Hagars attacks were a direct assault on her worth, value and personhood in the eyes of the community. Sarai and hagars conflict abram and circumcision youtube. By drawing our attention to this conflict, the biblical text is indirectly teaching us that polygamy is wrong. Our matriarch sinned through this oppression, and so did abraham by allowing her to do so. Second, sarah whom hagar served gave her up to abraham as a wife genesis 16.
Abram had been told that he was to have a son of his very own flesh. Being unable to bear children, imagine how sarai must have felt on hearing this news. Hagar and ishmael are sent to live in the dessert in this episode from genesis this is a good lesson about how envy and jealousy can get the best of us. Three glimpses of gods love seen in hagars life unlocking. The jewish interpretation sarah as symbol of redemption in the rabbinic tradition the dualism between sarah and hagar plays a minor role. And third, when conflict arises between sarah and hagar after she becomes pregnant, abraham gave her up too. This lesson looks a the very source of the jewisharab conflict as well as the distinguishing mark given to abraham and all his male. But hagar is in spiritual conflict with sarah throughout the world, as they were at the time when paul addressed the galatians. The lord dealt with sarah as he had said, and the lord did for sarah as he had promised. The more time sarah and hagar spent together after the birth of their respective sons, the greater likelihood that conflict would arise. This conflict that developed between sarai and hagar was and is very typical of polygamous households.
Genesis 21 describes the conflict between sarah and hagar concerning their sons. Sarah represents grace the heavenly jerusalem, and hagar represents law the. In classical sources, the break between the two women is never mended, but feminist readers of the bible, jewish and muslim, have used midrashstyle poetry to rewrite the ending of their story. The angel of the lord met hagar in the wilderness, commanding her to return to abraham and sarah. Sarah conceived and bore abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which god had spoken to him.
In jewish and muslim interpretation, hagar and sarah represent the matriarchs of abrahams blessed heirs, the arabs and the jews. Scripture tells us the reason for sarahs wrathit was because hagar forgot her place as the handmaiden of sarah, and also the gratitude she should have felt toward her mistress for the latters selflessness in advancing hagar to abrahams wife. But my desire to identify with hagar over sarah is wishful thinking. Sarah, as a woman, is supposed to be in charge of the future. After god had appeared to abram and promised him a homeland and a heritage genesis 12. Jan 25, 2008 why scholars just cant stop talking about sarah and hagar. Just as in the case of sarah and hagar, jealousy, pride, selfishness, values, and beliefs can cause conflict. The first conflict appears in genesis 16, 4 when, after sarai suggests to abram that he lie with her slavewoman hagar and produce a child, sarai complains to abram about her behavior. Kensky sees the entire conflict between hagar and sarah as a foreshadowing to israels own slavery. According to the genesis account, he died at the age of 7 genesis 25.
Well, id like to have seen a big conflict scene between sarah and hagar. Sarah began to deal harshly with her, and hagar fled to the desert to escape the resentment of her mistress. The a type of nonhalakhic literary activitiy of the rabbis for interpreting nonlegal material according to special principles of interpretation hermeneutical rules. When he links the two covenants to hagar and sarah, paul opens up a whole new avenue of thinking, based on the types and shadows of abrahams two wives. The problem for hagar began when sarah gave her to abraham as a. We have seen the rabbis judgments of sarah and hagar in conflict. Perhaps in telling the origin story of israel, a conflict was needed. The interpretation of the sarahhagarstories in rabbinic and. Gaiser i n the overall genesis narrative, whether or not sarah and abraham have a child matters. Abraham gave the name isaac to the son whom sarah bore him. This lesson looks a the very source of the jewisharab conflict as well as the. So i want to begin with a definition of freedom that i think is implied here. Jul 05, 2019 first, pharaoh gave her up in giving her to abraham. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son isaac was born to him.
Jewish, christian, and muslim perspectives phyllis trible, letty m. Sep 11, 20 so, it appears that hagar tries to improve her status in the community by looking with contempt on her mistress 16. Gods promise concerning ishmael came true, and also his warnings concerning what manner of man ishmael would become. Aug 06, 2014 sarai and hagars conflict abram and circumcision. God had promised abraham many descendants, but, ten years after the promise, sarah was still unable to have children, and they were both on the verge of becoming too old to have children at all. It was sarahs task to produce a son and heir, but when she could not, she gave hagar to her husband as a surrogate. Hagar, at one point called mother of the arabs, is the wife of ibrahim to whom muslims give special honor. The specific conflict stories, revolving around barrenness and birth, are re ported in gen 16. Nov 08, 2019 central to the story of abram is the promise of a son. Nov 16, 2014 abraham and sarah abraham and sarah bible story for children. After abraham and sarah use hagar, sarah s maidservant, to conceive a son, it doesnt take long before conflict arises. We know that ishmael god will hear, the progenitor of the arabs is politically in conflict with isaac he laughs in the middle east. The irreversible split between sarah and hagar serves to enforce christian dominating interests and to develop a christian identity at the expense of judaism. The roots of the israeliarab conflict focus on jerusalem.
Oct 01, 20 6 supporting sarah s behavior, the angel referred to hagar as slave of sarai and ordered hagar to return and submit to sarah s harsh treatment hitani. Although it displays a resemblance to modern technological surrogate motherhood, this custom may seem bizarre. If she permitted hagar to persist in her actions, her own worth of belonging would be compromisedeven to the extent of a possible disconnect with her husband, abraham. Sarah was rightfully offended, even dishonored, by her servant hagar. Sarah, then called sarai, and abraham, called abram, marry and wander the near and middle east. The apostle paul saw in this event an allegory involving the law of moses and the grace of god gal.
Sarah, the first of the four matriarchs, has come to symbolize motherhood for the entire world, and not only for the people of israel. The allegory of hagar and sarah is often cited as representative of the distinction between law and grace in the writings of paul gal. We find most of the information about hagar in genesis 16. This is one of several biblical stories of miraculous. Hizkuni further observes that hagar herself refers to sarah as my mistress v. Ishmael, a figure in the tanakh and the quran, was abrahams first son according to jews, christians and muslims. Sarah, hagar, and abraham wisdom from the hebrew scriptures. Young august, 2005 a few years ago i had the opportunity to participate on a local television program with a jewish scholar and a palestinian imam to discuss the israeliarab conflict. Hagar was the egyptian servant of sarah, abrahams wife. What kinds of valuations of the two women did early christians reach, and what became of their. God paid heed to hagar s suffering and gave her a son who would be a wild ass of a man gen. Sadly, many traditional christian commentators have used this allegory as a means of rejecting the importance of torah study for the christian. Hagar is sarais egyptian slave girl, whom sarai later sarah gives to abram later abraham as a wife who would bear a child that would be considered sarais child genesis 16. Why scholars just cant stop talking about sarah and hagar.
Why is god on sarahs side when she asked abraham to cast out. Hagar, ishmael, and biblical criticism commentary magazine. What was the source of the conflict between sarah and hagar. The conflicts between sarah and hagar the first conflict appears in genesis 16, when, after sarai suggests to abram that he lie with her slavewoman hagar and produce a child, sarai complains to abram about her behavior. God promises abraham that sarah herself will bear a son this is the first mention and that. In verse 6 we see that sarai responded to this contempt by dealing harshly with hagar. We now come to the core of pauls dispute with the judaizers.
How did sarah feel when hagar came back and reported that god had talked to her. Hagar became pregnant, and god promised that her child would be the ancestor of a great nation. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh natural reproduction. The hagarsarah conflict wherefore then serveth the law. Then we will look at the allegory and learn from it how to have freedom. But at a certain moment hagar gives sarah a look, a kind of smirk, and sarah goes ballistic. The bible doesnt say, but we know hagar came back into the family and was not mistreated again. If she permitted hagar to persist in her actions, her own worth of belonging would be compromised. The allegory of hagar and sarah hebrew for christians. A living conversations edited by bill moyers liz swados. After all, it was for this specific purpose that sarah induced abraham to marry hagar. Hagar was an egyptian slave girl in the tribe of abraham. Sarah and hagar in christianhretellings oxford scholarsiponline. It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made.
Sarah was wrong when she told abraham to marry hagar gen. Sarai and hagar s conflict abram and circumcision duration. Modern commentators take their retellings of hagar and sarah a step further to apply the story to history and present politics. Sarah had been barren for a long time and sought a way to fulfill gods promise to abraham that abraham would be father of many nations, especially since they were getting older, so she offered hagar to abraham as a second wife. Hagar s attacks were a direct assault on her worth, value and personhood in the eyes of the community. The allegory of hagar and sarah is written to persuade us along with the galatians not to follow the judaizers into slavery with hagar and ishmael, but to follow sarah and isaac into freedom. In recent years, the narrative of sarah and hagar as told in genesis 16 and.
Sarah may or may not have been right to be angry with hagar, but her anger was a very natural and human reaction to the events in her life. Hagar was an egyptian girl who was a slave to abrams abrahams wife, sarah. Mar 06, 2003 today s conflict between hagar and sarah for it is written, that abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. Todays conflict between hagar and sarah christian forums. Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice, set things right, be encouraged, agree with one another, live in peace, and the god of love and peace will be with you. Sounds like a roundup of headlines from the nightly. Ishmael was born to abraham and sarah s egyptian handmaiden hagar genesis 16. After abraham and sarah use hagar, sarahs maidservant, to conceive a son, it doesnt take long before conflict arises.
143 1222 1511 1051 88 1499 1274 524 28 1459 771 842 814 408 406 737 382 1309 671 584 932 390 624 1357 1449 1101 486 286