Last week we saw that Genesis 20 was a similar narrative to Genesis 12, which we discussed the week before last.

If you haven't read through both of those posts, I'd encourage you to do so before moving on to today's post, which will build on that information!

Both Genesis 12 and 20 show Abraham letting his wife be taken by another man and these narratives are both deeply connected to the accounts of both Creation and the Fall in Genesis 1-3.

We now turn to Genesis 16, where Sarai concocts a plan to build up a family through her husband and her slave.

God has just again promised to multiply Abram's seed in chp. 15, but chp. 16 starts with a reflection of the promise not yet being fulfilled -- Sarai remains childless. So, in a sad imitation of God building a family for the first man (Gen. 2), Sarai decides that she will build up a family through Hagar. The word "build" here is used intentionally to connect Genesis 2:22 and Genesis 16:2.

Note: English translations do not make it clear that the same Hebrew word is being used. But it's important for us to see that the author is using the same words and imagery here.

Another connection-thematically-is that this building of a family is intended to enable the couple to fulfill the blessing of multiplied seed. This is true for both Genesis 2 and 16. But in the first narrative, God provided a means for the blessing and here in 16, Sarai takes matters into her own hands.

Also thematically, Sarai looks like Eve in a distortion of God's provision and action; a human presumes to fill the role of God. Eve in the garden "looks and sees" the the fruit of the tree is "good," just as God continually looked and saw and pronounced what was good in Gen. 1. The language shows Eve imitating God, but she doesn't succeed. Her imitation was a failure.

And now Sarai attempts to build a family for herself to obtain the blessing (like God's actions in Gen. 1-2). But God, the original family-builder and promise-giver, does not need human manipulation to make sure the blessing is fulfilled. Sarai presumes to imitate God and shows her lack of faith that God would live up to the promise He had made.

Returning to linguistic evidence:

Here in chapter 16 we see the direct correlation between taking and giving forbidden fruit and taking and giving of a second wife. Sarai took Hagar and gave her to her husband. Gen 16:3. Pictured exactly as Eve taking from the forbidden tree and giving to Adam (Gen 3:6).

And Abram looks exactly like Adam: Abram “listened to the voice of Sarai.” Gen 16:2. This is in direct repetition of what Adam did in the garden. In God’s judgment to Adam, He says, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree…” Gen. 3:17-19

Results of Taking Another Wife

When Sarai experiences the trouble brought about by Abram’s taking Hagar to produce children, Sarai blame shifts to her spouse, just as Adam and Eve did in the garden. Sarai says to Abram, “You are responsible for my suffering… Let the Lord judge between you and me.”

As a response to Sarai’s words, Abram says, “She is in your hand. Do what seems good in your eyes.” Now, Sarai has been intricately set up as another Eve by all the repetitions in this chapter. And the reader must now expect that like Eve, what Sarai sees with her eyes will not align with what God says is good.

And that’s the right expectation — Sarai treats Hagar so badly that Hagar flees from her presence (literally, from her face). And this phrase is also a repetition of what happened in the garden. After Eve and Adam had taken and eaten the fruit, they heard the Lord walking in the garden and hid from His face (Gen. 3:8).

Now, Hagar isn’t totally in the right here in this chapter, but it is Sarai’s wrongdoing that causes Hagar to flee. So Hagar has fled, and God calls to her just as He called to Adam in the garden. He says to her, “Where are you going?” (16:8) To Adam He had said nearly the same thing, “Where are you?” (3:9)

But Hagar, unlike Adam receiving judgment for his wrongs after hiding, she receives the blessing that was from the beginning: a multitude of seed.

Bringing it Together

What we’re pulling together here from the massive amounts of connections between Genesis 1-3 and 16 is that taking a second wife is another retelling of the Fall.

The first wife takes and gives something to her husband that she should not. The husband listens to her voice. Disunity and blame shifting arises between the husband and wife. Someone flees, and then God appears to them and says, “where are you?”

The events of all three of the chapters we looked at—12, 16 and 20—are parallel to the narratives of Creation and the Fall, as demonstrated by the author’s intentionally repeating vast amounts of words and themes.

To answer the question “why is God silent in the face of Abraham’s polygamy?”: He isn’t.

No, He doesn’t arrive on-scene in the narrative with thunder and doom and confrontation and correction, but the Spirit-inspired author of that narrative re-depicts the sin of disobeying God at the tree as the violation the creation-marriage paradigm in Genesis 12, 16, and 20.

That’s how reading our Bible from a Canonical perspective practically works: carefully reading through and connecting the parallels that the author SHOWS the reader. He delivers theology through stories, the historical narratives. And when we see the connections between each story, we see and understand the big picture of the theology that the author is teaching.

And in this case, we have an answer that dissolves the apparent discrepancy between the New Testament and the seeming tacit acceptance of the Old Testament patriarchs’ marriage behaviors.

We don’t have an in-narrative speech from God, but the words of the scriptural text are the message to the reader about how God views polygamy. The words that form up these narratives are God’s rebuke.