Did you know that our Northside Writers’ Group writes devotions for Table Groups? What’s a Table Group, you ask? Head back over to the Northside Women main page and click the link at the bottom of the page to find out! (You’ll be glad you did.) This year, all of our devotions will be exploring God’s faithfulness to women in the Old Testament. The following is adapted from our March devotion:

Is God Faithful to the Women of the Patriarch Era?

By: Bethany Hawkins

I was excited to begin reading the One Year Chronological Study Bible, but by day 14, I felt dismayed. I struggled with the way women were portrayed in Genesis. I had read these stories before but seeing them together in the daily reading overwhelmed me. Genesis 19 in particular was difficult to read. In this chapter, male visitors, probably angels, visit the city of Sodom. The men of the town try to have sex with the visitors who turn to Lot for protection. When the men of Sodom are at Lot’s door trying to get him to send out the men, Lot decides to take a different approach. He says, “Look, I have two virgin daughters. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do with them as you wish.” (Genesis 19:8) How could a father make such an offer about his daughters? Like Lot’s daughters, a lot of women in this era are treated as “less than” and as outright property of their fathers, husbands, brothers, masters, or kings. They are either victims or schemers. What does God want us to learn from these stories that leave the women of the Patriarch Era dishonored or shamed?

It starts from the beginning. In Genesis 3:12, Adam blames Eve for giving him the forbidden fruit, saying to God “The woman you gave to be with me – she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate.” Then, in Genesis 6, we see the sons of God meet the daughters of mankind who were beautiful. “They took any they chose as wives for themselves.” (Genesis 6:2)

When we enter the Patriarch Era, things really go off the rails. Sexual sin is rampant, and women are usually the victims. In Genesis 12, Abram and his wife go to Egypt due to the severe famine in the region. Sarai is a beautiful woman, and her husband fears the Egyptians will kill him to take her as a wife or concubine for Pharoah. To protect himself, Abram asks Sarai to pretend to be his sister “so it will go well for me because of you, and my life will be spared on your account.” (Genesis 12:13)

It happened as Abram predicted. The Egyptians found Sarai to be very beautiful and took her to Pharoah’s household. It does not say how long she was there or what she had to do while there. We know that because of her, Pharoah gave Abram livestock, slaves, and camels. God steps in at this point and curses Pharoah’s household. Pharoah figures out the true relationship between Sarai and Abram and sends them home, allowing Abram to keep all his possessions. (Genesis 12:15-20)

Sarai takes the role of the cunning woman in Genesis 16. God promised Abram that he would be the father of a great nation. Sarai knew of the prophecy but became frustrated with her inability to have children. Instead of waiting for God’s timing, she gave her Egyptian slave, Hagar, to Abram. By tradition, any children born to Hagar would be Sarai’s family. Abram agrees and Hagar becomes pregnant. Sarai becomes jealous. She cannot handle the results of her decision to bring Hagar into Abram’s bed. In Genesis 16:4-6, Hagar looks down on Sarai because she is unable to have children. Sarai complains to Abram, “You are responsible for my suffering! I put my slave in your arms, and when she saw that she was pregnant, I became contemptible to her.” Abram reminds Sarai that Hagar is her slave and gives her permission to treat his new wife any way she wants. Sarai mistreats Hagar so severely that she flees. But God is not finished with Hagar.

I believe we see a glimpse of God’s plan for women in the story of Hagar. If we go back to where she leaves Abram and Sarai’s household due to her mistress’s mistreatment, we find her alone by a spring in the wilderness. The angel of the Lord finds her there. He tells her to go back to Sarai and submit to her authority, but he makes her a promise. He says, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, and they will be too many to count.” (Genesis 16:10)

After Hagar gives birth to her son, Ishmael, she is again sent away from the household when her son makes fun of Isaac, Abraham’s chosen heir. Sarah becomes irate and tells Abraham, “Drive out this slave with her son, for the son of this slave will not be a coheir with my son Isaac.” (Gen. 21:10) God tells Abraham to do this as his lineage will be traced through Isaac, but reassured him that he will also make a nation from Ismael. Abraham sends Hagar and her son into the desert.

Hagar is in such despair that she leaves Ishmael under a bush, so she does not have to watch him die. She weeps bitterly. But the angel of God hears her cries again. He repeats that he will make a great nation from her son. When she looked, God had placed a well where she can get water. She and Ishmael settle in the Wilderness of Paran and God’s promise to Hagar is eventually fulfilled. (Genesis 21: 8-21)

God sees Hagar in her fear and sorrow. He comforts her with the promise of his faithfulness. He once promised her son would be the start of a great nation. He reminds her again that He fulfills His promises.

Hope was coming, but the world had to wait for God’s timing. The ultimate promise of God—the coming Messiah— will totally turn around how women are treated. The good news is that God sent His son hundreds of years later. Jesus restored the women he encountered to a place of honor from man’s place of shame.

God’s true vision for women is beautifully illuminated in Kristi McLelland’s study, Jesus and Women in the First-Century World. “In every interaction between Jesus and a woman, He met her in her shame, generously lifted her out of it, restored her dignity, and sent her forth in shalom. ‘In Jesus’ everyday interactions,’ Kristi shares, ‘He is treating the feminine in the way that the Living God sees her.’”

“In every interaction with a woman, Jesus brings justice and righteousness to her life.” Kristi continues, “He leverages His own life, His own honor, His own esteem as a rabbi of Israel on her behalf and for her sake.” She says that if Jesus would do it for the first-century woman, He will do it for us.

As we continue through the Patriarchs Era and on into the Exodus Era, we will read stories about women who are mistreated, exploited, or responsible for great sin. As we read these, we must remind ourselves of God’s promise to Hagar. Something better is coming. Something eternal is coming: Jesus Christ, our ultimate Kinsman Redeemer, interceding on the behalf of his beloved daughters at the right hand of God.