Every Woman's Bible Genesis sampler - Flipbook - Page 36
GENESIS 17
26
Perspective
Are concubines God’s plan?
SCRIPTURE CONNECTION: GENESIS 16:1-10
Today, when we read about concubines, feelings of confusion or even disgust might tempt
us to skip over these Scriptures. But each story
of a marginalized woman in the Bible is another
reminder that things are not the way they are
supposed to be. No woman should be owned by
someone else.
In ancient culture, concubines helped landowners build their households by increasing their
offspring. The Old Testament doesn’t explicitly
condemn polygamy, but it repeatedly demonstrates its perils.
While some societies and individuals value
women only as property, God elevates women
to image-bearing status, marked by his love
and reflecting his glory. Amid a worldly system
that oppresses, God is at work to redeem, and
his people can be a part of that redemption
work.
VIEWPOINTS
HERS: How do we see God care for Hagar,
who was marginalized in this way?
MINE: “How can I trust that God sees me in
circumstances where I am not valued?”
YOURS: When you feel unseen or devalued,
how can you trust God to redeem those parts
of your life?
KAT ARMSTRONG, MA, is a Bible teacher, preacher,
coach, and ministry leader. She cofounded the
Polished Network and authored No More Holding
Back, The In-Between Place, and the Storyline Bible
Studies series.
7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a spring
of water in the wilderness, along the road to Shur.
8 The angel said to her, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant, where
have you come from, and where are you going?”
“I’m running away from my mistress, Sarai,” she
replied.
9 The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your
mistress, and submit to her authority.” 10 Then he
added, “I will give you more descendants than you
can count.”
11And the angel also said, “You are now pregnant and
will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael
(which means ‘God hears’), for the Lord has heard your
cry of distress. 12This son of yours will be a wild man, as
untamed as a wild donkey! He will raise his fist against
everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will
live in open hostility against all his relatives.”
13 Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer
to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, “You
are the God who sees me.”* She also said, “Have I
truly seen the One who sees me?” 14 So that well was
named Beer-lahai-roi (which means “well of the Living One who sees me”). It can still be found between
Kadesh and Bered.
15 So Hagar gave Abram a son, and Abram named
him Ishmael. 16Abram was eighty-six years old when
Ishmael was born.
Abram Is Named Abraham
When Abram was ninety-nine years old,
the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am ElShaddai—‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and
live a blameless life. 2I will make a covenant with
you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless
descendants.”
3At this, Abram fell face down on the ground. Then
God said to him, 4“This is my covenant with you: I will
make you the father of a multitude of nations! 5What’s
more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be
Abram. Instead, you will be called Abraham,* for you
will be the father of many nations. 6I will make you extremely fruitful. Your descendants will become many
nations, and kings will be among them!
7 “I will confirm my covenant with you and your descendants* after you, from generation to generation.
This is the everlasting covenant: I will always be your
God and the God of your descendants after you. 8And
I will give the entire land of Canaan, where you now
live as a foreigner, to you and your descendants. It will
be their possession forever, and I will be their God.”
17
16:13 Hebrew El-roi. 17:5 Abram means “exalted father”; Abraham sounds like a Hebrew term that means “father of many.”
17:7 Hebrew seed; also in 17:7b, 8, 9, 10, 19.
16:7-12 Hagar’s distress did not go unnoticed. Even though her
son would not be heir of God’s covenant promises to Abram, God
gave Ishmael promises of his own. God’s instruction for Hagar to
return to Sarai was not a universal call for submission to abuse.
Later, God would allow Hagar to leave (21:8-21).
16:13 Hagar was the first person in the Bible to give God a
name: “the God who sees me.” Although she lacked power,
wealth, and status in her household, she was not invisible to
God. And although her son was not the heir of God’s covenant
promise, she was not outside God’s care. God’s promise to bless
all nations through Abram’s family would include the nations
that descended from Ishmael.
