And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. (Gen 16,2-3)

Ten years of following God, ten years of waiting had already passed without Abram and Sarah seeing the fulfillment of what God had promised! How would they have reacted had they known (what they didn't know at the time), that in any case they would be waiting another 15 years for the birth of Isaac? Would they have acted the same way, or would they have been able to wait having that certainty? We don't know. God did not tell them when the son would be born. He only said that he certainly would, despite the many impossibilities their situation hid, despite the "biological clock" that ticked so strongly in Sarah's mind.

So she began to look for another way and chose the most accessible one that was offered. To leave offspring was felt as a necessity of life not only in antiquity. In the tribal coexistence of the time, it was not uncommon to produce offspring with one's own slave. But it is remarkable that Abram did not even come to this point in his long life before he started to follow God! Their marriage had not yet been tainted by it.

It was clearly not Abram's idea, but when Sarah brought it up, he didn't reject it. This is characteristic of many temptations that a man experiences. At first he resists, and does not want to admit that he would do it. But then he begins to listen to the idea. (It is often easier when it comes from someone else; for one feels as an excuse that it was not his own, it diminishes his responsibility.) In the same way, Abram at first didn't even want to hear what Sarah was suggesting. But then he figured it was useless to be so "narrow-minded." And as he was thinking about it more and more, it began to appear less and less evil, until he realized that it wasn't actually a bad solution at all. In the end, he saw it as the only possible way.

It is important to realize that Abram and Sarah did not mean to forsake God. They did not reject Him and chose another idol! They just wanted to have both: to honor the Lord and have a descendant. It appeared that they could not achieve this on the path that God was leading them. Abram remembered well the black silhouettes of the birds he had to shoo away at the conclusion of the covenant, which seemed to symbolize the dark thoughts that now settled in their minds. He fought them then, but after another long wait his faith waned and his mind was filled with doubts: what can we do, what else is there left for us to do, since what God has said does not come?