An Alternate Line of Blessing—Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost 4A/Proper 7 (Genesis 21)

Genesis 21:8-21 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

⁸ The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. ⁹ But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. ¹⁰ So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.” ¹¹ The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. ¹² But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you. ¹³ As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.” ¹⁴ So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.

¹⁵ When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. ¹⁶ Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Do not let me look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. ¹⁷ And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. ¹⁸ Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him.” ¹⁹ Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

²⁰ God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. ²¹ He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

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                The promise God made to Abraham was that the nations would be blessed through his descendants, even if he and Sarah did not have children (Gen. 12:1-9). That was the reading for the Second Sunday of Pentecost (Proper 5). The promise of a child was given to Abraham and Sarah by the three visitors at the Oak of Mamre, though Sarah laughed (Gen. 18:1-15). That was the reading for the Third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 6). Now, Sarah had tried to resolve Abraham’s dilemma by offering her slave Hagar as a surrogate, and she did produce a son and heir for Abraham (Gen. 16). The problem that emerges in this story is that God intended to fulfill the promise to Abraham through Sarah and not a surrogate. Eventually, Sarah does give birth to a son, whom she and Abraham name Isaac (Gen. 21:1-7). Thus, the promise that the nations would be blessed through Abraham’s descendants is fulfilled. Everyone is happy, right? Perhaps not! Sarah is happy to have a son. She’s not happy that Hagar’s son Ishmael was still around. As the oldest son, he could claim the birthright. Sarah wanted to make sure that didn’t happen.

                While Christians, along with Jews, trace our connection to Abraham through Isaac and thus Sarah, we can’t forget about Ishmael and Hagar. These two seem to get short shrift in the larger biblical story, but shouldn’t we see Ishmael and his descendants as another line of blessing? In fact, God promises Hagar that Ishmael will become a great nation. Thus, our Muslim cousins share the same heritage, just though a different lineage.

                The reading for the week picks up after Isaac’s birth. It’s time for him to be weaned, so to celebrate Abraham throws a big feast. As the party begins, Sarah notices that Ishmael is playing with Isaac. There has been some question as to the nature of the play, and whether it is sexual in nature, but at least as I read the passage that is more conjecture than anything. I think it’s better to read this as the older half-brother spending time with his younger sibling. When Sarah sees this occurring, she becomes jealous for her son’s future. It’s worth noting that at this point Ishmael and his mother are still part of the larger Abrahamic community and at least to this point Abraham shows no interest in abandoning his firstborn. After all, Abram (his name at that point) laughed when God insisted that Sarah would bear him a son, who would be the source of blessing. Abram, soon to be renamed Abraham, lifted up Ishmael, such that he had no intention of abandoning him. Though God insisted that Sarah would bear him the son of promise, God promised to be the father of twelve tribes and become a great nation in his own right. Abraham then circumcised Ishmael, making him part of the covenant community (Gen. 17:15-27).

                Nevertheless, Sarah insisted that Hagar and her son had to go. As far as she was concerned this son of a slave wasn’t going to inherit the legacy that had been promised to her. While this distressed Abraham greatly, as he seems to have had great affection for Ishmael, God advised him to heed Sarah’s call for Hagar and Ishmael to be exiled. While it will be through Isaac that the promise would be fulfilled, God didn’t forget Ishmael. God promised Abraham once again to make Ishmael a great nation. By this point in the story, Abraham has learned to trust God. After all, God had provided him and Sarah with a son in their old age. Abraham had his moments when he drifted from his implicit trust in God’s promises, ultimately, he remained faithful (thus in Hebrews 11 he is lifted up as the exemplar of one who walks by faith).

                Abraham’s faith had been tested before, but here in the Abrahamic story, God tells Abraham to send away his beloved son and the boy’s mother. Do as Sarah suggests, God tells Abraham and God will take care of Ishmael and Hagar. In fulfillment of that promise, God promises to make Ishmael a great nation. As I read this story, and the earlier one that takes place before Ishmael’s birth when Sarah chases Hagar away from camp (Gen. 16), as noted above, I have to think about my Muslim friends who trace their Abrahamic lineage through Ishmael. Thus, I have to keep in mind how they might read this passage and its word about Abraham’s choice of Isaac over Ishmael. As a note here, the Abraham story ends with his burial with Isaac and Ishmael joining together to bury their father (Gen. 25:7-10).

                As we ponder the story of Hagar and Ishmael from a Christian perspective, we need to address Paul’s allegorized usage of the stories of Hagar and Sarah and their sons, where the two family lines are used to distinguish between two covenants, one based on law and the other on the gospel (Gal.4:21-31). In Paul’s reading of these two stories, Isaac is understood to be the child of promise (gospel) while Ishmael is not (law). We need to be careful not to read this in a supersessionist fashion as if he is speaking of two sections of the Bible or even Judaism versus Christianity, but to recognize that Paul is wrestling with attempts to impose a rigid form of Judaism on Gentile converts that he doesn’t believe is appropriate. In essence, this is a difference of interpretation of the same texts (there is no Christian Bible at this point).

                Returning to our passage, the core message seems to be one of a struggle for survival and control over one’s life. When Sarah looked at the two boys, she saw something that Abraham probably didn’t. She understood that there could only be one heir, and in her understanding of God’s covenant, Isaac and not Ishmael was the heir. Thus, Ishmael had to go. The two boys might get along now, but someday there would be a reckoning. With this in mind, now that she had produced an heir for Abraham she wasn’t going to let the son of her slave get in the way. If she hadn’t produced an heir then she might accept Ishmael as her own, but that wasn’t the case. So, the rival had to be put away.   

                Abraham had a hard time accepting this reality, so God intervened in the story by telling Abraham to heed Sarah’s words. He would need to send Hagar and Ishmael away so that there wouldn’t be any questions as to who was the proper heir to the promise made to Abraham. Thus, despite his affection for his first-born son, he sends Hagar and Ishmael off into the wilderness with nothing more than water and bread. Unfortunately, these meager supplies didn’t last until they had found sanctuary. So, when the water ran out, Hagar hid her son in the bushes and sat down opposite him. She cried out, to God or to no one: “Do not let me look on the death of the child.” Her response is understandable. No parent wants to watch their children die. If rescue didn’t come, that is what would occur.  So, she puts herself in a position where she didn’t have to watch her son die of thirst.

                So, how do you feel about the story to this point? Can you see Sarah’s point? Or perhaps you just skip over this part of the story because it doesn’t fit the way you see Abraham and Sarah? I mean, how could these founding parents of our faith be so mean-spirited? How could they deem Hagar and Ismael to be expendable? Or, perhaps you might see this part of the story having modern parallels. When we watch the situation at the southern border of the United States, with folks seeking to cross the border, perhaps seeking asylum or a better life, might the situation of Hagar and Ishmael help interpret their situation? Do you feel compassion for Hagar and Ishmael or simply see them as dispensable people? Do you feel anger at either God or Abraham and Sarah for their attitudes? It surely doesn’t appear to be pro-life.

                The good news is that God hears the voice not of Hagar but Ishmael, who must have cried out in fear and thirst. So an angel appears to Hagar and asks what seems to be a rather dumb question: “What troubles you, Hagar?” Of course, the angel knows and thus the next word is one we hear often in scripture: “Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.” Then the angel tells Hagar to pick up her son and hold him fast by the hand. Then comes the promise: God promises to make Ishmael a great nation. This is a word given earlier to Abraham and now gets repeated to Hagar. Whatever the situation, God won’t abandon Ishmael.

                As I read this, the situation at the border again comes to mind. Whether we know it or not, migration is part of the human story. Abraham was a migrant and his descendants were as well. My ancestors who came from Europe at different points in time were migrants. We move for different reasons—religious, economic, or political. The United States has often been deemed a sanctuary for those who seek refuge. History also shows that those who got here first often don’t want to welcome others who seek the same benefits. In this story, the angel points Hagar to a well where she can get water to sustain her son. Whether it was there all the time or not is not revealed, but until the angel points it out she doesn’t know it’s there. In fact, according to Genesis, God opened her eyes. When she sees the well, she fills the water skin and gives Ishmael a life-sustaining drink. Such is the case with a ministry on the USA border called Humane Borders, which places water stations in the desert so that migrants who seek to cross the desert in search of a new life don’t die of thirst in the desert. Is this not a work of God?

                The story ends with an account of Ishmael’s life. We’re told that God was with Ishmael and I believe that is an important point. God doesn’t abandon Ishmael. But, he’ll live a different life from his half-brother. He’ll grow up in the wilderness and become an expert with the bow (a hunter). We’re also told that Hagar obtains a wife from Egypt for him. Thus, the promise will be fulfilled. He’ll become the father of nations. As for Abraham, both sons will help fulfill the promise of descendants who become a blessing to the nations. Thus, regarding my Muslim friends who see themselves as descendants of Abraham through Ishmael, we can see the promise present here in Genesis 21. The Qur’an speaks of Abraham as the “imam for mankind” (Q 2:124). That is, God makes him the leader of humanity. Regarding the covenant, the Qur’an tells us that God made it with Abraham and Ishmael, telling them to purify God’s house, the Ka’ba, which had been built before they lived but contained idols of other gods (Q. 2:125). The Qur’an seems to suggest that both lines are reflective of God’s covenant, though the one that leads to Muhammad is superior (Q. 2:139-141).

                What I hear in this passage is that God calls Abraham and promises to make his descendants a means of blessing to the nations. If so, then might that not include the line that leads through Isaac to Jacob and his children, a lineage that leads to Jesus, such that we who are baptized into Christ become children of Abraham (Gal. 3:23-29). Might the same be true of Abraham’s descendants through the lineage of Ishmael and his progeny? We may at times see ourselves as rivals, but are we not part of the same family and thus heirs to the same promise? If so, might we commit ourselves to live in such a way that we might be a blessing to the nations?

          Image Attribution Artaud, W. (William), 1763-1823 ; Bromley, William, 1769-1842. The Macklin Bible -- Hagar and Ishmael, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=54094 [retrieved June 16, 2023].