...and she (Sarah) said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.” The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. 12 But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you... (Gen 21,10-12)
Abraham was distressed over the escalated situation. Actually, no, he was "greatly agonised." For a hundred year old man, such trauma can be truly devastating - deciding to get rid of his own child... He was beginning to understand why it was necessary. The world then was vastly different from ours, and it was not uncommon to resolve fundamental disagreements violently. But though he understood it in his head, his heart agonized over it.
I wonder if he remembered reading some blog post once about the wisdom of not taking the lower road and not begetting Ishmael while waiting for Isaac? He remembered, and he didn't need to be reminded. He saw the reality clearly for himself: the original plan involved three people, each of whom was to benefit from it.
Sarah would no longer feel shame at being barren.
Hagar would go from being one of many whores to almost a princess. No other handmaid had such privileges and such close access to Abraham's family. How jealously the other handmaids looked upon her as she walked through the camp from then on nursing the child, the master's son!
And Abraham, of course, would get what he wanted most in life.
No, there was no need to be reminded: all three of them were now very, very unhappy. Beside Abraham's torn heart, there was Sarah, at first overwhelmed with joy for her own son, then increasingly gloomy with fear for his life and safety. Whenever she met Ishmael and Hagar in the camp, her jealous feelings only increased: they must be gone, can't Abraham see it? Why hadn't he done something long ago? And finally Hagar: she felt as bitter as a queen deprived of the throne on which she had sat for twelve beautiful years. Now her life would be turned upside down, she would be banished to loneliness and worry. What will become of her? And all because of her, that damned woman of Abraham!
All three of them were worried - not three, actually four: after all, Ishmael will lose his world, his family and his own father at the age of thirteen. They say God will take care of him, so he won't perish, but what awaits him - and what will he grow up to be?
Not four, in fact millions of future people have been affected by this move... But we would go too far beyond where any of the protagonists of these events have seen at this point. They had now had enough of the immediate torment they were experiencing. They wondered, why does the world have to be so cruel? And is God... really good?
