Genesis 16-17; Job 5-6; Proverbs 1:20-33;
Commentary on Genesis 16:
- Sarai, troubled by her infertility, decides to have children through her maid.
- Abram listens and has relations with Hagar, Sar’ai’s Egyptian maid.
- Hagar conceives and treats Sarai with contempt.
- Sarai retaliates, dealing harshly with Hagar for her behavior and she flees.
- Hagar tries to go back to Egypt, but in the route, an angel appears to her and says to her to go back and submit to her mistress. The angel also promises to greatly multiply her descendants and says that he will be a “wild donkey”.
- Hagar gives birth to a son and Abram names him “Ish’mael”
Sarai’s actions are in accordance with ancient Near East practice of surrogate motherhood through servants or concubines. Childless couples resorted to this to produce an heir. There are historical evidence of this practice in the Nuzi tables and the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi.
“Abram listened”: might be a reference to Adam listening to Eve in the garden (Gen 3:17) and maybe explains the name Ish’mael. The Hebrew word for “listened” (yishma’) is the verbal root for the name Ish’mael (yishma’e’l).
I know sexual ethics in that times are radically different from what we are used to in our Christian societies, and polygamy was way more prevalent in those times. Still, this idea by Sar’ai comes from a place of complete desperation. One can empathize with the frustration of wanting, and having been promised (by God!), to have a child and still not being able to conceive.
Still, this sin, of not trusting God’s plan, of wanting to have God’s way in our own terms, leads to more destruction. As the sin breads tension and retaliation. And ultimately, brings forth a “wild donkey” (aggressive) man into the world.
The oppression of Hagar will also backfire when the Joseph, Sarai’s great grandson (Joseph) is taken as a slave in Egypt by the “Ishmael-ites” (Gen 39:1) and the family of Israel that follows him there is “oppressed” by the Egyptians (Ex 1:12, foretold in Gen 15:13).
Commentary on Genesis 17:
- God elevate the previous promise of making Abram the father of a multitude of nations to a Covenant.
- God changes his name from Abram (“exalted father”) to Abraham (“father of a multitude”).
- The sign of the covenant will be circumcision of all males. Any male who is not circumcised is breaking the covenant and shall be cut off from his people.
- God changes Sarai’s name to Sarah.
- God reiterates his promise of giving a descendant to Abraham, but makes it more specific that it will be Isaac, and not Ishmael, he’ll come from Sarah and not Hagar, and it will be next year.
- Still, Abraham doubts God’s promises of a descendant through Sarah, as they both are very old.
- Ishmael is blessed and God will make him fruitful and multiply him, but He will establish His covenant with Isaac.
- Abraham circumcises all males in his household in the same day, as he was told.
It is unclear on my brief research why circumcision was chosen as the sign of the covenant. It was practiced in other Near East cultures, so maybe God is elevating a known practice by Abraham as the sign of the covenant.
Circumcision becomes, then, the rite of initiation of the liturgical life in Israel. Circumcision of the flesh points inward to the circumcision of the heart: remove the fallen works so that you can follow the Lord’s ways blamelessly (Gen 17:1).
Circumcision prefigures Baptism, the rite of initiation of the New Covenant. But Baptismal grace, which is administered for both males and females, effects the interior circumcision of the heart, which the circumcision of the flesh merely signified.
This also an interesting argument for pedobaptism (baptism of the children) instead of credobaptism (baptism of adult believers). If Baptism is the rite of initiation in Christian life just as circumcision was the rite of initiation in the Old Covenant, it also makes sense to initiate children just as they did.
Commentary on Job 5-6:
- Eliphaz continues his speech; He argues that eventually, God rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked.
- Eliphaz also defends that suffering is sometimes a corrective action in response to sin; and that God disciplines man for his own moral and spiritual good. And if we accept God’s corrective discipline, He will be ready to heal us up.
- Job feel abandoned by his friends as they judge him with harsh words, while he has not asked them to alleviate his suffering. Job’s friends are as dear to him as brothers, which make the severity of their words even more painful.
- Job still thinks it would be better to God kill him than continue to suffer.
- Job is suffering but knows of no wrongdoing he has committed. He is willing to acknowledge and repent of any error, but he needs to know what transgression he has committed.
Eliphaz is indeed a wise man, he spouses good and important principles we should always keep in mind, but he fails to see that these don’t apply to the situation as Job’s suffering is not the result of God’s corrective discipline.
It is also interesting to see how some experiences are just universal, even throughout time. Job didn’t need or want finger-pointing and harsh words in this moment, he wanted to be consoled, listened by his dear friends, whom he considers brothers.
Job 5:18 What does it mean to “seek God”? How does one seek him? How does one know when he has found him?
To seek God is to form and strengthen a personal relationship with God. One seeks God through prayer. One knows when he has found Him by the fruits of this relationship in his own life.
Job 5:17a Why would a person whom God reproves be happy? According to the note for this verse, what is the purpose of God’s discipline? Aside from physical suffering, how might his discipline reveal itself in one’s life?
Because God’s reprimand is a source of improvement in one’s moral and spiritual life. Just like a father’s corrective discipline is necessary for the good development of a child, God’s corrective discipline is also necessary for us.
Commentary on Proverbs 1:20-33: “Woman Wisdom” makes a speech. She announces that not taking heed of her suggestions will lead to a path of disaster. And that the those who don’t listen to her will only search for her when it is too late. Not caring about, not making an effort to improve, and continuing in rebellion are what kills the immature and the fools.
Wisdom’s correction intends to show how the glamour of sin is deceptive, and that leads to bad consequences. God’s reproof (something also seen in Job’s passage) aim is our repentance.
Proverbs 1:29-32 How deadly are the consequences of a serious sin, such as a sin against the fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth commandment? How is the sinner killed by his sin, even if he remains physically alive?
When someone commits a mortal sin, he loses all the sanctifying grace in his soul, thus placing him in a state of self-exclusion from God. Dying in a state of mortal sin leads to hell, which is the place of the souls that placed themselves in a state of self-exclusion from God by their free choices.