Contradictions and Paradoxes in Genesis 16:1

Check out Contradictions Catalog of Genesis 16:1 for the comprehensive list of verses that contradicts Genesis 16:1. Some key contradictions and paradoxes are described below.

According to the author of Genesis, Sarai was sad because she couldn't have any children. She had a helper named Hagar, who was from Egypt.

Genesis 16:1: Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name [was] Hagar.

Contradiction with Genesis 17:19

God promises a son, Isaac, to Abraham and Sarah, whereas Genesis 16:1 describes Sarah as barren and offering her maid to Abram for offspring.

Genesis 17:19: And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, [and] with his seed after him.

Contradiction with Genesis 21:2

Sarah gives birth to Isaac, contradicting the idea in Genesis 16:1 that she could not bear children.

Genesis 21:2: For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

Contradiction with Hebrews 11:11

Sarah is noted for her faith and receipt of strength to conceive seed, which contrasts with Genesis 16:1 where her barrenness leads her to give Hagar to Abram.

Hebrews 11:11: Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.

Contradiction with Galatians 4:22-23

Discusses the two sons of Abraham, one from the bondwoman and one from the free woman, contrasting the free woman's later motherhood with the barrenness mentioned in Genesis 16:1.

Galatians 4:22-23: For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.

Contradiction with Isaiah 54:1

Exhorts the barren to sing because more are the children of the desolate than of the married wife, contrasting Sarai's barren state in Genesis 16:1 with future expansion.

Isaiah 54:1: Sing, O barren, thou [that] didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou [that] didst not travail with child: for more [are] the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.
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