The "Other Woman"

"Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, "The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her."
Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived." Genesis 16:1-4

At this point in their lives, Sarai and Abram must be frustrated a bit with God. He's literally promised them children, and so far nothing has happened. Sarai reaches the age where she's not able to have children anyway, so she tries to take God's promise into her own hands. She does what many, many normal women do- she meddles. Why is that? And why do we do that? The fact is many women are experts at meddling, and here is the perfect reason to not do it. Because Sarai's plan worked. He took her servant as a second wife and of course, she became pregnant. Even though Sarai though she was telling her husband to do what needed to be done, we see that she is not happy at all with the results.

"When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, "You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me."

6 "Your servant is in your hands," Abram said. "Do with her whatever you think best." Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her." Genesis 16:4-6

Both women were unhappy. I imagine that Sarai was a wee bit jealous of Hagar- one for having to share a husband, and two for actually conceiving. And I'm sure on Hagar's side, it was more than a little uncomfortable, being pregnant when they all knew that Sarai was unable. It just made for a really awkward situation. The Bible indicates that Sarai mistreated Hagar, it doesn't say how, but it was enough to make Hagar run away. An Angel of The Lord found Hagar on her way out of town. He asked Hagar where she as going and told him what had happened.

"Then the angel of the LORD told her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her." 10 The angel added, "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count."

11 The angel of the LORD also said to her:
"You are now with child
and you will have a son.
You shall name him Ishmael,
for the LORD has heard of your misery.

12 He will be a wild donkey of a man;
his hand will be against everyone
and everyone's hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
toward all his brothers." Genesis 16:9-12

And Hagar did indeed have a son. Abram followed the Lord's instructions and named the baby Ishmael, which means "God Hears." Verses eleven and twelve are interesting to me. As a Mom I look at that and it's like, wow! Before that baby was even born, God knew what he was going to be like as a grown adult. That's so incredible. God knew what my children were going to be like before they were born, and he knows exactly the kind of adults they are going to be. That's amazing. We have technology now that allows us to see a baby in the womb and see what they look like, but it only shows us the outside. We can't see the inside- how that baby's temperament is going to be. Is it going to be a fussy baby or a mild-mannered baby? God truly is amazing, and this is just one of the many examples of that greatness.

Tomorrow we see a new name for Abram.