Beech Tree News Network

Sometimes, I get really angry at people I’ve never met.  People who haven’t lived during my lifetime, even.  People who have been long dead for thousands of years.  I have conversations in my head in which I say things like, “What were you thinking!  What did you think was going to happen!  Did you ever consider anyone but yourself!”  These one-sided conversations usually take place in the wee hours of the morning, when sleep evades me.

              Recently, I had one such conversation with Abraham and Sarah, of Biblical fame.  First, I need to offer the following disclaimer:  I am not a Bible scholar, neither am I an authority on the Jewish Torah or the Islamic Qur’an.  I am simply an observer of cause and effect.  I believe deeply that most people don’t consider the consequences of their actions.  With that said, here is the bone I have to pick with Abraham and Sarah.

              Way back in the book of Genesis, you will find Abraham wondering what the heck God was thinking when he promised to make a mighty nation of him and his wife, Sarah.  Both were pushing ninety years old when God promised to make Abraham’s descendants as numerous as the stars.  When Sarah thought about God’s plan, she reasoned God couldn’t possibly mean Abraham’s son would come through her, so she came up with a plan to help God out.  She told Abraham that he needed to take her Egyptian servant, Hagar, as his wife, thus making Hagar a surrogate for the child of promise.  Abraham went along with the plan—what was he thinking—and sure enough, Hagar became pregnant.

              Sarah became jealous of Hagar, probably at the prospect of Hagar giving Abraham something she couldn’t—what did she think was going to happen—and she began to mistreat Hagar.  Hagar ran away.  Genesis 16:7-12 gives an account of the “Angel of the Lord” talking to Hagar and encouraging her to return to Sarah.  The angel goes on to tell Hagar that she is pregnant with a son, and that her descendants “shall be too many to count.”  He tells her to name the boy Ishmael, then gives her a prophecy about the boy.  “And he will be a wild donkey of a man.  His hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him; and he will live to the east of his brothers.”

              As you know, if you are familiar with the story, or can guess, if you’re not, the son of promise, Isaac, is born to Sarah.  Sarah kicks Hagar and Ishmael out—Sarah, did you ever consider anyone but yourself—but God assures Hagar that he hasn’t forgotten her or her son, and He still plans on making Ishmael a mighty nation, because he is Abraham’s descendant.

              Hagar takes Ishmael, and they settle near Egypt, Hagar’s homeland, where she finds a wife for her son.  Both Jewish and Islamic traditions consider Ishmael as the ancestor of the Arab peoples, you know, the people who have been fighting with the Jews for eons.  In essence, some of what we are currently seeing play out in the Middle East is Isaac and Ishmael at one another’s throats.  I am not trying to over-simplify the situation.  I understand that there are deeper issues involved.  I am just making the point that things rarely turn out well when you try to manipulate a situation to your own advantage.  Things get out of hand quickly, and the fallout is not usually contained to your little area.  The damage grows and swallows up those around you, sometimes for generations. 

              I leave you with a line from that great songwriter and prophet, Cheryl Wheeler.  “You can never really run everything you start.” (From the song, “Aces,” recorded by Suzy Bogguss on the album by the same title.)