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Finally, Sarah bears a son, Isaac and now decides she does not wish her son to share inheritance with a son of a slave, Ishmael. Hagar had lost her mothering power over Sarah. Not even submission will save Hagar and Ishmael. They must go. Sarah has fulfilled her role of mothering and she does not need Hagar anymore. Abraham is grieved, not for Hagar the Egyptian slave girl, but rather for Ishmael, his son. Once again, a divine character comes into the story, namely God. God speaks to the distressed Abraham saying, ‘whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you,” 21:13. The divine character (God) explains to Abraham as it was explained to Hagar, that “As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also” but “it is through Isaac that your offspring shall be named,” vv.12-13. With God having spoken to Abraham, he wakes up to act: he dismisses Hagar and Ishmael, with nothing but “bread and a skin of water,’ 21:14. In this way, the wishes of Sarah are respected—Ishmael and Hagar have no share in the property of Abraham, which is spared for Isaac. Second, dismissal means that the offspring of Ishmael, which shall be a nation, shall not be named after Abraham. Rather, they shall be known for being an offspring of a slave woman, who was bid to obey by the angel of the Lord and then thrown out of the house with a full blessing of God, and without any inheritance. In chapter 25:12-18, the descendants of Ishmael are outlined and the scholars hold that “while some of the names are unknown, but other identifications have been made with Arabian tribal groups to the east and South of Canaan” (Fretheim 1994:515) 38 Clearly, equal power has not been given to the two nations whose origin is traced Ishmael, the son of slave woman, and Isaac, the son of the legitimate wife. This inequality is religiously blessed by the appearance of an angel of the Lord and God sanctioning the submission of Hagar and their dismissal. What is clearly formulated in this story is an ideology of inequality between two different nations. This ideology of inequality between different nations is also evident in the story of Noah’s sons and Lot and his daughters, as we shall see below. It also propounds an ideology that legitimizes the oppression of the nation, which is characterized nega
tively. But before we turn to these other examples, it is important that we should scrutinize the gender roles of Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac and how they interact with other social categories of identity. In the story of Abraham, the presenter/teller/writer seemingly presents him as unconcerned about a son. It seems it is all Sarah’s concern and worry. Abraham seems to helplessly obey his wife— first, to go into the slave girl; second, to remind Sarah that he is still the mistress over Hagar, and third, to reluctantly throw the slave girl out. In every way, Sarah seems to wield so much power. But the reader/hearer must not forget that first, she wields power in the private sphere of the home. Second, that the offspring that she brings forth will bear, not her name, but that of Abraham. He will also inherit Abraham’s property. Third, the gender stereotype of associating women with jealous and evil informs this story, but like others, it veils the fact that jealous and competitiveness amongst women is usually an indication of their lack of power and dependence on men (husbands, fathers, sons and bosses at work). In short, Sarah’s concerns are to fulfill Abraham’s unspoken desires, who needs a son to carry his name and to inherit his property (Gen15: 1-6). Lastly, it is Abraham who is promised a nation through Isaac, not Sarah. It is Isaac who inherits property, not Sarah. So power is hardly in the hands of Sarah despite the presentation of the story. Coming to the two offspring of Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac, it is notable that both of them are sons. No daughter is born to Hagar and Sarah. What are their roles? They are both promised nations “their offspring will be greatly multiplied,” but they shall be distinct. Second, they are property inheritors, but we see that class militates against Ishmael. That is although he is male and shall be a father of nations, he is denied inheritance and Abraham’s name, since he is a son of an Egyptian slave woman—Hagar. This inequality is a planted seed within the story that grooms and legitimates racism—the looking down of the nation that originates from Ishmael. The story is certainly not written from the perspective of Ishmael and his descendants. It is written from the perspective of 39
Page 1 and 2: Contents Overview 2 Impact of Apart
Page 3 and 4: “How do I hold hands with my sist
Page 5 and 6: during colonialism. In their silenc
Page 7 and 8: towards achieving a democratic, non
Page 9 and 10: African women make up 39.94% of the
Page 11 and 12: Access to piped water in dwellings
Page 13 and 14: Black women are either concentrated
Page 15 and 16: access resources through their rela
Page 17 and 18: Bibliography Albertyn, C. and Zylic
Page 19 and 20: Asian women caught in the middle By
Page 21 and 22: say of how it is used or disposed o
Page 23 and 24: women who have been cheated out of
Page 25 and 26: To be a racist By Hope Chigudu We h
Page 27 and 28: upbringing instilled in me a sense
Page 29 and 30: As time went on, most of us were fo
Page 31 and 32: At the end of six years in the same
Page 33 and 34: Religion, Racism and Gender By Dr M
Page 35 and 36: again? Why does the Lord command a
Page 37: approaches Abraham with a plan, nam
Page 41 and 42: Lord my God of Shem; and let Canaan
Page 43 and 44: Conclusions The Time is Now These t
Page 45 and 46: Dube, M. W, Other Ways of Reading:
Page 47 and 48: All major newspapers, magazines and
Page 49 and 50: Those black women who have ventured
Page 51 and 52: “..promote women’s full and equ
Page 53 and 54: Women in Interracial Marriage Still
Page 55 and 56: for registration of their unions. Z

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