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The Birth of Ishmael (Genesis 16:1-5)

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The Birth of Ishmael (Genesis 16:1-5) Genesis, part 35 – The Birth of Ishmael (Genesis 16:1-5) “. a son who comes forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” Genesis 15:4b “Now Sarah, Abraham’s wife, had borne him no children . .” Genesis 16:1a In the ancient Near East “barrenness” was the ultimate disgrace for a woman. A “barren” wife was permitted to give one of her handmaidens to her husband as a “surrogate mother.” When the handmaiden bore a child, it was considered to be the child of the “barren” wife. “When Rachel saw that she wasn’t bearing Jacob any children . then she said to him, ‘Here is Bilhah, my handmaiden. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and that through her I can build a family.” Genesis 30:1a, 3 “Now Sarah had an Egyptian handmaiden named Hagar; so she said to Abraham, ‘The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my handmaiden; perhaps I can build a family through her.’” Genesis 16:1b, 2 What Sarah was proposing was not illegal or immoral in the culture of her day – but a perfectly acceptable way to solve the problem she was facing by human ingenuity and effort. “And Abraham agreed to what Sarah said. So after Abraham had been living in Canaan for ten years, Sarah gave her Egyptian handmaiden Hagar to her husband, and he slept with Hagar, and she conceived.” Genesis 16:3, 4a “When Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.” Genesis 16:4b “Then Sarah said to Abraham, ‘You are responsible for this wrong I am suffering. I put my maiden in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me.’” Genesis 16:5 “‘Your maiden is in your hands,’ Abraham said, ‘Do with her whatever you think best.’” Genesis 16:6a “Then Sarah began to mistreat Hagar until Hagar fled from her.” Genesis 16:6b According to the Nuzi tablets, once your handmaiden became pregnant with your husband’s child, it was illegal to expel her for any reason. “Then the angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert . and he said, ‘Hagar, servant of Sarah, where have you come from and where are you going?’ And she answered, ‘I am running away from my mistress, Sarah.’” Genesis 16:7, 8 “Then the angel of the LORD said to her, ‘Go back to your mistress and submit to her . And I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count.’” Genesis 16:9, 10 [God speaking to Abraham] “As for Ishmael, I will surely bless him and make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers . and I will make him into a great nation.” Genesis 17:20 “The angel also said to her: ‘You will have a son and you shall name him Ishmael [“God hears”] because the LORD has heard of your misery.’” Genesis 16:11 “So Hagar said, ‘You are the God who sees me,’ and she named the place ‘Beer Lahai Roi’ (Hebrew: “The well [Beer] of the Living One [Lahai] who sees me [Roi]).’” Genesis 16:13b, 14 “So Hagar bore Abraham a son and Abraham gave him the name Ishmael. And Abraham was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.” Genesis 16:15, 16 So What? “Was what Abraham and Sarah did unspiritual?” Principle #1 – “Waiting on the Lord” “Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desire of your heart . [so] be still before the LORD and wait patiently on Him . .” Psalm 37:4, 7a “I waited patiently for the LORD and He turned to me and heard my cry.” Psalm 40:1 Principle #1 = God has a specific plan for how my life goes down to the smallest details. Some of these details – God wants to work out completely by His own divine action Any human action I take to “help God out” will only “mess things up” Therefore, I need to keep my hands off these situations and patiently wait for God to supernaturally act on my behalf. “The LORD forbid that I should lift my hand against him, for he is the LORD’S anointed . As surely as the LORD lives, the LORD will strike him; either his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish . but the LORD forbid that I should lay a hand on him.” 1 Samuel 26:9, 10, 11a David: “I know what God’s plan is for my life – and I also know that God wants to bring it about all by Himself in His perfect timing.” Principle #2 – “Sanctified human action” “And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Jesus Christ.” Philippians 4:19 “Even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: ‘If a man will not work, he shall not eat.’ For we hear that some among you are idle, not being busy, but being busy-bodies. Such people we command in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat.” 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12 Principle #2 = God has an exciting plan for my life but He expects me to play a part in His plan by engaging in sanctified, Spirit-directed, Spirit-filled human action. “The following night, the Lord stood near Paul and said, ‘Take courage! As you have testified about Me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.’” Acts 23:11 “The chief priests and Jewish leaders appeared before Festus and presented charges against Paul. They urgently requested Festus, as a favor to them, to have Paul transferred to Jerusalem, for they were preparing an ambush to kill Paul along the way.” Acts 25:2, 3 [Apostle Paul to Festus] “If I am guilty of doing anything deserving of death, I do not refuse to die. But if the charges brought against me by these Jews are false, no one has the right to hand me over to them [because I am a Roman citizen].” Acts 25:11a “I appeal to Caesar!” Acts 25:11b “Now I want you to know brothers, that what has happened to me [going to Rome] has turned out for the advancement of the Gospel, for the entire palace [Praetorian] guard (Caesar’s elite bodyguards) has heard about Christ because of my chains.” Philippians 1:12, 13 “What are we really saying here?” • Sometimes God wants us to just wait on Him • Other times God wants us to take human action? “As followers of Christ, how do we know when God wants us to do one –and when God wants us to do the other?” The first time God made it clear that it was Sarah who would be having God’s “promised” son was in Genesis 17:16 – after Ishmael was born! When Sarah came to Abraham with her idea about Hagar, there were two legitimate options on the table: • Option #1 – the “wait for Sarah to get pregnant” option • Option #2 – the “Hagar” option The problem = the Bible never indicates that Abraham ever sought God to find out which option God wanted him to take! Question: “How do we know in a given situation whether God wants us to go into ‘human action’ mode – or ‘patiently waiting on the Lord’ mode – or something in between?” Answer: “We have to seek the face of God on our knees until He tells us.” “If in doubt – wait!” .
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