When I say the names Abram and Sarai or Abraham and Sarah, if you've been in a church for very long at all, a few nuggets of their story quickly jump to the surface of your recollections.
In other words, I've been taught to believe that although God indicates Abraham and Sarah had profound faith (see Hebrews 11), we can take great comfort in the knowledge that they were not perfect and also doubted, at times, the promise God gave them of an heir. While I do not disagree that Abraham and Sarah were not perfect, a fresh reading of these passages this week has led me to believe that maybe we've passed too much judgment upon them because we have the hindsight that they were not blessed with having. Maybe we shouldn't think of Abraham as being led astray by his wife and should instead place ourselves in the culture and understand the desperation they may have felt.
In other words, maybe if we read this story of a husband and wife in the ancient Eastern context in which it occurred and also read it as if the whole thing is unfolding for the first time before our very eyes, we will be able to cut them some proverbial slack and see them for the huge pillars of faith they really are. Actually, maybe I'm the only one that has doubted Sarah's faith. I could just never reconcile how a woman who handed off her handmaid for sex with her husband and then later chased the woman away, could be seen as this exemplary model of faith.
Well, that is, I couldn't until I read the Genesis account again this week.
Attempting to put all of this into one post was proving to be a very long post. Come back for part 2, soon.
- Abram was later called Abraham; Sarai later named Sarah
- God promised Abraham would be the father of many nations
- Sarah tried to create a "shortcut" to this promise by giving Abraham her servant, Hagar, to produce an heir through her.
- This obviously created tension between the two women and the sons of Ishmael and the sons of Isaac still war to this day.
- Sarah had the first recorded LOL (laugh out loud) when God, in person, suggested to Abraham that within a year's time of His visit, Isaac (which means "he laughs") would be born.
- God sealed His covenant with Abraham through the outward sign of circumcision.
In other words, I've been taught to believe that although God indicates Abraham and Sarah had profound faith (see Hebrews 11), we can take great comfort in the knowledge that they were not perfect and also doubted, at times, the promise God gave them of an heir. While I do not disagree that Abraham and Sarah were not perfect, a fresh reading of these passages this week has led me to believe that maybe we've passed too much judgment upon them because we have the hindsight that they were not blessed with having. Maybe we shouldn't think of Abraham as being led astray by his wife and should instead place ourselves in the culture and understand the desperation they may have felt.
In other words, maybe if we read this story of a husband and wife in the ancient Eastern context in which it occurred and also read it as if the whole thing is unfolding for the first time before our very eyes, we will be able to cut them some proverbial slack and see them for the huge pillars of faith they really are. Actually, maybe I'm the only one that has doubted Sarah's faith. I could just never reconcile how a woman who handed off her handmaid for sex with her husband and then later chased the woman away, could be seen as this exemplary model of faith.
Well, that is, I couldn't until I read the Genesis account again this week.
Attempting to put all of this into one post was proving to be a very long post. Come back for part 2, soon.
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