Jan 05, 2024 / Bible Study / 0 COMMENTS

Today’s Scripture
“Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her” (Genesis 16:1-2).

 

 
Over a decade had passed since God told Abram he would make him a father of many nations. And Sarai, Abram’s wife was waiting impatiently. Taking matters into her own hands, she makes a suggestion to Abram that forever changes the course of events in the entire Middle East for all times.

 
In the legal custom of that day, a barren woman could give her maid to her husband as a wife, and the child born of that union was regarded as the first wife’s child. If the husband said to the slave wife’s son, “You are my son,” then he was the adopted son and heir. So Sarai’s suggestion was unobjectionable according to the customs of that time.

 
Even though Abram acted on Sarai’s suggestion, he still believed what God told him. Abram believed (literally believed in) the Lord, and He (God) credited it to him as righteousness. This foundational truth is repeated three times in the New Testament (Rom. 4:3; Gal. 3:6; James 2:23) to show that righteousness is imparted to us in return for faith.