"Where Is Your Wife" Genesis 18: 1-15; Genesis 21: 9-21

This week the two women are Sarai and Hagar. You might also want to read Genesis 16 to get more background on this sermon. You may recall that Sarai is Abraham's wife who is barren; Hagar is the slave woman brought in to provide Abraham with a male heir. She succeeds, but that seems to only create issues for Hagar and Sarai. and, of course, we remember that Sarai eventually does bear a son at her old age. Lots of stuff in their stories. I have been thinking about the following:

1. Sarai and Hagar both were lower in the societal hierarchy than Abraham, but instead of recognizing their common plight, they get turned against each other.

2. When God tells Abraham that his descendants will be numerous, Abraham and Sarai do not trust God to be true to the promise, so they introduce Hagar into the mix. Their actions, instead of letting God sort it out, lead to problems. Of course, if their actions had worked out well, I would probably preach about the how they used their ingenuity to usher in God's plans!

3. The barrenness issue of Sarai and how that impacted her in the stories. There is a certain irony that Sarai should recognize in Hagar the vulnerability she has as an Egyptian slave because Sarai is living as a barren woman in a time where that was a sign of weakness. But, Sarai takes advantage of Hagar instead of seeing what they have in common.

4. When Hagar runs away from Sarai, she is told by God to return and submit. No surprise, but that was a favorite story of slaveowners in the South. How do I preach that part of the story today? If God's desire is to liberate us, how does that explain telling Hagar to return?

5. The Hebrew word used to describe how Sarai dealt "harshly" with Hagar is the same Hebrew word used to describe how the Egyptians will treat the Israelite slaves in Exodus. Did I mention that Hagar is Egyptian and Sarai is part of the Israelite tribe? Fascinating parallel, isn't it?

6. Are we given biblical stories so that we can read them and say, "that's not what I should do?"

7. The text says that Hagar looked at Sarai with "contempt" after she had conceived. What do we make of Hagar's perceived gloating?

Lots of questions and interesting info, but I haven't found the strand of sermon material yet. What do you find important in this text?

peace,

Richard