The Competition to Be the Shrewdest Sheep Farmer

The Competition to Be the Shrewdest Sheep Farmer
Genesis 30:22-43

After church this morning, one of our senior laypeople asked me about Hagar. Someone had implied in a comment to her that Hagar was a prostitute and/or a concubine. In effect I explained that Hagar’s status was more like that of Bilhah and Zilpah, who were “legal” wives of Jacob, though they had a secondary status. We went on to discuss the rights and wrongs of the way Abraham treated Hagar, and the woman I was talking with commented, “And Abraham is our father! He wasn’t much of a father!” “Too right,” I said, and compared him with David. The preacher had talked about David in his sermon, and about the way during his life he himself had to face questions about destructive aspects of his lifestyle and be willing to give them up. Abraham, David: they were heroes of faith but also people with clay feet. This is such an encouragement because we are people with clay feet...