#StandingWithOurSisters #GodBlessesTheBarren

One thing I’ve learned over the last 5 or 6 years is that people tend to be more open and honest if they don’t think you have an agenda in talking to them.  When I owned my business and I would show up at a house to deliver a new refrigerator or washing machine, the residents would often stand around and talk while I installed the appliance. 

I remember one conversation I had with an Amish man who lived a little south of my home.  I was delivering some building materials to his house.  As the two of us 30-something year old men stood in his driveway, I could tell he had a burden he was carrying.  Finally he told me that neither he nor his wife felt welcomed in the Amish community they lived in.  The community they lived in was family, it was their church, it was their friends, but they didn’t feel like they were accepted for one main reason.  They had been married for 10 or 15 years and they didn’t have children.  With teary eyes he told me they had spent thousands and thousands of dollars to have numerous tests done to find out “the problem.”  But at the time of our conversation, they had no answers.  In their culture, children and family is held in high esteem.  So to be barren is considered a reason to be pitied, or looked down upon. 

While many in our Western culture may not associate the size of one’s family or fertility as being so important today, we can see in the Bible that infertility and being barren were serious problems.  Today science shows us that infertility issues can arise from either a man or a woman or both.  However, when we read the Bible it appears that infertility issues were always assigned to the woman.  So, in a culture where the size of one’s family may be important to their survival, and their position in society, having few or no children would be a problem. 

And yet, time and time again God showed that what the world viewed as broken He would use for His honor and glory.  Repeatedly it was the barren women that God used, opening their wombs, to mother some of the heroes so-to-speak in the Bible. 

Genesis 12:1-4

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your  relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you;   2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your  name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”  4 So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him…

We know next to nothing about Abram, or his wife Sarai, before God called them.  We have no indication that Abraham was a follower of YHWH or not.  All we know is what the text tells us here. 

Abram, whose name meant “exalted father”, was promised that if he left his homeland, which undoubtedly meant his culture, religious upbringing, and family, God would bless him in 3 ways.  First, God would make his descendants into a great nation.  Secondly, God would bless him by making his name great.  Finally, God said He would bless those who blessed Abram and through him all the nations would be blessed. 

God called Abram, and his beautiful (12:11) wife Sarai, and they obeyed and went. 

After some time has passed, we arrive at Genesis 15.  Abram is beginning to question God, regarding the promises God had made to him when he was called to follow God. 

Genesis 15:1-7

…the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.”

2 Abram said, “O Lord God, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.” 4 Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” 5 And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. 7 And He said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.”

Please allow me to take a minute to explain something here.  Our tendency is to read stories like this one through our cultural lens.  Here in the West we view personal liberty, and personal independence as being highly sought after virtues.  But things were not this way in biblical times—either in the Old Testament or New Testament times.  They lived under a completely different set of cultural virtues.  That system is often called the honor and shame system.  You were not your own, independent person.  You were part of a larger group.  Therefore what you wanted, while maybe important to you, was not as important as the larger picture.  And, in such a system—which still is active in many parts of our world today—if one’s honor is challenged, it may become their duty to defend their honor. 

So God said he would make a “great nation” of Abram, yet Abram and his wife Sarai are getting older and still they have no children.  Abram questions God, possibly asking if his honor will remain intact if God doesn’t fulfil the promise.  God takes Abram outside and shows him the stars.  Just as one cannot count the stars, God says, no one will be able to count Abram’s descendants.  And when Abram believed God, yet again, we are told God “reckoned” Abram’s faith as “righteousness.” 

I’m going to pass over the part of the story that involves Hagar and Ishmael, not because they aren’t important but because it isn’t within the scope of today’s purpose.  I might come back to the story of Hagar and Ishmael at a later date. 

Skipping ahead to Genesis 17, we see that 24 years after Abram was called to follow God, God comes to him again—reminding him of the promises He had made Abram. 

Genesis 17:1-7

Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him,

“I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless. 2 “I will establish My covenant between Me and you, And I will multiply you exceedingly.”     3 Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying,  4 “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, And you will be the father of a multitude of nations.  5 “No longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you. 7 I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. 8 I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

Whereas Abram’s name had meant “exalted father” God changes it to Abraham meaning “Father of a multitude”, encouraging him to look forward to what God had in store for his descendants (Ross, A. P. (1985). Genesis. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 58). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)

I don’t think we can overstate the stigma of being childless. 
One commentary had this to say about the subject.  “A closed womb was a deep personal tragedy in OT times. God’s command to men after the flood was to be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth (Gn 9:1) and later Jeremiah offered the same advice (Jer 29:6). A barren wife in a polygamous marriage was subject to ridicule (Gn 16:4) or extreme jealously (30:1). The social pressure to bear children for her husband was so great…”  (Van Reken, D. E. (1988). Barrenness. In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (Vol. 1, p. 265). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.)

So, as we continue, we may have a little better understanding of how big the promise God had given Abraham , and as we will see now, Sarah.  

Genesis 17:15-21

15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!” 19 But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. 21 But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.”

Not only Abram was to be blessed, but Sarah as well.  He would be the “father of a multitude of nations”, and she would receive a new name as well.  As one commentary put it, “As the ancestress of nations and kings, she should be called שׂרָה (princess), not שָׂרַי (heroine).”  (Lange, J. P., Schaff, P., Lewis, T., & Gosman, A. (2008). A commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Genesis (p. 424). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.)

In such a patriarchal culture, that God would single out a woman to bless was a big deal.  As we see in the case of Hagar, not only could women be owned, but even when married they and their offspring could be dismissed and written off without much thought. 

As I shared previously, as a result of sin entering the world the treatment of women went from being one of co-partner to one of oppression.  As the Commentary on the Holy Scriptures puts it:
“…..In consequence of sin thus arises that subjection of the wife to the husband, bordering on slavery, that was customary in the old world, as it still is in the East, and which through the religion of revelation becomes gradually more tolerable, until, at last, in the increasing worth of the woman, it becomes entirely evened” (Delitzsch).”  (Lange, et al pp. 237–238.)

In the case of Sarah, we see God taking a step in increasing the value of women by showing Sarah's value, even as a woman who struggles with infertility.  She is not just the property of her husband.  She is not to be dismissed or discarded because she can’t provide her husband sons, in a culture where sons appeared to be notches of honor on a man’s belt.  The promise God made was not just to Abraham, but it was made to Sarah too, as we see in Genesis 18.

Genesis 18:1, 9-15

Now the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day.

Abraham and Sarah hurried to prepare food for their guests, and when they sat to eat.

9 Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” 10 He said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing. 12 Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” 13 And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, when I am so old?’ 14 Is anything too difficult for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” 15 Sarah denied it however, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

Faith, when all things are apparently within our control, seems easy.  However, when nothing is even reasonable, and you are asked to have faith, what will you do?

Sarah found herself in such a situation.  She likely knows the promise God had given Abraham when He called them out of Ur. She was about 90 years old. And yet God promised her a baby.

Genesis 21:1-8

Then the Lord took note of Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had promised. 2 So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. 4 Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” 7 And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

8 The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

God took a woman, who by the measuring stick of her culture and time was probably looked down upon, and through her offspring He chose to bless the world. 

Sarah is just one example of barren women that God used to bring honor and glory to Himself. 

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible has this to say about being barren in the Bible times:

“It could be removed after earnest prayers (25:21; 1 Sm 1:16, 20) or by God’s prophet (2 Kgs 4:16) or messenger (Gn 18:14)….God promised Israel no infertility if they obeyed his laws (Dt 7:14).   (Van Reken, D. E.)

While I’ve spent so much time on just one example of God blessing a woman, and all people, through what the world may have considered a broken vessel, Sarah is far from being the only example the Bible gives us. 

Sarah’s grandson Jacob’s beloved wife, Rachel was unable to bear children.

Genesis 30:1-2

Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she became jealous of her sister; and she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die.” 2 Then Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”

But God heard Rachel’s prayer.

Genesis 30:22-24

22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God gave heed to her and opened her womb. 23 So she conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” 24 She named him Joseph, saying, “May the Lord give me another son.”

In I Samuel 1:1-2, 9-20 we read about Hannah.

Now there was a certain man from Ramathaim-zophim from the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives: the name of one was Hannah and the name of the other Peninnah; and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

Each year, Elkhanah took his family to sacrifice and worship God. Elkhanah favored Hannah, which led to Penninah provoking her about her barrenness. One year, Hannah went in to pray and ask God for children.

9 ... Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. 10 She, greatly distressed, prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. 11 She made a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head.”

12 Now it came about, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli was watching her mouth. 13 As for Hannah, she was speaking in her heart, only her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought she was drunk. 14 Then Eli said to her, “How long will you make yourself drunk? Put away your wine from you.” 15 But Hannah replied, “No, my lord, I am a woman oppressed in spirit; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the Lord. 16 Do not consider your maidservant as a worthless woman, for I have spoken until now out of my great concern and provocation.” 17 Then Eli answered and said, “Go in peace; and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of Him.” 18 She said, “Let your maidservant find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.

19 Then they arose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord, and returned again to their house in Ramah. And Elkanah had relations with Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. 20 It came about in due time, after Hannah had conceived, that she gave birth to a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked him of the Lord.”

God heard the cry of Hannah’s heart and opened her womb, and gave her a son whom God would use in mighty ways.

The final example we will look at here is found in Luke’s gospel.  

Luke 1:5-25

5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years.

One year the lot fell to him, to be the priest who burned the incense to the Lord.

11 And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. 12 Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John. 14 You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. 15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb. 16 And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. 17 It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

18 Zacharias said to the angel, “How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years.” 19 The angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time.”

21 The people were waiting for Zacharias, and were wondering at his delay in the temple. 22 But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them; and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple; and he kept making signs to them, and remained mute. 23 When the days of his priestly service were ended, he went back home.

24 After these days Elizabeth his wife became pregnant, and she kept herself in seclusion for five months, saying, 25 “This is the way the Lord has dealt with me in the days when He looked with favor upon me, to take away my disgrace among men.”

Elizabeth, although a righteous woman (1:6), felt the disgrace that came from childlessness (1:24).  And when God opened her womb, and gave her a son—John the Baptist—she thanked God for removing her “disgrace among men.” 

So, why spend so much time talking about women who struggled with infertility? 

First, we as humans can be cruel and unkind in regards to issues that we as humans may have no control over.  We may, by our words and actions or lack of words and actions, look down on someone for not living up to the standards we believe mark a godly life.  Sarah and Rachel and Hannah and Elizabeth had value, not because they could bear their husbands children, but because they were made in the image of God.  When they, or women today, are looked down on because they can’t live up to human expectations, we belie the fact that we believe they have intrinsic value, and not just value for what they do. 

Second, time and time again God chose those that didn’t live up to the world’s expectations of what constitutes greatness, through which to make His glory shine.  God gave Sarah a son and through that family line God would ultimately send His Son into the world.  God gave Rachel a son, and Joseph would be used by God to feed and protect God’s chosen people.  God gave Hannah a son, and Samuel would lead the Israelites and point them towards God.  God gave Elizabeth a son, and John the Baptist was used by God to prepare the way for Jesus’ earthly ministry.

Maybe you don’t feel like you “fit”, because you aren’t like everyone else in your social circles.  We see throughout the Bible that we aren’t to derive our value from what we are able to do, or what we are like.  Our value comes from being made in the image of God.  He loved us enough to send His Son into the world, to make a way for a restored relationship between Him and us.