Daily Lesson for January 17, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Genesis chapter 16 verses 7 through 13:

7 The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave-girl of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.” 9 The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her.” 10 The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will so greatly multiply your offspring that they cannot be counted for multitude.” 11 And the angel of the Lord said to her,
“Now you have conceived and shall bear a son;
    you shall call him Ishmael,
    for the Lord has given heed to your affliction.
12
He shall be a wild ass of a man,
with his hand against everyone,
    and everyone’s hand against him;
and he shall live at odds with all his kin.”
13 So she named the Lord who spoke to her, “You are El-roi”; for she said, “Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him?”

The story of Hagar, the slave-girl of Abraham and Sarah, is sorrowful and even maddening. The world of the Bible was harsh and exploitative and not even Abraham, the Father of our many Faiths, was above the cruel customs of the time. Our task is not to defend him or Sarah, but to try to come to terms with their stories, just as we must try to come to terms with the cruelties within our own family stories.

But lest we fix too much on Abraham and Sarah, the writer of Genesis is careful to tell us the story of Hagar. He [or she or they] is careful to include her story, and her voice, and God’s care over her.

Yes, she was dismissed coldly when she was found to be with child. And yes GOD found her in the wilderness and sent her back to Abraham and Sarah, still a slave. But that will not be the end of the story for Hagar and that is not the point in telling the story. The point is that she was there and God saw her.

Yes; she was sent back a slave. But that was her option for now.; for she could not have made it through the wilderness with this child in her womb. She was sent back, and she was sent back for good; but she was not sent back forever. And we will learn more about what happens to her as the story goes on.

But for now the Genesis writer is content to tell us that God sees Hagar, God sees this lowly, exploited, and seemingly forsaken slave girl. And, in that she is given a prominent place, not only in Genesis, but in the entire Biblical canon as the only person — male or female, slave or free — who actually names God in all the Scriptures. And the name she comes up with is “El-Roi” which means “God who sees”.


NOTE: We are reading the whole Bible this year. Read along! Monday’s Lesson will be from Genesis chapters 19 through 26.