Genesis 15

1 After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward. ” 2 But Abram said, “Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”


4 Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.


7 He also said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.” 8 But Abram said, “Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?” 9 So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”


10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.

11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.


12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.

15 You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”


17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”


Gen 16

1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said.


3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.


5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me.”


6 “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.


7 The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”


“I'm running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.

9 Then the angel of the LORD told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.” 11 The angel of the LORD also said to her: “You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery. 12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”


13 She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi ; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered. 15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.




Genesis 15-16


This chapter starts out with “after this.”  After what?  After Abram was obedient to God and did not take any loot.  Obedience in the small things before more is given.  God comes to Abram in a vision and tells him not to be afraid and that God is his shield and reward.  Abram is not convinced.  What can you give me of use since I have children to inherit?  Abram was planning to give his estate to his servant, Eliezer.  God tells him that he shall have children as numerous as the stars.  God counted it as righteousness that Abram believed him.


God reminds Abram that he called him out to give him a promised land.  Abram asks how he should know that the land will belong to him.  So, he had faith on the baby thing, but the land thing was harder for him.  I guess Abram was more comfortable making love and not war.  Sorry, had to.  


God could have said, “cause I said so.”  But instead, he asks Abram for an offering.  Abram did as he was told and then had to chase birds of prey away.  I get this mental image of elderly  respectable Abram running in circles swishing away big vultures.  These vulture type birds are symbolic of judgment and unclean things.  I think this section has a deeper meaning.  Abram had to fight off worldly and unclean things from the sacrifice he planned to give to God.  We see this in our lives as well.  We mean to give our lives to God but worldly things try to pull us away.  


After the hard but victorious work of fighting off the birds, Abram fell asleep.  What does it mean that a “thick and dreadful darkness came over him” while he slept?  Some Bibleheads parallel this to the darkness when Jesus died – sort of sealing a new covenant.  Some say he was in fear of his situation in the desert.  I agree with both.  I know nighttime is when troubling thoughts most afflict me.  Fighting off birds that you can see during the day is easy compared to fighting off the unseen at night.  I think Abram was in a dark emotional night dread place like that.  God came to him in the light of day and God also came to him in the dreads of night.   I think he was worried that his family would be taken by the dessert kings.  God's comfort here is not too comforting.  Your descendants with being enslaved and mistreated for 400 years.  But after that, I will punish the enslavers and your family will be blessed.  But none of this will happen during your life.  Um, thanks?


So, Abram is obedient to God.  This obedience comes with a promise of a huge legacy and land.  But in between obedience and reward is an ocean of pain.  The story of God's people mirror's Job's story here.  And the in-between can last a lifetime or feel like forever while you are there.  Dreadful darkness, indeed.  


But it was in this dark time that God made a light (a torch and firepot) and formed a covenant with Abram.  He gives a promise of land.  A variety pack  of “ites” were already living there.  That does not change the promise.  


Gen 16

This section reminds me that God works on His own timetable. God made a promise to Abram (then age 75) that he would Father a great nation. Awesome! Then ten years pass and NOTHING happens. Well, Sarai and Abram get older.  


Now we turn to Sarai.  She was taken from her home, almost married to a king, wandering the desert, husband busy cutting up animals someplace and she has never had God speak to her about any of this.  They have been waiting on the promise for many years.  But Sarai is practical.  Do you want kids?  Well, God said you were having kids like stars, not me.  I am too old for this!  Note the slick way she lays it on God saying he “kept me from having children.”  So she takes the situation into her own hands.   She tells Abram to have a baby with her Egyptian servant Hagar instead.  I wonder if Hagar was consulted in all of this.  Ever get tired of waiting on God and decide to do things your own way?  Me too.  



Abram thinks this is a great plan and marries Hagar.  Here is why polygamy is a bad plan. Hagar gets PG and then gets uppity. Sarai forgets that the whole thing was her idea and blames her husband. Abram tells her to deal with it and she handles it by abusing Hagar.  Way to be the head of the family, Abe.  And way to listen to Sarai rather than God.  


So, they were impatient and ignored God's plan. Everyone suffered. Abram has two unhappy wives. Sahai is being dissed by a former servant. Hagar gets mistreated and runs away.  The whole family was likely in an uproar.  


Hagar's child was not part of God's plan, but God is compassionate towards her. He orders her to go home and submit to Sarai.  God may tell us to submit as well.  That is so hard – think of having to go back to a bad home situation and submit.   makes promises about her line fathering kings. Ishmael will also be a real jack ass of a man. He had 12 sons (like Isaac) who go on to become the Arabs. So, we have the birth of the middle east conflict.  


A few thoughts here.  First, I really feel for Hagar. She is stuck in a bad situation.  She also gives the Lord a name:  the God who sees me.  That is beautiful.  This is why the well is called Beer something.  That is funny to me.  Finally, God has still not spoken to Sarai.  Everyone else has heard from Him.  I know that frustration!



As for Abram, remember at the beginning of the chapters how God did not want Abram taking loot because he wanted Abram to know his wealth was from God?  I think the same holds true with Children.  God was going to be the source and not Sarai or Hagar.    


TJ:  A note to us women. We can be mean. Sarai came up with this whole plan. She talked Abram into it. Hagar was abusive to Sarai in return. Sarai was probably touchy about the whole thing as well. Sarai then abused Hagar. We need to be better than this in our dealings with other women. How would the world be different if these women had bonded together rather than being enemies? The middle east drama all started with a catfight.