Submit OT

Submit

Chapter 16 Sarai and Hagar

1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar.

A word from the Lord was given to Abram that he would have a child, but doubting God’s word will turn into human action!

This will lead to unfortunate consequences!!!

2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children.

That’s not true! It wasn’t a prevention it was timed intention!

God had the right time for the child to be conceived, but Sarai’s impatience dismissed the right time of the Lord in favor of the impulse of the moment!

Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

It was a culturally acceptable practice to make your handmaid a surrogate for your child.

But again this was never a prevention of the Lord it was timed intention!

When you misunderstand a situation and put the Lord’s name in it you often feel justified in making a decision that is accepted by the culture, but out of line with God’s intention.

In this decision Abram traded the voice of God for the voice of man (in this case the closes human to him, his wife).

The voice of man will sometimes speak to our desires and impulses that are outside the will of God!

Example: Jonadab saw the depression of Amnon and wanted to help. The source of Amnon’s depression was sinister! He was lusting after Tamar (half-sister). Jonadab gave Amnon a plan to fulfill is desires, but listening to the voice of man lead Amnon to becoming a rapist which would ultimately end in the loss of his life (by the hand of his brother Absalom).

3 After Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife.

They did what was right in their own eyes!

Oh, how deceptive our eyes can be!

4 He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight.

The plan worked, a child is conceived!

This is pragmatism in a nutshell. The plan worked and if it worked why bother with the details of it was right to do this!

But the unexpected happened to Sarai. The woman at the center of her plan (Hagar) now despised.

Maybe she taunted her continuously with her pregnancy, rubbing it in Sarai’s face.

If we continue to do things that are not right in God’s sight because it’s working, it may not be long before negative consequences rear their ugly head!

5 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done me be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her sight. May the LORD judge between you and me.”

Sarai’s response to Abram over her bad decision! If I’m going down your coming with me!

6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight.”

There is blood in the water and the shark is in the cage!

So what does Abram do, open the cage door!

So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence.

Sarai is wrong in her treatment of Hagar, but Hagar is not completely innocent.

The taunting or despising of Sarai was uncalled for by Hagar.

7 Now the angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.

8 He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”

9 Then the angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority.”

In this conversation between the Angel of the Lord and Hagar comes the first appearance of the word submit.

What do I need to know?

Everything that comes before submit:

Impatience

Doubt in God’s Word

A plan of action outside of God’s will

Despising

(How different would the story have been if submission to God’s plan was implemented)

The meaning of submit:

10 Moreover, the angel of the LORD said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.”

11 The angel of the LORD said to her further, “Behold, you are with child, And you will bear a son; And you shall call his name Ishmael, Because the LORD has given heed to your affliction.

12 “He will be a wild donkey of a man, His hand will be against everyone, And everyone’s hand will be against him; And he will live bto the east of all his brothers.”

13 Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees”; for she said, “Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?”

14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

15 So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.

16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.