Sarai, princess

This story is about Abraham. A movie that I watched off and on, as I took a quick nap, in between. A few lines which captured my interest, is what I want to share. Maybe drama brings out the story for me in a way reading never could. It showed how the characters "felt" in the story.

Canaan, not Egypt, was the land of promise. A famine, found Abram close to entering Egypt, but he knew his wife would be taken away and he would be killed, so it was decided that he would say she was his sister. Abram knew she was very beautiful, and the Pharaoh treated him well, for her sake, giving him sheep, oxen, donkeys, servants, mules and camels, hoping to make her his wife.

Sarai became confused as he tried to sway her heart away from her husband, knowing she was not his sister, and when the Pharaoh offered to give her anything, she asked to be released back to her brother (husband) and her people.

The next scene is touchy, as Sarai with tears streaming down her face confessed to Hagar, her Egyptian slave, that she asked for her freedom. Hagar replied to her that no one had ever escaped, and although she confessed that she was treated well, Sarai thought she was doomed to live a life of unhappiness, even though the Pharaoh patiently waited for her to want him.

The truth always comes out, and as God intervened by instilling a plague on Pharaoh and his house, because of Sarai, Abram's lie was exposed. They are exiled with Sarai, Hagar, all the goods. The strife continued as Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, while Lot dwelt on the plain of Jordan.

God had a perfect plan that included Hagar, who was the mother of Ishmael, son of Abram, who bore him when Abram was 86. God then gave to Abram the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession, calling him Abraham, in a covenant for all generations. Sarai is given the name of Sarah, queen, and at ninety years of age bore Isaac. Abraham was 100 years of age.

The story is full of emotion, Abram lost his heart when his wife was painfully taken from him. Abraham wept at the thought of having to offer his son as a sacrifice, as instructed by the Lord, in the land of Mariah, when Isaac was a mere lad. Seeing Ishmael sent away with Hagar the maidservant, knowing the promise that a great nation will be made out of him, as he also was of the seed of Abraham. This was done to secure the inheritance of Abraham and Sarah's son Isaac, ending the rift that was apparent between the two women.

Foreshadowing of the Eucharistic feast appeared as the priest of God Most High, Melchizedek blessed Abram, as they shared in the bread and wine that he brought. Abraham interceded for Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot's wife, lost her life because of disobedience to the Lord, turning to look back. And Abraham's willingness to make an offering of his son, in his test of faith, prefigured the Resurrection of Christ and the future Resurrection from the dead, in which Abraham believed.

The movie expressed the suffering of those in relationship. The heart torn Abram, and Sarai. Sarai not having her own child, and having to endure the other woman. The servant's snickering and advances toward her husband, in a decision that was hers, initially. The struggle between two sons who would both inherit a great nation, the promise of the Jews and the Gentiles. The movie suggested that Isaac and Ishmael were present at the burial of their father and that they held hands over him.

In the end, as two brother's have, we embrace the faith of Abraham, multiplied exceedingly, which holds for our world, hope and great promise, which began through the promise of the "father of many nations."