Genesis 16

Sarah gives Hagar to Abraham (vs. 1-3)—A fateful chapter. Abraham is now 85/86 years old. It’s been 10 or 11 years since God made the promise of Genesis 12 to him, and still no son. Now, as we read through these chapters, we lose perspective; think how long 10 years is. What were you doing 10 years ago? God has promised Abraham and Sarah something they wanted very, very badly, but made them wait a significant length of time. Sarah couldn’t hang on any longer. She gives her handmaid, Hagar, to Abraham as wife. According to the custom of the time, any child born to Hagar would belong to Sarah. So Abraham’s wife would, in effect, be no longer barren.

This is wrong, folks. It’s polygamy and adultery. God tolerated and overlooked such things in the Old Testament (Acts 17:30), but it’s still wrong. And further, it demonstrates a lack of faith in the Lord. We humans—even the great ones like Abraham—sometimes just can’t wait patiently for Jehovah to act and so we try to help Him out. It’s almost always a disaster, and it was in this case, a calamity of lingering, worldwide proportions, one of the greatest mistakes a human being ever made. I’ll tell you why in the section on verses 7-14.

Hagar’s conception and the female reactions (vs. 4-6)—Hagar conceived and apparently began to mock and belittle Sarah for the latter’s barrenness; Sarah was “despised” in Hagar’s eyes. Sarah blames Abraham (v. 5); Abraham, no doubt to appease his wife, allows Sarah to do as she wishes with Hagar. Sarah treats her handmaid so harshly that Hagar “fled from her presence” (v. 6). The consequences of polygamy…we see it several times in the Scriptures. It just wasn’t meant to be. Incidentally, Hagar’s child had not yet been born when this was going on.

The promise to Hagar (vs. 7-14)—An angel from the Lord appeared to Hagar in the wilderness and comforted her, promising her that she would indeed have a son. And that the Lord “will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude" (v. 10). Ishmael—as the child will be named by divine order, v. 11—would be “a wild man; his hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him” (v. 12). Today’s Arabic peoples, most of whom are Muslim, claim descent from Ishmael; historians aren’t sure of this, but that doesn’t matter, the claim is made and believed. And because of the ancient law of primogeniture, i.e., the oldest son inherits, Muslims maintain that Ishmael was Abraham's rightful heir and thus, Islam, not Judaism and Christianity, is God’s (Allah’s) true religion. No Ishmael, no Islam. The trouble and strife in the Middle East today is the result of polygamy, adultery, and lack of faith in God by one of the greatest men who ever lived. A fateful chapter, indeed!

Ishmael is born (vs. 15-16)—Hagar returned to Sarah and gave birth. The problems between the two ladies won’t cease, as we shall see. The chapter ends by stating that Abraham was 86 when Ishmael was born.