Privilege. It’s a word frequently bandied about today in our society and refers to a “special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people.” In ancient Israel, Jewish freeborn men were the only ones who enjoyed privilege. Slaves and women had few, if any, rights. A woman who was a slave was the lowest of the low…the bottom rung of the societal ladder.
It is here that Hagar finds herself. She was an Egyptian slave woman who was likely acquired by Abraham when he left Egypt after lying to Pharaoh. As is common among female slaves, she was raped by Abraham per Sarah’s request. No consent. No rights. No equality. When she gets pregnant by Abraham, her relationship with Sarah deteriorates until she runs away. Pregnant and homeless…wandering alone in a desert, easily cast aside because she is thought to be expendable property. But God’s interactions with her reveal His heart for her, and His intentions toward equality. In her first interaction with Him, she is privileged to experience several things that few others did. First of all, she is one of very few who the Bible records as giving God a name(Gen. 16:13). Secondly, she is the first of four women whose children were named by God while they were in the womb. Sarah is next with Isaac, then Elizabeth(John the Baptist), and Mary(Jesus).
God’s promises to Hagar are very similar to His promises to Abraham. She is promised that God will make her son into a great nation(Gen. 21:18) and that He will multiply her offspring so that they cannot be counted(Gen. 16:10). God’s promises to Abraham were not because of inherent privilege afforded because of his DNA, but because God foreordained that the Messiah would come through Abraham and Sarah. He made a covenant with Abraham but did not disregard Hagar. It becomes obvious in God’s treatment of Hagar that according to Him, there is no Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female…but all are equal in His eyes.
In ancient Israel, Jews, not Egyptians, enjoyed privilege….and sons, not daughters, had privilege. During the patriarchal age, a daughter had no appreciable legal rights. She was regarded as her father’s possession. She could not even inherit her father’s estate. Sons, not daughters, received inheritance. First-born sons usually assumed control of the father’s estate upon his death. If a man had no sons, the servant who had been in his household the longest would assume control. Abraham knows this when he questions God about all that God is promising Him. He knew that all of it would go to Eliezer if he himself had no son(Gen. 15:3)
When the Israelites finished the forty year wanderings that resulted from their refusal to enter the Promised Land the first time, an entire generation had died and another census was taken to determine the division of the land, the “inheritance” allotted to each family and tribe. Zelophehad, of the tribe of Manasseh, left no sons, but had only five daughters. They came to Moses requesting their father’s inheritance so that his name would not disappear from his clan(Num. 27:4) This desire to preserve a name in a family in Israel sprang not merely from feelings natural in such circumstances, but was connected with the hope of the coming Messiah. Till He appeared, each family would fain have preserved its identity.(1)
These five women were seeking something only sons could attain. God’s response was, “What [they} were saying is right. You must certainly give them property as an inheritance among their father’s relatives and give their father’s inheritance to them.”(Num 27:7) God intervened and changed their cultural tradition, setting a precedent for future generations. Daughters were just as entitled to their father’s inheritance as sons. The significance of this is easily lost to us because in our culture, daughters can and do receive their father’s inheritance. But there are several aspects to this story that would have been very progressive…and radical…in their culture.
We have five women protesting to the leader of the nation of Israel, requesting something completely unheard of and traditionally not permitted. Women simply did not receive an inheritance. Widows did not because they were considered part of the property; daughters never could because they became the property of their husband’s families thereby losing the inheritance of their father.(2) The reason Zelophehad’s daughters requested their father’s inheritance was for the expressed purpose of preserving the family name(Numb. 27:4). This is not so very different from modern women who choose to keep their maiden name for that very purpose. And God gave His stamp of approval, saying “This is to have the force of law for the Israelites.”(Numb. 27:11b)
A slave woman and five fatherless daughters who had no privilege in their culture yet God intervened in their lives granting them what they sought…the privilege that had been available only to their male counterparts.
Older posts in this series:
Biblical Support for Egalitarianism: Sarah as a Model of Submission
Biblical Support for Egalitarianism: Sarah, an Equal Covenant Partner
Biblical Support for Egalitarianism: Ezer Kenegdo
Biblical Support for Egalitarianism: Equality in Eden
Endnotes:
1. Edersheim, Alfred (2014-06-29). Bible History: Old Testament: Books One Through Four (The Works of Alfred Edersheim Book 4) (Kindle Locations 6805-6807).
2. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/8114-inheritance