Please read the passage before reading the comments.
God promised to make Abraham the father of a multitude Abraham was eighty-five ears old and childless. So important was it for Abraham’s wife, Sarah, to have a child that she gave Abraham her slave woman to have a child through her. Abraham had a son through the slave woman, but it did not help the dynamics of the family.
When Sarah finally gave birth to her biological son, Isaac, Abraham was a hundred years old. When Sarah sees the son of the slave woman playing with her own son, she kicks the salve and her son out of the house with the blessing of Abraham. Abraham had a special relationship with God, yet he disowns his son and sends the mother and son out of his home. Into homelessness. According the way we view things, Abraham really made some bad decision, decisions that hurt people whom he should have loved and protected. We should not judge people of another culture and age according to the wisdom we think we have. When I was a child our parents could readily spank children, but spanking a child now could have the parents punished by the courts for child abuse. We should critique Abraham’s actions according to the customs, practices and knowledge of the times, but decide not to imitate his actions. It is possible for a person to have a close relationship with God and still make decisions that hurt others. In today’s passage, God did protect Hagar the slave woman, and her son Ismael. We can also pray that God will protect those who suffer from our less than perfect decisions.