Hagar: A Survivor Seen By God

Bible verses: Genesis 16:1-16, Genesis 21:8-21, Genesis 25:12, Galatians 4:21-31

Hagar was Sarah’s Egyptian maid and a slave whom Sarah had presumably gained during her time in Egypt. She became the mother of Ishmael with Abraham, Sarah’s husband. In the New Testament Hagar’s name is sometimes translated as Agar. The Bible doesn’t tell us anything about her early life. The first mention of Hagar is after she had already been living with Sarah and Abraham in the wilderness of Canaan for ten years. We know that she lived around 2000 BC. This was the time of the Bronze Age and the Middle Kingdom in Egypt, when pharaohs ruled with absolute power. She lived in a hard world, but Hagar was resilient and tough. She was a survivor. Her story tells that survival is possible even under the harshest conditions and that, even in those most difficult of circumstances, God sees us and cares for us. Through God, our troubles can be transformed into testimony.

A Surrogate Mother

Hagar’s mistress, Sarai (who was later renamed Sarah), longed to have a child. Since Sarai was unable to have a child of her own, she gave Hagar to her husband Abram (who was later renamed Abraham) so that Hagar could have children on her behalf. It was Sarai’s idea and Abram agreed, but there is no mention of Hagar’s opinions on the matter. Although this treatment of both Hagar and marriage was terribly wrong, it was an accepted custom of the time. In the cultures surrounding them it was thought a wife’s role was to provide children. If she was unable to have children herself, it was considered her responsibility to find another woman to have children on her behalf. Abram and Sarai had been called out of those surrounding cultures into the wilderness because God wanted to set their family apart. They were to learn God’s will so they could become a nation of priests to those surrounding cultures. However, in the context Sarai’s decision is understandable. Regardless of the rights or wrongs, Hagar and Abram slept together.

A Proud Spirit

Slavery was common in Ancient Egypt, although it wasn’t as big an enterprise as it became later on in antiquity. Slaves in Ancient Egypt were often better off than the poor peasants but that does not, of course, take away from the fact that it was still an abuse of human rights. We don’t know how Hagar ended up in her position. She may have been born into slavery, or perhaps her family sold her to pay their own debts. We can only speculate. What we do know is that Hagar may have been a slave separated from her own people and country, but she was no trampled spirit. Hagar had pride – but pride became her sin. When she found out she was pregnant, she began to despise and look down on Sarai. She had succeeded where Sarai had failed, even though Sarai was her mistress. She, Hagar, would be the mother of Abram’s only child.

In arrogance, Hagar began to lord it over Sarai and rub salt into her most vulnerable wound. For all it had been Sarai’s idea, she hadn’t anticipated this outcome. There would be no joy in sharing this child now. Instead there was only great hurt and competition. Sarai responded with jealousy. After Abram refused to intervene and told Sarai to do what she liked, Sarai began to abuse her position. She was cruel and mistreated Hagar harshly. Sarai may not have been the mother, but she was still the woman in charge! This story is so sad. It’s the first tale of female-against-female rivalry in the Bible. Instead of uniting to love the child they had longed for, they turned on each other with cruelty. For both Hagar and Sarai, their identities hung too much on the worth they thought they gained through a child. Their value didn’t depend on motherhood. God always loved them both.

Bold Before God

Hagar ran away. She had no idea where she would go but she couldn’t stay with Sarai anymore. She took off alone into the wilderness, her unborn child still within her. While Hagar was travelling to Shur, she paused at a fountain in the wilderness. It was there that the angel of the Lord met Hagar. He asked her where she had come from and where she was going. The angel must have already known what was going on, so it would appear he was asking the questions for Hagar’s benefit, asking her to reflect for herself and showing that God cared. God already knows everything, but He wants to have a relationship with us and hear from us ourselves. Hagar answered the first question, sharing where she had come from and why, but not the second question. The truth was, she didn’t know where she was going. She was lost, with no plan. The angel told Hagar to return and submit to Sarai, which was no doubt not what Hagar wanted to hear. However, the angel of the Lord promised Hagar that she would have many descendants and that her unborn child would be a son whom she was to call Ishmael because God had heard her. In Hebrew, Ishmael means ‘God hears’.

The angel of the Lord told Hagar that her son Ishmael would be a wild man and a fighter who would live in enmity with his brothers. Hagar was a survivor and it seems that her son Ishmael was to act out that trait in his own way. Hagar had been abused by her adoptive family, and Ishmael was to live in conflict with and be estranged from his family. The failings of one generation negatively impacted not only Hagar but the next generation with her son. Injustice has lasting consequences, but God then as now worked hope into the tragic human mess. Hagar had been captive, but her son Ishmael would be wild. Hagar was seen by God. Even though in the eyes of the world she was little more than a miserable slave who may as well have been invisible, the great God of Abraham knew Hagar. He saw her as infinitely precious and loved her in spite of her flaws. That realisation must have been awe-inspiring for Hagar.

Boldly, she named the God who had named her child. Hagar called God ‘Thou God seest me’, identifying a part of His character. Even when the people who are supposed to show God’s love fail, even when they sin and are hurtful, God still cares and God still hears us. Hagar is one of few people in the Bible to directly hear a covenant from God, and one of even fewer to give a name to God. She recognised God’s kindness in the privilege of this by asking in wonder, had she really there seen Him who sees her? Hagar also named the well after the encounter, which in Hebrew became known as Beer-lahai-roi. Obeying God’s directions, Hagar returned to Sarai and Abram. She must have told them of her encounter, because when gave birth to a son Abram called him Ishmael as God had told Hagar to do.

The Other Woman

Hagar continued to live with Sarai and Abram for another 14 years. During those years Ishmael had been an only child growing up in the rather confused family arrangements. However, when Ishmael was about 14 years old, Sarah and Abraham (for so they had been renamed in that time) finally had the child together that God had promised them. Ishmael didn’t think much of his new baby half-brother Isaac. No doubt he had been brought up with the rivalry of his mother Hagar and his step-mother Sarai. Ishmael mocked his baby half-brother. Sarah saw him doing so and complained to Abraham, insisting that Hagar and Ishmael must be cast out because Ishmael would not inherit along with her Isaac. This grieved Abraham because he loved his son Ishmael and was concerned for Hagar, but God told Abraham to listen to Sarah and do as she said. God told Abraham not to worry because He would make Ishmael into nation for Abraham’s sake. Early the next morning, Abraham took bread and water which he gave to Hagar and put on her shoulder himself. Hagar was sent away along with her son Ishmael.

In the Wilderness Again

Hagar wandered through wilderness of Beer-sheba with Ishmael. When she ran out of water, she hid her son in the shrubs and went to sit a long way off herself so she wouldn’t have to see him die. Hagar wept. She was alone in the desert with no hope of a future. She’d been cast out from the only family she’d known for the past 24 years. She had nowhere to go, no one to go to, and no one would even know when she died let alone mourn it. They’d been given limited resources, which had helped for a while, but now there was nothing left. Her son Ishmael was the only person she had in the world and now he was surely going to die. Her mother’s heart broke. They didn’t have enough water to make it to any habitation, and even if they did it would hardly be safe for them there. They were strangers and foreigners. She was a single woman with nothing of value to give, accompanied only by a young teenage boy. She didn’t want to think what could happen to her son, let alone her. This was the hostile Bronze age after all. The world was a wild, dangerous place. But that wasn’t something she had to worry about, because they weren’t even going to make it that far.

They were going to die right here, right now, alone. Hagar resigned herself to that fact. She already felt parched and weak from walking so far in the strong sun with not a drop of water left. She had left Ishmael in the shrubs to shade him at least a bit from the sun’s cruel heat, but there was no doubt he was going to die. The only relief she could give was to not witness it herself. She couldn’t cope with that. She just couldn’t. As Hagar sat, desolate, in the wilderness, she lifted her voice and wept. All was lost. Except it wasn’t. God heard the boy crying out and the angel of God called to Hagar out from heaven. What’s the matter, Hagar? God called. I imagine Hagar didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at that moment. What was the matter?! Wasn’t it obvious?!

God continued, telling Hagar not to fear because He had heard Ishmael’s voice where he was. It seems strange that God said he was responding to Ishmael’s voice, when the Bible has just been telling us about Hagar crying. Maybe God was trying to teach Hagar something. Hagar had sat far enough away that she couldn’t hear Ishmael, but God could still hear him. God had seen her before when she felt unseen. Now God heard Ishmael who she was trying not to hear herself. God was a God who sees. Ishmael was well named: ‘God hears’. Even when we come to the end of ourselves, God is still with us and loves us beyond measure. God told Hagar to go and lift up the boy and promised that He would make a nation of Ishmael. Then God opened her eyes to see a well of water nearby that she hadn’t seen before. Hagar filled her bottle with water from the well and gave it to Ishmael to drink. They were saved.

Matriarch of Her Own Nation

God remained with Ishmael as he grew up in the wilderness and became an archer. They lived in the wilderness of Paran. In time, when Ishmael was full-grown, Hagar took him a wife from Egypt. Finally, Hagar had agency and power of her own. They had survived alone in the wilderness against all odds with God’s help, and now God had made her the matriarch of the beginnings of her own nation. Ishmael had a wife and would found a nation, as God had promised. As the angel of the Lord had said, Ishmael became a wild survivor and fighter from a broken family. The world had abandoned them, so they must learn to survive on their own. Hagar cared for Ishmael as a single mother. However, it appears not all ties were completely severed with the family of Abraham. Abraham had lived an unusually long life. Ishmael was born when Abraham was 86 years old, Isaac was born when he was 100, and then Abraham lived to be a total of 175 years old. When Abraham eventually died, it seems the then 89-years-old Ishmael cared enough to attend Abraham’s burial along with his 75-year-old younger half-brother Isaac.

The two brothers had never got to know each other, since Hagar and Ishmael left when Isaac was still a baby. I’m curious as to what that meeting was like. Was it tense? Were they bound by a common grief? Did it finally take them a lifetime to reconcile? Or did they avoid each other as much as possible and just attend to burying their father? How did Isaac let Ishmael know that Abraham was dead? Did they know where each other lived and had they met again before? The Bible says that Ishmael’s hand would be against every man and that every man’s hand would be against him. Ishmael was a fighter who would dwell in the presence of all his brethren. That does not sound like reconciliation was an option to Ishmael. However, that is all we know. The Bible simply doesn’t say. Nor does it say whether Hagar lived to see Abraham’s funeral with her son, or whether she died before then.

Hagar’s Hope

There is one mention of Hagar in the New Testament where she is used as an allegory along with Sarah. I have written about this previously in my blog article on Sarah, so I won’t say as much here. In the allegory, Hagar the bondmaid represents this broken world and the old covenant of the Jewish people. Hagar was a survivor but there was pain and hurt in her story. The New Testament allegory points out that we no longer belong to that broken world as through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice we have been granted citizenship to the kingdom of God and a heavenly rather than the earthly Jerusalem. That doesn’t mean we won’t still suffer on earth. Even Jesus himself underwent suffering. However, the point of the allegory is that we have been granted an inheritance by God and are free through Christ instead of being slaves to other spiritual forces. Instead of being bound like Hagar the bondmaid, we can now be free like Sarah the freewoman. In other words, there is now a new hope for the Hagars of the world. God sees you, hears you, loves you, and wants you to be free in Christ.

‘And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?’
Genesis 16:13

Learn More:

Old Testament Women Timeline

The Bible is divided into two sections. First is the Old Testament, which contains 39 smaller books and was written in the years BC (Before Christ) about the history of the Jewish people and their relationship with God. Second is the New Testament, which contains 27 smaller books and was written in the years AD (Anno Domini, meaning In the Year of Our Lord) about Jesus and His early Christian followers. The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew and some Aramaic between about 1400 BC and 450 BC, with the earliest stories being passed down through oral tradition. The New Testament, on the other hand, was originally written in Greek between about AD 50 and AD 95. Despite spanning a massive period of time with a range of different cultures and circumstances, the total 66 books of the Bible are all part of one unified story – the story between God and His people.

The overarching narrative of the Old Testament is that humans had become separated from God because our sinful flaws were incompatible with His holy perfection. God loves us and so wants to mend the broken relationship, but time and time again throughout generations humans kept falling short. We were incapable on our own of meeting with God. We were just too broken. However, God loved us so much that He didn’t give up. He promised that one day a messiah would come and succeed where everyone else had failed. This messiah would save us and open up the way for us to be with God. The Old Testament gives us this great promise and hope – then ends on the world’s greatest cliffhanger. Who was this messiah? When would he come? How long must we wait? It leads right into the New Testament, where Jesus comes to fulfil the Old Testament prophecies.

Here I’ve given a summary and a timeline of the Old Testament. Since I’m particularly interested in the women of the Bible, I’ve also named some of the women to be found at different points in the Old Testament.

Creation Myths

Bible books: Genesis.

Unknown – Genesis chapters 1-11 tell the beginnings of creation and humanity in a way that uses deep symbolism to convey important truths about God. As such, these stories can’t be accurately dated and to try to do so is to misunderstand the literary purpose of these early chapters. We don’t need to know how old the world is. What, or rather who, we need to know is God.

Despite this, some people claim that the world was created in exactly 4004 BC, that the great flood and Noah’s ark were circa 2500 BC, and that the confusion of languages at the Tower of Babel happened circa 2400 BC. By contrast, scientists have found homo sapiens skeletons dating back nearly 200,000 years old and currently estimate the Earth to be over 4.5 billion years old. Specific dates aren’t of much relevance for these early stories.

Women of this period: Eve, Adah, Zillah, Naamah.

Ancestral History

Bible books: Genesis, possibly Job.

Circa 2000 BC – It is only from Genesis chapter 12 when the Bible shifts into ancestral history that dates can begin to be applied. It is at this point that Abraham was called by God, beginning the historical narrative of the Israelite people who would later descend from him and lead to Jesus.

Circa 1750 BC – Three generations later, Joseph (of amazing technicolor dream coat fame) had risen to become the powerful second-in-command of Egypt and his family moved to join him in Egypt.

Women of this period: Sarah, Hagar, Rebekah, Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, Bilhah, Dinah, Tamar (1), Potiphar’s wife. Possibly also Jemima, Kezia, Keren-happuch.

Israelites in Egypt

Bible books: none as the gap between Genesis and Exodus is unrecorded.

Between circa 1750 BC and circa 1550 BC – The early Israelite people remained in Egypt for the several hundred years from the end of Genesis until the beginning of Exodus. During this time they multiplied from one large family into a nation comprised of 12 tribes (descended from the original 12 brothers). In addition to the passage of time that erodes memories, Egypt was a politically tumultuous country among the ruling classes and power changed hands several times to different dynasties. These different dynasties didn’t know the history of how Joseph had helped Egypt and saw the large number of Israelite people as a threat. At some stage during this period, the Egyptians enslaved the Israelites and began abusing them terribly.

Slavery & Escape from Egypt

Bible books: Exodus.

Circa 1550 BC – Moses was called by God to lead the Israelite people out of slavery in Egypt and into the land that had been promised to Abraham and his descendants. The Pharaoh of Egypt was nothing short of a tyrant but God’s power always prevails when it is His will, so Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and into the wilderness on a journey to the promised land.

Women of this period: Shiprah, Puah, Jochebad, Miriam, Pharoah’s daughter, Zipporah.

In the Wilderness

Bible books: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.

Circa 1550 BC – Moses led the constantly moaning Israelites through the wilderness and received the ten commandments along with other laws from God at Mount Sinai. However, despite having witnessed God’s power and justice in freeing them from brutal slavery in Egypt, the Israelite people were ungrateful and broke God’s laws as soon as He had given them. God sentenced the Israelites to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. They needed to get the Egypt out of them and it would be their children’s generation who would enter the promised land.

Circa 1400 BC – Moses also rebelled against God and, although God graciously allowed him to view it from a distance, was not allowed to enter the promised land. It was only after Moses’ death that the Israelites began moving into the land.

Women of this period: Miriam, Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, Tirzah.

Entering The Promised Land

Bible books: Joshua.

Circa 1400 BC – After Moses’ death, his protégé Joshua inherited leadership and led the Israelites into the promised land. The land was already occupied by violent city states so Joshua commanded battles to claim the land promised to them, however he failed to complete the task.

Women of this period: Rehab.

Settlement of Israel

Bible books: Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel.

Circa 1400 BC – The next few hundred years after entering the promised land contained some of the darkest stories in Israel’s history. The Israelites began to settle the land but disobeyed God’s laws and were corrupted by the violent tribes that still remained in the land. When they rebelled against God, He allowed those violent tribes to oppress the Israelites. Then, when they repented and turned back to God, He would raise up a judge to deliver them. This pattern repeated multiple times. The land was lawless, but even within that there were stories of hope and promise.

Circa 1100 BC – Samuel was born to Hannah, who sent him to be raised by Israel’s chief priest. God began speaking to Samuel and he was recognised as a prophet. The chief priest’s sons had been disobeying God’s laws. After their deaths and the chief priest’s death, Samuel’s role as prophet meant he became the leader of Israel.

Women of this period: Deborah, Jael, Jephthah’s daughter, Samson’s mother, Delilah, the Levite’s concubine, Naomi, Orpah, Ruth, Hannah, Penninah.

Israel’s Monarchy

Bible books: 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon

Circa 1050 BC – The Israelite people decided they needed a king because they wanted to be like all the other nations. They demanded that Samuel find a king for them. Samuel was unhappy about this but God allowed it, warning however that a king would bring consequences. At God’s direction, Samuel appointed Saul as the first king of Israel. To begin with the people were glad to have Saul as their king, but Saul soon began to disobey God. Instead God began to raise up a shepherd boy, David, and Saul in his jealousy started persecuting David.

Circa 1000 BC – After Saul killed himself, David was chosen to became the next king of Israel. At first he too seems like a good king. In many ways David was better than Saul had been, for truly loved God. However, in the end David disobeyed God too, committing adultery and murder. Although he repented, he could not undo what he had done.

970 BC – On David’s death, his son Solomon became the third king of Israel. Because Solomon was initially obedient to God he was gifted with wisdom. Israel flourished under his rule and a grand temple was built to honour God. However, Solomon then made a lot of political marriages to secure foreign alliances, disobeying God’s laws as well as displaying a lack of trust in Him. This caused his downfall because his many wives influenced him to instead worship foreign deities, which angered God.

Women of this period: Michal, Ahinoam, Abigail, the medium of En-dor, Bathsheba, Tamar (2), Abishag, the two harlot mothers, the Queen of Sheba.

A Divided Kingdom

Bible books: 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, Isaiah, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah.

931 BC – After Solomon’s death his son Rehoboam assumed the throne. Rehoboam refused to treat the Israelite people kindly, thus sparking a civil war. The 12 tribes of Israel divided into two separate kingdoms, with the northern kingdom of Israel being made up of 11 tribes and Rehoboam ruling the remaining tribe in the southern kingdom of Judah. The two kingdoms remained separated and both deteriorated as a succession of kings and queens rose and fell over the years.

Women of this period: Jezebel, Athaliah, Jehosheba, Huldah, Gomer.

Exile to Babylon

Bible books: 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel.

722 BC – Despite multiple prophets sent by God having tried to warn the Israelites to turn back to God instead of worshipping false deities and sinning against each other, the people refused to listen even after all God had done for them throughout their history. Eventually their behaviour brought consequences. Samaria in the northern kingdom of Israel was captured by the Assyrians.

605 BC – Since they had failed to learn from the example of Samaria and still refused to turn back to God, there was the first Babylonian takeover of the southern kingdom of Judah.

597 BC – The second Babylonian takeover of the southern kingdom of Judah came a few years after the first takeover.

586 BC – There was a third and final takeover of Judah, resulting in the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple by the Babylonians. The last of the Israelites were taken into exile to Babylon.

Women of this period: Aholah, Aholibah.

Return From Exile

Bible books: Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Daniel, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.

Circa 539 BC – The Persians of the Archaemenid Empire conquered Babylon, where the Israelites were held captive in exile.

538 BC – Zerubabbel and over 40,000 other Israelites were released to go back to Jerusalem following the decree of the new Persian king Cyrus.

515 BC – The Israelites finally restored their temple in Jerusalem.

486 BC to 465 BC – Xerxes I was king of Persia. It is thought that in Hebrew he was known by the name of Ahasuerus, which would make him them the king that Esther married and this the time period in which she saved her people.

457 BC – A second group of Israelites returned from exile to Jerusalem, led by Ezra.

432 BC – The third group of Israelites returned from exile, led by Nehemiah.

Women of this period: Queen Vashti, Esther.

Second Temple Period

Bible books: none as there were no prophets in the gap between the Old Testament and the New Testament.

515 BC to AD 70 – The period from the restoration of the temple in Jerusalem (following the Israelite’s return from exile) until its destruction by the Romans (which was in response to Jewish revolt) is known as the second temple period. This period overlaps with end of Old Testament and the beginning of Christianity, covering about 400 years of silence in between during which God did not speak to His people by prophets. The Old Testament was the world’s greatest cliffhanger, ending with the promise of a messiah who would save them but waiting a then unknown stretch of time for this messiah to appear.

330 BC – Empires rise and fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever. The Israelites had been captured by the Babylonians, the Babylonians were conquered by the Persians, and now the Persian Empire was defeated by Alexander the Great, who would die himself just seven years later at the age of 32.

63 BC – Israel lost independence once again after Pompey led the Siege of Jerusalem and it was conquered by the Roman Empire. This led to yet more oppression, upheaval, and social discontent while the rich got richer and the poor suffered for it.

4 BC – In a lowly stable in a village just five and a half miles from Jerusalem, a baby boy was born to a young, poor, nobody couple. They had been forced to travel far from their families just at the time when they needed that support most, and soon they would be forced to escape to Egypt as teenage refugees. The mother was the subject of scandal at home and surrounded by incriminating rumours. The father had taken a leap of faith by not breaking off their betrothal and agreeing to raise this child who was not his. Neither of them knew what they were doing. They hadn’t expected this, and they hadn’t expected to have to make this long journey at the most inconvenient of times. But this was the fulfilment of those Old Testament prophecies and promises that dated back right to the start of Genesis itself. Their baby was to be called Jesus. But that’s the story of the New Testament…

Sarah: Mother of Nations (Part Two)

Bible Verses: Genesis 11:29-32, Genesis 12:5-13:1, Genesis 16:1-9, Genesis 17:15-21, Genesis 18:6-15, Genesis 20:1-21:12, Genesis 23:1-20, Genesis 24:36, Genesis 24:67, Genesis 25:10, Genesis 25:12, Genesis 49:29-32, Isaiah 51:1-2, Romans 4:18-20, Romans 9:8-9, Galatians 4:21-31, Hebrews 11:11-13, 1 Peter 3:1-6

Sarah is the women mentioned the most number of times in the Bible. She was also the first of the Jewish matriarchs who helped found the Israelite people. The rest of the Bible follows the stories of her descendants, eventually leading up to Jesus Christ some two thousand years later. As might be expected, there is a lot to write about Sarah. This is the second blog article on Sarah. To see part one of her life under her previous name of Sarai click here.

A New Identity

To briefly recap, in the last passage discussed (Genesis 17:15-21) God made a covenant promise with Sarah’s husband Abraham. He promised that at that time next year Sarah and Abraham would have a baby, whom they were to name Isaac. As a sign of that promise, God said that Sarai was to be renamed Sarah. God declared that He would make Sarah ‘a mother of nations’ and that ‘kings of people shall be of her’. Quite a title for a now 90-year-old woman long past childbearing age!

A Sense of Humour

In the chapter following these crazy-seeming promises, three men came to visit Abraham. Abraham, Sarah, and their servants were living in tents in the middle of nowhere, so they can’t have had many visitors! Abraham instantly recognised that the visitors were God appearing in the form of three men – in other words, angels, I suppose. He was quick to bow down to them, offer hospitality, and hurried to Sarah to tell her to make three cakes of the finest meal as quick as she could.

After the three men had eaten, they asked where Sarah was. Abraham replied that she was in the tent, and God said that when He returned that time next year Sarah would have a son. Sarah heard this from the tent door behind him. And she laughed – laughed silently, inside herself. She was 90 years old and her husband was nearly 100! She had been through menopause long ago and was far past the age of having a child! Would she really have the pleasure of having a child, when both she and her husband were so old?!

One of the things I love about Sarah is her sense of humour, but on this occasion it was rather mistimed. God asked Abraham why had Sarah laughed? Nothing was impossible for the Lord. God repeated His promise that Sarah would have a son. Even though God wasn’t speaking directly to her, hearing this made Sarah afraid. She hadn’t even laughed out loud and yet God knew even her innermost thoughts. Would God take offence at her disrespect? She tried to deny having laughed but both God and she knew the truth. God let her know that He knew, but then the three men left without acting on Sarah’s fears. Instead God would give her a real reason to laugh – one that would bring glory to God and be a blessing for all people.

Dangerous Beauty

Some time after this, Sarah and Abraham journeyed south through the land of Canaan to near Gerar. As they had done before in Egypt, they pretended that they were only brother and sister, not husband and wife, because they were scared that Abraham might be seen as a rival and killed. Sarah must have been incredibly beautiful, since she was now 90 years old! Abimelech, the king of Gerar, certainly thought Sarah was beautiful. He sent for her and took her away. Both Abraham and Sarah continued their deception. Luckily it didn’t last long.

God came to Abimelech in a dream, telling him that he was as good as dead. God told Abimelech the truth and warned him that there would be severe consequences if he didn’t return Sarah. However, God knew that Abimelech had acted under false information and so gave him a time of grace. God had preventing Abimelech from sinning by sleeping with Sarah and came to warn him in a dream so he could right the wrong. Now that Abimelech knew the truth he must return Sarah or die.

It’s interesting to note that God didn’t automatically make everything go well for Sarah. Unknown to her, God was at work in the situation, but she was still subject to the actions of other humans. God presented a decision to Abimelech and let him choose the consequences. Fortunately Abimelech chose to obey God, but life doesn’t always go like that. Sarah being held against her will by a king reminds me of how, later, her descendants the Israelite people were held captive by the pharaoh in the story of Exodus. God’s will always wins in the end, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be easy for us. Like Sarah, we just need to hold onto faith and stay true to the Lord wherever we find ourselves.

Sarah Vindicated

Abimelech got up early the next morning to report his dream to his servants and call Abraham to him. He asked why had they lied and brought the kingdom to sin, to which Abraham explained his fears and that it wasn’t an outright lie as he was Sarah’s half-brother as well as her husband – for such were the accepted customs of the Bronze Age. Abimelech gave them many gifts and told Abraham they could stay wherever they liked in his land. Sarah was returned to her husband and Abimelech told her that he had given compensation to her brother so she was publicly vindicated of any shame.

Once this had been done, Abraham prayed for Abimelech. God healed the people of Gerar so they could have children again, as He had prevented births whilst Sarah was held in Abimelech’s house. This detail is worth noting because it demonstrates God’s powers over life. It foreshadows that His promise of Sarah having a son will come true, as well as hinting at later miraculous births. These include the elderly Elizabeth giving birth to John the Baptist and ultimately the Virgin Mary giving birth to Jesus Christ.

Joyful Yet Jealous

God fulfilled His promises. Sarah had a son in her old age! He was named Isaac (meaning ‘laughter’ in Hebrew) and was circumcised as God had commanded. Sarah declared that God had made her laugh and that all who heard what He had done would laugh with her. Who would have thought it possible?! They had a feast day to celebrate when Isaac was weaned. Unfortunately, not all was happy in the family.

Hagar’s son Ishmael was now about 14 years old. He had been Abraham’s only child but now he and his mother were being cast aside in the celebrations for his new baby half-brother. It was no secret that his mother and Sarah didn’t get along. When Sarah saw Ishmael mocking Isaac, she wasn’t having it. She had waited so long and been through so much heartbreak for her promised child; she wasn’t letting anyone hurt him now! Sarah asked Abraham to cast Ishmael and Hagar out from the family. Their sons shouldn’t be heirs together, as Isaac was the one promised by God. Abraham was very distressed about this. Ishmael was still his son after all! He didn’t know what to do, but God told Abraham to listen to his wife. Isaac was to be the heir and God would look after Ishmael for Abraham’s sake. Hearing this, Abraham obeyed God and deferred to Sarah’s wishes.

A Woman With Character

Sarah, like all of us, had her good days and her bad days. She was loving towards her family, honoured her husband, and was immensely protective of her long-wished-for child. She cared a lot and was prepared to take matters into her own hands when she deemed it necessary. She was proactive and practical, yet also respected her husband a lot and voluntarily gave him the right of veto before carrying out her own plans. Her thwarted desire for a child brought out the worst in her. She could be selfish at times and jealousy made her terribly cruel and abusive, especially towards Hagar. Despite this, she was essentially good-humoured and learnt to have much more faith in God. Sarah was strong and resilient, quick to laugh and dedicated towards her family. A fitting figure, through God’s generous nature, to become the first matriarch of the Israelite people.

A Family Legacy

Sarah lived to be 127 years old and then died. Abraham had clearly loved her very much as he mourned and wept for her. He bought land and a cave from the sons of Heth to bury his dead in, and he made sure that the borders of that land were confirmed in public. This shows the respect and honour Abraham held for Sarah, as he wanted her burial site to be a permanent memorial for their descendants and wanted to make sure that the land would not be disputed or disrespected in the future. Only once he had these assurances was Sarah buried. She was buried in the cave in the field of Machpelah in Hebron (also known as Kirjath-arba), which was in the land of Canaan.

Some time after Sarah’s death, her son Isaac brought his own wife, Rebekah, into Sarah’s tent. Sarah was never able to see her son marry or meet her future daughter-in-law, but it strikes me as rather sweet that Isaac wanted to bring his wife to the place associated with his mother’s presence. It was the closest they could get to meeting in this world. Rebekah became Sarah’s successor as the second matriarch of the Israelite people, and she comforted Isaac after his mother’s death.

When Abraham later died in turn, he was buried by his sons Isaac and Ishmael in the same field that he’d bought for Sarah. (As a side note, I’m curious about the reunion of those brothers. Was it bitter? Was it peaceful? How did they come to both be there? It must be quite a story, but it’s one the Bible doesn’t tell.) Sarah and Abraham were united after death, and later generations of the family continued to be buried there. Many years later, when Sarah’s grandson Jacob died in Egypt, he asked to be buried in the same field with his ancestors and family. The woman who’d thought she would never have a child had, through God, left a family legacy and a spiritual inheritance to her descendants.

Honoured Ancestress

Sarah had lived during the twentieth century BC, in the middle of the Bronze Age. This was around the time when Stonehenge was being built in England; horses were being domesticated to pull chariots in the steppes of southern Russia and northern Kazakhstan; pharaohs ruled with absolute power in Egypt; and the last woolly mammoths became extinct in the Arctic. Sarah’s story is so human and her character so relatable that it’s easy to forget just how long ago she actually lived. Sarah had to navigate the ancient world. And yet she knew the same God who invites us to know Him today!

After many generations and over a thousand years later, Sarah’s family legacy had expanded into a whole people, who had divided into two nations. During the eighth century BC, when the prophet Isaiah was calling the Israelites be faithful to God, he told them to remember where they came from and what they were made of. Isaiah called them to look to Sarah who had bore them, not forget their history, and remain faithful to God as God had been faithful to them.

Mother of Nations

Sarah’s significance in the Judeo-Christian story can be seen by the fact that several of the New Testament letters reference her to illustrate their points. Since the New Testament was written in Greek rather than the Hebrew of the Old Testament, Sarah’s name is sometimes translated as Sara instead but it’s still referring to the same person. In the book of Romans, the writer Paul tells the early Christians to hope and have strong faith in God. We are told that His promise is true and more powerful than worldly circumstances, such as Sara being past childbearing age. Nothing can stop the will of the Lord, so we have reason to hold onto faith. Sara is a testimony of that.

The book of Romans also addresses questions that the very multicultural, diverse early Church had about their place with God. In the Old Testament God had worked through the Jewish people, calling them to be a nation of priests that represented Him to the world. In the New Testament God fulfilled His promises through coming as Jesus Christ, and through Christ people of all nations are invited to join the kingdom of God. In this context it was important to make it clear that those considered children of God were not necessarily those descended of the flesh like the Israelites, and like Ishmael had been. Rather, the children of God were those metaphorically descended from His promises, as Isaac had been and as all people who chose to follow Christ are. Sara gave life not just to the Israelite people but to all descendants of the promise. God had promised that He would come and that Sara would have a son. Initially this was her son Isaac but it also led to Jesus, who was the Son of God as well as Sarah’s 39-times-great-grandson!

New Testament Allegory

In the book of Galatians, Sarah (sometimes translated Sara) and Hagar (sometimes translated Agar) are presented as an allegory for the two covenants and ways of being with God. Agar was a ‘bondmaid’ or slave and her son was born of human flesh. Sara, on the other hand, was a ‘freewoman’ and her son was born of God’s divine promise. In Galatians the writer Paul explains that Agar represented the first covenant from Mount Sinai, which made children who were slaves to religious law, like how the present city of Jerusalem was in slavery. Sara represented a second covenant, whose children were free through the promise and grace of God, like the heavenly new Jerusalem that is mother to us all. In other words, those of the old Jewish covenant from Mount Sinai were like slaves because they had to try to reach holiness through their own works and religious law. Those of the new Christian covenant from the cross are set free because Jesus came down to take away our sin and make us holy even though we don’t deserve it.

Christians aren’t necessarily Israelite descendants of Sarah, they are children of the promise. It’s a spiritual inheritance for all people rather than being confined to the genealogy of one family. Paul explained that like how Ishmael had persecuted Isaac in the Old Testament, so were the Jewish Pharisees persecuting the early Christians in his own time. Being born of the flesh of the Israelite people didn’t necessarily mean they were born of God’s promise. For many people, the religion had become about human regulations and prideful traditions instead of about a relationship with God. Unless they truly accepted God into their hearts, they wouldn’t share in the divine inheritance. This is true today for cultural Christianity, if people are just going through the motions of human-made religious traditions. Christianity is a religion, but it should be focused on seeking a living relationship with the Lord God.

Woman of Faith

Chapter 11 in the book of Hebrews is often called the faith hall of fame. And whose name do we find there? None other than Sara’s. Through faith Sara was able to have a child even though she was barren and in old age. She had judged God as faithful to His promises and because of that nations and thousands of children came from the barren elderly woman. Sara is a shining example of faith, and her faith led to thousands of descendants who lived in faith themselves. If there’s one thing we should learn from Sarah it’s to have faith and to trust in the Lord, wherever that might lead.

Daughters of Sarah

The final New Testament passage referring to Sara is found in 1 Peter. Here Sara is presented as an example of how Christian women should behave as wives. We are encouraged to behave in a way that would be befitting of the daughters of Sara, for that is what we are. If a Christian woman is married to a non-Christian husband, she should interact towards him with a peaceful rather than an argumentative spirit. Instead of nagging him about faith, because that could drive him away, she should instead demonstrate purity and reverence in her own life. This is so non-believing husbands may be won over to Christ without words. It’s a case of show not tell. Our actions bear witness to an unbelieving world. Instead of turning Christianity into a source of nagging and irritation for her husband, a Christian wife should instead let him see the fruits of the spirit overflowing from her relationship with God. This is the most effective strategy to win appreciation for Christianity rather than cause resentment of it. Wives are to be for their husbands, and should honour and support him.

Holy Woman of Old

True beauty comes from within, and we are to cultivate inner beauty over external appearance. The holy women of old who trusted in God adorned themselves this way – with the faithful heart and peaceful spirit of inner beauty. The Bible encourages us to look to these holy women for examples, even whilst acknowledging they each had their own flaws. Sarah was the first of these holy women, and we are her daughters if we do what is right without fear.

‘And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.’
Genesis 21:6

Sarai: Flawed Yet Faithful (Part One)

Sarai is the woman mentioned the most number of times in the Bible. She was also the only woman to have her name changed by God, from Sarai to Sarah, which was an act with significant symbolism in the Bible. Sarai/Sarah was the first matriarch of the Jewish people, and the first woman in the ‘ancestral history’ of the Bible whom we know to have been a historical figure. Sarai lived around 2000 BC, during the middle of the Bronze Age in the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East. She was a very real women with her own faults and flaws, yet in spite of those is held up in the New Testament as an example of faith.

Sarai’s Genealogy

Sarai is first introduced as part of a genealogy that had descended from those who were at the tower of Babel. Genealogies and history were important in the Bible because they were a way to track the faithfulness of God and the fulfilment His promises over the long term. Sarai was the wife of Abram, as well as his half-sister (since that was considered acceptable at that point in history). A specific detail that is pointed out about her is that she was barren and had no children.

The Start of A Journey

Sarai initially lived in Ur of the Chaldees, a city in southern Mesopotamia that historians have associated with the worship of a moon god. She later travelled with her father Terah, her husband Abram, and her nephew Lot to Haran. The city of Haran is thought to be in the south of modern-day Turkey. Terah had originally intended to go to the land of Canaan and we don’t know why he stopped in Haran, but the family dwelt there for some time until Terah died and it was time to continue on their journey again.

After Terah had died, God called Sarai’s husband Abram. God told him to get out of that country for a land that God would show him later, promising to bless Abram and turn him into a great nation. So Sarai travelled on from Haran with her husband Abram, their nephew Lot, and all the servants they had gained. Sarai had no idea what she would face and must have been concerned about the promise that her husband would found a nation when she was unable to have children. God told them what they needed to know at that point, rather than all they wanted to know. Neither Sarai nor Abram could have understood God’s plans, but they decided to have faith and trust His promises. They travelled to the land of Canaan, which is around modern-day Israel, and then continued to journey south through Canaan. Their family had been chosen by God to bless all of humanity, for God saw potential they couldn’t even comprehend.

A Beautiful Woman

After some time there came a famine in the land of Canaan, so the family travelled further south into Egypt to avoid the famine. This perhaps also foreshadows later biblical events, such as when Joseph’s brothers travelled to Egypt during another famine. Sarai was incredibly beautiful, and because of this Abram afraid that the Egyptians would kill him in order to take her. To guard his own safety, Abram asked Sarai to say that she was his sister instead of his wife. Sarai clearly loved her husband Abram very much, because she agreed to his rather selfish plan.

When the Egyptians and their princes saw Sarai they told the Pharaoh of her beauty, and she was taken into the Pharaoh’s house. This was a dangerous situation for both Sarai and Abram, but especially so for Sarai. Not only was she a beautiful woman in a strange foreign land, but she was now held at the will of an extremely powerful man whose intentions we may guess, and her husband was too afraid of a threat on his own life to help her. If she pretended to be unmarried, the Pharaoh would take her regardless of her own wishes. If she admitted to being married, then her husband would most likely be killed and then the Pharaoh would take her anyway. All she could do was hope that God would somehow save her.

The Pharaoh thought that Abram was Sarai’s brother so, because of Sarai, treated Abram well and gave him many gifts. It was an outwardly prosperous yet secretly very tense situation. Luckily for them, God intervened. He had other plans for them. For Sarai’s sake, God sent plagues on Pharaoh and his house – which seems to foreshadow the plagues of Exodus. Discovering the truth through these plagues, Pharaoh called Abram to him. He asked why ever had Abram not told him that Sarai was his wife, and sent them both away out of Egypt with all of their belongings – including the possessions Abram had gained whilst there.

Challenging Times

Sarai travelled back into the south of Canaan with Abram, their nephew Lot, and their servants. Although her own situation seems to have been much more peaceful for some time afterwards, there were difficult situations with family that must have affected her on an emotional level at least. Her nephew Lot separated from the rest of the family, ended up living in the city of Sodom, was taken captive during a war that involved an attack on Sodom, and then her husband Abram went to war to free Lot. To top it all off, God reiterated His promise to Abram for a fourth time that Abram would have children and as many descendants as there are stars in the sky – even through Sarai was barren. While God’s promise was received as a blessing by Abram, it’s uncertain whether Sarai received it the same way. It must have been an enormous pressure to her. Perhaps she questioned whether she was just standing in Abram’s way, since it was clear she was unable to have children.

Capable of Cruelty

Sarai wasn’t a woman to just wait passively by. After ten years of having returned to Canaan from Egypt, she decided to take matters into her own hands. Sarai desperately longed for a child and God had promised her husband many descendants, but she recognised that God had stopped her from bearing children. She decided to turn to what was a common ‘solution’ in the surrounding cultures of that time and told Abram to sleep with her Egyptian handmaid Hagar. This is the first time we hear about Hagar, who was presumably gifted to her during her time in Egypt. The idea was that Hagar would bear a child on Sarai’s behalf so that Sarai could have a child through her. In the surrounding cultures of the time, a wife’s purpose was considered to be to provide heirs for her husband. If she was unable to, then it was considered her responsibility to find a second ‘wife’ for him. Sarai had clearly absorbed this expectation from those surrounding cultures and defined her worth by whether she was a mother or not.

Abram agreed to Sarai’s plan and Hagar became pregnant. On discovering this, Hagar began to feel superior about achieving what Sarai could not. She began to despise Sarai, her mistress, and no doubt Hagar rather rubbed this accomplishment in Sarai’s face, picking at Sarai’s most painful insecurities. Instead of finding joy in the child, which had been her plan after all, Sarai blamed Abram and told him that God would judge between them. Trying to stay out of it and avoid conflict, Abram told Sarai that Hagar was her servant so she could do as she liked. This led to Sarai harshly mistreating Hagar out of her jealousy, painful insecurities, anger at being looked down on, and desire to reestablish her status as Hagar’s mistress and Abram’s wife. For all her good qualities, Sarai had bad ones too. When angry and hurting she was capable of great cruelty, to the extent that Hagar ran away into the desert whilst still pregnant, although she later returned. This is the first example of woman against woman bullying in the Bible.

A Woman’s Worth

Sarai is presented to further extend the image from Eve of God’s intention for women. Eve was named the ‘mother of all the living’ before she had even had any children, and Sarai’s story further emphasises that children are not the root of women’s value or of a wife’s purpose. Because she had no child, Sarai thought she was nothing; whereas when Hagar had a child, Hagar thought she was everything. They both believed too much in what the world declared, and in seeking their worth through accomplishments found only misery. The fallen culture of our broken world tends to pit women against each other in competition, when they should instead be supporting and empowering each other.

Women may seek their value in motherhood like Sarai did, or nowadays they may seek it in a successful career, external appearance, a romantic relationship, superficial popularity, or even the mythical success of ‘having it all’. All of these are equally harmful. Although the accomplishments themselves may be good, they shouldn’t be the source of our identity. We don’t need to seek our worth through external validation, and if we do it will only leave us empty because the things of the world are all fleeting. As women, and as humans, we have intrinsic value because we are made in the image of God. We are unconditionally loved by God and have immense value in Him that is not dependent on whatever we might do or achieve.

A Renowned Princess

When Abram was 99-years-old and Sarai was 90-years-old, God made a covenant with Abram. God changed Abram’s name (meaning ‘exalted father’ in Hebrew) to Abraham (which meant ‘father of many’ in Hebrew), and He also changed Sarai’s name to Sarah. Names are significant in the Bible and changing their names indicates the new role that God had for them, symbolically establishing their new identities. Sarai meant ‘my princess’, showing that she was beloved and honoured by her family who had named her, as well as by God. Sarah, by comparison, means ‘princess’. This was an expansion of her identity to a wider recognition and historical importance. Sarah (as Sarai was now called) would be a princess not just to her own family who knew her, but to all people. She would be acknowledged and honoured as important in God’s human story – and as we’re still talking about her around 4,000 years later, we can see that God kept His promises!

As well as changing Sarai/Sarah’s name, God told Abram/Abraham that He would bless her and give them a son together. God would make Sarah ‘a mother of nations’ and declared that kings would be descended from her. On hearing this Abraham laughed because they were both old and long past childbearing years. God (who seems to have a sense of humour) confirmed that Sarah would have a son that time the next year and told Abraham to call their son ‘Isaac’, meaning ‘laughter’. God promised that He would make a covenant with Isaac and with his descendants after him for time everlasting – among whom we are counted if we believe. God named Sarah ‘princess’ and we are all daughters of the king if only we accept God as our king.

Sarai’s story will be continued in a second blog post, telling part two of her life under her new name of Sarah.

Adah & Zillah: The Beginning of Oppression

Bible Verses: Genesis 4:19-24

Very little is known about Adah and Zillah. There are only a few Bible verses about them, and they tend to be overlooked, however they are the first women after Eve to be named in the Bible. The ancient biblical authors clearly thought they were important enough to include, but what can we learn from them? Adah and Zillah were the two wives of Lamech, who was descended from Eve’s son Cain. Cain had given in to the power of evil by murdering his twin brother out of jealousy, despite God warning him to not let sin rule over him. Because of this, Cain had to leave the presence of God and with each generation his descendants spiralled down into more sin, eventually coming to Lamech with the sixth generation. All in all, it’s a pretty miserable picture of the humanity that God had once declared ‘very good’.

Lamech was characterised as a new low point in the human story. He was arrogant, violent, and boasted of his cruelty in murdering those who had done him even the slightest harm. Instead of worshipping God, he sung of his brutality and terrible power. Lamech was an oppressive, aggressive force who gloried in injustice. And it is in this context that Adah and Zillah emerge, as the first example of polygamy in the Bible. No doubt they were just as fallen and sinful, but we don’t know enough details about their lives to be able to say. What we do know is that they were treated as property to be accumulated rather than humans and women to be valued. The Bible makes it clear that polygamy and the oppression of women are a result of sin and cause great pain and suffering that is against God’s good plan.

Names are significant in the Bible as they often have meanings in Hebrew. In the cases of Adah and Zillah this link appears to be more tenuous than in other cases, however it has been suggested that Adah may mean ‘ornament’ while Zillah may mean ‘shadow’. These meanings certainly fit with the way that the two women are presented. Being named an ‘ornament’ would suggest that Adah was treated as no more than a trophy wife rather than as her own person, whereas the name ‘shadow’ suggests that Zillah was hidden unseen in the dark and not allowed to fulfil her potential. The power-obsessed Lamech treated these two women as little more than status symbols and an audience for his boasting. It is a far cry from the loving, monogamous marriage that God had intended for Adam and Eve.

Why was this depressing story included in the Bible? The ancient biblical authors clearly wrote of Adah and Zillah for a reason, especially since the book of Genesis is about ‘beginnings’ and sets the scene for God’s plan in this world. I think its purpose is to show clearly from the outset that this is not what our God wants. Later stories in the Bible have many examples of oppression, violence, arrogance, polygamy, and the mistreatment of women. Even God’s people, who chose to follow Him, frequently fell short in the way they treated their womenfolk. God uses broken people, but He has a better plan for us all. And He knows all His daughters, every overlooked Adah and Zillah, by name.

So this story is a cautionary tale of how not to treat women, or any other oppressed group. It is a demonstration of how sin has multiplied from Eve’s curse of being ruled over by a bad husband to the systematic oppression of women in a patriarchal society. Sin hurts everyone, but it has been especially damaging to women – hence why war was initiated between Eve (women) and the serpent (forces of evil/sin).

Yet not all is bad. Even when fallen, human creativity continues. Adah and Zillah’s children became the first craftsmen and artists, specialising in different occupations. The number 7 in ancient Jewish culture signified completion or wholeness, and as these children were the 7^th generation from Adam and Eve, they showed a totality of the human project being launched into the world.

This human creativity is directly linked to the mothers, Adah and Zillah, who bore life to their children. Humanity may have got lost along the way, but they still had the inner urge to create and God could use that to build a better future. While the individual story itself is a human tragedy, there remains an element of hope to be found in the promise of a greater story. While it is Adah and Zillah who suffer most, it is from them that hope continues. Women are an important part of God’s plan.

Things had gone wrong along the way, but this was only the beginning and God would redeem His people.

Top Ten Traditional Hymns

As much as we need creativity and to avoid stagnancy with new Christian songs, I find that sometimes there is just something beautiful about traditional hymns. They’ve been sung across generations throughout communities, becoming a deep-rooted tradition. They unite thousands of people from all walks of life, some of whom have never even met, in the shared worship of one God. There’s something about the time-enduring aspect of it that I find very special. There’s a peace in the ritual familiarity of singing many-times-repeated words. A grounding in faith and steadfastness when life seems crazy. A reminder that people much older and wiser than us can testify to God’s faithfulness even if we don’t always feel it right then, and that there is a reason why Jesus of Nazareth is still remembered two thousand years later. There is a reason why this faith has lasted all this time. A reason why, despite people throughout history being convinced that religion could not last, that there have always been people coming back to our good, loving Father.

I want to share a few of my favourite hymns (by female singers, since this is Feminine Finishing School!) and collect a mini library of songs that we can come back to when we need to listen again. Or at least that I can come back to! These are all songs that I like personally, and most are traditional in my church and culture. I would love to know what songs are traditional in your culture, whether they’re Christian or otherwise. Please do comment below! And I hope you enjoy these songs!

1. Be Thou My Vision

‘Be Thou My Vision’ is based on a sixth-century Irish poem. The most popular English version was translated in 1912 by Eleanor Hull, and since 1919 it has been sung to an Irish folk tune known as ‘Slane’. It remains one of the most popular hymns in Britain.

2. How Great Thou Art

‘How Great Thou Art’ is based on a Swedish traditional melody and poem composed by Carl Boberg in 1885. Additional verses were added by Stuart K Hine when he translated it into English in 1949, and in 2013 it was voted the UK’s favourite hymn.

3. Amazing Grace

‘Amazing Grace’ was published in 1779 by John Newton, who after an eventful life as a sailor that gained him a bad reputation, gradually converted to Christianity and later became a clergyman. It gained popularity during the Second Great Awakening of early 19th century America.

4. Peace In Christ

‘Peace In Christ’ is a relatively recent hymn, written in 2018 by Nik Day in response to the chaos in the world. Yet despite this, it feels very much like a traditional hymn – and the video is also incredibly cute!

5. In Christ Alone

‘In Christ Alone’ is another modern hymn. Written in 2001 by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend, it has an Irish melody and has so quickly become traditional that I was surprised to learn how relatively recent it is.

6. The Lord’s My Shepherd

‘The Lord’s My Shepherd’ is based on Psalm 23 in the Bible and is attributed to King David. It is now traditionally sung to the tune ‘Crimond’, which was composed by Jessie Seymour Irvine around 1872.

7. Lord Of The Dance

‘Lord Of The Dance’ was written in 1963 by the English songwriter Sydney Carter, who borrowed an American tune. It has since become very popular in British primary schools, and so holds nostalgic memories for many people.

8. When You Believe

‘When You Believe’ was composed for the 1998 musical animated film ‘The Prince of Egypt‘, which told the story of Exodus. Again, it’s one of those songs that sounds as if it could be older than it is.

9. Abide With Me

‘Abide With Me’ was written in 1847 by Henry Francis Lyte as he lay dying from tuberculosis. He survived only three more weeks after its completion. It is frequently chosen for singing at funerals, and was also played on the deck of the Titanic while it sank.

10. Here I Am, Lord

‘Here I Am, Lord’ was written by Dan Schutte in 1981, who based it on the biblical passages Isaiah 6:8 and 1 Samuel 3. In 2013 it was voted the UK’s fifth most popular hymn.

There are many more hymns of course, but I decided to limit this list to ten. What songs are traditional in your culture? I’d love to know, so please do comment below!

Eve: Mother of All the Living

Bible Verses: Genesis 1:26-31, Genesis 2:18-4:2, Genesis 4:25, Genesis 5:1-2, 2 Corinthians 11:2-3, 1 Timothy 2:11-15

Eve is famous for being the first woman in the Bible, and infamous for being deceived into eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She appears in what biblical scholars have recognised as the ‘primeval history’ of Genesis chapters 1-11, as opposed to the more literally historic ‘ancestral history’ of Genesis chapters 12-50. This primeval history forms a creation ‘myth’ that shares deep theological truths about the nature of God, humans, and the world. The claims it makes are radically different to the creation myths of the cultures that surrounded the ancient biblical authors – but this blog post will focus on the messages of Eve. Eve is not just the first woman but the only woman to exist before the fall of humanity into sin. As such, she can help in understanding what God’s intention for women is. However, it is important to remember that all the characters in the Bible are just that – their own flawed characters – and are not perfect models of how we should live.

Created & Blessed by God

From the beginning woman was created equally with man in the image of God, who declared them to be a ‘very good’ creation. God blessed Adam and Eve (and through them all humanity), granting them the authority to rule earth together in the shared purpose of furthering God’s good plan. They were called to ‘be fruitful and multiply’, or in other words to create life and flourishing. This doesn’t just mean to have children, but to reflect the image of God’s creativity and love by doing whatever brings life and encourages earth to thrive.

A Need for Woman

The only thing that God states to have been ‘not good’ before humanity’s fall from Eden was for Adam to be alone. According to the Bible, our God is a God who loves to share. He is a trinity of three-in-one which means that God is a community of love and sharing, who also wants to love and share with us. Since humans are made in the image of God, we have a need to love and share with others and are made to be in community. God, however, did not bring Adam and Eve together straight away. Instead God waited for Adam to recognise he needed someone and that there was not an equal partner to be found among any of the animals. Eve was different from the other creatures of the earth and Adam had to recognise she was missing so that he would truly appreciate both her and God’s goodness.

Strong Help Meet

When He creates Eve, God says that He will make a ‘help meet’ for Adam. This is an English translation of the Bible, whereas it was originally written in Hebrew and used the phrase ‘ezer kenegdo’. This phrase has implications that are lost in the English translation. The word ‘ezer’ does not in any way indicate a subservient assistant, but rather someone strong who provides vital help – or in other words, a rescuer. Throughout the Old Testament this term is most frequently used to refer to God Himself, who is a strong helper and rescuer to His people. Obviously, women are only human and the type of help they provide is not comparable to God’s, however it shows that God created woman as a powerful important partner for man to solve the only thing that was ‘not good’ and so that man would not be alone.

The word ‘kenegdo’ means that woman is corresponding to and fit for man. They are equal and the same, yet also different in important ways that enable them to meet as good partners and complete each other. This can be seen from the fact Eve was taken from one of Adam’s ribs. She was taken from his side to be his partner beside him, not from his foot to be subservient and trampled upon or from his head to rule over him. Ribs are also strong and provide vital help in protecting the heart and life itself. God brought Eve to Adam as a treasured gift to be valued and loved, and God prepared Adam beforehand as a gift to Eve so that he would be ready to value and love her. Adam recognises this when he declares Eve to be ‘bone of my bones’ and ‘flesh of my flesh’. Their partnership is created good by God and men are to ‘cleave unto his wife’ and give them priority over all other human relationships.

Naïve but Not Innocent

Eve had been brought to Adam in the beautiful garden of Eden, where they dwelled close to the presence of God and in peace with all the other creatures whom God had made. All was good. The Bible says that ‘they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed’. This can be taken both as in unclothed and as in emotionally naked. They trusted each other completely and could be truly themselves, vulnerable without hiding anything, physically or emotionally. God had told Adam that they could eat from any tree in the garden – except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This was just one simple restriction. Just one test that allowed them freewill to either trust or disobey God. Adam, as the first human, was given the responsibility to share this command with Eve. God could have repeated His message to her directly, but it seems that God likes people to share with each other and grow in relationship together.

However, Eve was not properly taught God’s words. God had said not to EAT of the tree, or they WILL die; yet Eve had learnt this as to not EAT or even TOUCH the tree, or they MIGHT die. Eve had learnt a distorted version of God’s command, but she still knew what she was not to do. Before the fall she could have had no way of knowing the intentions of the serpent that tempted her – no one had ever faced temptation before – yet this sadly only makes her naïve. She was not innocent in her deception because she ultimately still chose to distrust and disobey God.

Distorted Humanity

What is so tragic is that Eve was tempted into eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because she saw it to be ‘a tree to be desired to make one wise’, when true wisdom can only come from God. We are told later in the Bible that ‘The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge’ (Proverbs 1:7) – and Eve chose the very opposite of this. She trusted surface appearances over God’s words and valued her own desires over Him.

The sad thing is that even as she is about to sin by eating the fruit, Eve still has the instinct to share it with Adam. Humans were made to be so good, yet instead ended up leading each other into sin. It’s worth noting that while this whole scene between Eve and the serpent was taking place, Adam was just complacently standing by. Adam knew exactly what God’s command had been, yet even though he was close enough to be passed a piece of fruit he did not interfere to protect the woman he loved.

Consequences to Human Sin

Immediately there were consequences to their sin. God is the creator and the ultimate source of life. To cut yourself off from Him means death. Adam and Eve died spiritually that day, meaning they could no longer live where heaven and earth overlapped in the garden of Eden, and in dying spiritually they set a ticking clock on how long their physical bodies could last.

Their sin also brought death to their relationship. The first thing Adam and Eve do is try to cover themselves and hide, as they can no longer trust each other. They even try to hide themselves from God, which of course does not work, even though God respects their free will by pretending He can’t see them and doesn’t already know what they’ve done.

Reflecting on the detail of this story, I find it amazing! This is essentially the first prodigal son story. Even though these humans had just brought death to the world by doing the one thing God told them not to, His first response is to call for them. Our Father wants so much for us to be in His loving presence, and yet loves us so much that He respects our free will and decisions even when they’re terrible! Like any loving parent, God wants the best for us but knows we must be allowed to make our own mistakes, with the hope that we will return to Him again.

Responses to Sin

When God asked Adam and Eve what they had done they both tried to avoid responsibility by blaming others. Adam becomes very defensive, blaming Eve and even daring to blame God for giving him Eve, before he admits what he did. Through this defensive denial of self-responsibility, Adam only adds further damage to his two most valuable relationships, attempting to protect himself by sacrificing his wife. Eve in turn tries to blame the serpent before admitting what she has done but does not at least contribute further damage towards her broken relationships.

Even though God loved them unconditionally, there is a cost to sin and they each had to face the consequences. Gender has become distorted and corrupted as a result of the fall, yet from this story in the Bible it is clear there were God-ordained differences between men and women even before the fall because they each face different consequences.

Consequences for Woman

For Eve there would be increased pain in childbirth and raising children. Since she must bring life into a world now full of death, it is inevitable that this would bring hardship. Yet even among judgement God was so eager to bless humanity that He declared what is known as the ‘protoevangelium’ – the first promise of a future saviour who will defeat evil by sacrificing himself. This saviour would be the woman’s child and God warns the serpent that He ‘will put enmity between thee and the woman’, signalling the start of a war between humanity and spiritual evil.

Another consequence for Eve was that she would desire her husband but that because of his own sinful nature he would be inclined to take advantage of this. Men would tend to rule over women instead of becoming the partnership God intended. We only need to look at history to see how this has played out, with girls being taught to idolise romantic relationships and women being oppressed or disregarded by patriarchal cultures. The word translated ‘desire’ in the Bible is the Hebrew word ‘teshuqah’, which can also be translated as ‘turning’. This suggests that women will tend to turn to their husbands to fulfil their needs, instead of turning to God. They will desire their romantic partner more than they desire God. This gives men a tremendous amount of power and is doomed to failure because no human can fulfil all another human’s needs. That is a position meant to be filled only by our ever-loving, all-powerful God.

The Woman Named Eve

It is only at this point in the story that ‘the woman’ is called Eve for the first time. Adam names her after God has pronounced the consequences of their sin, marking their reconciliation as husband and wife and his newfound appreciation of her. The Bible explains that he calls her Eve ‘because she was the mother of all living.’ Most names in the Bible have significant meaning and Eve’s is no exception. In our English translations the name ‘Eve’ is derived from the original Hebrew ‘Chavah’. ‘Chavah’ means ‘life’ or ‘living one’ and is also connected to the Hebrew word for ‘experience’. As the first woman, Eve is life. From her we can see that womanhood is inextricably wrapped up with the giving of life – whether this is through mothering children or by nurturing creation in other ways.

Eve Finds Faith

Not much is said about Eve after she and her husband Adam are exiled from the Garden of Eden. The story of the Bible instead continues by following her children and then descendants. However, the little that is said about her in the remainder of the Old Testament can tell us a lot. Eve had already been the first woman, the first wife, and the first human sinner. Now she became the first mother and the first human to praise God. When Eve gives birth to her first son Cain, she recognises that her child is gift from God and praises Him accordingly, declaring ‘I have gotten a man from the LORD’. She then gives birth to a second son named Abel, but the evil that had entered the world through sin does not go away and destroys this next generation. Cain murders his younger brother Abel and in consequence God sends Cain away to wander the earth in punishment. The pain and grief this must have caused Eve is left to be imagined. What we do know is that Eve had found a strong faith for God. When she gives birth to her third son Seth, she still appreciates and praises God even in her grief. She knows He has not forgotten her.

Danger of Deception

While the story of Eve is told in the book of Genesis in the Old Testament, there are also two commentaries on this story to be found in the New Testament. In 2 Corinthians the story of Eve’s deception by the serpent is presented as a cautionary tale to the church. Like Eve, we are also at risk of being ‘beguiled’ through ‘subtilty’ and need to guard against our minds being ‘corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ’. God had made his will clear with the simple command that Adam and Eve must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, yet the serpent distorted this to make it seem more complex than it was. Eve allowed herself to doubt and be deceived by the serpent’s over-complications instead of trusting God’s unchanging word. We must learn from her mistakes and avoid making the same.

Education for Women

The second New Testament commentary on Eve is found in 1 Timothy. This passage can be confusing if we don’t understand it properly, so I will link below a video series that I think explains it really well and in a biblical way. Eve was deceived by the serpent because she had not been fully taught God’s word and this lack of education had left her vulnerable to others’ suggestions. Adam had also disobeyed God but had done so knowingly, whereas Eve hadn’t understood what God had asked of her. For this reason, the Bible says to ‘Let the woman learn’ – a radical statement in its day – so they can study holy scripture and come to know God better. We are to learn from scripture with a peaceful spirit, rather than claiming false authority, and are to subject ourselves to the word of God. Through good biblical education we can defend against deception and become the woman that Eve was created to be.

Mother of All the Living

The passage in 1 Timothy concludes by declaring that ‘she shall be saved in childbearing’. This does not mean that women’s sole purpose is to have children, although children are a precious gift. Rather, for those of us who are Christians, we know we are saved by our saviour Jesus Christ and our faith in Him alone, not by what we do or fail to do. However, it was the childbearing of women that led to Jesus finally coming into the world. Eve brought death into the world through sin and was the mother of all the living. Then many generations later, Mary was the mother of the living Christ who defeated the power of death and sin on the cross. Because of these women, we are all saved through their childbearing – as long as we ‘continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety’ by choosing to follow Christ. God’s promise in the Garden of Eden of a future saviour is fulfilled! God brought life and salvation through woman, making Eve not just the mother of all the living as in all the people on earth, but the mother of all who shall have eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ! What an amazing God we have!

Learn More

Women in Genesis

Later in this blog I want to look at what the differences are between masculinity and femininity, and about how we can live into our true femininity as twenty-first-century women. However, issues of gender have become so confused in our broken world that I’m very cautious of getting distracted by stereotypes rather than seeing the reality that lies beneath them. I think it’s important to ground our ideas in something. Since I’m a Christian, I want to make sure that I’m learning God’s definition of femininity, and the Bible is the best place to do this.

There are so many fascinating women in the Bible who express their femininity in vibrant, diverse, individual ways. They range from the gentle, trusting Mary who became the mother of Jesus, to the strong-minded, laughing Sarah who became the first matriarch of the Jewish people. From the glamorous, courageous Queen Esther who saved her people from genocide, to the bold judge Deborah who rescued her people through battle, and the humble yet daring Ruth who saw God at work in her everyday life. There’s Mary Magdalene who was among the first to see Jesus after he had risen from the dead, affluent businesswoman Lydia and church leader Phoebe who each furthered the spread of the gospel, and the faithful grandmother Lois who taught her children well. There’s Rehab who was a prostitute before she came to know God, anonymous midwives who conspired against the pharaoh to save the lives of persecuted Jewish babies, the singing prophetess Miriam, and Naomi who changed her name to Mara (meaning ‘bitter’) as a sign of mourning. And these are just a few of the many, many women to be found in the Bible.

There are too many women to look at in one go, so for now we’ll just be focusing on some of the most significant women in Genesis. Genesis is the first book in the Bible and its name means ‘beginnings’ as it sets the scene for what God’s plan is for humanity. Each blog post in this series will include Bible verse references so you can read along – and I’d encourage you to join in with this, even if you aren’t Christian, as there are some amazing stories. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the Bible, the references take the form of ‘John 3:16’. This means the book of John (the Bible is a library of 66 books), chapter three, verse 16. These numbers will be printed in your Bible to make it easy to find – or you can easily find the Bible free online or in free Bible apps.

I’m excited for this series! I hope you will enjoy learning about these amazing biblical women too. Below I’ve included a list of all the women who are mentioned in Genesis, with those I plan to write a more detailed blog post on in bold.

List of Women in Genesis

Eve
Cain’s wife
Adah (1)
Zillah
Naamah
Daughters of Adam
Daughters of Seth
Daughters of Enos
Daughters of Cainan
Daughters of Mahalaleel
Daughters of Jared
Daughters of Enoch
Daughters of Methuselah
Daughters of Lamech
Daughters of men
Noah’s wife
Noah’s sons’ wives
Daughters of Shem
Daughters of Arphaxad
Daughters of Salah
Daughters of Eber
Daughters of Peleg
Daughters of Reu
Daughters of Serug
Daughters of Nahor
Sarai/Sarah
Milcah
Iscah
Captive women
Hagar
Lot’s two daughters
Lot’s wife
Women servants from Abimelech
Abimelech’s wife
Abimelech’s maidservants
Ishmael’s wife
Rebekah
Reumah
Daughters of the Canaanites
Abraham’s maidservants
Rebekah’s nurse Deborah
Rebekah’s damsels
Keturah
Abraham’s concubines
Judith
Bashemath (1)
Daughters of Heth
Mahalath
Rachel
Leah
Zilpah
Bilhah
Dinah
Daughters of the land of Shechem
Adah (2)
Aholibamah
Anah
Bashemath (2)
Esau’s daughters
Timna
Mehetabel
Matred
Daughter of Shuah
Tamar
Tamar’s midwife
Potiphar’s wife
Asenath
Jacob’s daughters
Jacob’s sons’ daughters
Jacob’s sons’ wives

Learn More

Humans: Man & Woman

Humans. We’re one species and yet two distinct types of people. Every society throughout the world and throughout history has acknowledged this two-in-one nature of humanity. It structures our interactions and relations with each other. On one level it’s simple, yet at the same time it’s an amazing, complex mystery. Nowadays gender may be more fluid, understood by many people as a spectrum rather than a strict binary, yet most humans still identify as either male or female.

Despite this universal recognition, we often struggle to clarify exactly what it means to be a man or a woman beyond basic biology. Is anatomy all there is to it? Or are we different on the inside too, at an emotional or spiritual level? We have been shaped by our cultures and socialisation, but surely there’s more to gender than just learnt differences? As humans we are more alike than we are different, but we are distinct too – and when those differences work together it is something beautiful.

In our present-day society in the West, we often turn to science for answers. Science, we think, can rationally and logically categorise distinctions. It can explain things in a way that makes sense. There’s much value in that, yet science is imperfect. For years it was received wisdom that men’s and women’s brains functioned in separate ways, however recent research has revealed that many of those studies were in fact unknowingly biased. Human brains have a plasticity that means they are very flexible to the influences of upbringing. Society socialises girls and boys differently – whether for good or for ill – and since that begins to shape their brains from a very young age it is hard to say what is society and what is nature. It’s the old and perhaps outdated debate of nature versus nurture. Where can we draw the line?

As a Christian, I try to root my worldview in God’s word. At the very beginning of the Bible in the stories of creation, this is how humans are introduced:

‘And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.’
Genesis 1:26-27

Here the name ‘man’ is used to refer to mankind, to humanity. God ‘created he him’ – humans as a singular species – and ‘male and female created he them’ at the same time. We’re the same and yet distinctive, a creation that is two-in-one. This is shown in the claim that we are made in the ‘image’ of God.

Being the image of God doesn’t refer to physical appearance because God is spirit not physical. What it refers to is the role and purpose of humans on earth. We are made to be God’s representatives and ‘have dominion’ to rule over the earth by taking care of it, continuing God’s work in creation of bringing about goodness. We are endowed with portions of God’s qualities and characteristics, and humans are called to represent God’s love in the world. Understanding that all humans are made in the image of God is of vital importance in Christianity because it means we believe that everyone is immensely valuable and deserves love, dignity, and equality. Men and women are each made in the image of God, yet a distinction is made between them that marks each as distinct and equally valuable.

While creating the world, God designed it beautifully with order. He separated light from dark, heaven from earth, land from sea, day from night, and animals into different habitats. His final crowning creation was humanity, whom He separated into male and female. As men and women, we are a part of God’s beautifully ordered plan. Separate and yet the same. Sharing in God’s image and purpose together as equal partners.

An understanding of our shared humanity must be the basis of any attempts to differentiate what it means to be men/boys or women/girls. What specifically those differences are I’ll consider in another blog post.