Genesis 16

If a woman in Bible times could not have a baby, it was common practice for the family to use a surrogate birth mother. The law even shows up in Hammurabi’s Code, a set of laws written several hundred years before Moses. Given that the Genesis writer says God promised to give Abraham a big family, do you think that it showed a lack of faith for Abraham to use a surrogate?

React to these two laws from Hammurabi’s Code, attributed to Babylonian (Iraq) King Hammurabi, who lived from about 1810-1750 BC. That’s a century or two after Abraham. What do you read into these laws?

• Law 145. If a man’s wife can’t give him children and he marries another woman, the second wife he brings into his house should be treated as less than equal to the first wife.
• Law 146. If a man’s wife gives him a slave woman to serve as a wife, and the slave woman gives birth to the man’s child, then the slave should be treated as equal to the first wife. Since this slave has given birth to his children, he can’t sell her. But he can keep her as a slave, like any other slave woman.

Abraham’s son with Hagar—Ishmael—is generally considered the father of Arab people. The Bible says an angel told Hagar what her son was going to be like: “He’ll get on the bad side of everyone, and everyone will get on the bad side of him. That includes his relatives” (16:12). Do you think it’s fair to apply that prediction to Arab people today?

After the angel appeared to Hagar, “when Hagar spoke of the LORD she called him by a different name: El-roi” (16:13). It means “God who sees.” God had seen her situation and he stepped in to help her. If you had to give God a name that describes his relationship with you or a unique way in which you think of him, what would it be?

LIFE APPLICATION. Sarah was not able to have children, so she resorted to using her slave as a surrogate mother. Childless women in Bible times were often considered cursed of God. What kind of pressures do infertile women experience today?

LIFE APPLICATION. If a woman today is diagnosed as infertile, what are some of the options available to her if she wants to have a baby? Which one of those options do you think would draw the most criticism from her family and friends?