Genesis 16 – 19
This is the story of the creation of the nation of Islam. In this Sari decides to take matters into he own hands and give her servant Hagar to Abram. Today we don’t understand this, but at that time this was actually a custom to keep the family lineage. We see the immediate conflict between Sari and Hagar throughout the period and when Ishmael is born. We get to see envy and pride both rear their ugly heads.
Time moves on and Abraham continues to age when at 99 years old God says Abraham will have another child. Verse 17:17 is his response:
Then Abraham fell on his face and erupted into laughter in a moment of private absurdity, as he thought to himself, “Yeah, right! How can a centenarian father a child? Am I supposed to believe that Sarah, my 90-year-old wife, is going to have a baby?”
This is the first LAMO or ROLF recorded, since to him and nature this would be impossible. But as we know with God nothing is impossible. Interestingly Sarah has the same response, to which God corrects both.
Notice the change in names? God changed Abraham’s and Sarah’s names to ensure people understood they were the head of a great nation. It seemed odd that God would not have named them right from the beginning as he does with Ishmael and Isaac. But I guess Abraham needed to meet the criteria first before being chosen.
Chapter 19 has the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Verse 19:8 caught me as a little odd:
Look—I have two daughters. Both are virgins. How about this: I’ll bring them out for you instead. You can do with them as you please. But please don’t do anything to these men. They are my guests. They deserve the protection of my home.
I don’t get if Lot was doing this knowing they would not go after them or if he was honestly giving his daughters up for the safety of some guests. This is one of those instances where God does protect both and ironically they continue to mess up, later getting dad drunk and having children with him.
The problem with stories like these is many take them as Biblical truths and not just stories. So in peoples mind God condoned their actions since it’s in the Bible. When this is just a story or history and not something we should live by. Remember the Bible has truths, history and examples (of both good and bad). So don’t take stories like this and assume they are what God agrees with or wants us to live by.