Family and corporate authority blended

  Sarah and Hagar

While this can be viewed as a deviation from the topic, anything having to do with authority is in step with the purpose of this writing. There are some real authority issues and principals that we can get insight into by looking at what Abraham had to deal with.

 

The promises of God had come to Abraham as he and Sarah traveled from Haran into the land of Canaan and now ten years after entering the land Sarah decides her barrenness is God’s doing. We may not know why she would blame God but we know God continues to tell Abraham that his descendants would be like the stars in the sky in number. Sarah may have thought that the promise was only to her husband and did not refer to her. I am sure that insecurity and guilt plagued her for not being able to produce the promised offspring. In a moment of weakness she decides to allow Abraham to father children through Hagar her servant. 

 

This decision probably was hastily made and Abraham does not seem to think it is a bad idea. So Abraham goes into Hagar and low and behold she gets pregnant. Now Hagar is Sarah’s servant and as a servant she is probably viewed as somehow less of a person then Sarah. We do not know when Hagar became Sarah’s servant but we do know Hagar is Egyptian. It is possible that Hagar was acquired when Abraham went into Egypt because of the famine. Regardless of how long Hagar was with Abraham and Sarah there was probably some resentment that existed in Hagar because of her station in life. Once Hagar realizes that she is pregnant she begins to look down on Sarah.

 

Now that Hagar is pregnant with Abraham’s heir, Sarah is angry because her servant is now treating her badly. So Sarah confronts Abraham over this situation. The reason Sarah had to address Abraham is because Hagar is no longer under Sarah’s authority but now is wife to Abraham and as such she and Hagar are equals. Sarah exercised her authority over Hagar by giving her to Abraham as a wife and from then on the authority over Hagar shifted to Abraham. GEN 16:5 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." v6 But Abram said to Sarai, "Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight." So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence. This equality between Sarah and Hagar was short lived for Abraham, instead of reasoning with Sarah, just returns the authority over Hagar to her. I don’t know what rights a servant had in the days of Abraham but it seems that Hagar was being treated like a possession. Once Sarah regained the right of possession she began to mistreat Hagar. Hagar flees alone into the desert because of Sarah’s abuse.

 

An angel came to Hagar addressing her as “Hagar, Sarai’s maid.” The angel acknowledges the fact that Hagar is not a free person who can travel about without concern but actually is owned and under Sarah’s authority. This illustrates the fact that when we own something that possession is under our authority. We are responsible for the things we own. Abraham shows this principle in action when he went to war to return Lot and his family as well as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah along with all their belongings. Abraham is the spiritual owner of all the land God gave to him. Hagar is directed by this angel to go back and submit to Sarah. GEN 16:9 Then the angel of the Lord said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority."  Hagar, Sarah’s possession was running from her master without consent. The angel told her to do what is consistent with the concept of authority. We should understand that God recognizes man’s right of authority over his possessions (even humans that are a possession) and does not attempt to circumvent that right. This no doubt was a very difficult thing for Hagar to do. She probably expected more persecution and bad behavior from Sarah. The angel however gives Hagar insight into the child she will bear for Abraham. GEN 16:10 Moreover, the angel of the Lord said to her, "I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they shall be too many to count." v11 The angel of the Lord said to her further, "Behold, you are with child, And you shall bear a son; And you shall call his name Ishmael, Because the Lord has given heed to your affliction. Hagar, after years of hearing how Abraham’s descendants will be like the stars in number, is told that her descendants as well will be too many to count. Not only will her descendants be too many to count but God had noticed her afflictions. This should be a great comfort for Hagar making the possibility of any abuse by Sarah seem bearable. Hagar, encouraged by this visit from the angel, goes back to submit to Sarah.

 

Scripture states that Abraham was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael but fourteen years later Sarah would bear Isaac. Scripture does not contain any information about the relationship or attitudes of Sarah and Hagar toward each other during this period. A year before the birth of Isaac God visits with Abraham and renews the covenant with him and institutes the evidence of this covenant in the act of circumcision. God tells Abraham that He was going to bless Sarah and that she would bear a son and be the mother of nations. Abraham has trouble believing that this could actually happen and asks God to allow Ishmael to be the heir to His promises. God responds to Abraham’s request with: GEN 17:20 "And as for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. Even though Isaac would be the one whom God chose for fulfilling the promises He made to Abraham, Ishmael would also enter into the anointing that was upon his father. God promises Abraham that twelve princes would come through Ishmael as well as a great nation. The family authority that was on Abraham and the divine promises were to descend upon Ishmael in the same way as Isaac. It is no mistake that Ishmael will have twelve princes in his lineage for this is what God intended for Abraham’s heir all along.

 

We should understand that regardless of the fact that Isaac would be the main branch for the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham, Ishmael as well is heir to some degree of the same promises. We will never know the extent that God blessed and prospered Ishmael and his descendants because of Abraham his father. We should never think of ourselves as least within a family, especially if it seems the blessing has gone to one of the other more accepted siblings. You all have a right to the prophetic promises God gave your parents, grandparents and great grandparents. We share in the divine destiny of our ancestors and do not fully know how this will all fit together in eternity. 

 

Shortly after Isaac was born Sarah saw Ishmael mocking Isaac and immediately went to Abraham to deal with this issue. Sarah said to Abraham, "Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son Isaac." Sarah had authority over Hagar but not Ishmael and had to have Abraham drive them both out. So Sarah confronts her husband and tells him to do the deed. Abraham had fourteen years with his first born and does not want to send him away. God says to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named.” Sarah’s authority in the situation is displayed in the fact that God told Abraham to listen to Sarah in whatever she tells him to do. While Sarah has authority over Hagar, this situation is not just based on this element of authority. Sarah is joint heir to all the promises God gave to Abraham and as such has authority in them. The fact that God said that these blessing would come through Sarah’s son positions her to this place as co-heir to the promises. Sarah is prophesying about the reality of what is to happen when she says, “the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son Isaac."

 

We should understand that Abraham could have dismissed Sarah’s authority right from the beginning and told her, “look, you gave me Hagar as a wife and now she is pregnant with my son. You are just going to have to accept this situation.” Abraham could have done this and would not have been wrong for doing it. Abraham’s love for Sarah and respect for her willingness to co-labor through the years of wandering would not permit him to do it. Hagar was Sarah’s responsibility and even though Sarah gave her to Abraham, he still recognized that Sarah was equal with him in this call of God. Even though Abraham shared his seed with this maid, his love remained for Sarah. We may not always like the decisions of those who have their own authority but are under our authority. They should be allowed to exercise their right to make decisions without interference.

 

God encourages Abraham with the fact that He would bless Ishmael and make him a great nation because he was Abraham’s son. So Abraham took very meager supplies (bread and one skin of water) and sent his son and the maid off into their destiny. Was it Sarah who told Abraham what to supply to his son and her maid? It seems hard to believe that Abraham would not have given more, seeing that he was quite wealthy. Hagar and Ishmael are put out into the desert with very limited supplies. They wander around until they deplete the supplies and then sit down believing they are destined to die. GEN 21:16 Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, "Do not let me see the boy die." And she sat opposite him, and lifted up her voice and wept. v17 And God heard the lad crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, "What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. v18 "Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him by the hand; for I will make a great nation of him." 

 

The address to Hagar here is not as Sarah’s maid but just Hagar. Hagar is no longer bound as Sarah’s possession. Both Abraham and Sarah willingly sent Hagar and Ishmael out into the wilderness thus releasing them both from any responsibility they previously had to them. We must recognize that it is not God who decided when this would take place but Sarah and Abraham. Even though God told Abraham to listen to his wife Sarah about driving them out, Abraham had the ability to do as he pleased and could have chosen not to listen to God. God often attempts to alter the steps of man by speaking to them but God will not transgress the authority of man by making them do what He wills.

 

Hagar finds herself in a situation that seems to her, to be the death of her and her son. Hagar has lost any faith she may have possessed from the promises God spoke to her when she fled from Sarah fourteen years earlier. The very fact that Hagar returned to Sarah seems to indicate that at the time she really believed God’s promises concerning Ishmael. Now however we find her weeping about the dire situation she finds herself in. It is interesting to note that this time when Hagar is addressed, the angel does not state, God has heard your whining, but just the lad’s. Hagar, it would seem, never entered into any promise of God concerning herself but was only an instrument for bearing one of Abraham’s offspring. It really doesn’t matter why Hagar failed to hear what God wanted from her. It is a tragedy that she spent so much time with the man of God and did not get a revelation for herself. God is concerned for the lad and not for Hagar which is further seen sometime later. GEN 21:20 And God was with the lad, and he grew....  We need to receive and even believe God’s promises for those around us but we also need to commit ourselves to God in order for us to receive our own promises. We may be a vehicle used by God to bless others and yet somehow miss out on our own blessings.