8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. 9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, 10 and she said to Abraham, 'Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.'
11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. 12 But God said to him, 'Do not be so distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. 13 I will make the son of the maidservant into a nation also, because he is your offspring.'
Family values. They are thrown around today by all sorts of people. Many who use these words appeal to the Bible as the basis for family values. But if we read the Bible carefully, we will find that the Bible paints a rather distressing picture of "family values."
As quoted above, the story of Sarah having Hagar and Ishmael sent away cannot possibly be held up as a story stressing family values. Yet God counsels Abraham to do as Sarah requests!
Isn't this counsel the breaking up of a family? Isn't this counsel the separation of a young boy from his father? This can't be right! So much for Genesis 21 being a proof text for family values!
Don't misunderstand me. I'm all for the family. But Christians tend to argue from the Bible that the perfect family is one husband, one wife, 2.5 kids, and a dog. Yet we rarely encounter that kind of family in Scripture.
I would suggested that much of what is argued for as "family values" in America is "chronocentrism--our tendency to assume that the worldview we hold at the present time is the ultimately true worldview." (God at War, Boyd, p. 18).
Throughout Scripture we see many families and few of these families can be held up as models of American family values (1 husband, 1 wife, 2.5 kids, a dog).
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