Abraham's Big Mistake (Genesis 16)
Lest you believe that God only used the perfect — those who believed Him perfectly, obeyed Him perfectly, and lived their lives perfectly — to accomplish His purposes, just take a look at the actions of Abraham and his wife, Sarah, as they are recorded in Genesis 16.
It is commonly believed that the descendants of Ishmael are the Arab nations, who over the centuries have been at odds with the people of Israel. That is why the Arab-Israeli conflict has been referred to as the world';s oldest sibling rivalry.
God had twice already told Abraham that he would be blessed, that he would be the father of a great nation, but Abraham couldn';t leave well enough alone. Instead of trusting in what God had told him, Abraham — as well as his wife — became impatient and attempted to move out ahead of God and do for themselves what He had promised to do for them.
This is the Bible';s account of that big mistake:
Now Sarai, Abram';s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai';s proposal. So Sarai, Abram';s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife (Genesis 16:1–3)
Sarah meant no harm or dishonor to God when she attempted — successfully, it turned out — to persuade her husband to father a child for her through her servant. In her mind, God himself had kept her from having children, and it was up to her to do for herself what God hadn';t done for her.
In purely human terms, it';s hard to blame Sarah. After all, she was seventy-five years old, had been married for decades, and still had no children. Being in a childless marriage was at that time and in that culture no small matter of dishonor, and Sarah was determined to take care of the situation in the best way she knew how.
However, what Sarah and Abraham did in this case was a big mistake, if for no other reason than it was an act of unbelief. They went ahead of God and attempted to do for themselves what God had promised to do for them. One result was a son God didn';t intend for Abraham to father: Ishmael. Another was the conflict that ensued between Sarah and her servant Hagar.
Study Questions
What was Abraham';s biggest mistake in this account?
How were God';s promises regarding Ishmael similar to those regarding Abraham';s still-to-come child of promise?
