GENESIS 21:8-21
Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away
8 The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac.[a] 10 So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.” 11 The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you. 13 As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.” 14 So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Do not let me look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him.” 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
20 God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar’s lives are characterized by self-centeredness, jealousy, and conflict. None are innocent, but Sarah and Abraham are infinitely more culpable because of their greater power and freedom. Sarah—the matriarch of Israel—acts in abusive and inhumane ways toward her servant Hagar. Abraham, a man of enormous wealth, sends Hagar and Ishmael into exile with no more than a flask of water and a piece of bread. The scriptures depict God ambiguously, both as complicit in Abraham and Sarah’s callousness and yet attentive to the survival needs of these marginalized ones.
The ending of the story is tolerable at best, not happy. The sorrow and pain does not go away as we retell and reflect on the story. For as much as we might hope that the inconsequent behaviours of the powerful are relics of a distant, primitive, and inferior past, we know better. They mirror present realities as well.
Reflecting on this sad story neither mandates nor manufactures change. Yet it might give us insight, inspire repentance, and yield new beginnings (Phyllis Trible, Texts of Terror, 2). As Wesleyans, promoting justice, deliverance, and hope is a shared—divine and human—responsibility that must be taken seriously.
May those who hold power be humbled and repentant. May they learn compassion and find ways to empower others. And may the cries of the powerless be heard by God and by God’s people. May God and God’s people remain present with the marginalized, showing the way to wells and other resources.
PRAYER:
Lord, in your mercy, let your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
Rev. Dr Linda Stargel
Academic Dean
Senior Lecturer in Biblical Studies and Biblical Languages