Thursday 27 March 2025

Psalm 105:1-15

Background
This challenging passage draws on the story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar (Genesis 16 – 21). God promised Abraham that he would be the ancestor of a great nation (Genesis 12:2), but his wife Sarah had no children. The couple agreed that Abraham would take Sarah’s Egyptian slave-girl Hagar as his concubine. She bore a son, Ishmael. Fourteen years later (Genesis 21:8), Sarah’s son Isaac was born following God’s promise (Genesis 18:1-15). Internal family tensions led to Hagar and Ishmael being sent away into the desert, where God’s intervention saved them from death (Genesis 21:8-21).

This grim story of the exploitation and abandonment of an enslaved African woman and her son has become a core narrative for womanist theologians, who see God’s support for Hagar as a source of hope for oppressed people. Paul used the story quite differently. He continued to contrast promise and law, presenting Isaac as the child of the promise and highlighting this link to his Gentile hearers, also children of God’s promise. Ishmael, born of the flesh, born into slavery, is linked to the Jewish Christians who are trying to persuade the Gentile converts to make themselves subservient to the Jewish law.

It is difficult to see why Paul chose to work with this story, which does not lend itself naturally to the theme he was developing. Some scholars suggest that his opponents were using the same story to teach Gentile converts that they could only follow Jesus if they followed God’s law as Abraham and Isaac did (Genesis 17:27, 21:4).

After all this complex work to integrate a story from Israel’s past into his own teaching, Paul concluded with two sentences of absolute clarity. Christ’s death on the cross set us free from all the burdens of life based on law, which weighed us down like a yoke across the shoulders of a slave carrying heavy buckets. It would be utterly foolish to go back to a burdened life when Christ offers us freedom to live by his promises for ever.

To Ponder:

• Later in his ministry, Paul had to battle with Christians who thought that teaching about freedom from the law meant that they were free to do whatever they liked. How can we express his teaching about freedom in ways that communicate effectively in our society?
• What would you like Christ to set you free from?

Prayer
God of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar, you cut through the tangles of our relationships with your promise of freedom. Help us to trust you for our future journeys, that we may turn from suspicion of others to joyful acceptance of your will made known in Christ our Lord. Amen.

Bible notes author: The Revd Dr Caroline Wickens
Caroline Wickens is the Superintendent of the Manchester Circuit. She has taught biblical studies in Africa and the UK, and continues to be fascinated by this amazing book.