Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.
Sarai had borne Abram no children, and she had an Egyptian handmaid whose name was Hagar. God's promise of a son through Sarah stood against her barrenness and old age, which she doubted could be overcome, though nothing is impossible to God's unlimited power. At Sarah's request Abraham took Hagar as a secondary wife to fulfill the promise through her, because both distrusted God's power and would not wait in confiding faith for Him to fulfill it in His own time and way. In their restlessness they devised their own plan to secure the outcome, and this human arrangement brought sin, sorrow, misery, and lasting opposition to God's purposes. Taking Hagar departed from God's order from the beginning of one wife for one man, for polygamy violates God's law and is contrary to His will, and it destroyed the peace and happiness of Abraham's household and harmed future generations.
Setting and Failure of Faith
The verse sets the circumstance that Sarai had borne Abram no children and that she had an Egyptian handmaid whose name was Hagar. That childlessness became the occasion for a failure of faith, with Hagar's presence opening the way to a human expedient.
God had promised a son through Sarah, yet Sarai remained barren, and Sarah doubted that she could bear a child in her old age. Her inability did not make the promise impossible, for God's unlimited power could fulfill it despite her condition.
At Sarah's special request and proposal, entreated by her voice, Abraham took Hagar as his wife, as a secondary wife, supposing this would fulfill God's purpose. He did so because he distrusted God's power and thought the promise would be fulfilled through Hagar, and his lack of perfect trust led him to take her.
In this they did not wait in confiding faith for God to fulfill the promise in His own time and in His own way. The delay tested Abraham's faith, and God intended by it to prove firm faith and reliance on the promises, but Abraham failed to endure the test and failed that test. Both Abraham and Sarah lacked faith and perfect trust in God's power to fulfill His promise in His own way.
Growing restless while waiting for God's promise, they devised their own plan to bring it about and to secure the outcome by their own ideas, making their own arrangement instead of waiting in faith. This human plan and human arrangement brought sorrow and misery and sin upon themselves and upon Sarah and Abraham. It brought lasting opposition to God's purposes, whose full consequences Abraham did not foresee.
Marriage Order and Consequences
Taking Hagar as a secondary and additional wife departed from God's order established in the beginning of one wife for one man. That union was polygamy, contrary to God's will and a violation of God's law and sin in every instance, never sanctioned by God in a single instance, even though it was widely accepted and practiced even by righteous men. Sarah was Abraham's only true wife, and her rights as wife and mother were not to be shared with another. The marriage relation is sacred, and its rights and happiness are to be carefully guarded even at great sacrifice, while polygamy damaged its sacredness and the peace of family life.
The marriage destroyed happiness and brought much unhappiness upon Abraham and upon Sarah, and greatly marred Abraham's peace and his household. It brought harm to his household and to future generations, bringing the righteous seed into connection with the ungodly. Hagar's pride and conflict with Sarah led her to flee, and an angel comforted and reproved her and told her to return and submit to Sarah.
Sarai had borne Abram no children, and she had an Egyptian handmaid whose name was Hagar. God's promise of a son through Sarah stood against her barrenness and old age, which she doubted could be overcome, though nothing is impossible to God's unlimited power. At Sarah's request Abraham took Hagar as a secondary wife to fulfill the promise through her, because both distrusted God's power and would not wait in confiding faith for Him to fulfill it in His own time and way. In their restlessness they devised their own plan to secure the outcome, and this human arrangement brought sin, sorrow, misery, and lasting opposition to God's purposes. Taking Hagar departed from God's order from the beginning of one wife for one man, for polygamy violates God's law and is contrary to His will, and it destroyed the peace and happiness of Abraham's household and harmed future generations.
Setting and Failure of Faith
The verse sets the circumstance that Sarai had borne Abram no children and that she had an Egyptian handmaid whose name was Hagar. That childlessness became the occasion for a failure of faith, with Hagar's presence opening the way to a human expedient.
God had promised a son through Sarah, yet Sarai remained barren, and Sarah doubted that she could bear a child in her old age. Her inability did not make the promise impossible, for God's unlimited power could fulfill it despite her condition.
At Sarah's special request and proposal, entreated by her voice, Abraham took Hagar as his wife, as a secondary wife, supposing this would fulfill God's purpose. He did so because he distrusted God's power and thought the promise would be fulfilled through Hagar, and his lack of perfect trust led him to take her.
In this they did not wait in confiding faith for God to fulfill the promise in His own time and in His own way. The delay tested Abraham's faith, and God intended by it to prove firm faith and reliance on the promises, but Abraham failed to endure the test and failed that test. Both Abraham and Sarah lacked faith and perfect trust in God's power to fulfill His promise in His own way.
Growing restless while waiting for God's promise, they devised their own plan to bring it about and to secure the outcome by their own ideas, making their own arrangement instead of waiting in faith. This human plan and human arrangement brought sorrow and misery and sin upon themselves and upon Sarah and Abraham. It brought lasting opposition to God's purposes, whose full consequences Abraham did not foresee.
Marriage Order and Consequences
Taking Hagar as a secondary and additional wife departed from God's order established in the beginning of one wife for one man. That union was polygamy, contrary to God's will and a violation of God's law and sin in every instance, never sanctioned by God in a single instance, even though it was widely accepted and practiced even by righteous men. Sarah was Abraham's only true wife, and her rights as wife and mother were not to be shared with another. The marriage relation is sacred, and its rights and happiness are to be carefully guarded even at great sacrifice, while polygamy damaged its sacredness and the peace of family life.
The marriage destroyed happiness and brought much unhappiness upon Abraham and upon Sarah, and greatly marred Abraham's peace and his household. It brought harm to his household and to future generations, bringing the righteous seed into connection with the ungodly. Hagar's pride and conflict with Sarah led her to flee, and an angel comforted and reproved her and told her to return and submit to Sarah.