Genesis 21: Is Sarah really this evil?

 Welcome to the Daily Bible Chapter. My name is James Leroy Wilson and I invite you to join me as we discover new insights and new perspectives from a very old book.

Genesis 21: Is Sarah really this evil?

Reading from Young's Literal Translation (YLT) and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

In Genesis Chapter 1, God made Man "in our image and likeness" but seemingly in the way of nature and of animals. In Chapter 2, the LORD made a man (in later chapters called Adam) through a work of pure spirit.

In Chapter 4, Cain seemed to be a man of the "earth" and material world, of both agriculture and city-building, while Abel, the second son, seemed more in tune with God and the spiritual realm. The lineage of those walking in "spirit" or in faithfulness to God comes through a third son, Seth, after Cain murdered Abel..

Then we see that Hagar is an Egyptian slave, and Abraham's first-born son, Ishmael, is the son of the slave. In this chapter Ishmael himself marries an Egyptian. Egypt is in the lineage of Ham and Canaan, whom the LORD had cursed.

Both Abraham and his wife/half-sister Sarah were born of the same father, Terah, of the line of Shem, whom the LORD had blessed. They were free and wealthy.

Ishmael was born to the slave Hagar in the natural way, but Isaac was born to Sarah in a miraculous way after normal child-bearing years.

I think the story is about two forces: the physical and the spiritual, or the external and internal worlds. Ishmael represents the physical, and Isaac represents the spiritual. When we are physically born, our formative experiences are dependent on the material world and on others. We are born of nature, and born as "slaves" to the "system." 

If the story is taken allegorically, then Sarah, representing the spiritual side, is merciless: we don't want the slave mentality to be part of our consciousness. We are essentially spirits and are not products of the earth. Even though we were born from the earth before we were born of spirit, we are free spiritual beings. We are butterflies even if we are first born as caterpillars.

Perhaps Adam represents the first person to develop a spiritual consciousness and the story keeps repeating itself throughout Genesis of a) being tempted by the physical consciousness, and b) dealing with people who are still enslaved to the physical consciousness.

If this is a story about real people, Hagar and Ishmael are innocent, Sarah comes across as terrible, and Abraham appears cowardly in handling the situation. But symbolically it could mean that Sarah has no tolerance for worldly consciousness and wants it expelled. 

The external world must be our servant, not our master. 

If this is so, then there is, or ought to be, a "Sarah" in each of us. Just as Sarah expelled her slave and her slave's son, I must expel slavish thoughts that I'm a victim of circumstance, or that my fate is in someone else's hands. Because if I don't, then I will be a victim.

Maybe that's what the LORD meant when he cursed the ground, and cursed Ham and Canaan. To be enslaved to the material world is to be cursed.

James Leroy Wilson writes Daily Miracles, The Daily Bible Chapter, JL Cells, and The MVP Chase. Thanks for your subscriptions and support!

(Photo credit: TyshkunVictor)