Genesis 16
messenger dox
Call to worship:
pastor michael champoux
OT: Psalm 67
NT: Galatians 4.21-31
song:
Come behold the wondrous mystery
apostles creed:
pastor bobby owens
song:
lord have mercy
Confession & Pardon:
pastor andrew loginow
tithes & offering Prayer:
pastor zachary mcguire
song:
I stand amazed
Sermon:
dr. al loginow
Genesis 16
Introduction
Well, I’ll never do that again…you ever had one of those? I did about 2 months ago. We were hanging out in Florida with Shane and Dawn – Shane had classes at RTS, it was near Bethany’s birthday, so we put the two together. Anyway, we were hanging out at Epcot and we told the Slukas, “you’ve got to ride Guardians; it’s unlike any other roller coaster we’ve ever been on.”
We rode it before when we went with Andrew and Chrissy a few years ago…before my spinal fusion. The 2 experiences were not the same. I’m pretty sure I blacked out this time. All I remember is telling myself, “Don’t throw up, don’t throw up.” Afterward I was wrecked for more than a day – my back was sore, my stomach was upset, and my nervous system felt like it was under the dominion of Anxiety from Inside Out 2.
The story of Father Abraham in the book of Genesis kind of feels like a roller coaster, doesn’t it? His story begins in Genesis 12 when God initiates a covenant of grace with him, and Abraham believes and obeys, but by the end of Genesis 12 Abraham just about gives his wife away in Egypt. Then in Genesis 13 Abraham trusts God when he and Lot part ways and Lot takes the preferred land. In Genesis 14 Abraham heroically rescues Lot in his Canaanite conquest, and afterward Abraham rejects the bounty of the evil king of Sodom, and tithes to Melchizedek, the priest-king of God. And then last week in Genesis 15 we saw God confirm his covenant with Abraham and Moses writes one of the most important verses in the OT; a verse that is quoted multiple times in the NT – Abraham believed yhwh and it was counted to him as righteousness (Gen 15.6).
I want to read you the Derek Kidner quote from last week to remind us how important Genesis 15 is for us as Christians:
“The New Testament finds [Gen 15] a momentous chapter in 2 respects: 1st in its declaration that Abraham was justified by faith in vs 6. That phrase is at the heart of Paul's gospel in Romans, ch 4 and in Galatians, ch 3; secondly it finds this chapter to be momentous because it records for us the covenant. For this, rather than the covenant of Moses at Sinai, is the foundational covenant of the OT. It speaks of grace as the apostle Paul reminds us in Galatians, ch 3, vss 17-22. To honor this promise God would bring His people out of Egypt and send His Son into the world.”
So, Abraham was on a pretty good roll, until Genesis 16. Just like he did in Genesis 12, on the heels of monumental, redemptive-historical covenant experiences with God, ole’ Abe falls. The redemptive roller coaster drops again.
Sovereignty
The first thing to note in verses 1-2 is that God is sovereign and we don’t like it. After waiting a decade for God’s promise, Sarai is getting impatient. So, she hatches a plan that seemed natural and even legal in their culture – servant surrogacy. Ancient documents like the code of Hammurabi reveal that this was common practice – the servant of a barren wife could serve as her surrogate and the child was legally a child of the barren wife. In the Middle Bronze Age, Sarai’s idea was considered both natural and legal.
But this is why we distinguish between natural law vs the laws of nature. Our Roman Catholic friends talk about natural law as the law which grows up out of the common customs of man – common customs confirm morality. Protestants prefer the term laws of nature, meaning God has implanted and woven these principles into the very fabric of the nature He created. All that to say, even though this servant surrogacy custom was considered natural and legal in their culture, it violated the laws of nature, the Law of God – the one flesh principle revealed in Genesis 1-2. It was right in the eyes of their culture, but wrong in the eyes of God.
But in this moment Sarai isn’t concerned with God’s will, she’s concerned with her own. In verse 2, she invites Abram to have sex with Hagar so that Sarai shall obtain children. The Hebrew word is בָּנָה. The ESV has a footnote that the word means, “build up.” Sarai desires to build up her family legacy and clearly she thinks God’s plan isn’t working.
In fact, she blames God. Did you notice what she said at the start of verse 2? yhwh has prevented me from bearing children. That’s a strong statement and nowhere does Scripture correct her. Nowhere does Moses interject – Sarai thought this, but actually, it was just that she had gone through menopause, or some other natural means preventing her from conceiving. In fact, the Bible reaffirms Sarai’s theology over-and-over again.
Sarai’s right – God had prevented her from having children. God is the one who creates life. God is sovereign, God is in control over everything, everywhere, all the time. The problem is that conflicts with our desires sometimes, doesn’t it? It did for Sarai here, and she took matters into her own hands.
Maybe this hits home for you in a specific way; maybe you’ve been trying to conceive, and it hasn’t happened yet. Or maybe The Spirit is applying this to you in a more general way –whatever is going on in your life right now is God’s plan for His glory and for your good. Do you trust Him?
Sin
Well, if we didn’t already know that this plan was a bad idea, we swiftly see all the painful consequences in verses 3-6. It’s like aNE Jerry Springer. It’s like Adam and Eve all over again, isn’t it? Moses makes the clear allusion: Abram listened to the voice of Sarai – the same thing is said of Adam (Gen 3.17). Sarai took…gave to her husband – same verbs used of Eve (Gen 3.6). Another type of fall immediately after receiving a covenant.
So, Abram knocks Hagar up and…everyone’s cool and they all live as one big happy family, right? That’s not what happened, is it? No, man; this thing’s a mess. Hagar gets proud – treating Sarai with contempt. Hagar thinks she’s gonna alpha female Sarai because she’s got the bun in the oven. She carries the family name, so she carries the power.
Sarai gets bitter and jealous (this was her idea). And what about ole’ Abe? Well, Abe’s complacent, isn’t he? He’s been passive and submissive this entire time. It really is quite funny, two chapters ago we saw Abram go to war and defeat the Canaanite kings, and stand up to the king of Sodom, but at home he folds under the Mrs. There are no heroes in this story.
Like Eve, Sarai thinks she knows better than God. She lacks faith and facilitates adultery – pimping her servant to her own husband! And like Adam, Abram doesn’t lead his family. He had just witnessed God’s covenant confirmation in Genesis 15, but now he doesn’t have the testicular fortitude to tell his wife – “No, sweetheart. I will not commit adultery with Hagar; we will trust the promise of the Lord.”
Instead, Abram takes the booty call and then when Sarai’s nagging him about her cat fight, he’s like, “do what you want.” Sarai runs Hagar off and Abram doesn’t protect this defenseless woman who’s carrying his child. Just like in Genesis 12, Abram was called to be a blessing to the nations, but once again, he brings cursing on an Egyptian instead of blessing.
This is a reminder to us that from the very beginning of Scripture and the very beginning of time – God has structured the family and the church in a specific way – men are called to lead. Men, are you leading your family in the gospel? Are you leading in the doctrine and discipline of your home? If you haven’t been – if you’ve been acting like Abram, and we’re all guilty of that, at least from time-to-time, but even if that’s been your default – repent. Humble yourself, confess that sin to God, confess it to your wife, your kids, and turn the other way.
Covenant Blessing
Abram refused to lead here and now his baby mama is on the lamb in verses 7-16. But then something interesting happens; verse 7 says the angel of yhwh found her. Scholars debate who this angel/messenger is, but often in the OT he is identified with God Himself. We call this a theophany, or a Christophany – this is the preincarnate Christ caring for this marginalized woman. He feels just like Jesus in the Gospels, doesn’t he? The gentle manner with which He approaches her; the way He draws her sin and suffering out with questions.
And he brings her good news to this desperate woman. He prophecies Ishmael’s birth. First, this is good news because Christ tells her that she’s carrying a baby boy. Hagar knew she was pregnant, but she didn’t yet know the gender. In an ancient world where women had no legal standing, to be without a father, husband, or son meant certain death, but God gives her a son to care for her, although his father has only used her.
His name will be Ishmael, which means, “God hears.” God has heard her. In the OT, God’s hearing means God cares. God cares for the marginalized, and so should we.
Ishmael will be a wild donkey of a man, or as the Darby Bible so eloquently puts it, a wild-ass of a man. In many ways Ishmael would be a parody of his father. Listen to Derek Kidner again:
“To some degree this son of Abram would be a shadow, almost a parody of his father, his twelve princes would be notable in their times but they would not be in the history of salvation; his restless existence would not be a pilgrimage but an end in itself; his nonconformism was a habit of mind, not a call to be a light to the nations.”
Not only will Hagar have a son, but secondly, she’ll have a future – her offspring will be multiplied so that they cannot be numbered for multitude. And the OT tells us of Ishmael and his descendants. They were certainly blessed with possession, prominence, and power. But it’s important that we note that their blessing has only been temporal and not eternal. Ishmael was given the sign of Abraham’s covenant (we’ll see that in Genesis 17), but he was not the son of promise. Ishmael is like the Jews who never had faith – all Israel is not Israel. God’s covenant contains both temporal and eternal blessings and there are some, like Ishmael who experience the temporal blessings of God’s covenant, but not the eternal.
Law & Gospel
And the eternal covenant, the covenant of grace, the good news of Jesus is ultimately what this story is about. Pastor Bobby read earlier from Galatians 4:21-31. St. Paul reveals that this drama with Sarah and Hagar is an allegory of the old and new covenants. Hagar and Sarah both birthed Abraham a son. In the same way, God’s promise to Abraham gave birth to both the Law and the gospel.
The Law was of the flesh, like Ishmael, meaning the Law could only address and enforce the temporal, the outward, the physical. But the gospel is the promise, it changes the heart, forgives sin, and promises eternal life. That same preincarnate Christ who heard Hagar would hear the call of his Father to leave his home, like Abraham to bless the nations. Like Hagar, his virgin mother would receive a promise of birth from heaven when he was conceived by the Spirit. Unlike Abraham and Adam, Jesus would self-sacrificially live and die for his bride, the church. And like Hagar’s faith in the wilderness, the Lord Jesus rose again on the 3rd day.
That’s why, like Hagar, we call on the name of the Lord because everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Rom 10.13). After being confronted by Christ, Hagar realized that God saw her, that He cared for her; she collapsed into his sovereign and gracious gaze. Have you?
Conclusion
Adam and Abraham wrongly listen to the voice of their wives here, but this morning we have listened to the voice of Jesus. Do you hear him? Wrongly Eve and Sarah took and gave to their husbands, but this morning the Lord Jesus takes the bread and the wine, gives it to us, and says, this is my body, broken for you and this cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for the many. Do you see?