01 Jul 08 — Some thoughts about outcasts

The Bible includes many stories about outcasts. Of those, the story of Hagar and Ishmael is one of the most enduring. God had promised Abraham and Sarah a child, but after years of waiting, Sarah gave up hope in God’s Promise. She took matters into her own hands by giving her servant woman Hagar to Abraham. Ishmael was the result of their union. Abraham loved his son very much and honored Hagar’s role in bringing him into life. But Sarah became very jealous and tormented Hagar so much that she drove her away. Abraham consoled her and brought her back, but the tensions remained.

Abraham decided to talk to God about this problem. God’s response was to say again the promise that Abraham and Sarah would have their own child without a surrogate mother. God also gave Abraham the covenant of male circumcision that was to be performed upon all the members of Abraham’s household and for all the generations to come. This was to be a marker of their faith, much like many of us wear crosses today to identify our faith. And so it was that Abraham, by his own hand, circumcised all the men of his household. This included Ishmael, who was painfully circumcised on his thirteenth birthday. Note well: Ishmael was a child of this male only Covenant between Abraham & God that was one of the foundations of Israel’s faith. That means that Ishmael has as much right to claim himself an Israelite as anyone.

But Sarah grew even more angry and frustrated. And she demanded that Abraham cast out Hagar and Ishmael. Now Abraham did not want to do this because he loved his son. But he also wanted peace. Once again he went to God, and this time God said, “Listen to Sarah, and let go of Ishmael.” And so sorrowfully, Abraham did so. He gave them what he could and sent them away into the desert — and to God.

Eventually their resources gave out, and after Hagar had made Ishmael as comfortable as she could, she went off a ways because it was too painful for her to watch her son die. And she cried out to God. And God listened. Note well: the first time a woman is recorded as crying out to God in Scripture it is this outcast woman. And God answered. God provided a spring of water and Ishmael and Hagar were revived. Furthermore, God gave them a Promise as well, a Promise that Ishmael would also become a great nation. And so it has become, for Ishmael is the ancestor of the Arabic Peoples, almost all of whom are Islamic.

The consequences of taking things into our own hands, even in our own family lives, can have dramatic and enduring consequences. Just think about all the trouble this one family feud has caused. Today when a Palestinian hears Israel making promises, he or she hears Father Abraham making promises, but wonders how long it will be before Mother Sarah betrays them and casts him or her out again. No wonder peace is so difficult to create in the Middle East — they are in the midst of a family feud that has been going on for 3,800 years.