HBO just wrapped up its series called Succession, after a very popular four-year run. The story is about an aging patriarch of a wealthy and powerful family and his children. And it’s all about who will be the heir. To whom will all this power be passed on. And so, there is the ongoing battle among the offspring and other interested parties – the battle for succession.
It is not pretty to watch. I gave up trying to watch the show because every single character was so unlikeable. Truly unlikeable, but unfortunately, not unbelievable. People are like that. People have always been like that, as we can see in the book of Genesis.
There are times in the course of studying the book of Genesis I am very aware of what an old, old story it is. But all I have to do is read the news and I am reminded that some things never change.
Family rivalries still exist. We haven’t outgrown them.
Let’s put today’s story into context. For many years, God had promised Abraham a son. But after decades of trying and hoping and praying, Sarah and Abraham were still childless. Remember the story we read last week, where messengers from God came to say Sarah would bear a child in due time – at the age of 90. And neither Abraham nor Sarah could do anything but laugh at the absurdity.
Long before that time, Abraham and Sarah had stopped believing that God would give them a child. So they had taken things into their own hands. Sometime before that visit of the three divine messengers, Sarah had made a plan to give Hagar, the woman enslaved to her, to Abraham, in the hope that Hagar would become pregnant in her stead. Abraham would have an heir, and Sarah would, by rights of ownership, have a son.
We could tell right away that this was not going to go well. Immediately, Sarah was overcome by jealousy. A pregnant Hagar was simply too much for Sarah to bear, and in her rage she made Hagar’s life hell.
Hagar ran away, out into the wilderness, with no plan, no good options. She couldn’t bear another minute of living under Sarah’s rule.
That was the first time Hagar heard the voice of God speaking to her. Out in the wilderness God told Hagar the plans he had for her. She would bear a son who would be called Ishmael, which means the Lord hears. God tells Hagar that her son Ishmael will live at odds with all his kin. But he will, indeed, live. Hagar responds by naming this God whom she has never before heard. She calls him El-Roi, meaning “God sees.”
Hagar does then return to Sarah and in due time gives birth to Abraham’s first-born son. And so, perhaps, they assumed the matter of the promised child had been settled. They were quite surprised when the mysterious messengers came to them saying Sarah would have a child. By this time, Ishmael was at least ten years old.
And Sarah gave birth to Isaac.
When Isaac was old enough to be weaned, probably around two years old, Abraham threw a celebration for him. But, once again, the old rivalry emerged between the two mothers. Once again, Sarah is afraid. She is afraid the child Ishmael will take something away from her son.
This is not a pretty emotion. We don’t admire Sarah for her fear and jealousy and lack of faith she exposes. But, even so, we might understand in some small way, the protectiveness she feels. Yes, Sarah’s faith is smaller than it should be, but our faith is often smaller than it should be.
And yes, it might shock us that Sarah seems to care nothing about the welfare of Ishmael or Hagar. But to her, it is a question of survival and the protection of her own blood. Ishmael is not her blood – only Isaac is.
So Hagar and Ishmael are banished to the wilderness, although it seems to grieve Abraham deeply. He gets up early in the morning with her, gives her a skin of water and some bread, which he surely knows is not enough. And with some tenderness, but no real sense of responsibility, sends her on her way. He says goodbye to his son, probably not expecting to see him again.
We are told Hagar wanders about the wilderness, and we have to wonder about her state of mind. Does Hagar have any expectation that she and Ishmael will survive this journey?
In a way, Hagar is in a situation much like Sarah was before Isaac. A promise has been given, but it is hard to see how that promise can be fulfilled. How does faith sustain itself in a time and place like this? How do you hold on to hope in a hopeless place?
The book of Genesis doesn’t tell us much at all about Hagar. She wanders the wilderness until she runs out of water, then she leaves her child Ishmael in the shade and goes off a way from him, where she gives in to her grief. She cries out – and God hears. God hears Hagar and Ishmael and leads them to water.
We don’t get to know much of anything about Hagar from the book of Genesis – this is the last we hear of her. But Hagar plays a very important role in another religion: Islam. The story told in Islamic tradition is that Hagar did not just sit down and cry after running out of water. She ran up to the top of one mountain, As Safa, to see if there was anyone who could help her. Seeing no one, she ran down and then up a mountain opposite, Al Marwa, to see if there was anyone on that side. Hagar is said to have traced this path seven times, desperately seeking help, before she heard the voice of God speaking to her, guiding her to the source of water that would save Hagar and Ishmael and the generations to come.
Together, the two stories, from Genesis and from Islam, tell us something about survival and hope. Hagar could not save her son without God’s help. I believe she knew that. I think we all have had moments in life when we knew that without God’s help, we ourselves and our loved ones would be without hope. So we pray. We listen and look. We go out in search of what we need, for ourselves and our loved ones, because we believe, and we hope that, one way or another, God will provide. God will abide with us, wherever we are. God will be faithful to God’s promises. And for this we are grateful.
All thanks be to God.
