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 21-23.

We often read the story of Hagar and Ishmael being sent away by Abraham as if Ishmael was a little boy.  In fact, Ishmael was a young man by this point.  He was 14 when Isaac was born and it was several years later when he was sent away by his father.  In fact, it seems likely that Hagar ran out of water because she was unwilling to take directions from her son.  As I read this story, Hagar wandered in the wilderness, refusing to listen to her son about where to go, until they ran out of water.  At which point, God opened her eyes to the good advice Ishmael had been giving her and she was willing to allow him to begin providing for the two of them.  As long as Hagar viewed Ishmael as a little boy who she needed to take care of she would not allow him to care for himself, and her, as he was capable of doing.  Many parents make this same mistake.

I have previously spent time looking closely at the story of Abraham taking Isaac to offer him as a sacrifice to God.  This story serves a very important purpose.  It communicates that while those who devote themselves to God are willing to sacrifice their children to serve Him, He rejects such sacrifices.  The people around Abraham, and later around his descendants, considered child sacrifice an integral part of their worship.  God made it clear that such sacrifice was not something of which He approved.  Further, this story is not just about the sacrifice of children by killing them.  It also means that we should not sacrifice the time we should spend with our children in order to “serve” God.  Children need their parents and their needs should come before the needs of our jobs, or even the needs of the Church.