Genesis 21:14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.
Carrying things on the shoulders and backs is the most common way to carry things around the world. It is only in the recent past when many people carry things by having a piece of technology do the work. We have carts and cars, baskets and wheelbarrows. And the most recent iteration is Amazon Prime. We just click and it is delivered to our door. No more carrying on our shoulders!
But there is a downside to the lack of physical exertion. The US is now the fattest place on the planet. We have more obese people here than anywhere else. There should be an award ceremony for this. Maybe a slap or two would be the appropriate prize for the winners!
But all joking aside, our text tells what could be construed as a thoughtless, cruel act on Abraham’s part toward the mother of his first child and that fourteen year old son. He is sending them out into the desert on their own. He is starting their new life with just a few provisions that quickly deplete.
He gives them the provisions and they place it on her shoulders. Why can’t the fourteen year old do some of the heavy lifting? He probably has his earbuds in and isn’t listening to her pleas for help! Typical teenager. We obviously don’t know the reason the provisions are placed on her, but that is on purpose.
When we trace this idea of food provisions being placed on the shoulders we read of Rebekah placing the water jugs on her shoulder when she comes to the well for water. She will become the wife of Isaac, the next in the line of women who struggle for her husband’s attention. She struggles with the twins and their role in dad’s life.
We eventually get to the Israelites as they prepare to leave Egypt after four hundred years living in a foreign land. They are told to put their bread dough in the kneading troughs and place them on their shoulders to carry them on their journey.
Hagar and Ishmael become the foreshadowing of the Exodus. The same word picture and actual words are used here and in these other stories. The Author is beginning to spin a thread to tie these very different stories together in our minds. They are not separated stories, but the same story.
So what is that story. Very simply, the LORD makes it good. People mess it up. The LORD promises to make it good again. People mess it up. The LORD sets plans in place to make it good again.
This is the central message of the Scriptures, told and retold through the lives of His people. If there is one message we need to hear today it is this: we will mess it up, but the LORD still has a plan that we are free to join with. We can be partners with Him.
The promise from Page One of the Scriptures is that we are created in His image. We have a place in His plan, a unique place. Just as He created order out of chaos in the universe, so we were put in charge of this place to bring order into chaos. We are His emissaries in this world.
How are we doing at making this place better in His name? Not so good. We join the long line of those who have failed at perfect obedience. Jesus was successful, not just for Himself, but for us. We have the privilege of walking in Him and receiving His righteousness. Now that is a good thing to carry on our shoulders.
The Arnold Journey 