Submission Series - Sarah and Hagar

I am starting a series on the word "Submission". We know a lot of atrocities have been committed because of that word. We know a lot of people now detest the word. I think it's fair to spend some time to see what the Bible ACTUALLY says about the word. Please feel free to share your thoughts RESPECTFULLY in the comments. No personal attacks, please.

Scripture 1 - Hagar and Sarah

Genesis 16:8-10
New International Version (NIV)

And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.
Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”

I can imagine the reaction in some minds... So, God supports slavery? In my opinion, I think God deals with us based on our peculiar circumstances. In this case, we will need to go back to understand how Hagar ended up as Sarah's slave. I don't think this means God supports slavery. Later in Philemon, a slave ran away from his master and Paul basically asked the master to receive his former slave as a dear brother. If I do get to write about slavery in the Scriptures, we will deal with the issue more.

Back to our story, somehow, Hagar ended up as Sarah's slave. Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham as a WIFE in a "surrogacy gone bad" move. Some claim Hagar masterminded the plot but I haven't found anything in the Scriptures that suggests so. Hagar got pregnant and started acting rude to her former madam, now co-wife. Sarah started ill-treating Hagar. Hagar ran away and met an angel on the way.

In my mind, both Sarah and Hagar were wrong and out of line. This verse is how God could deal with the consequences of poor decisions. Apparently, Sarah was unwilling to listen to what God or anyone else had to say in that matter. Hagar was the more vulnerable person in the entire scenario. She was pregnant and now a fugitive. It was in her best interest to return to Abraham and Sarah and bear Sarah's harshness for the time. Later, when she was sent away with her 13 year old son and a bottle of water, she was not as vulnerable. God did not ask her then to return and submit to a mistress that had freed her. He (God) took care of her and her child.

The lesson for me here is that our submission to whoever we are submitting to should be based on what God is telling us to do AT THE TIME.

I am sure there are other lessons to learn from this story. Please feel free to share.

#SubmissionSeries