Curious Christian

Reflections on culture, nature, and spirituality from a Christian perspective

Was it sinful for Abraham to have more than one wife?

Published by

Matt Stone

on

sarah leading hagar to abraham.jpg

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said. (Genesis 16:1-2)

The story of Sarah leading Hagar to Abraham is even more disconcerting when it is illustrated in full colour don’t you think?

Yet I think we would be wise to meditate on this image when discussing Christian family values online. Here we have a man and woman of faith acting quite faithlessly. Trying to force the hand of God in their impatience to have children. Yet does God give up on them? No. How then might God’s response to Abraham, Sarah and Hagar inform our debates over other marrital arrangements that are difficult to reconcile with scripture?

Tags ,

One response to “Was it sinful for Abraham to have more than one wife?”

  1. Gene Daniels Avatar
    Gene Daniels

    Interesting question Matt. However, I think it misses the point. I don’t believe the story is about how God might respond to “marital arrangements that are difficult to reconcile with Scripture.” Rather it is about God’s response to people with whom he has made covenant.
    And lest we forget, 4,000 years later those same deserts still bleed from the resulting family feud.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a reply to Gene Daniels Cancel reply

Let’s connect

follow us in feedly

Recent posts

Art Atheist Australian Bible Blogging Books Buddhist Celtic Christian Christmas Church Contextualisation Diversity Faith Gatherings God Hindu Humour Jesus Justice Leaders Love Magic Meditation Mission Money Movies Music Muslim Mystery Nature Pagan Peace Poetry Politics Prayer Psychology Revelation Seasons Sexuality Sin Symbols Technology Violence War