Genesis 16 Bible Study

hello and welcome to the next part of our chapter a day series going through the book of Genesis today we find ourselves in Genesis chapter 16 if you've been following along with us we know that in the last chapter in chapter 15 we had this very powerful moment where God once again States the Covenant promise that he's made with Abram and when Abram asked him how he can know for sure this is true we have this incredible picture where God himself enters into a covenant making ceremony common in the ancient Near East well we have the picture of the animals that are slaughtered their bodies spread apart their blood flowing out to make a path of blood which the two covenant impart Eze would pass through this path and there by declaring that they would rather die that they would rather have happened to them what had happened to the sacrificed animals than to break faith with the other party and so God tells Abram to perform this ritual to prepare this path of blood and then God takes time and explains to Abram what the future is going to look like for his descendents over the next period of time and then we see this theophany this image of God that travels down the path of blood so the Lord Himself is declaring that he will keep his promise that he would rather ceased to exist than break the covenant promise he's made with Abram but then we also noted that unlike the usual practice in the ancient Near East where both parties would have to make the Covenant promise only the Lord makes the promise because only the Lord has the power to keep the Covenant Abram is a spectator to the promise that's being made in that moment there was a great deal of excitement seeing what Abram has to trust in because he'd been rest but the fact that he didn't have an air and how the Lord promised him that he would have his own son that would begin this progression to becoming a great nation but now we find ourselves in chapter 16 so let's enter into the text now sorry I Abrams wife had borne him no children and this we know from one of the very first encounters we have actually the very first mention of Syria that we see we are told that Syria is barren so that is the physical reality she has never been able to produce children this is the physical reality that impacts everything that God has promised to happen so we see in the text continuing to read she had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar in all likelihood Hagar we're told an Egyptian servant probably acquired when Abram went down to Egypt with Syria and said tell people that I'm your brother and that we're brother and sister don't let them know that I'm your husband lest they kill me and we're told that Pharaoh rewarded Abram gave him a basically a bride price for sehri I and that included livestock and servants so it's quite likely that Hagar may have come into their household because of Abraham's self preservation act anyway she serves sorry I in verse two and Sarah I said to Abram behold now the Lord has prevented me from bearing children go in to my servant that it may be that I shall obtain children by her the language here is interesting so we have Sarah I who has no children she has a female servant Hagar and Egyptian and sorry I makes this statement she says the Lord has prevented me so I haven't had children Abram because the Lord has prevented me from having children so the same Lord who's made a promise to you about having a great nation that same Lord has prevented me from having children that's quite a statement on one side it recognizes God's sovereign hand the other side it's would appear that she's making an accusation to the Lord she's saying the Lord that you're trusting the Lord that you're excited about in his promise well he's that's the same Lord that has kept me from having children so this is what we're going to do in order for you to have the promise you need an heir you need a son so this is what we'll do so sorryi falls back on traditional custom she says my servant she's my property therefore I can permit you to have sexual relations with her and any children she has because she is my property those children are also my property so it will be your son and me so I as the owner of the woman who has the child that's my connection to the child and you would be the father there we go this is how we're going to deal with this because the Lord has prevented me from having children and you need a child to fulfill the promise this is how we're going to make it work this is what we do this is the man-made solution so many times we can encounter situations in life where the Lord has already promised us how he's going to work it out but we need to trust him and we need to wait on him and we need to follow him and yet instead we go to manmade customs so how does this work in the world how can we accomplish this in the world well in the world they would do this so then we do it we adopted we who have been given a promise we adopt the world's ways so that's what serie proposes let's see where Abraham's faith lies and Abram listened to the voice of Siri I so after Abram had lived 10 years in the land of Canaan Sarah I Abrams wife took Hagar the Egyptian her servant and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife and he went in to Hagar and she conceived and when she saw that she had conceived she looked with contempt on her mistress and Sarah said to Abram may the wrong done to me be on you I gave my servant to your embrace and when she saw that she had conceived she looked on me with contempt may the Lord judge between you and me so we come to an interesting situation here this is what happens when we don't depend on the Lord to accomplish his promise and we seek to use man-made custom in order to accomplish what we think is necessary for the Lord's promise to come to be so we have Sarah and Hagar Sarah I gives Hagar to Abram she is conceiving so she's pregnant now and we have this so we have Abram here now that Hagar is expecting a child now that she's conceived now Hagar sees her value in this community because she goes well Siri I could not provide an heir for Abram and everything that's Abraham's concerned about is are based on the promise and all likelihood the whole community is aware of the promise so she begins to say well now I have um greater value than Sarah because I provided what Abram needs I am going to have a child I am going to provide an heir so she begins to get in conflict with sorry i sorry I in conflict with Hagar which then causes sorry I to get in conflict with a bur so you see what happens when we depend on man-made custom instead of it leading to peace it leads to conflict because now Hagar sees her position has changed because of what she and Abram have done together now she sees herself as elevated above sorry i sorry i is resentful both of the fact that hagar is now expecting a child and is resentful of Hagar's feeling of a elevated position so Sarah I now attacks Abram Sarah I was the one who proposed this man-made solution and now we see that she is upset she goes may the wrong done to me beyond you I gave you my servant to your embrace and when she saw that she had conceived she looked on me with contempt may the Lord judge between you and me say may the Lord take my side in this the irony of it is that all of them are acting outside the promise Abram is acting outside the promise he should have said to her no we're gonna wait on the Lord he's gonna fulfill his promise sorry I should have trusted in the promise so both of them are in conflict but they're both acting outside the promise so then we see the solution but Abram said to Sarah I behold your servant is in your power due to her as you please Abram in effect denies responsibility he wants the air he wants the promise he acted in a man-made fashion to try to accomplish it now it is resulted in conflict and Abram denies responsibility he basically says she's your problem you own her she's your servant do whatever you want instead of taking responsibility in his household we've seen some very positive character traits developing in Abram in this side we see a very familiar human character trait that resistance to responsibility he fails to be who he should be in his household it has the one holding the promise that God has made and then we see a picture into Cerie eye and see her humanists then Sarah I dealt harshly with her and she fled from her Abram trusting and man-made custom Abram putting himself in a situation where now there is conflict now there are two wives Abram denying his responsibility sorry I angry that Hagar has conceived and she is not angry that Hagar sees herself now is more valuable in the household than she is then turns on Hagar using her position in the household to make life absolutely miserable for Hannah and so Hagar has no choice Hagar runs away and we see this and we see the conflict and we see the people one of the things I want us to notice and always remember when we're reading the Word of God is the Word of God is a real story about a real God interacting with real people Abram is not a hero who travels through his journey without flaws seriai is not a hero who travels to her journey without flaws there are real people and we see in them real character traits common to humanity everywhere we see the presence of a sin nature a sin nature that trusts in its own methods rather than relying solely on God we see a sin nature the denies responsibility that heads into conflict these are things that we're all familiar with because this is part of our nature this is part of our struggle this is something that we need Redemption from and we see it being acted out here with this person who God has given great promise to so Hagar in the midst of all this runs away verse 7 the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness the spring on the way to shore and he said hey guy son of sorry I where have you come from and where are you going she said I am fleeing my mistress Syria I want you to notice certain things here in this narrative hey guys running she's running from sorry I she doesn't know where she's gonna go she's a stranger in a strange land she's a servant she has no resource she has nothing to help her or support her so she's running and she is met by the angel of the Lord this is an interesting figure that we encounter time by time in the Old Testament often we view this character to actually be a christening a pre incarnation appearance of Jesus Christ we think of that but here in the midst of this Mass surrounding the promise here is this woman this woman who is pregnant with a child running into the wilderness and Jesus meets her there and as he so often does when we see him in his time on earth as a man he speaks to her and asks her questions to help her understand where she is first of all he knows her name he knows her name in the midst of her loneliness and fear and struggle there is one who knows her name Hagar servant of sorry I where have you come from and where are you going she said I am fleeing from my mistress Sarah that's where she's coming from she has no answer as to where she's going because she doesn't know the age of the Lord said to her return to your mistress and submit to her the angel of the Lord also said to her I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude and the Angel Lord said to her behold you are pregnant and shall bear a son you shall call his name Ishmael because the Lord has listened to your affliction he shall be a wild donkey of a man his hand against everyone and everyone's hand against him and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen what a picture that we have here did you see as Abram and Sarah I acted outside of the promise in enacting outside of the promise in working in man-made ways they've drawn in this servant into their Act which is an act of disobedience based on the statement that the Lord has prevented the promise from Cup taking place we have Hagar receiving a promise it's not the same promise that was given to Abram but it's a promise to her in the midst of her affliction the angel O Lord says go back to Sarah I and submit that's your role but know this as you go back that you are also going to have a son he will also be a nation a strong nation and you're going to call them Ishmael and Ishmael literally means God hears God hears for this woman in the midst of all that's going on the Lord of glory cares for her I know your name I know where you come from I know you don't know where you're going so this is what I want you to do I want you to submit and go back to the place where you were from but know this you have been used for other peoples man-made purposes trying to accomplish my promise outside of my power but I'm gonna give you a promise I'm gonna give you a song he is also going to be a nation he'll be a strong nation you were going to call him God hears because in the point of your affliction I heard you I know what happened verse 13 so she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her you are the god of seeing the God who sees me for she said truly here I have seen him who looks after me therefore the well was called bear Lahaie ROI it lies between Kadesh embedded and Hagar for Abram a son and Abram called the name of his son whom Hagar bore Ishmael Abram was sixty was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram and in this story we have another unveiling of the character of God we have the God who hears and the God who sees me thank God who hears remember that as you think about the god that is being unveiled page-by-page as we read through the book of Genesis we have the God who is the creator we have the God who is the covenant keeper we have the God who hears the God who sees me the God who hears hears our cry here is our desperation here is when we call out in the day of trouble and we have the God who sees me sees me where I really am sees me in my broken sinful condition sees me there and provides a way of salvation through Jesus Christ the promise will be fulfilled it won't be fulfilled through this means it won't be fulfilled through something that leads to conflict something that causes one to deny responsibility to be fulfilled through the work of God through the one who keeps his promise to the one who knows our name to the one who hears and the one who sees I hope that you can dwell on that today hope it's an encouragement to you you think about the God who meets a terrified woman with nowhere to go coming from calamity meets her where she is hears her cry sees her and her brokenness and gives her a promise we're going to continue on and see how God is going to take this product of a sin nature and how he is going to continue to bring the promise to fruition through his power through his word I hope this has been an encouragement to you as always we'd love to hear from you any feedback or comments you have and please if this blesses you encourages you challenges you share it with somebody else so it can bless them too thank you and the Lord bless you

Channel: Biblical Discipleship

Views: 2,547

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Keywords: Stoneridge, Stephen Michels, Bible study, Chapter-A-Day, Genesis, Genesis 16

Id: bnSIYEfii50

Length: 25min 48sec (1548 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 30 2018