| "I myself do not think the Bible is sexist to the core, because the core is a message of radical freedom and human transformation." Letty Russell |
Texts (I have finally gotten smart and linked the appointed texts to the passage reference):
The appointed text in Genesis for today is 16:1-16. We do ourselves a ridiculous disservice if we stop reading here. First, it cuts the narrative short. Second, it does not include God's response to this situation. Third, it does not include the blessing to Ishmael, which also includes a blessing of having a multitude of kindred (and unfortunately, an indication that he will live at odds with others).
Let's be honest: this is not Sarai at her best. Ending the passage with, "Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she ran away from her," brings into sharp focus the effects of jealousy and strife amongst women. Within a marginalized community, there are those who are marginalized even further, considered outcasts of a particular group or a particular gender or a particular belief system or what have you. Sarai, who offered her slave girl to Abraham (whom Abraham, I am guessing, readily accepted), now attempts to rescind her decision. Crying along with Ishmael (whose name means God has heard), God hears Hagar's cry and comes to her. Speaking directly to her (uncommon for the angel of the LORD or God to do in our narrative), the angel of the LORD quotes one of my favorite descriptions of a person in the Bible: "He shall be a wild ass of a man..." and exhorts Hagar to return. While there is something to be said here of what we suppose would make the angel of the LORD command her to go back or what would make her assent to the indication she should, I think that it distracts us from what comes next.
Hagar is the first person to ascribe a name to God: 13So she named the Lord who spoke to her, ‘You are El-roi’; for she said, ‘Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him?’" God has come to her, and God has protected her, and moreover, God has made a unique promise to Ishmael.
This is not a comfortable part of our narrative. Most of them aren't comfortable. I think a more valuable question than, "Do I agree?" is, "Does it tell the truth?" It is our nature to offer something and, after we have become frustrated with the relationship, want to take it back (whether it be our love, inheritance, etc,). We do not understand free gifts or promises that are kept. Whereas we see Sarah, Abraham, and Isaac as being blessed, we cluck our tongues at the treatment of Hagar but play into the same offense as we forget to read the strength of this woman who names God and the unique promise of God that comes even to those to whom we would show contempt. God continues subverting our expectations, breathing new life in to the narrative, into the uncomfortable spaces, into the spaces where we find injustice and intolerance, God draws us into a different way of being.
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