It is true that many figures in the Scriptures give fine examples for how we should behave – but that is not true of this story.
Here’s a transcript:
I’m thinking about the twenty-first chapter of Genesis (Genesis 21:8-21). It is a troubling story.
It begins well enough. The family of Abraham celebrated the weaning of Isaac, who had been born to Sarah long after anyone thought that that was possible. Then Sarah saw Isaac playing with his older half-brother Ishmael. Now Ishmael existed because Sarah had insisted that Hagar, his mother, conceive a child with Sarah’s husband Abraham. Hagar, as a slave, had no choice in the matter. And so Ishmael was born.
Seeing them playing together, Sarah decided that it was not proper for the son of the slave to be playing with the son of the wife. She insisted that Abraham send Hagar and Ishmael away. And Abraham, reassured by God that God would take care of them, did precisely that.
The second half of the story is familiar to us. Hagar left her son under a bush and went away so that she would not have to watch him die. God spoke to her and guided her to a spring, and so the two survived. It is a rescue from a situation that should not have happened.
The story of Abraham and Sarah and Hagar and Ishmael and Isaac is one of those that I hope we look at and say, “We will not emulate the people into this story. We will not take advantage of the neediness or the social place of people in order to provide children or just relief to powerful men. And we will not send helpless people out into the desert with minimal resources and a vague hope that they survive.”
This is one of the places where I read the story and I say: We have to be better than this. We have to be better than our ancestors have shown us.
May it be true for us, for our children and our children’s children.
That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear what you’re thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comments section below. I’d love to hear from you.
