlight is the implication that this had been going on for some time. I guess that is pretty obvious though; it’s not something that becomes apparent in a couple of days).
Abimelech was not motivated by this (granted, I’ve been biased against this guy throughout my study of this chapter, so I may be reading in too much), and did not act until he was convinced that his very life was at stake. It’s so important to pay attention to what Yahweh is doing in our lives; don’t wait until you’re at the edge of losing everything.
Yahweh’s blessing doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the king’s expectation. God heals Abimelech (of what I don’t know), but that’s all of two words. The attention is on Yahweh healing the barrenness of these various women. (sorry, “infertile” and “sterile” are the only synonyms I can think of and I’m not keen on either word).
While Abraham and Abimelech are playing these goofy games, Sarah and the women of Abimelech’s court are suffering in various ways – I’m assuming that’s God’s healing implies they were wanting children. I could be quite wrong. God is teaching the “powerful men” some lessons but he’s also focused on Sarah, the queen, and the servants.

So, aside from the ten thousand issues with barrenness here, it’s that subtle thing God does so often in the Bible. Yes, here we’re recording the big events, in the lives of the rich and powerful. And boom, God says, hey, that’s great that you grew up a little, now I’m going to bless…your servants!

Oh, snap.

Come back next entry for the surprise conclusion…

Genesis 20:11-13

2007.Nov.01 02:40

Abraham’s Response

Read Genesis 20:11-13 | Full Chapter

Note: This entry is particularly rambling. I’ve had a number of thoughts and not spent the time to really think them through. Hmph.

Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife; and it came about, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is the kindness which you will show to me: everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”’”
(Genesis 20:11-13, NASB)

"The fear of the LORD,” states Proverbs, “is the beginning of knowledge" (Proverbs 1:7, NASB) . It’s not explicit that I’ve noticed, but my assumption is that Abimelech did not fear Yahweh, at least not when Abraham first showed up in his lands. Taking Sarah was a foolish act; it was not, however, a surprisingly foolish decision. While Abraham asking Sarah to lie was a decision not particularly informed by faith, his logic was, well, logical: Abemilech doesn’t fear God => Abemilech is likely to do stupid. (Note that regardless of his logic, I still vote that Abraham is treating his wife terribly in this situation.)

The specifics of Abraham’s explanation also follow a logic, but the details aren’t particularly interesting to me. More generally, I note that his overall response to Abemilech’s complaint is an explanation, not an attack. Recall, Abraham led an army successfully against King Chedorlaomer a few chapters back. Personally, I dislike that he was so active for the sake of his nephew, and so passive for the sake of his wife. But whatever Abraham’s reasoning for the more passive response, I am reminded that Yahweh takes care of those who worship and obey him:

No weapon that is formed against you will prosper;
And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
And their vindication is from Me,” declares the LORD.
(Isaiah 54:17, NASB)

I suppose what I find myself thinking is that Abraham shows faith here by not getting in the way of Yahweh sorting this out. However, he ought to have shown faith earlier by being honest that Sarah, in addition to being his half-sister, is also his wife. God could just as surely have protected Abraham and Sarah at that earlier point that at this later. It saddens me to find Christians, including myself at times, praying so desperately for a solution to a problem that shouldn’t be in the first place. Thankfully, while God often lets us receive the negative results of our own foolishness, his grace means that I can act in faith now even when I failed to just five minutes ago.

Genesis 20:1-2

2007.Oct.09 15:16

Sins that are Known

Read Genesis 20:1-2 | Full Chapter

Now Abraham journeyed from there toward the land of the Negev, and settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he sojourned in Gerar. Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
(Genesis 20:1-2, NASB)

Assuming this chapter falls in order chronologically with the chapters near to it, Sarah is about ninety years old. (Her son, Isaac, is born in chapter 21; in chapter 18, God promised Isaac’s birth in a year’s time. In Genesis 17:17, Abraham states that Sarah is–or is about to be–ninety years old.) Which makes it sort of a surprise that Abraham feels the need to pretend she’s his sister, at least so far as keeping anyone from killing him over her. I mean, guys who kill for other men’s wives tend to go for the under eighty crowd, right? I do realize that there are at least some cultural differences here about which I know nothing.

This is not the first time Abraham and Sarah have gotten themselves into this situation. This story is very repetitious of Genesis 12:11-20, in which Abram and Sarai go to Egypt. One way or another, Jehovah does bring good out of these little ploys. I wonder whether he deliberately led Abram to make these–in my opinion, foolish–decisions in order to enable Abraham and Sarah’s opportunities to share about Jehovah’s power and righteousness.

Abimelech, king of Gerar, “[takes] Sarah,” whatever that means. I assume it means he has forced her to be a concubine. It’s not terribly clear to me from the OT what God thinks about polygamy, but from what I know of Jehovah, anything that amounts to sex slavery is sinful. So, when I title this article “Sins that are Known”, I’m meaning to differentiate Abimelech’s apparent habit of taking foreign women to satisfy his lusts for sex and/or power–a known sin–from the sin in ignorance, being that he doesn’t know that one of these women is also married. While I don’t expect Abimelech to have known the Law given to Moses–Moses being, as it were, not yet born–if he is unaware of the immorality in his taking of Sarah, it can only be because he habitually treats other people–probably particularly women–as property.

The sin that he does not know is that were he to actually have sex with Sarah, he would be additionally committing adultery. Jehovah, in my opinion, does not owe Abimelech the chance to correct this sin in ignorance, due to his many premeditated sins. In fact, the more I think about this guy and his harem whence he immediately sends a woman who catches his fancy, the more I am quite amazed by God’s reaction to this situation. Like me, he concludes that this man deserves death. Of course, in his righteousness, he has a moral right to conclude this, whereas I am just expressing my opinions, and doing so warily, aware of my own disobedience. Unlike my inclination, Jehovah warns Abimelech. Jehovah is always doing this. Basically, his modus operandi in regards to sin often runs:

God: You’re doing vile evil things
Human: Ha ha, indeed I am
God: You deserve to die
Human: Erm
God: But, I’m going to give you a chance to repent
Human: [begins litany of excuses]…wait, what? You mean, I have another chance?
God: Yup.

So, here we have a man who habitually sins, to whom God is going to use the sin he doesn’t know to correct him. My next entry I want to focus on that issue of unknown sins, considering in particular how Yahweh addresses that sin in Abimelech’s case. But I want to make clear, before I look there, that while we probably all have committed sins without realizing it was a sin, I don’t believe that anyone of sound mind over the age of about ten has not committed sins knowingly. I don’t want to hide myself in “I didn’t know” excuses, but rather realize that I am a sinner and that I need the grace of God.

Which, I am glad to say, He is glad to give.

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