Daily Devotions
Genesis
"Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins." Proverbs 10:12
Text: Text: Genesis 16:1-16
THE PROBLEM OF IMPATIENCE
What prompted Sarai to take this drastic move of giving her maid Hagar to Abram as a second wife? The following text may help us understand her better.
“Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian,
and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after
Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan.”GENESIS 16:3
God’s promises to Abram were given ten years ago! They had lived in the land of Canaan for a decade already, and still Sarai was barren! The patience to wait for the Lord to fulfill His Word was not in Sarai! Thus she gave Hagar to be Abram’s second wife!
SUBTLE BUT DEEP CHANGES
The last thing that Sarai expected was the change that she noticed in her erstwhile servant Hagar. Her plan to have children through Hagar had backfired! The changes were subtle but they were real enough to cause deep hurt and anger. Hagar was no longer the subservient Egyptian handmaid! She was the second wife of Abram.
“So he went in to Hagar and she conceived.
And when she saw that she had conceived,
her mistress became despised in her eyes.”GENESIS 16:4
Hagar may not have dared to show disrespect to Sarai. Sarai was, after all, the first wife, and she had a lot of “power” in the family. But neither could she help herself in feeling a little superior to her former mistress! Sarai had been frustrated for being barren for a decade. Yet, here she was, soon after her marriage to Abram, she became pregnant!
SINFUL HATRED
Sarai went from feeling irritated to outright hatred! She stormed into the presence of Abram and minced no words concerning her feelings toward Hagar.
“Then Sarai said to Abram, ‘My wrong be upon you!
I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw
that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes.
The Lord judge between you and me.'”GENESIS 16:5
Sarai put the blame on Abram! Why had he not instructed her concerning how she should behave towards Sarai, the first wife! The most basic of protocol would be to see Hagar continue to respect Sarai for her position in the family. But that was lost too!
There was admission that she was wrong and unwise to have given Hagar to Abram in the first place! But to be despised by her former maid, that was adding insult to injury! There are few things more fearful and difficult than a woman who is scorned and despised. Sarai demanded that Abram did something to rectify the situation at home! What could Abram do, as he stood before his irate wife? Abram feared the worst! This problem could escalate further! He wasn’t far wrong!