A Story of God and All of Us - By Roma Downey Page 0,13
don't dare look back. As if chasing them from behind, the continuing screams of the people of Sodom carry across the desert. The dawn breaks as they run. It's the start of a brand-new day, and a brand-new life, for Lot and his daughters. They run and they run and they run, across the desert and up into the safety of the hill country, where they will live for the rest of their days.
Time passes: from Abraham's camp comes the painful howl of a woman enduring the agony of childbirth. Sarah squats inside their tent, tended to by a midwife. Abraham paces nervously outside. He is ecstatic that his wife is bearing him a child.
Sarah's screaming stops, replaced by the sound of a newborn infant breathing its first gulps of air, then squealing so loud that its cries can be heard across the valley.
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As Abraham steps forward to enter the tent, his eyes meet those of Hagar and Ishmael. The teenaged Ishmael is strapping and handsome, and bears a strong resemblance to them both. If the baby is a girl, Ishmael remains first in line of inheritance. If the newborn child is a boy, Ishmael will no longer be Abraham's rightful heir, according to Hebrew tradition.
Abraham pulls back the tent flap. A beaming Sarah holds their child to her breast. Abraham leans down to her. Without saying a word, she hands him the child. Tears well in the corners of his eyes as he holds the baby.
"A boy," Sarah whispers. She is radiant.
"Just as God promised," Abraham marvels. "Just as God promised. Only the Almighty can do the impossible."
Abraham holds the child aloft. "His name will be Isaac." He and Sarah burst into joyous laughter.
Outside the tent, Hagar and Ishmael hear the commotion, and know the baby is a boy without having to be told. Hagar wraps her arm around her son's
waist, seeking to comfort him.
A year passes. The tension in Abraham's encampment grows by the day, though not between Ishmael and Isaac. The silent war for Abraham's attention and affection is between Sarah and Hagar, and each one
begrudges every single instant that he spends with the other. Abraham walks a fine line each day as he tries to keep the peace between these two strong-willed women, but it is never easy. The tent of Abraham and Sarah is always pitched close to that of Hagar and Ishmael, so that the teenage boy can be close to his father. Every single word and gesture that Abraham makes is scrutinized.
Sitting in the shade outside her tent, a most content Sarah softly sings a lullaby to baby Isaac. The air smells of wood smoke from the cooking fires and the dusty tang of the desert. Isaac can walk now and is beginning to form words, but at this moment he is asleep in his cradle. Sarah
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feels that he is the most perfect creation in the world, and she cannot take her eyes off of him. Then she sees Abraham walk into camp and embrace Ishmael when he jumps to his feet and rushes to show off his new bow and arrows. Abraham turns the bow over in his hands, studying it for
imperfections. Seeing none, he musses Ishmael's hair affectionately.
"Good," he tells him, "very good."
Hagar sits on a pillow across from Ishmael, gazing at her son with the same loving expression that Sarah shows to Isaac. For Ishmael, she will do anything.
"Sarah!" he cries out, walking quickly toward their tent. He doesn't see the hurt look on Ishmael's face as he abruptly shifts his attention from the boy to Sarah.
Abraham ducks into the tent and steps inside. Sarah is facing the tent entrance, still hugging Isaac as she sits on a thick pillow. She is in a dark mood--that much Abraham can tell in an instant. "What's wrong?" he asks innocently, even though he knows quite wel what's troubling Sarah.
"That woman thinks her boy is going to inherit what rightfully belongs to Isaac," she hisses.