Genesis 16:1 - 18:33

The beginnings of Middle East conflict

I sometimes wonder what would have happened had Abram not taken his wife up on the offer of sleeping with her handmaiden.
Nice marital strife at the start of today's read...Sarai offers Hagar and then blames HIM for her being pregnant. Well sure, on one hand yes...but come on give me a break here...

Several interesting bits though:

Ishmael:
16:12 -"...his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand will be against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers."

I also wonder what is going on when it is clearly the "angel of the Lord" who shows up and promises Hagar: "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count."

But the blessing that comes to the children of Sarai through the promise to Abram is from the Lord, clearly identified when He says, "I am God Almighty."

Is the angel promising on his own word? Which angel? There seems to be a distinction here.

Interesting too that God's covenant with Abraham, because he gets the name change here, is:
17:7-8
"I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for generations to comes, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you, and I will be their God."

Without even being TOO liberal one could interpret that to mean the peoples that would eventually becomes both the Jewish AND Muslim nations of the Middle East...all of them descendants of Abraham, each following after the "God of Abraham".
I don't think I am ready to go there just yet but I'd be willing to accept someone's perspective who wanted to debate that point.

No wonder things are such a mess over there.