01-52 The Peril of a Weakened Faith

Genesis 16:1-16

Speaker’s Sourcebook of New Illustrations (Mistakes—experts make)

George Morar made his first parachute jump in Korea when his plane went down behind enemy lines. It saved his life. In 1983 he made his last jump from a small plane over northern California. It killed him. The plane he and three other sky divers shared flew from the field of the instruction school he owned. At 5,600 feet the divers were preparing to jump when, suddenly, Morar’s reserve chute burst open, billowed outside the craft, and tangled in the plane’s tail, instantly plunging it into a nose-dive.

He should have dived out instinctively after the chute, but instead he grabbed frantically for the chute, trying to pull it back in. Why this pioneer of parachuting panicked and ignored all his own teachings and experience we will never know. For when he finally jumped, the reserve chute ripped off, and a wind gust or contact with the plane tore away his main chute as well. After nearly 3,000 jumps, an incredible blunder cost his life.

It is a warning to us all. Experienced can make us vulnerable to foolish, deadly mistakes. Sometimes we think we have grown beyond a certain temptation and yet that’s when we find ourselves falling to it.

Abram had several remarkable victories of faith.

Arthur Pink:

Gleanings in Genesis (Abraham and Hagar Genesis 16)

First, his faith had to overcome the ties of nature: God’’s call was for him to leave his country and his kindred. Then, shortly after he had actually arrived in Canaan, his faith was tried by stress of circumstances——there was a famine in the land. Next, he had to meet a trial respecting a brother: Abram feared that the friction between his herdsmen and the herdsmen of his nephew might lead to "strife" between brethren, and how he met this by his magnanimous offer to Lot we have already seen in an earlier chapter. Later, there was a testing of Abram’’s courage, as well as his love for his nephew. Lot had been captured by a powerful warrior, but Abram hastens to his rescue and delivers him.Subsequently, there was a testing of his cupidity. The King of Sodom offered to "reward" him for overcoming Chedorlaomer. And now he is tested by a suggestion from his wife. Would he take matters out of the hand of God and act in the energy of the flesh with reference to the obtaining of a son and heir. Thus, at six different points (to this stage in his history) was the character of Abram tested. We might summarize them thus: There was the trying of the fervor of his faith——did he love God more than home and kindred. There was the trying of the sufficiency of his faith was he looking to the living God to supply all his need, or was he depending on propitious circumstances? There was the trying of the humility of his faith——would he assert his "rights," or yield to Lot? There was the trying of the boldness of his faith——would he dare attempt the rescue of his nephew from the hands of a powerful warrior? There was the trying of the dignity of his faith——would he demean himself by accepting honors from the King of Sodom? There was the trying of the patience of his faith——would he wait for God to fulfill His word in His own good time and way, or would he take matters into his own hand?

The trying of the patience of his faith is what we encounter here in Gen 16. It appears that Abram’s faith had endured so much and that he was strengthened to meet any temptation. And yet what we see is a weakened faith (perhaps emboldened by previous victories) and the disastrous and immediate dangers that enter the picture. I’ll point out 4 headings in chapter 16 that we need to pay attention to b/c everyone who had been justified by faith (along with Abram) will have moments when our faith would be tested in like manner. And we should give careful attention to Paul’s warning:

1 Corinthians 10:12 NASB95

12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.

1. The People

vs 1 showcases the people who are the key players in this narrative. They include Abram and 2 women: his wife Sarai and her maid Hagar.

By the end of the chapter, Abram and Sarai are 86 and 76 years old (17:17). We have already seen the physical obstacle of their old age and the humanly impossible fulfillment of God’s promise to Abram that he would have innumerable descendants.

Sarai was an extraordinarily magnificent woman with exemplary character.

1 Peter 3:6 NASB95

6 just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear.

Though she was barren and in that culture—having no children was seen as failure in that culture, she recognized that God’s promise to her husband meant that Abram would have a child which would come from his own body and that would be the heir (15:4). It would be revealed to her in the next chapter that she would be the mother but until this point it was not clear that this would be the case.

The other woman’s name is Hagar. She was one of the many servants that were gifted to Abram by Pharaoh during his time in Egypt (12:16). For this reason she is called “an Egyptian maid.” The Heb term means “slave-girl.” She is not free—an analogy that Paul will develop in Galatians b/t Abram’s 2 sons, teaching the difference b/t a physical and spiritual descendant and to explain the difference b/t the old and new covenants.

Paul is not using this account in Gen 16 to point to the spiritual condition of the Sarah or Hagar. What we will see in Hagar is actually a beautiful faith, a simple and loving obedience to the Lord—and after her encounter with the Lord, an obedience to Sarai (her “mistress” vs 4 Heb lit “queen” and the feminine equivalent of a master). Abram acknowledges this when he tells his wife: vs 6. There is ownership and authority over Hagar who belongs to Sarai.

These are the 3 individuals that are the focal point of the tragedy of failing to wait upon the Lord God.

2. The Problem

vv 2-4a

Abram and Sarai have been living in Canaan for 10 years and all this time she remains barren and there have been no children born to this couple. So Sarai initiates the conversation “YHWH has prevented me...” Sarai has a sound theology. She understands that the opening and closing of the womb belongs to God alone. And He has prevented (term means to hold back or restrain) her ability to conceive. Her solution (probably a mixture of good and bad—so badly wanted to see God’s promise to Abram fulfilled that she was willing to sacrifice the special intimacy with her husband) in essence, suggests polygamy as the answer.

This was a normal and acceptable solution in the Mesopotamian culture. If a wife could not bear children for her husband is was permissible (even expected) that the wife would find another woman who would bear the children of her husband. In these cases, the other woman would be taken as a “concubine.” Other than the patriarchs in Genesis, 7 other men are revealed to have had concubines including, Caleb, Gideon, an unnamed Levite, Saul, David, Solomon and Rehoboam.

There’s a clear distinction b/t a concubine and a wife, but in Abram’s case, Hagar is given and taken as Abram’s “wife” (vs 3)—Because “he listened to the voice of Sarai” (vs 2).

Does that sound familiar? Think back to the record of the Fall in Gen 3.

Genesis 3:17 NASB95

17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.

Now, understand that God’s purpose in marriage has always been monogamy—the union of 1 man and 1 woman (Gen 2:24). God never condones polygamy. This is not the 1st case in Scripture. Lamech in Gen 4:23 had 2 wives.

With Abram, it is the 1st case of the tragedy of a “love triangle” where the relationship b/t husband and wife is to be protected at all cost, all the sudden we see rejection, anger, hurt, jealousy and cruelty—creep into that relationship with the addition of another wife.

Abram listen to his wife—who pleaded with him “please go into… (vs 2). So vs 4—he went in… (an intimacy that might have been on only 1 occasion—but doesn’t excuse what happens). The result was pregnancy. Just what Sarai had hoped for. And at this point, all the human planning would bring forth a child for Abram.

Paul explains that Ishmael (in contrast to Isaac who was born according to promise) would be born “according to the flesh.” What Paul means is that the scheme to have children was born from selfish desires and fulfilled by human means—not fully trusting in the promise of God. It was not God’s promise and so it was according to the flesh.

Everything about this situation was not good. Griffith Thomas writes:

Genesis—Beginning and Blessing Human Chaos (vv. 1–6)

Though Sarah’s motive was good, genuine, and involved self-sacrifice, the proposal was wrong in itself, and, at the same time, wrong in its method of obtaining the end sought. It was wrong against God, Whose word had been given and Whose time should have been waited. It was wrong against Abraham, leading him out of the pathway of patient waiting for God’s will. It was wrong against Hagar, and did not recognize her individuality and rights in the matter. It was wrong against Sarah herself, robbing her of a high privilege as well as leading to disobedience.

3. The Provocation

vv 4b-6

There’s bound to be trouble when you turn away from the instruction of the Lord and try to do things in your own wisdom.

Galatians 6:7–8 NASB95

7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Proverbs 30:21–23 NASB95

21 Under three things the earth quakes, And under four, it cannot bear up: 22 Under a slave when he becomes king, And a fool when he is satisfied with food, 23 Under an unloved woman when she gets a husband, And a maidservant when she supplants her mistress.

The picture is the chaos that is brought thru these intolerable things—when normal roles are overturned. Something has gone wrong in the home—it certainly did in Abram’s home and the earth was about to quake. After Hagar conceived the child she does what mothers do—takes pride in her pregnancy. Moses describes Sarai as being despised by Hagar (4b). That word means “to be small, to consider someone lightly or to demean.” It was as if Sarai had become irrelevant and unnecessary.

Now, Hagar did not displace Sarai as the #1 wife of Abram. Sarai was not lowered in her position but in her prestige she now perceived Hagar’s pride as a slight upon her and she felt disgraced.

Each person reacted differently on the occasion.

Sarai’s Response

Sarai’ solution was to blame her husband (vs 5). It was wrong to put all the blame on him—b/c this was her idea. But in a sense, she was right. He is the head of the home. He is responsible for the spiritual leadership of his family. God spoke to him, not to her. Sarai’s suggestion should never have gotten this much traction—and now Abram is responsible for the “wrong.” It is the word for violence and almost every instance in the OT it does not refer to the violence of a natural catastrophe but sinful violence. Abram is responsible for the violence done to his wife. She understand this and appeals to YHWH to judge. He sees everything and in her jealousy she basically says “now you’re gonna get it—God knows!” Then she proceeds to “treat her harshly” (vs 6) in the manner that degrades and humiliates her in front of everyone else.

Abram’s Response

This would have been the optimal time to for Abram to embrace his wife, acknowledge his sin and ask her forgiveness. He should have assured her that his love was unconditional for his wife and child or no child had no impact on the nature of their 1-flesh union. Instead, he tells his wife that this is something for her to work out b/c her maid is in her power. Sarai is the master, Hagar is the slave. Abram then directs her to treat her maid in the manner Sarai sees as good.

It is interesting to note that Sarai never addresses Hagar directly and Abram does not refer to her by name—only “the maid.” This is very impersonal which makes it easier for the mistreatment to take place

Hagar’s Response

Hagar does what many people would do if given the opportunity—she flees the oppression and harsh treatment. It was a matter of self-preservation and the protection of her baby—and family.

What a mess of a situation. Sarai was trying to fast-track the fulfillment of God’s promise, and Abram was complicit for selfish reasons. The peril of having a weakened faith was only beginning. It not only resulted in a stressful home (how awkward the next 14 years would be until the birth of Isaac) but would have a profound impact on Abram’s descendants—even to this day.

4. The Provision

vv 7-16

“The Angel of the YHWH” stop here: This phrase appears 48x in OT and is distinct from “an angel...” (10x). Much has been written by scholars trying to identify this person. Its natural to think of him as one of many heavenly creatures that make an appearance as messengers of God. That’s what “angel” means. We might think of him like Michael or Gabriel. It is clear from our passage and others where “the” angel of YHWH is set apart from the created angelic realm. Many commentators have taken the position that this is a “preincarnate” appearing of 2nd person of Trinity—the Son. One help is in the definite article (the).

HC Leupold has powerfully made the case:

The Angel of the Lord is not a created being but the Divine Being Himself; for

1. He explicitly identifies Himself with Yahweh on various occasions.

2. Those to whom He makes His presence known recognize Him as divine.

3. The Biblical writers call Him Yahweh.

4. The doctrine here implied of a plurality of persons in the Godhead is in complete accordance with earlier foreshadowing.

5. The organic unity of Scripture would be broken if it could be proved that the central point in the Old Testament revelation was a creature angel, while that of the New is the incarnation of the God Man.

Here we see for the 1st time “the angel of the Lord (YHWH)”—A Christophany. Now, Hagar has fled the presence of her abuser. She is alone, sitting by a spring at the southern border of Canaan. And this stranger appears to her and asks her—vs 8.

It is clear from the beginning that “the angel...” knew everything about the circumstances and that He has authority (which would be recognized by Hagar). Moses tells us that he “found” Hagar by the spring. Not b/c He didn’t know where she was in seclusion but to show us the care and concern of God for His own. It is very much the same as in the Lord’s parable of the Lost Sheep (Lk 15:1-7). The shepherd has 100 sheep and if 1 gets lost, the good, compassionate, gentle, caring shepherd will leave 99 to seek the 1 lost. The picture is not that of the shepherd frantically searching but of the great joy when he finds it and restores it to the fold. God has perfect omniscience—He knows all things, for all time. He never discovers anything, He doesn’t learn, grow in knowledge or understanding. When the Lord asks Hagar where she is going—it wasn’t b/c He didn’t know but in order to show His great care and compassion on lost sinners.

This is what He did for each of you. You were the lost sheep. The LJC—the good shepherd, who came to seek and save that which is lost, had compassion and mercy on you—to such an extent that He bore the burden of your restoration to the Father by laying down His own life for you. What a remarkable & glorious Savior!

God’s Instruction

vs 9 “return...”

Why send Hagar back to a terrifying, harsh environment where she would continue to receive the harsh treatment by Sarai? We see this from our perspective today and we would counsel those in similar relationships to seek protection from abusers (whomever they might be). But for the Lord, He is interested in submission to authority. And knowing the purposes for Hagar—He is not sending her back to certain death but illustrating that rebellion against authority is not God’s purpose. Authority is over us by God’s design for our good—to keep our rebellious hearts from straying.

God’s Revelation

vs 10—evidence that Hagar would not be put to death on account of the mistreatment of her mistress. God was going bless her with innumerable descendants—very similar to what the Lord promised to do with Abram. Hagar is the only woman in Genesis that is given such a promise (several times to patriarchs). God’s promise guarantees both present preservation and the future blessing.

God told Hagar—vs 11. Now, Hagar knew she was pregnant but had no way of knowing that she would give birth to a son. But the Lord reveals this and instructs her to name him “Ishmael” which lit means “God hears.” He then explains why this memorial name should be given to the boy: “b/c the Lord has heard your affliction.” Every time his mother would yell out his name—Ishmael! it would be a testimony of God’s intervention.

Further, God revealed the character of her son: vs 12

Gordon Wenham says the wild donkey is a desert animal that looks more like a horse than a donkey and is “used in the O.T. as a figure of an individualistic lifestyle untrammeled by social convention.” He would be free and wild. His character would illustrate his destiny: living in perpetual conflict with those around him.

Kent Hughes summarizes

Genesis—Beginning and Blessing Divine Intervention (vv. 7–16)

The historical reality is that Ishmael’s offspring became a thorn to God’s people both under the old and new covenants. Through Ishmael, the firstborn, they claim Abram as their father and affirm that they are his truest representations. Little did Abram and Sarai imagine that their shortcut would originate a conflict that would run for millennia and that oceans of blood would be spilt. Abram, the father of the faithful, had begotten a wild man instead of a child of grace. How tragic was Abram’s expediency.

God’s Magnification

This is where we see the sweetness of Hagar’s faith and the beauty of her devotion and obedience.

Vs 13—This is a strong acknowledgment that the angel of the Lord is the YHWH Himself (spoke to her). Hagar recognizes this so she says “You are a God who sees.” She even understands that to meet up with God would bring death.

How simple and precious is her faith? All of her problems have faded in the background—the only thing that mattered was that God had heard her affliction and He sees her where she is. This had a profound impact on her—so much so that the well she was sitting by was named “Beer Lahai Roi” (The well of the Living One who sees me).

Mathews:

Genesis 11:27–50:26 (2) Promise of a Son (16:7–14)

Hagar marvels at the grace of the One who took pity on her, although she was a person of low standing

In the aftermath, Abram also was instructed to name the child Ishmael (vv 15-16). And Moses concludes y giving the time reference that he was 86 when Ishmael is born.

Hagar praises, magnifies the name of God who heard her as she was crying out and who saw her—indicating the watchful care and purpose that He had for her.

Do you know that God sees you? Even now, where you are—He sees. He sees where you are going, where you have come from. He sees what you need and what you do not need. He sees every circumstance that you have faced and that you will face.

Proverbs 5:21 NASB95

21 For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, And He watches all his paths.

Proverbs 15:3 NASB95

3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Watching the evil and the good.

Psalm 34:15 NASB95

15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous And His ears are open to their cry.

The Lord also sees what He intends to make of you. If you belong to Him and have trusted in LJC, the final, glorious product of what is He conforming you into is not fully evidenced in you as of yet. You cannot see it, I cannot see it. But it is the promise of the Lord and we need to walk by faith (how the righteous live), being careful not to turn aside from the path that God has put us on b/c we think there’s a better way. Abram and Sarai tried this (having a weakened faith) and it left nothing but tragedy in its wake—well, with the exception that God’s purpose was accomplished for His glory.

Don’t try to circumvent God’s purposes—substituting your own wisdom for His. Abram took a detour b/c of his weakened faith—and though it never caught God by surprise, this would not be the end of hardship for Abram or his descendants. Wiersbe wisely says “God is never caught by surprise. When He cannot rule, He overrules; and He always accomplishes His purposes.”

Trust God’s purpose, promise, revelation—and watch Him work it out!