In the book of Genesis, two characters – Sarah (Sarai) and Hagar – support different, yet significant roles. There is an interesting connection between Sarah and Hagar and their lives are interconnected as evident in Genesis 16. Hagar represented women who were either excluded or rejected by society. She was taken in as a servant from Egypt into the tribe of Abraham. However, Hagar was never wholly accepted into the tribe of Abraham. She served as a servant to Abraham’s wife Sarah (Sarai). Sarah, on the other hand, represented the free women of society. She was revered by Pharaoh’s officials in Egypt, and they welcomed her into Pharaoh’s palace. She was considered very attractive by the Egyptians. If the Egyptians discovered Sarah was Abraham’s wife, this would lead to his demise, making Sarah an eligible widow. For this reason, Sarah was often introduced as Abraham’s sister. Sarah seemed …show more content…
Unfortunately, Sarah was unable to bare children for many years. She even assigned blame, asserting, “The Lord has kept me from having children (Genesis 16:1).” God had promised Sarah she would bear children but Sarah grew impatient, as she often did. Now, Sarah turned to her Egyptian servant, Hagar. Sarah rendered Hagar to Abraham so that she could bear his child. Abraham consented to his wife’s wishes and later Ishmael was born. [The Book does not mention whether Hagar consented to this arrangement or not.] Now, both Sarah and Hagar were connected to Abraham. After Hagar conceives a child with Abraham, Sarah holds a certain level of antipathy towards her servant. Sarah feels that her servant holds her to a lower esteem because she cannot conceive, and Sarah starts to feels insignificant. In return, Sarah treats her servant harshly until finally Hagar flees from her. While in exile, an angel proposed that Hagar return to Sarah and Abraham and be subservient; in return, blessings would be bestowed upon
journey to the land of Eden. Alexandra is similar to both Noah and Moses. Alexandra went
Immediately after the fall of mankind and the expulsion from the garden, the human race begins populating God's creation. Cain is the first-born son of Adam and Eve. His actions in life from beginning to end exhibit one thing: a lack of reverence for God. In contrast to Cain's irreverence, Abel comes along and displays a greater sense of concern in pleasing God. Abel, who was righteous and zealous in pleasing God, became a "keeper of sheep" (cf. Gen 4:2). Cain, however, was a "tiller of the ground" (cf. Gen. 4:2).
Although Hagar flaunts her pregnancy with Abraham in the face of Sarah who is barren, Sarah is ultimately responsible for generating trouble in Abraham’s household. Through Sarah’s decision to give Hagar to Abraham, Sarah’s jealousy and anger towards Hagar’s reaction to conception, and also Sarah’s harsh treatment of Hagar, we are able to understand why Sarah is truly the one accountable for the negative circumstances throughout her relationship with Hagar.
“But Lot's wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt” (New Geneva Study Bible, Gen. 19. 26). “Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James and Joseph), and Zebedee's wife, the mother of James and John” (Matt. 27:56). “Jacob went over to the well and rolled away the stone and watered his uncle's flock. Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and tears came to his eyes…But when Jacob woke up in the morning – it was Leah! ‘What sort of trick is this?’ Jacob raged at Laban. ‘I worked seven years for Rachel. What do you mean by this trickery?’” (Gen. 29). These are among the few verses dedicated to three women of the Bible. No commentary or insight into their inner persons is given. Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt, Mary was present at her son’s crucifixion, and Rachel’s older sister took her place in the marriage bed. Plain and simple, these are the cold, hard facts. In her poems “Lot’s Wife,” “Crucifixion,” and “Rachel,” Anna Akhmatova breathes life into these women by delving into their emotions and painting a picture of them in their surroundings.
and in fact she told the serpent this, “It is only about fruit of the tree
Sethe has a strong maternal instinct and sees her children as a part of herself. They rightfully belong to her. However her maternal ownership of her children is not recognized by the culture of slavery. As a slave she cannot own anything (Mock 118). Therefore while they are enslaved neither Baby Suggs nor Sethe really own their children. In the slavery culture both the mothers and the children are considered as property of their white owners. As property, their rights as mothers are made void and they have no say about the lives of their children. To the owners a slave woman’s primary value is in her reproductive ability. The female slave is seen as giving birth to property, and therefore capital in the form of new slaves. (Liscio 34). The owner has the ability to use and dispose of this new property as they wish. Therefore children could be sold without any regards for their feelings of the feelings of their mother. In the novel Baby Suggs states she has given birth to eight children, however she only gets to keep one that she sees grow into adulthood. By the end of her life slavery has stolen all of her children from her:
...se days a male child was more valued than a girl. Her guard had to always be up, while she had all the power in Egypt there were other people who had the same power as she.
The Epic of Gilgamesh has many similarities to the Bible, especially in Genesis and it’s not just that the both begin with the letter “g”’! One major similarity being the flood story that is told in both works. The two stories are very similar but also very different. Another being the use of serpents in both works and how they represent the same thing. A third similarity being the power of God or gods and the influence they have on the people of the stories. Within these similarities there are also differences that need to be pointed out as well.
As human beings, we are designed to belive in something. Although the belief in a higher power or religion is diverse, many theologies share common themes. “The Epic of Gilgamesh” and the Hebrew book of “Genesis” are seemingly polar opposites. Christianity, demonstrated in Genesis, is monotheistic, and the Hebrews base their faith on their relationship with God. On the other hand, Sumerian philosophy, found in Gilgamesh, is polytheistic, and the Sumerian people base their theology on fear. Ancient polytheistic literature forms an archetypical pattern of the mortals trying desperately to please the gods. A mortal’s entire existence rests in the hands of the sometimes childish gods. In spite of this, these two stories
3 Then Sarai Abram�s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelled ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram for his wife.
The purpose of the creation story is not central to the Bible but serves as a prologue to the historical drama, which are the central concerns of the Bible. The narrative focus in the Bible is on the story that begins with Noah and is centered on the exodus from Egypt. The central event in the Bible is the creation of the covenant and the giving of laws and commandments. Although the creation of the world in Genesis I and the pronouncement of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 are two completely different accounts in the Bible, there lies a similar theme between them: God creates an orderly and hierarchical universe, both natural and moral.
He steers the Israelites outside of Egypt to the entryway of the Promised Land. The text addresses Moses using superlatives. Moses not once lost his wisdom of humanness, exhibiting characteristics of fury, aggravation, and an absence of self-confidence in addition to his leadership abilities, humility and perseverance (Harper 's Bible Dictionary 1952, 655). Moses was born as a Hebrew to his mother named Jochebed. Jochebed laid her baby into an impermeable container, sitting him inside the stalks of the Nile in order to conceal him since the Egyptian declaration was made to execute all newborn Hebrew males. The baby was recovered by Pharaoh’s daughter, who is spotted taking the baby from the reeds of the Nile. Miriam, (Moses’ sister) spies the lady embracing the baby, and witnesses her genuine response to the baby being Hebrew. Miriam recommends to attain a nurse for the baby from the Hebrew females, who will tend to the baby throughout his infancy. Miriam carries Jochebed to Pharaoh’s daughter as the lady that will attend to the newborn. This demonstration bears a resemblance to legends that are initiated in the world of offspring, who avoided a destined death, that were concealed or cared for by a surrogate parent, and then were given back or they surfaced to assume a vital part in their civilization (Gehman and Green n.d.,
Within the texts of Genesis which belong to the biblical scriptures of the Hebrews, and the myths of Egyptian origin, there are a multitude of similarities and differences. When compared side by side, the most obvious factor of both texts is that a single God was the creator of all that we know today. In Genesis that creator is simply referred to as God, while in Egyptian mythology, the creator is known as Neb-er-tcher. Both creators have striking resemblances, such as the ways they went about the production of the world.
In Pharonic Egypt, women were the legal equals of men. They were not denied any rights in accordance of the law because of their gender. Women, like men, could own property, coming into it either through inheritance, as a payment for goods or services, or through purchase. Women could buy houses and goods, and with them, they were allowed to do as they chose. Being landholders and people of property afforded ancient Egyptian women a reasonable amount of social freedom. They could travel about freely in towns without veiled faces. In their own homes, women could move about as they pleased, they were not forced to remain in one section of the house or forbidden from other common areas as they were in other societies of the time.
In earlier times, Abram and Sarai were without any children. The couple was in their late eighty’s and all hope of Sarai baring a child was gone. Sarai’s lack of faith and desperate desire to have a child resulted in her giving their slave-girl Hagar, unto her husband to bare a child, whom was named, Ishmael. Ten years after the birth of Ishmael, the LORD appeared to Abram with a plan and purpose that was far greater and more miraculous than ever expected. The LORD made a covenant with Abram that would change his life forever. When God steps into your life, he becomes your potter. He shapes and molds you into the vessel that he needs you to be in order to fulfill his WILL. Abram was shaped by the changing of his identity. God gave Abram instructions to change his name to Abraham and for Sarai’s to change her name to Sarah. God chose Abraham to ancestor a multitude of nations. This everlasting covenant with Abraham covered his offspring, and their generations. In addition, Abraham and his generations would populate the land of Canaan. God also told Abraham he would bless Ishmael with a great nation. Abraham was told to circumcise every male at eight days old. He was to circumcise Ishmael and any males bought with his money from any foreigners who were not his offspring. The circumcision would signify the covenant between Abraham and God. Abraham did not hesitate carrying out God’s orders. To receive the blessings God have for us, we must be obedient and we must carry out his orders exactly as instructed. When God has a plan and gives us an order, we must act on it immediately. Blessings may not always come when expected. God has set aside a season or time for which our plan will be implemented. For example, the LORD told Abraham that Sarah would bare and nurse her first son at the age of ninety, and whose name will be Isaac, a year from the time of their conversation.