I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 16-18.

    The story of Sarai, Abram, and Hagar is an object lesson for us. Sarai knew that Abram wanted a son, but she had been unable to bear him a child. Instead of trusting in God to work things out according to His plan, she sought her own solution. There is plenty of blame to go around in this story: Sarai, for trying to work around God, Abram, for going along with her plan despite knowing that God had promised him a son through Sarai, Hagar, for treating Sarai with contempt. As is usually the case, none of those involved in this story was innocent of making the problem worse.

    Some time later, God came to Abram and entered into a covenant with him. As part of this covenant, God changed Abram’s name to Abraham. There is an interesting fact about this covenant. It applied to all of those in Abraham’s household and that of his descendants, but not just to Abraham’s descendants. The covenant also applied to those whom Abraham and his descendants purchased. Then when God tells Abraham that Sarah (whose name He also changed at this point) would bear him a son, Abraham laughs at the idea. Instead of accepting God’s promise, Abraham asks if God cannot just extend the promise to Ishmael. I believe that Abraham’s request for Ishmael to be his son of the covenant was partially out of love for Ishmael. God’s answer was that, no, Sarah would bear Abraham a son who would be the son of the covenant, but that He would bless Ishmael.

    God’s agreement that He would not destroy Sodom if He found ten righteous people there is instructive, and should be inspirational. We do not know how many people lived in Sodom at the time. The important thing is that ten was such a small percentage of the population that Abraham was sure there must be at least that many righteous people there. For us, the important thing is that God would have spared the city for that few. The instructive part is that it only takes a few righteous people in a large population to stave off God’s judgment. The inspirational part is the reason why I believe God will withhold His judgment if there are that number of righteous people in a group of otherwise evil people. It only takes a few righteous people in a group to cause the members of that group to turn from their evil ways and seek the Lord. Let us strive to be that influence on those around us through our prayers and our actions.