Session 11
Sarai’s plan to “help” God.
1 Abram’s wife, Sarai, had not borne any children for him,
but she owned an Egyptian slave named Hagar.2 Sarai said to Abram,
“Since the Lord has prevented me from bearing children, go to my slave;
perhaps through her I can build a family.”
And Abram agreed to what Sarai said.
3 So Abram’s wife, Sarai, took Hagar, her Egyptian slave, and gave her to her husband, Abram, as a wife for him.
This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan ten years.
4 He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant.
When she saw that she was pregnant, her mistress became contemptible to her.
Being unable to have children was a stigma in their culture.
However, Sarai’s plan was not completely uncommon in that day.
Hagar
The name means “stranger” which may be an apt description of how she felt when Sarai turned against her.
The name appears 12 times in Genesis and twice in the New Testament book of Galatians.
The two different Genesis narratives concerning Hagar-here and in chapter 21-identify her as both a victim and an antagonist in her conflicts with Sarai.
While Sarai’s plan to get an heir for Abram turned out to be a tremendous mistake, the descendants of Hagar through Ishmael would agitate the descendants of Sarai through Isaac for centuries to come.
Emphasize that believers must safeguard against accepting shortcuts to God’s plans.
identify some examples of spiritual shortcuts.
When we try to get around God’s plans and promises,
we can make things worse. That’s what happened to Sarai.