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We Who Thirst
Delve into the captivating tales of women from the Bible, exploring their lives within ancient cultures and historical contexts. These narratives reveal not only their stories but also the profound love and beauty of the God we worship.
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We Who Thirst
002 Women in Context: Sarai and Hagar (Genesis 16)
(Trigger Warning: Sexual assualt, abuse, corporal punishment)
What if ancient narratives could shed light on our modern struggles with consent and power dynamics? Discover the riveting and multifaceted story of Sarah and Hagar from Genesis 16 and explore how historical, familial, and cultural contexts illuminate divine intervention in their lives. This episode provides a compassionate lens on themes of vulnerability and marginalization. By unpacking the significance of translated Hebrew names, we delve deeper into the experiences of Sarah and Hagar, revealing the layers of meaning often lost in translation.
In this episode, we grapple with the complexities of marital consent and power dynamics in ancient times. By examining Hagar's story, we contrast ancient definitions of marriage and legal relationships with today's understanding, shedding light on systemic issues of consent and autonomy faced by women like Sarai, Rachel, Leah, Bilhah, and Zilpah. Our discussion underscores the importance of comprehending historical contexts without imposing present-day standards, offering fresh insights into how these age-old narratives can inform contemporary perspectives on consent and autonomy.
We also dissect the power struggles between Hagar, Sarai, and Abram, delving into the broader implications of Hagar's humbling and her flight into the wilderness. The episode culminates in a profound reflection on divine justice and compassion, spotlighting God's unwavering concern for the oppressed and marginalized through Hagar's story. Listen as we explore the legal and societal factors influencing Sarai's actions, and most importantly, how divine intervention promises a future for Hagar and her son, Ishmael. This episode is a testament to God's enduring justice and empathy for those on the margins of society.
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Welcome back to the We Who Thirst podcast. Today we will be considering Sarah and Hagar from Genesis, chapter 16. We'll be looking at these women in their historical, familial and cultural context as we look at this story to see how God is working in their lives. To support the ministry of this podcast, you can visit patreon. com.
Jessica Jenkins:This is a story I want to handle with the utmost care and concern. The story of Hagar is the story of a poor, vulnerable, marginalized woman whose position in society is unsure. There are a lot of themes to explore in this passage that can be very personal for many of us. There are many sexual assault survivors who resonate with the story of Hagar. And this passage has at times been used to even tell abused women to stay with their abusive husbands. Historical context and seeing the text for what it is in its context, without reading our 2024 mindset back into the text, this is going to be a tricky balance to hold as we walk through. So let's do that together as we go through.
Jessica Jenkins:When we look at Hagar's story, it starts in Genesis 16. Genesis 16, verse 1, says "and princess, the wife of exalted father, had not given birth for him. Throughout this passage, these passages, I will be using the translation of the Hebrew names, not the anglicized version. Translation of the Hebrew names, not the anglicized version. Taking Sarai, which means princess, and turning it, transliterating it as Sarai, into English. I'm going to use what the word meant in Hebrew, because that's how the Hebrew person would have heard this. They would have understood, naturally, the full nuance of all of these names that we miss out on. So I'm going to include that as I read through. The translation I am using is my own from the Hebrew. If I reference another English translation, I will tell you what it is as we go. So, princess, the wife of exalted father Abram, had not given birth for him. The rabbis later on say that this could be grounds for divorce. So Sarai, at the very beginning and this isn't about Sarai, but there's a continual contrast between Hagar and Sarah, and so we have to take that into consideration. We'll do a whole podcast on Sarah herself and everything she goes through, but she does have a significant place to play here. So she has not given birth. This could be grounds for divorce.
Jessica Jenkins:In the ancient world, this is a huge problem. That was introduced in chapter 11. Now we're in chapter 16. In chapter 15, God told Abram that he would have a child. And Abram responded to the Lord and said how can this be? My heir is Eliezer of Damascus. A servant is going to be my heir. You say I'm going to be this great nation, but I don't even have a child.
Jessica Jenkins:So the text starts his wife has not given him a child and "to her was a maidservant of Egypt and her name was Flight or Foreigner. We're not exactly sure the meaning of Hagar. It's a foreign word that is not commonly used in the Hebrew Bible. It could be of Egyptian origin, since Hagar is Egyptian and we just don't have access to what that meant. It could be something from the Arabic, which would be Flight, which fits with the text of the story where Hagar runs away. It could mean foreigner. She's from Egypt and her story has parallels almost in reverse to Israel's future captivity in Egypt. We don't know her name meaning, so I'll be referring to her as flight or Hagar throughout this text. So Sarai has a maidservant named Hagar. So Hagar is of a lower class, she is a slave, she is a maidservant.
Jessica Jenkins:Now I want to talk about the household briefly. The smallest unit in the ancient Near East that they considered was not the individual. Today we consider a family or household to be made up of individual people. In the ancient world, the smallest unit was not the individual, it was the household, and so individuals who are part of a household are kind of absorbed into that household and not seen necessarily as separate entities in the ancient Near Eastern mindset.
Jessica Jenkins:And, mind you, I am describing what was to the best of my knowledge. I am not saying this is right, this is good. I'm just trying to help us understand the context, because a lot of the decisions that are made in these passages make sense in that context. From a human perspective, though, nobody, no human in these texts made the best decisions. Nobody, no human in these texts made the best decisions. Abraham, Sarai, Hagar none of them are without fault. None of them are making very good decisions in these texts, which is why we continually have to come back to there is only one hero of this story, and it is not Hagar, it is not Sarai, it is not Abraham, it is the Lord. He is the hero of this story.
Jessica Jenkins:So in this household, Hagar is a maidservant of Sarai. Now we found in Genesis, a few chapters previous, when Abram has to go rescue Lot. A while back. Abram and Lot had to split their households apart. They were part of one household. They had to split the household because they were just getting too large. The land could not support their household..
Jessica Jenkins:Abraham's household by itself we find out when he rescues Lot, I believe in chapter 13 or 14. When Abram rescues Lot, we find out that his household has 318 fighting men. That's not counting men who couldn't fight or men who stayed with the sheep while the other men fight. That's not women and children. That is just 318 fighting men. So Abraham's household is actually the size of a small town.
Jessica Jenkins:This is an extremely large household situation that's going on. He has extreme wealth. It's not a clan or a tribe, because you don't have multiple levels of family. You're dealing with servants. You're dealing with hired forces. You're dealing with just people he's picked up along the way and brought into his household under his protection. And there are at least two to 400 families, conjugal couples, male, female groupings in this household that Abram is over. Also, remember, this is not a patriarchal structure where Abraham is over Sarai in a husband over woman sort of situation. You have your patriarch, which is Abram, and you have your matriarch, which is Sarai, and push comes to shove, Abraham's word will win. But she has a lot of power and she has a significant role in this household as well as the matriarch, as the mother of this household, even though she doesn't physically have children.
Jessica Jenkins:So Hagar is introduced as Sarai's maidservant. That lets us know that she is in the near household. She is working very closely. She's not one of the family groupings that's farther off from Abram and Sarai, she's extremely close to them. She works with Sarai. She may even be dwelling in the same tent as Sarah. She is very close to this situation. She is of a slave class where they are of a free class.
Jessica Jenkins:These terms are foreign to us. We're familiar with slavery, with the United States, southern slavery, abusive slavery, horribleness that occurred. This is a class difference, along with slavery, and so Hagar is of a lower class, but she is close. She is on the inner circle of the household, more like Eliezer. Eliezer was going to be the heir. He probably had a ruling function over some of the other individuals in the household. Hagar doesn't necessarily have this, but she is close, on the inner circle with Abram and Sarai.
Jessica Jenkins:And so verse two. "Then Princess said to exalted father behold, surely the Lord has locked me up, he's held me back from giving birth. Surely, go into my maidservant, maybe I will build up children from her.
Jessica Jenkins:Now, to our ears today, this sounds incredibly odd. Why would Sarah do this? Well, in the ancient world this is actually very commonplace. There are actually laws and provisions that dictate not only is it good for a wife to do this, at times it was part of the marriage contract. In Nuzi Archives Archives, in the Code of Hammurabi, which you can look up in the show notes, there's marriage contracts that say, when the woman marries the man, if she does not bear him children in a specified amount of time, she will find a slave to be a surrogate mother. And that is in the marriage contract in the ancient Near East, in Babylon, which is where Abram and Sarai came from.
Jessica Jenkins:So for me, as I look at this in context, what is shocking to me is not that Sarai would find a slave to be a concubine wife for Abram to bear a child for her, but it is shocking to me that Sarai at this point is about 74, 75 years old. She has been infertile her entire married life. They've probably been married for at least 60 years. What's shocking to me is that she has not done this sooner, that she has waited 60 years to provide this socially acceptable again, I'm not saying this is right, I'm not condoning it, but it's their culture, this socially acceptable even law at times contract. She has not done this for Abram in their entire marriage over a 60-year span.
Jessica Jenkins:We will have to dive into Sarah and talk about her story. She's an incredibly powerful, strong woman and she has been unwilling to do this up to this point. But now she decides maybe it's because of the word of the Lord that Abram's going to have a son from the previous chapter. Maybe she's sitting there going. Oh, I've slacked off on my duty as matriarch. One of the things I am over as matriarch of this household is reproduction and I have not provided my husband with an heir and that is my responsibility and I need to get on this. So I'm going to find someone to do it. So she gives Hagar. She tells Abram her idea go into my maidservant. Maybe I can build up children from her.
Jessica Jenkins:So Exalted Father (Abram) listened Listen to the voice of princess". Now this echoes back to Genesis 3, when Adam listens to the voice of Eve. This is a cue for the original audience that, oh this echoes Genesis 3. This isn't going to go well. This is not a good thing. We're hearing the fall all over again. Exalted Father listens to the voice of Princess, and then Princess, the wife of Exalted Father, took flight Hagar, her Egyptian maidservant, after the 10 years that Exalted Father had dwelt in the land of Canaan. And then she, sarai, gave her Hagar to exalted father, her husband to him for a wife. There's a double emphasis in the Hebrew she's giving him to him as a wife.
Jessica Jenkins:Now this brings us to our first question Is this situation with Hagar considered rape?
Jessica Jenkins:There are a lot of articles and commentators that just flat out say of course it's considered rape. And what I see them doing there is taking the 2024 definition of rape, which requires a lack of consent for it to be rape. If you do not consent to a sexual encounter, then it is rape. Today that is the definition we use and if we apply today's definition to this situation, it absolutely applies and we could call it rape. But what I want to point out? Not to minimize everything, but there's two things I want to point out. First, what we have. Scripture does not treat this as though this is rape. The ancient culture would not have viewed this as rape.
Jessica Jenkins:Hagar here is becoming a wife. This is a form of marriage. She is a concubine, secondary wife. She is not on the same level as Sarai. Sarai is the matriarch, Hagar is not. She is a secondary wife. But this is a legal relationship. It's not just side chick. She has a legal relationship here. She has rights.
Jessica Jenkins:In the Code of Hammurabi and in Lipit- Ishtar it talks about a slave bearing a a child for the man of the household, the head of the household, and if she does this, she cannot be sold. She cannot you be removed from the household by selling, and so there are protections for this. It is not a pure, it's a vulnerable position, but it is also it has legal sanctions around it in the ancient world that they cannot be held as slaves forever. If they are held as slaves, they have to be held as slaves in that household. They can't be sold outside of the household, and we'll get into more of that here in a little bit.
Jessica Jenkins:So that's the first part, but what I also want to say is that when we talk about rape having a lack of consent. There's a power differential here. Hagar doesn't necessarily have a choice. She might have a choice, and we'll talk about that here in a second. But in a collectivist culture where the household is the smallest unit, consent shifts from being something the individual has to something the household has, and the household is represented by the patriarch and the matriarch in these ancient societies. So anyone who's not the patriarch and matriarch doesn't necessarily have a voice to speak for themselves. And again, I'm not saying that's right or good, I'm just saying this is how it is structured in the ancient world. Hagar is part of this household and so she's brought in for a marriage as a secondary wife to Abram.
Jessica Jenkins:If we are going to consider this rape, I say we need to broaden it and consider all female relationships, marriages in the Bible through these same power dynamic lenses, because we are talking about a systemic power dynamic that women did not have voices in their marriage most often. Now often men didn't either. When Abram sent the servant to get a wife for Isaac, Isaac had no say in the matter that we know of, he may have agreed that, yeah, I need to be married, but the servant goes and gets a woman, Rebecca, and brings her back. Isaac has no idea who's coming and whoever that servant brings he has to marry. So there is a lack of consent on both sides in many cases, not all cases, but in many cases. So if we're going to talk about rape in this instance, which is a legal marriage of a man to a secondary wife, we have to also consider was Sarai raped when she married Abram? Did she have a voice? Did she have consent? What about Rachel and Leah? Did they have consent?
Jessica Jenkins:We have to start going through all of the situations we have to talk about, I believe, Bilhah and Zilpah, Rachel and Leah's servants, who they gave to Jacob as secondary concubine wives. They did not have necessarily a voice. So if we're going to talk about this, we have to look at the systemic issues in the ancient world, about people, not just women, people not having voices in their marriage. And that is a different conversation than simply saying Hagar is a rape victim, and I'm not trying to downplay anything. I'm just saying we have to look systemically at everything going on in these cultures, but we also have to be careful to understand that we can't apply presentism, which is using today's standards, on an ancient culture. We can't just say our standards are better than their standards because, again, the individual culture is what makes consent make sense the way we do it.
Jessica Jenkins:Secondly, we have to consider Hagar's view on this.
Jessica Jenkins:In the Code of Hammurabi it talks about a priestess making a covenant with a slave to be the concubine that bears a child for the priestess with the priestess's husband. There's a contractual obligation between these two women that the priestess makes with this concubine. We do not know, the text does not tell us. It is possible that Hagar and Sarai entered into some sort of contract. It could have been a written contract, though likely not. They were probably illiterate. Or it could have been a verbal contract. I mean back then handshake kind of contracts were legally binding, so there could be an agreement that Hagar walks into in this to do this. The text doesn't tell us. The ancient culture would have had a better idea of what exactly is going on there, but I feel like this has often been taught that Sarah just drags her in one day and dumps her before Abram and is like have at it. I don't think that's really what's going on here. We don't know if Hagar was just told you're going to do this if she was asked.
Jessica Jenkins:But when I try to look at this from Hagar's perspective, Hagar is either told she's going to, or given an opportunity to, become the mother for the future heir of this extremely large, extremely wealthy household. Hagar is going to be the mother of the heir and if I'm Hagar, I'm probably a teenage girl and I'm looking around saying, hmm, I might be able to marry another man of my class which is slave. I might be able to marry another slave man and then me and my kids and he and his kids, we're just going to be slaves forever, potentially and again, I'm not saying slavery is good and right. It is not. These are image bearers. But this is the ancient culture and Hagar's working through her culture. So she's looking and she's saying I might be able to marry another slave man.
Jessica Jenkins:But again, remember, back then marriages were not love matches like we have today. You were looking to better yourself. You're looking to better your family. Being in love is a secondary, tertiary. It's way down the list of things you're considering when you're looking at a marriage. So Hagar looks she might be able to marry a man of her class, they could eventually be sold away from each other legally at the time. That's not right, that's not good, but it is possible. They could be sold away from each other. That is option A, option B or maybe that's option B Option A is to become a secondary wife to the head of the household, this very large, wealthy household and to bear the heir of the household for him.
Jessica Jenkins:And if I'm a teenage girl looking like, okay, I could marry another slave where we could potentially be sold away from each other and we're just going to be slaves. Or I could become a secondary wife for the patriarch of a very large household and bear the heir. I'm looking at the primary wife and she's old. She's 75. She's not going to live that much longer. I'm a teenager. I have a child. By the time he's old enough to become the heir, sarah is dead. Let me just be honest. She's not going to be around. That boy's going to know who his mom is because if she does this, she can't be sold away from the family. They have to keep her in the family, according to ancient custom and law. I'm going to still be around. She's not. That means I'm going to be next in line to be matriarch, and the heir to this estate is going to be my son, my flesh and blood. This moves me from being a slave to being the free matriarch of a huge, wealthy household.
Jessica Jenkins:If I'm Hagar and I'm offered this contract, or even if I'm told I have to do this, I'm like check, yes, that's the path I want to go because that's going to get me a whole lot farther than any other options I have, and I think the text bears out that viewpoint on the behalf of Hagar. So I want to be careful, because so many people say this is kind of a rape situation. And again, with consent, if you take 2024 consent into play, yes, this would be considered rape, but so would Sarah's marriage, so would Rachel and Leah, so would most of the women that we marry in in the Bible, if we take consent, and many of the men as well. Because, again, consent was on a household level, not the individual level, because the household is the smallest unit in the ancient world. We don't have to like that, we don't have to agree with it, but that's how the ancient world functioned. So Hagar here is given to Abram as a secondary wife. I don't agree with this practice. I don't think it's a godly practice. I don't think it's a good practice.
Jessica Jenkins:Genesis 2 talks about marriage being between one man and one woman. Bringing in side partners was never God's plan. It was never his goal for marriage. And, like Adam and Eve, adam listens to Eve and takes the fruit. Here, abram listens to Sarai and takes on a second wife, something that for 60 years they had not done in their marriage, even though both of them had legal recourse to do so. Abram could have done it at any time and Sarah could have brought someone in at any time, like she now does with Hagar. Neither of them have done this for 60 years, but now they do. Not a good idea. So then she gave her to exalted father, her husband, to him for a wife.
Jessica Jenkins:And then verse four, "and then he went into flight, hagar, and she conceived. And then she saw Anytime in Genesis, somebody sees something. Again this is going back to Genesis 3, eve saw the fruit that it was good. When somebody sees something that a little warning flag should go up in your mind, this isn't good, this isn't going to be good.
Jessica Jenkins:And there's a huge interplay throughout these chapters, especially body words. Listen for words like heard "Abraham heard he, listened to the voice of his wife, saw the word for eye. There's a lot of play off seeing and eyes in this passage. There's face, there's hands. There's so many body words in this passage. That's a huge theme which I think is especially important because we're dealing with women and the most physical thing a woman does, which is bear and have children. This is a very body-centric passage and any time in Genesis at least the early parts of Genesis where somebody sees something and God is not involved in their seeing, it does not turn out well.
Jessica Jenkins:So "Abram goes into Hagar, she conceives and then she saw that she conceived and then she cursed her mistress in her eyes. This Hebrew word here for cursed a lot of our English translations I don't think do it justice. They say she looked down on, they kind of give an idea that she got a little bit of a snooty attitude. So you have like this little teenage, pregnant slave girl who's just getting a little snotty with her mistress and Sarah like flies off the handle and abuses her. That's not the situation that's going on.
Jessica Jenkins:This Hebrew word for slighted here is "cursed. Essentially, genesis 12, verse 9, god promised Abraham that anybody who blessed him, god would bless. And anybody who curses him, who lightens or slights him, god will curse in return. So God has promised Abraham that anybody who this Hebrew word anybody who curses him, will be cursed. These are also honor, shame words. The word for honor in Hebrew basically means to be heavy, to be weighty, and this Hebrew word means to lighten. So it's the opposite. You're thinking weight or lightning, and it could be translated to honor or to curse.
Jessica Jenkins:And so then Hagar curses her mistress Sarai in her eyes" this word also this word for cursed, in the Mosaic law. Now, abram and Sarai and Hagar are not under Mosaic law, but the original audience would have been they are under Mosaic law. In the Mosaic law, in Exodus 21, 17, and Leviticus 20, verse 9, and Leviticus 24, 11, in the Mosaic law, if somebody curses their mother, father and read that as matriarch, patriarch of the household, not necessarily physical mother father if somebody curses their mother, father or God, the consequence for that is death under the Mosaic law. Cursing your matriarch, patriarch or God is a death penalty offense under the Mosaic law.
Jessica Jenkins:So what Hagar is doing here is no small thing. It's not just a little uppity attitude or a little snippiness or snottiness towards Sarai. "She curses Sarai in her eyes Under the Mosaic Law which they are not, but under the Mosaic Law this is a death penalty offense. I read this and I say we don't know exactly what this means. It could have mean something that she even is trying to start a coup. She's starting to work relationships in the household, this city-size household, to take over the matriarchy because she's already bearing the heir. She's having the baby Now. She doesn't necessarily know it's a boy yet, but she's hoping and she might be trying to oust Sarai. She might be doing all sorts of things.
Jessica Jenkins:We don't know exactly what this looks like, but we do know this is an extremely egregious offense. This is not a small matter that Hagar is doing. So "he, Hagar, curses her mistress in her eyes and then princess said to exalted father the wrongdoing, the violence a couple different ways we could translate that Hebrew word the wrongdoing or violence against me is on you. I myself gave my maidservant into your lap and she saw she conceived and then I was cursed in her eyes. May the Lord judge between me and between you
Jessica Jenkins:If we don't understand what the Hebrew word cursed means and the implications of that word in the ancient world, it seems like Sarah here is just flipping out for no reason. Like girl, you wanted this, you wanted her to get pregnant. So she has a little bit of attitude. What's your problem?
Jessica Jenkins:Well, the problem is . Hagar is doing an extremely egregious offense in the ancient world. She may even be doing a subtle coup to try to take over from Sarai. The word Sarai uses"wrongdoing wrongdoing. Violence indicates it's a legal term. Like I have been legally wronged. This is not how this is supposed to go. And Sarah is appealing to the only one above her in the household, who is Abram saying hey, I need you to handle this. And she's not overreacting, she just completely quotes exactly what the text told us in verse 4. In verse 5, sarai completely quotes exactly word for word what verse 4 said on what Hagar did. So she's not embellishing it, she's not making this bigger than it is. She's just saying this is exactly what happened and it bears fruit that it is exactly what happened. So Sarah calls out the cursing that Hagar is doing towards her.
Jessica Jenkins:And verse 6, "then exalted father said to princess behold, your maidservant is in your hand. Do what is good in your eyes. Abram affirms that in the patricentric heterarchy. The women are under the matriarch. These women are Sarai's responsibility. He's not going to step in, he's not going to take over. This is Sarai's realm. She has the power, she is the matriarch. It is her job to deal with the situation. And he says I back you up on that. Essentially, I'm reaffirming that you are the matriarch. Yes, she may be pregnant with my baby. You are the matriarch, sarai. You do what is good in your eyes, right, you do what is good in your eyes.
Jessica Jenkins:"And then, continuing on in verse six and then princess humbled her hagar." This word for humbled is"a na in Hebrew and it has a broad range of meanings. Basically, if I'm going to translate it into colloquial English, it basically means to bring someone down a notch or two, to knock them off their high horse. It can be translated humbled, oppressed, maybe even abused, but it doesn't necessarily mean abused. There's a range of meanings in this word.
Jessica Jenkins:It is used when an individual decides that I'm going to humble myself before God in worship, or I'm going to humble myself by fasting for worship, or I'm going to humble myself by fasting for a day, on the Day of Atonement. It is used when God disciplined Israel when they refused to go into the Promised Land and he humbled them by making them wander for 40 years in the desert.
Jessica Jenkins:Same word it can also be used in abusive situations, like if a man were to rape a woman. This is a word used. The man humbled the woman by raping her. But this word does not in itself tell us what the humbling looks like. It could be abusive. It could not be so. It could be a self-humbling. It could be discipline humbling. It could be abusive humbling. The word itself does not tell us what it is. It just means to take someone off their high horse, knock them down a couple pegs, help them to know their place. It could be abusive. It also could not be. We don't necessarily know. The word itself doesn't tell us. The context has to tell us Now, if we look at the ancient world. Has to tell us. Now, if we look at the ancient world, there were some laws in the ancient Near East on punishments for slave women. We don't know what Sarah did here. She could have done some of these things. She could have done something else. We don't know. It doesn't tell us.
Jessica Jenkins:The Code of Hammurabi talks about a slave woman who becomes a concubine and then gets all uppity and thinks she is going to be the same level as the priestess or the matriarch in that scenario, and if she gets all uppity and out of place, the matriarch may pierce her ear which is a slave mark that they would commonly use in the ancient world and in the Mosaic law and downgrade her status in the household. So it's literally downgrading. They have tiers of status. Again, that's the way they did it. I'm not approving of it. Downgrade her status in the household, but they can't sell her. Even if she's horrible, they can't sell her.
Jessica Jenkins:In the Code Ur-Nammu and Shulgi it says "if a slave woman shames her owner by speaking insolently to her, that kind of sounds like a curse Then the fine on the slave is having her mouth scrubbed with salt. So a physical, corporal punishment on this slave who mouths off, who curses her mistress. We don't know what Sarah did. It could have been one of these things. It could have been many other things. It could have been horribly abusive, it could have been just hey, I'm knocking you down a couple pegs and giving you some duties to remind you of your rank. We don't fully know, but we do know that Hagar does not like it, and so Hagar runs away from the face of Sarai.
Jessica Jenkins:Hagar takes off into the wilderness and while she's in the wilderness, the angel of the Lord finds her by an "eye of water in the wilderness. Again, this term eye is a play throughout the entire Hebrew text that we miss in most of our English translations, and I've provided you previously and I'll add it to the show notes here as well with a translation of the Hebrew into English that brings out some of these elements that are commonly lost. But the angel of the Lord finds Hagar by an eye a spring that's the word they used for spring in Hebrew was eye by an eye of water in the wilderness, by an eye in the way of shore, which is northern Egypt. So Hagar saw with her eyes that she was pregnant and she cursed Sarai with her eyes. Sarai humbles her. So Hagar flees from Sarah's face and finds herself by an eye of water where the angel of the Lord finds her and he says to her flight Hagar, foreigner, maidservant of princess, he reminds her of her family status, where she belongs in their society.
Jessica Jenkins:"Where have you come from? Where will you go? He's reminding her you don't have a household anymore. What are you going to do. You are a pregnant teenage girl, by yourself in the wilderness. Is this where you want to be right now? And she said from the face of princess, I am running away. And the angel of the Lord said to her return to your mistress and humble yourself under your her hand. The humble here is the exact same word that the Hebrew word that Sarai humbled her. And again we don't know what Sarai did, but here the Lord is telling Hagar to humble herself. You choose, you make a choice to submit yourself to Sarai. You take yourself down a couple notches. Yes, you're bearing the heir, you think a parent, but that does not mean you're the matriarch. You humble yourself and return.
Jessica Jenkins:This is a verse that is at times used to say that a wife in abusive marriage needs to return to her abuser. That is a completely wrong usage of this text and I'm going to state that very clearly. This is not a text saying that an abused person needs to return to the abused situation.
Jessica Jenkins:I believe, looking at this contextually, that, however Sarah humbled Hagar, it was more a discipline, it was more of a one time. 'I need to put you back in place' because Sarah has to help keep the entire household structure. If Hagar is fomenting a coup of some kind remember there 300 to 400 families in this household. This could turn into all out war if Hagar can manage to get whispers going. So for the unity of the household, Sarai's like I got to get you back in line for the sake of everybody in this 600 plus person household. So it's not like an ongoing abusive situation.
Jessica Jenkins:Sarah may have treated Hagar in a way we would consider to be abusive today. That is highly likely, because rubbing someone's mouth out with salt, we would consider that abusive. In the ancient world that is considered discipline. Again, I'm not saying they're right, I'm not saying it's good, I'm just stating the context. So this situation doesn't even match a modern day abusive, continually abusive marriage or even a one-time abusive marriage. It doesn't match because one Abram's not the one doing abuse, it's Sarai. And it's because of a status quo that needs to be maintained for the sake of the household unity 600 plus people that needs to go on.
Jessica Jenkins:And the angel's not telling Hagar to go back and submit to abuse. He's telling her to go back as a maidservant and to keep her place. That is what he's telling her. It's not submit to abuse. It is not! It is, you need to humble yourself. Stop cursing your mistress, which is a death penalty offense under the Mosaic law. Stop it. Humble yourself, pull yourself back in line. It's what the angel is telling Hagar here.
Jessica Jenkins:The angel starts by reminding her of her place in the household and giving her an instruction, and I'm sure that instruction was hard for Hagar to stomach. Her, I'm going to say, pride is part of what got her into this situation and God, by his mercy, is meeting her right in the middle of that. She is a disenfranchised, lowly member of the household, or maybe even medium, because I'm sure there were slaves under Hagar's status, but she is a, she's a vulnerable member of the household. And the angel first says hey, remember who you are. You do belong to a household, you have a specific role in that household and you need to return to that.
Jessica Jenkins:But then I believe the angel answers Hagar's deepest questions.
Jessica Jenkins:My deepest questions are about slavery. They're about social order. They're about is it okay that this is going on? What about image of God, slavery class I'm thinking systemically not having consent in marriage. Those are the types of things we're thinking about in 2024. Those aren't Hagar's questions..
Jessica Jenkins:The angel moves from telling her to return to the household in her proper role, but then he answers the questions that are on Hagar's mind. And we will see that he answered the questions on Hagar's mind when we get to where she names God. But he answers the questions on Hagar's mind. These are her concerns and this is part of the reason I think she is vying for the matriarchal role in the family. He tells her the angel said to her this is verse 10, I will make numerous your offspring and he will not be counted.
Jessica Jenkins:Hagar, you're wanting. You agreed to this contract or you're looking for the. You know the silver lining in the situation you find yourself in, that you're going to be the mother of the heir of a great nation. You know the promises given to Abram. You want to be the mom of that nation. That is what you are wanting. That's how why you started cursing Sarah, because she's not going to be it. You're going to be it and the Lord says I see your heart, I see what you're wanting. I'm going to keep the promise I made to Abraham through you. Yes, absolutely, your child will. I will make numerous. He will not be counted for quantity he's going to. We can't even count how many are going to come from you.
Jessica Jenkins:"Behold, you are pregnant and will give birth to a son. You're getting what you want, hagar. You will call his name. God heard the Lord heard Ishmael, for the Lord heard your humiliation. I see the entire situation. I see that you're a slave girl. I see that you're a secondary wife. I see that you're being knocked down. I see that you need to go back and stay in that role, even though that's not what your heart wants. I see you. You're going to have a baby. He's going to be great Nations will come from him. He's going to be a wild donkey of a human kind of like his mom. His hand will be against all and the hands of all will be against him and against the face of his brothers. He will dwell.
Jessica Jenkins:So the Lord responds and he sees Hagar, right where she's at. He says it's safe. I think he's saying it's safe to go home. You just need to keep where you're supposed to be. Like a coup is not the way to go about getting what you want. I'm going to give you what you want. I'm giving it to you. You've got it. Go home.
Jessica Jenkins:And Hagar listens to what the Lord says. Now again, he's not answering the questions we bring to the text. He's answering the questions Hagar had. He's answering some of the questions the original audience had. And Hagar's response is "she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her. You are the God of seeing. You are the God who sees me. You saw my heart, you saw the deepest concerns of my soul and you answered them.
Jessica Jenkins:She is the only person in the Hebrew Bible to name God - an Egyptian slave girl who cursed her mistress death penalty offense, ran away. And God says I got you. I know your questions, I know your heart, I've got you. And she says you see me, like you see me?
Jessica Jenkins:Abram and Sarah don't really see her. They're using her for their own ends and, yes, there's legal precedent for it, yes, there's legal protections in the middle of it, but they're using her for their own ends. And she says but you, you see me, you are the God of seeing. For she said truly, here, I have seen the one who looks after me. "You are the God of seeing, for she said truly, here, I have seen the one who looks after me. Therefore, the well there where she was, was called the well of the living one who sees me In Hebrew ber lahai roi. Behold, it was between Kadesh and Bered".
Jessica Jenkins:Isaac comes by this. Well, all the time it keeps this name for the rest of Genesis. Isaac is constantly here, which I think is an interesting echo to the Hagar story.
Jessica Jenkins:"And And then Hagar gave birth for Exalted-F ather father, a son, just like the angel said. And then Exalted exalted Father father called his son, son which Flight flight gave birth .'God God .', And an Exalted exalted Father father was 86 years old when Flight flight gave birth to God-H ears hears for Exalted exalted Father father". Now, the Lord told Hagar the name of this baby, god hears. Hagar must have told Abram and when he named the child, I believe that is showing that he adopted this son and that is going to lead us into chapter 21, which is going to be the next podcast episode
Jessica Jenkins:..
Jessica Jenkins:But this is like an official adoption. Abram is claiming Ishmael as his son. Now, today, we think of course it's his son, it's his biological child, it's his son. Well, in the ancient world, because it's the son of a slave woman, he has to claim it as his son. If he has a son with a slave woman and doesn't claim it, that child has no inheritance rights, no legal precedence in the family. It's just another slave Again. This isn't good, this isn't right, it's not the way of God. It's not what God desires for people. It's the way the ancient Near Eastern worked. So, as Abram names this child I believe this is significant that he is adopting Ishmael as his own.
Jessica Jenkins:The Code of Hammurabi talks about a patriarch naming or not naming, but claiming and adopting the son of a slave woman. We have legal precedence in that code, and so, in chapter 16, god speaks into Hagar's life. He answers the questions of her heart. He meets her where she's at. This is not a passage to be used, especially today, to tell an abused woman to go back to her husband, the farthest thing from First, because this isn't a straight-up abuse case. This isn't a case that mirrors anything we have today. That's not how we can use it.
Jessica Jenkins:But this is a passage to show that God sees the disenfranchised. He sees those who are under systems of oppression. They were all under the system. They didn't know any different. All of them Abraham, sarah, hagar all of them are under this system that is not working for any of their flourishing, because this is not God's best, this is not his way. They're all under this system and she's the one who gets the rawest end of the deal. And God says I see those who are under systems of oppression. I see and I answer the questions of their heart because I'm the God who sees, I'm the God who can cut through the muck, I am the God who keeps my promises and I am the God who moves everything aside. And by the eye. I see you and, dear one.
Jessica Jenkins:As you ponder this chapter of Hagar, as you ponder what's going on here, remember that God sees you. He looks to all of us in the situations we're in, that don't turn out the way we want, that aren't pleasant. And he says I see you, I've got you. Fear not, for I am with you, I will bless you, I will keep you and you have an inheritance. He promised Hagar that she would become a great nation and her son would be great. And he promises us today we see it in Ephesians, we see it all over the New Testament that we are joint heirs with Christ, that we are part of God's eternal family. He keeps Hagar as part of the family in this chapter you are part of the family. He keeps Hagar as part of the family
Jessica Jenkins:in this chapter you are part We of Who the family. You are going to be heirs support the ministry of We Who Thirst or even just get the shownotes with all of the textual and contextual details join us on Patreon. com/wewhothirst where you will get exclusive of the spiritual blessings in the heavenly realms. .
Jessica Jenkins:God sees us. Sometimes he answers directly the questions. we have in our heart, which is what I believe he does for Hagar here. Sometimes he answers the questions we should be asking, not the questions we are asking, which is what I believe he kind of does in chapter 21. But our God is the God who sees. Whether or not you've gotten yourself into a mess, whether or not you're abused, whether or not you're disenfranchised, low class, secondary, whatever, god sees, he does not care about class, he cuts through it all. He speaks to Hagar just as personally as he does Abram, just as personally as he does Moses. He looks at her and he sees her. And, dear one, he looks and he sees you. And so walk forward today, trusting the God who sees. Thank you for listening to the we who Thirst podcast. If you would like to support the who sees, voting privileges and ability to join a private Discord chat room to talk about these women in greater depth and detail, next time I will see you over on social media. You can follow WeWhoThirst on TikTok, instagram and Threads.
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