Abraham and Sarah

[abide]

In reading the book of Genesis I noticed a few things concerning Abraham and Sarah that make me go hhhmm.

( 1) In Genesis 16: 2-3

And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing. I pray thee, go into my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.


Vs. 4 And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived; and when she was
that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.

Now she was the one who encouraged Abraham in the first place to get a baby from Hagar and then made the decision to send her away.

Abraham did not say, "You are the one who have placed me in this position? He did not argue.


(2) Genesis 22: 2

And God said to Abraham, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest and get thee unto the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell the of.

vs 3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son and clave the wood for the burnt offering and rose up and went unto the place of which God had told him.

I don't intend to read anything into the scriptures but there are two things come to my mind when I read this story.


(i) Abraham was not an argumentative man. He had a peaceful spirit.

(ii) Sarah seemed to be a very assertive woman

I believed that Abraham chose the early morning to take Isaac to the mountain, I have mentioned to some friends of mine, that no woman who has waited so long for a child would be willing to let her husband offer him up to God. Even though Sarah could see that a miracle was performed by her having a child in old age. I am sure her motherly instincts would kick in and there would a battle that Abraham would prefer not to have. Perhaps Abraham knew his wife so well, he did not want to have her whining and complaining. I can imagine what would have happened IF he would have allowed Sarah to have her way just like she did with Hagar.

Today you will hear men say, I am the man of the house, and my wife does not make the major decisions in the home. When men allow their wives to make certain decisions some people say they are "henpecked".

God knew Abraham's heart, but as I looked at this story to me it shows that we are all human with emotions and we never know how we would react in a given situation. Some of us women may say, I would not have done what Sarah did, but would we? After waiting for a child so long, how would we as mothers be willing to give up our child for a cause which our husband would deem a cause for God. Would we? We cannot be too critical of Sarah or Abraham.

Everything that took place was of God's doing. These are just my PERSONAL thoughts on this story. I am no heretic.

 

[for_his_glory]

abide, I just love your post. You have such a pure heart for knowledge.

If you look back in Genesis 15 you will see your answer why Abraham was willing to lay with Hagar without an argument as God told him in Genesis 15:2-4 that those of his household being his servants would not be his heirs as they were not of his own seed, but only that of his own seed would be his heir and seeing that Sarai was baron he went unto Hagar to plant his seed to conceive a child through her.

Genesis 15:
2. And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?

3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.

4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.

Hagar being pregnant with Abraham's child thought herself on the same level as Sarai and despised Sarai which was an insult to both Sarai and Abraham and Abraham told Sarai to deal with Hagar as she wanted and being strict with Hagar, Hagar ran away.

As far as Abraham leaving early in the morning with Issac, they had I believe a three day travel to reach the mountain and I don't think Sarai knew anything about the sacrifice as God only spoke to Abraham and I'm sure he did not tell it to Sarai. She probably thought Abraham just wanted his son to go along with him on this trip.

 

[abide]

abide, I just love your post. You have such a pure heart for knowledge.

If you look back in Genesis 15 you will see your answer why Abraham was willing to lay with Hagar without an argument as God told him in Genesis 15:2-4 that those of his household being his servants would not be his heirs as they were not of his own seed, but only that of his own seed would be his heir and seeing that Sarai was baron he went unto Hagar to plant his seed to conceive a child through her.

Genesis 15:
2. And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?

3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.

4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.

Hagar being pregnant with Abraham's child thought herself on the same level as Sarai and despised Sarai which was an insult to both Sarai and Abraham and Abraham told Sarai to deal with Hagar as she wanted and being strict with Hagar, Hagar ran away.

As far as Abraham leaving early in the morning with Issac, they had I believe a three day travel to reach the mountain and I don't think Sarai knew anything about the sacrifice as God only spoke to Abraham and I'm sure he did not tell it to Sarai. She probably thought Abraham just wanted his son to go along with him on this trip.

I don't think she knew either...perhaps Abraham DELIBERATELY hid it from her. Leaving early would suggest to me that Sarah would be asleep. Or as you said she thought he was just taking along on the trip. My purpose is to look at the human emotions that COULD have been there. Thanks for your comments.

 

[stovebolts]

Abide,

Thank you for your wonderful thoughts. They are very refreshing indeed!

That is one thing that I really like about scriptures because there are so many good ways to look at them and glean a better understanding and insight into our own lives.

You know, Abraham was called out of Ur, and Ur is thought to be like the capitol of Sumeria which is where the oldest writings in the world come from. Much of the creation account etc is written with those cultural ideologies in mind. Actually, one of their gods demanded that your first born be offered to him by fire. It was a way of keeping in good standard with the gods and again, it was something 'normal' that Abraham would have accepted without question. After all, Abram did hear the voice of God to leave Ur. Imagine that for a moment... to hear God's voice. And Abram packed up his family and left what he knew.

So was it really that odd of a response for Abram to offer his first son Isaac? I don't think so because the gods of his homeland demanded it, why wouldn't this god demand it to? The writer of Hebrews takes from Jewish Oral tradition that Abraham believed this God would raise his only son, whom he loved from the dead and I've got to tell you, that had to have taken some sort of faith for sure! But if we look at it from a cultural perspective, we see something brand new in history take place and the roles are reversed.

You see, in the ancient near east where Abram was called out of, you had to appease the gods with gifts. In essence, you had to bless the gods. But this God is different. He tells Abram that he will bless Abram so that Abram can be a blessing to many nations. This is totally new in Abram's time. So, lets go back to Abram on the mountain with his son. The knife is raised and he's about to do it when an angel stops him. You see, this God doesn't need our blessing... he's come to bless us. And that is what he does because God provides the offering by way of a ram in the thicket. Imagine that for a moment from Abram's point of view. This is something new, something great and something totally unlike any other god he's known about.

 

[Mike S]

Abide,

Thank you for your wonderful thoughts. They are very refreshing indeed!

That is one thing that I really like about scriptures because there are so many good ways to look at them and glean a better understanding and insight into our own lives.

You know, Abraham was called out of Ur, and Ur is thought to be like the capitol of Sumeria which is where the oldest writings in the world come from. Much of the creation account etc is written with those cultural ideologies in mind. Actually, one of their gods demanded that your first born be offered to him by fire. It was a way of keeping in good standard with the gods and again, it was something 'normal' that Abraham would have accepted without question. After all, Abram did hear the voice of God to leave Ur. Imagine that for a moment... to hear God's voice. And Abram packed up his family and left what he knew.

So was it really that odd of a response for Abram to offer his first son Isaac? I don't think so because the gods of his homeland demanded it, why wouldn't this god demand it to? The writer of Hebrews takes from Jewish Oral tradition that Abraham believed this God would raise his only son, whom he loved from the dead and I've got to tell you, that had to have taken some sort of faith for sure! But if we look at it from a cultural perspective, we see something brand new in history take place and the roles are reversed.

You see, in the ancient near east where Abram was called out of, you had to appease the gods with gifts. In essence, you had to bless the gods. But this God is different. He tells Abram that he will bless Abram so that Abram can be a blessing to many nations. This is totally new in Abram's time. So, lets go back to Abram on the mountain with his son. The knife is raised and he's about to do it when an angel stops him. You see, this God doesn't need our blessing... he's come to bless us. And that is what he does because God provides the offering by way of a ram in the thicket. Imagine that for a moment from Abram's point of view. This is something new, something great and something totally unlike any other god he's known about.

This is an important part of the story. I've always believed this was God's way of making it known that He - unlike other gods of the time - was not to be worshipped with child sacrifice.

 

[stovebolts]

This is an important part of the story. I've always believed this was God's way of making it known that He - unlike other gods of the time - was not to be worshipped with child sacrifice.

Yes, that is certainly in there. But when you look at the culture that surrounded Abram, the real eye opener was a God who wanted to provide and bless. For it's day, this was an amazing breakthrough because the god's just didn't function that way. Some of us today still struggle with the idea that God wants to bless us and provide for us.

Matthew 7:8-10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

And no, I'm not talking about the prosperity gospel...

 

[reba]

His Mercy and Grace!

 

[Mike S]

Yes, that is certainly in there. But when you look at the culture that surrounded Abram, the real eye opener was a God who wanted to provide and bless. For it's day, this was an amazing breakthrough because the god's just didn't function that way. Some of us today still struggle with the idea that God wants to bless us and provide for us.

Matthew 7:8-10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

And no, I'm not talking about the prosperity gospel...

Yeah, I agree with you.

 

[Eugene]

(i) Abraham was not an argumentative man. He had a peaceful spirit.

(ii) Sarah seemed to be a very assertive woman

I can imagine what would have happened IF he would have allowed Sarah to have her way just like she did with Hagar.

Hi abide, and and I will just add that I believe Sarah saw the will of God, and God agreed with Sarah. Abraham though grieved became faithful in following that which was told him.

Genesis 21:12 And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

And God said to Abraham, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac.

Ishmael and Isaac are very illustrative types of the old and the new man in Christ.

 

[stovebolts]

Ishmael and Isaac are very illustrative types of the old and the new man in Christ.

Galatians 4:22-23 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.

Paul continues with an allegory on the two.

 

[VanillaLatte9s]

I don't think she knew either...perhaps Abraham DELIBERATELY hid it from her. Leaving early would suggest to me that Sarah would be asleep. Or as you said she thought he was just taking along on the trip. My purpose is to look at the human emotions that COULD have been there. Thanks for your comments.

This is indeed a very interesting topic; it piqued my curiosity so I did a search so as to learn more in depth and found this:
http://bible.org/seriespage/yes-my-lord—-ithe-story-abraham-and-sarahi
It's suggested here that Sarah did know.

A long read but it brings a new light on Sarah's thoughts and attitudes (at least for me for I did think her to be somewhat bossy).