It’s now been ten years since the first promise and so it’s not surprising that Sarai thought she needed to help God out with the child promise, Genesis 12:16. Sarai because she’s getting older, and Abram who is now 86 years old, proposes to give Hagar, a slave from Egypt to Abram as his wife, why?
Possible because she thought it was her fault, maybe she simply had given up hope that the promise of an heir would come through her childbearing.
The custom was that if a wife couldn’t bear children, then she could select and present to her husband a servant girl who would be a surrogate mother for an heir to the husband. And so, she, with Abram’s consent, wanted to work out the fulfilment of the promise through their own inventiveness, Romans 9:6-13 / Galatians 4:21-31.
The way this was done as to custom of the day was the slave woman would sit on the lap of the other woman. Hagar sat on Sarai’s lap while Hagar and Abram had intercourse.
They were acting in accordance with the flesh rather than in accordance with God and Abram agrees to Saria’s request. Abram isn’t being a spiritual leader because he passes the responsibility to his wife. As someone once said, ‘It’s better to receive God’s help, rather than help God out’.
It’s clear that because she couldn’t have children, she felt even worse, so jealousy came in. She complained to Abram and he said, ‘do whatever you want with her’.
Resentment grew, and Hagar became arrogant toward Sarai and became bitter and abusive toward Hagar and as a result Sarai mistreated Hagar. The same law that said a wife could give her servant to her husband, also said that the wife couldn’t send the pregnant servant away. As time goes by Hagar shows contempt for Sarai and so, out of sin comes another situation, Hagar flees from Sarai.
Notice that angel of the Lord found Hagar, here she is in the middle of nowhere, homeless, pregnant, a soon to be single mum with no hope of a future but God gives her one, hence why she says that God is ‘the God who sees’.
We often think that God doesn’t see us in our moments of despair, but He does, and He cares about His children, He cares about single mums.
The angel of the Lord found Hagar and the angel the angel tells Hagar to go back but a promise is also added. Hagar’s problem was her arrogance, hence why she wouldn’t submit to Sarai, I personally believe if she wasn’t so arrogant then things may have worked out between her and Saria. If she obeyed the Lord to return, God said a great nation will come from her.
Ishmael is going to be blessed but will be sustained also notice that Ishmael isn’t going to fit into the peaceful social structure of Abram’s family, he wouldn’t socially adapt to the social structures of every man. It’s not said that he would be a social outcast, but because of his nature, he would produce a nomadic culture of people who would be native to themselves in the deserts of the south.
Later in Genesis 21:11-20 we find Hagar and Ishmael fighting, we also find that Isaac and Ishmael are always fighting, this is basically nation against nation. This is the consequence of sin, lack of trust, sin leads to worse sin.
This is the first time a child is named before its birth. Hagar returned which must have taken a lot of courage and faith and told her story because the son is born, and they called him Ishmael.
Abraham was eighty-six years old when Ishmael was born, but he had no children when he was ninety-nine, Genesis 17:1. That’s why we know that Ishmael was thirteen years old when the events of Genesis 17 begin.
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."