Authors: Linda Rios-Brook
He was supposed to say that having a child with another woman was unthinkable. He was supposed to say that he would never agree to such a thing. He was supposed to say they would wait and believe God until they died rather than have Sarai displaced by someone else.
What he did say was never, ever, not in ten thousand years what he was supposed to say: "OK, if you think so, dear."
My, oh, my, and I had thought Satan's wrath was awful. I had never seen a woman turn that color before.
The fury that rose in Sarai's eyes made my wings wilt.
Abram had no idea what he was in for. In fact, the whole human race would pay for the wrath of that woman scorned.
Abram slept with Hagar, and she conceived. Then the trouble really started. When she learned she was pregnant, Hagar began to despise Sarai. Do you wonder why? History has it wrong about this part of the story in that it blames Hagar for something she had absolutely no control over. It was bad enough for the young woman to find herself the paramour for a man old enough to be her grandfather's grandfather. It was no secret why she was in this position. The whole caravan knew the story. Sarai had insisted upon it. Now that Hagar was pregnant, she was angry with Sarai for causing a set of circumstances from which Hagar could never escape. Hagar's future was toast. When Sarai heard that Hagar was angry, Sarai got mad that Hagar was mad about being pregnant.
Then Sarai said to Abram, "You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms so that you could have your promised heir, and what do I get for my trouble? Now that she knows she's pregnant, she despises me. Look at what you've done."
Abram stood there scratching his head and trying to figure out why everyone was mad at him. Being a man, he thought Sarai would get over it once she remembered how the whole thing started. Not a chance.
"What I've done?" Abram asked. "Love of my life, I only did this for you. Isn't this what you wanted? Wasn't this your idea? We're going to get a baby and a nanny to boot. Isn't it great how it's working out?"
She hurled a clay pot at his head. This went on for about an hour, and at the end of it all, Abram told Sarai to do whatever she wanted with Hagar.
"Your servant is in your hands," Abram said. "Do with her whatever you think best."
Sarai took out her frustration on Hagar, who finally ran away, out into the desert alone. Hagar was scared to death and cried like a baby as she left with barely enough sustenance to keep her alive for a few days. Hagar had not been gone long before Sarai began to think it over, and, as I could have predicted, she started moving toward that guilt thing again.
"I was too hard on her," Sarai thought to herself.
"Why wouldn't she hate me? She's just a child herself.
She didn't want a baby with that old goat. Hagar didn't have any say in this matter. We forced her to do it. I feel badly that her mother had plans for her to marry one of the camel drivers next year. Of course, there's no chance for that now. Poor thing, out there in the desert. Lost and alone, I know she must be scared to death. This is all Abram's fault."
I couldn't be sure what God intended to do about all of this, but I knew Him well enough to know that He wouldn't let that young girl wander around out there in the desert, especially since she was pregnant with Abram's child. I knew it was God who brought about Sara's mind change, so it was a pretty safe bet He would send one of the angels to tell Hagar everything would be OK and to return to her mistress.
Not knowing about Sarai's change of heart or God's intervention with the angel, when Abram saw Hagar returning to the camp, all he could imagine was a lot of screaming and flying objects. He was certain Sarai would come out throwing pots with both hands. Imagine his surprise when Sarai emerged from the tent, ran past him, and welcomed the girl back with outstretched arms.
Oh, the hugs, and the "I'm sorry, so am I," kiss, kiss—it was enough to make a demon nauseous.
Sarai wrapped Hagar in her shawl and shepherded the girl into her very own tent. As they passed by Abram, who had no idea what had just happened, both women snarled at him.
"What did I do?" he asked no one in particular. He shrugged and started back for the tent just in time to see his pillow and mat come flying out the door, landing in the dust in front of him. From inside the tent, he could hear the sobbing of Hagar as she poured out her heart to Sarai, who clucked about her like an old hen with an orphan chick.
Abram considered barging into the tent and ordering both women to shape up, then throwing Hagar out of his tent to regain his standing with Sarai. Doing a quick mental inventory of the number of clay pots he supposed might still be in there, he thought better of it and set off to find someone to sympathize with him.
Abram went out to the desert and sat on a rock and cried to God, "God, where are You? What has happened to me? W h y am I sleeping on a rock? I was thrown out of my own tent. Sarai hates me. Hagar hates me. Why did You let this happen?"
Now, I can tell you I was dumbfounded when God answered him. He just doesn't do that. He doesn't respond to whining. Usually, He doesn't give the whiner any attention at all. I was surprised when I heard Him answer Abram, "I did not tell you to be with Hagar."
"But it was Sarai's idea. It never crossed my mind to do such a thing."
"Oh, please," God interrupted. "Remember to whom you are talking. I know your every thought before you think it."
"But what am I going to do now? They have sided against me."
"Yes, I see that. Actually, I was afraid that might happen. The sisterhood bonding mix I put into women is a very delicate formula."
"You know, Mighty One ever to be praised," Abram whimpered, "I don't want to seem ungrateful. Thank You for the camels and the flocks and for saving Lot and all that, but it looks to me like most of the misery of life could have been avoided if You had not made women so complicated. Did You not declare how man was going to rule over her? You did say that, right? W h e n is that part supposed to kick in?"
"Of course I said it, but it was not part of My plan A," God replied. "It was simply a statement as to how men would mistreat women if Eve followed Adam. Men ruling over women is the consequence of poor choices.
I meant for them to rule together. But never mind, I intend to remedy that situation a little further down the timeline."
"I appreciate that You're thinking ahead, O Mighty One, but it doesn't help me out right now. Everyone in the camp is talking about it. When do I get to rule over my wife? Nobody respects a man when his wife throws clay pots at him and tosses his mat in the dirt."
God changed the subject. "You are going to name Hagar's son Ishmael. He will be born when you are eighty-six years old. Good night." God had done all of the explaining He intended to do.
"Wait," Abram cried. "Is that it? When will I hear from You again?" The rumble of thunder and flash of lightning told Abram that this conversation was over.
CHAPTER 23
THIRTEEN YEARS WOULD
pass before God would speak to Abram again.
Ishmael was born and Abram loved him.
Neither Sarai nor Hagar knew it, but sometimes at night, Abram would go into the desert and argue with God about how Ishmael would do perfectly well to carry on Abram's line. I wondered why Abram kept bringing the topic up as if he had to sell God on the idea of Ishmael. Sarai had been right. God did not specifically say anything about her having a child. Abram had his son; mission accomplished.
I wondered if I might be missing something in Abram's prayers, so I decided to listen more intently.
Abram seemed to want God to understand how hard it was for him to be the parent of a teenager at his age.
"Can You imagine, God," Abram would say, "how difficult it would be to have another baby as old as we are?"
"Could it be that Ishmael is
not
the heir?" I asked myself. "Abram seems to have doubts."
"But he must be," I answered my own question.
"Ishmael fits the only criterion God had specifically spoken about: he was from Abram's loins."
I was sure God had never said anything definite about Sarai, so I assumed when Ishmael was born, that would be it. Sarai preempted her chance by getting ahead of God. But when I listened to Abram's pleadings, I wasn't so sure. I realized that he himself didn't believe Ishmael was the son God promised. There must be another child coming.
"Ishmael is not the heir," I reported to Satan.
"What do you mean?" Satan asked. "He's Abram's son, isn't he? You said God promised him Ishmael would be the father of a great nation. So what's your point? Don't waste my time."
"God did make that promise to Abram. But apparently, that was sort of an add-on promise, a bonus son so to speak. Abram wouldn't be trying to sell God on the idea of Ishmael being his heir in fulfillment of God's commitment unless Abram knew the boy wasn't.
Although he could go on to his glory in perfect content-ment with Ishmael left in charge, Abram believes there is yet another son to come. Otherwise, he wouldn't be trying to talk God out of it."
Satan thought about how he could take advantage of this turn of events. He assigned two demons to dog Hagar and Ishmael everywhere they went for weeks.
"Find out where they go, what they talk about. Most importantly, do they know another child is coming?" Satan ordered.
When the two demons reported what they had learned, the information revealed nothing. They did not go anywhere. They talked and played games. They gave no indication there would be another heir besides Ishmael.
"Start with Hagar," Satan was on top of it. "You," he pointed to one of the lesser demons, "go into her tent at night. Speak into her dreams. Remind her of why Abram lay with her to start with. She would have resisted except for Abram's reassurance that her baby would be his heir. Connect the dots for her. There is another child coming, and when he comes, she and Ishmael are out."
It worked like a charm. Hagar became fearful and defensive about everything and looked for hidden meaning in what she heard from Sarai. She also treated Ishmael differently. They no longer spent their time together playing games. She went on and on to the boy about how it wasn't fair that he would never be Abram's heir. Ishmael, who didn't know what an heir was, could tell from his mother's attitude that something unjust must be about to happen. The wedge between Ishmael and the son to come was firmly established before the heir was born.
Thirteen years later, God spoke again.
Abram was now ninety-nine years old. One hot day, as he rested on a bench near his tent, the Lord appeared to him again.
"Abram," God said.
"God?" Abram blinked hard, shielding his eyes from the light now invading his shade.
Overwhelmed, Abram fell flat on his face.
Then God said to him, "This is My covenant with you: You'll be the father of many nations. Your name will no longer be Abram, but Abraham, meaning that I'm making you the father of many nations. I'll make you a father of fathers—I'll make nations from you; kings will issue from you. I'm establishing My covenant between Me and you, a covenant that includes your descendants, a covenant that goes on and on and on, a covenant that commits Me to be your God and the God of your descendants. And I'm giving you and your descendants this land where you're now camping, this whole country of Canaan, to own forever. And I'll be their God."
Wow. I had never known God to speak more than two or three sentences at one time. "Such a generous gift," I thought. "Wasteful, really. What is he going to do with such wealth at his age?"
I was impressed but not surprised at the lavish promise God made to Abraham, because it was just like Him to do something like that. He hadn't spoken to Abram—
Abraham—in thirteen years, but at the end of the silence, God went way over the top to restore him into favor. Satan hated it whenever he learned God had made a covenant promise like this to a human, and I dreaded having to tell him about it. I was about to find Satan to let him know he had trouble when I realized that God was about to speak again. I dared not miss a word.
Then God said to Abraham, "This is the covenant that you are to honor; the covenant that pulls in all your descendants: Circumcise every male. It will be the sign of the covenant between us. Every male baby will be circumcised when he is eight days old."
"Whoa," I said before I caught myself.
Abraham lifted his face up toward heaven and blinked hard again. It was as if someone had awakened him from a deep sleep by throwing ice water on his head.
"Circumcised? God, are You sure?" he muttered.
Abram wiped his brow and stood up, wondering whether or not this was some sort of punishment, but for what, he was not sure.
"Even the adult males, O sovereign Lord?"
God did not respond.
Maybe repentance would soften God's stand on such an extreme symbol for faithfulness, so Abraham tried again.
"I know I have made some terrible mistakes, and I've had a lot of time to think about the Hagar thing...my fault entirely. Believe me, I've paid for it already. Living with those two women is plenty of punishment. I'm really sorry I did such a stupid thing, and it is only right that You punish me. Could we not limit the circumcision to just Ishmael and me? Must we involve anyone else?"
God went on, "Every male in the house from eight days and older, free or slave, foreigner or family, all will undergo circumcision."
Abraham knelt down again. "Of course, Mighty One ever to be praised, but I should tell You that this is going to be a very hard sell. Have You seen the camel drivers lately? You can imagine how they are going to take this news."
The thunder rolled, and I knew that God was about to change the subject.
He said to Abraham, "As for Sarai, your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai. Her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations. Kings will come from her."