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Each week I discuss the interpretation of a portion of the Torah, or Pentateuch. In order to complete the 5 Books of Moses in one year, I have chosen to follow the Jewish reading cycle, known as the “parasha” or “section.” A few readers of this class/blog have asked me about the titles of each section, so here is the explanation: most parashot (plural of parasha), just like most biblical books, are titled after one of the first major Hebrew word present in them. This week’s title is Lech Lecha… "Go forth."With these words begin the story of the emergence of a new family, nation, and eventually, religion:
Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ Genesis 12:1-3
Last week’s lesson included Jewish and Muslim versions of a story about Abraham smashing the idols – way back in his childhood in Ur of Chaldea. Here is the link to last week’s handout: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddbxqpcb_2c88gxjhd&hl=en
But what gave the interpreters creating this Abraham legend the idea that Abraham’s father Terah was and idol worshipper or seller? They read their bibles very closely and noticed Joshua 24:2
“And Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Long ago your ancestors-- Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor-- lived beyond the Euphrates and served other gods.”
And so, bidden to “go forth,” Abraham and his family journey into a new land and new covenant.
Each parasha is so vast that a discussion of the history of interpretation of all its parts would take a long time! Today I want to concentrate on the figure of Hagar, introduced in Genesis 16:
“Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian slave-girl whose name was Hagar, 2and Sarai said to Abram, ‘You see that the Lord has prevented me from bearing children; go in to my slave-girl; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.’ And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3So, after Abram had lived for ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave-girl, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. 4He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 5Then Sarai said to Abram, ‘May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my slave-girl to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!’ 6But Abram said to Sarai, ‘Your slave-girl is in your power; do to her as you please.’ Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she ran away from her.”
Many modern readers feel sympathy for Hagar, who seems to be pushed around at best, without consent, and at worst, against her will.
African-American women have often found a in Hagar a figure mirroring the stories of their own mothers:
African-American women have often found a in Hagar a figure mirroring the stories of their own mothers:
“Enslaved, raped, but seen by God, Hagar has been a cherished biblical character in African-American communities. Womanist theologian Delores S. Williams explains:
The African-American community has taken Hagar’s story unto itself. Hagar has ‘spoken’ to generation after generation of black women because her story has been validated as true by suffering black people. She and Ishmael together, as family, model many black American families in which a lone woman/mother struggles to hold the family together in spite of the poverty to which ruling class economics consign it. Hagar, like many black women, goes into the wide world to make a living for herself and her child, with only God by her side.
The story of Hagar demonstrates that survival is possible even under harshest conditions.”
Other modern African-American interpreters have seen in Hagar a true love for Abraham, a heart broken by the viciousness of Sarah and Hagar’s ultimate expulsion:
O Abraham! what dost thou say?
That I depart? I must away
From out thy home, from out thy life!
What words are these? canst thou be mad,
Or do I dream? What means this strife?
Thy love alone hast made me glad;
O Abraham! thou hast been the light,
Within these years of woeful night.
That I depart? I must away
From out thy home, from out thy life!
What words are these? canst thou be mad,
Or do I dream? What means this strife?
Thy love alone hast made me glad;
O Abraham! thou hast been the light,
Within these years of woeful night.
From: "The Expulsion of Hagar” by Eloise Alberta Bibb
Next week we will see how Islam has envisioned Hagar as a heroine, not a victim; mother of a nation. For a preview, see this link, which tells an Islamic version of Hagar’s espulsion from Abraham and Sarah’s household; how this valient mother bravely succumbed to God’s will and let Abraham leave her, and their son, behind. Like Abraham, Hagar concedes to the bewlidering command, Lech Lecha..."Go forth."
http://books.google.com/books?id=hc5CuBCvTGsC&pg=PA150&lpg=PA150&dq=Sahih+Al-Bukhari++hagar&source=web&ots=dVKXr60niN&sig=E571kIsL6XiV9uvKGDflZYfX4WY&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA152,M1
2 comments:
The story of Sarah and Hagar really had me disturbed! I was ready to blame Hagar for all the problems I thought she had created. Here she was, a slave girl belonging to Sarai (Sarah), who wanted children but could not conceive. I thought that Sarai was very open-minded and generous to ask her husband, Abram (Abraham) to impregnate Hagar, so he could have progeny through her. But how could Hagar, a slave girl, be so impudent, disrespectful and cruel as to “look with contempt,” or in my Bible’s translation, “look with disdain,” on her then barren mistress, Sarai? Also, how could our African-American single mothers in the U.S. consider the ill-behaved Hagar to be some sort of model?
Hagar was definitely at fault, but Sarai was not blameless in her reaction to Hagar’s contemptuous attitude. First, Sarai became angry with Abram for doing exactly as she had asked him. Then, Sarai “dealt harshly” with Hagar and drove her away. Thus, a big rift took place between them and their descendants.
I’d like to know what other readers of this blog think. Who was the most maligned woman, Hagar or Sarah? Why?
On another subject, I’m puzzled by a discrepancy in Genesis regarding the ages of Ishmael and Isaac. Genesis 16:16 states, “Abram was eighty-six hears old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.” Genesis 22:5 says, “Abraham was a hundred years old when his son, Isaac was born to him.” So, Ishmael must have been fourteen years old when Sarah gave birth to Isaac.
However, verses 8 thru 19 of Genesis 22 indicate that Ishmael and Isaac must have been very young boys at the same time:
“Isaac grew, and on the day of the child’s weaning, Abraham held a great feast. Sarah noticed the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham playing with her son Isaac, so she demanded of Abraham, ‘Drive out that slave and her son! No son of that slave is going to share the inheritance with my son Isaac!’ Abraham was greatly distressed, especially on account of his son Ishmael. But God said to Abraham, ‘Do not be distressed about the boy or about your slave woman. Heed the demands of Sarah, no matter what she is asking of you; for it is through Isaac that descendants shall bear your name. As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a great nation of him also, since he too is your offspring.’ Early the next morning Abraham got some bread and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. Then, placing the child on her back, he sent her away.”
The rest of the story in Genesis relates that Hagar and her child ran out of water in the desert. With God’s help, she finally finds a pool of water. She fills the skin with water and brings it to her child to drink.
The account given in the haidth book 15:9, called The Anbiya, also has Hagar and her child running out of water in the desert. In the haidth version, Hagar is still nursing Ishmael. She runs out of water and breast milk at the same time. Finally, an angel helps her find a tiny spring of water, from which she drinks. “Then she drank (water) and suckled her child.”
Was Ishmael still a baby at the breast after Isaac was weaned? Regardless of some numerical inaccuracies, the accounts in Genesis place Isaac’s birth well over a year after that of Ishmael. What do you, dear readers, think of these discrepancies? Is there any way to account for them?
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