Seed

Men have long been thought to be the only ones that have “seed”. But that is not true -men and women both have “seed”. Just as men are sometimes leaders (providers and protectors) of the family, women can fulfill that roll too. For instance, when a man abandons his wife and children for another woman, the mother must move into the leadership roll. But, in the case of second wives that desire to break up the family unit for their benefit and their children’s benefit, these women can be the leader for their own family branch. Hagar is a example of just such a woman. In Genesis 16:9-11, the angel of the Lord is talking to Hagar and Hagar alone, “Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction.” It was later, when Ishmael was thirteen years old that Abraham and Sarah, sent both of them away from the main family unit. Genesis 21:12-14, “And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman,; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away, and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.”