‘The Faithful: Women of the Bible’ Episodes 1 & 2 Recap – From a Different Point Of View

Fox’s three-part television event The Faithful: Women of the Bible works on the fairly understandable operating principle that religion is a bit sexist and could do with a redo. Most of the fundamental stories in scripture – this applies to all religions, obviously, not just Christianity, though that’s the focus here – are a bit male-dominated, and this show seeks to redress that imbalance by depicting the Book of Genesis from the perspectives of women instrumental to the Christian faith but largely given supporting roles in traditional tellings. Part 1 comprises Episodes 1 and 2, “The Woman Who Bowed to No One” and “The Woman Who Spoke to God”, and does just about the bare minimum necessary to get its point across without excelling in any way.

The focus on the first hour is on Sarai, who, in 1900 BC Harran, made a promise to herself to never bow to a man on account of her parents’ efforts to marry her off to a lecherous businessman named Abim. That wasn’t to be, obviously, and Sarai instead fell in with the much poorer but significantly better-intentioned Abram, though she was unable to conceive a child with him. No worries, though, since Abram has a hotline directly to God, who assures him that he and Sarai will be able to have a child on the small condition that he relocates to an entirely new land on God’s instruction.

Sarai’s unwillingness to bow to men lands them both in a bit of trouble, though, when on the bank of the river Nile she stays provocatively upright in the gaze of a passing Pharaoh. As men of the era were wont to do, the Pharaoh wants to take this bit of dissent as an excuse to forcibly marry Sarai, which he thinks is okay because she claims that Abram is her brother, not her husband. In the Bible story, this minor detail is reversed, with Abram instructing Sarai to tell everyone he’s her brother, and this little female-forward tweak is basically The Faithful in a nutshell. It’s the story you’re all familiar with, just with appropriate agency given to the female characters.

Anyway, when the Pharaoh tries to force himself on Sarai, God gives him a nosebleed, terrifying the Pharaoh into allowing her to leave with Hagar, one of his slave women whom he had given to her as a gift. Sarai and Hagar quickly become firm friends, which is essential to the story, because Sarai comes to believe that Hagar represents an opportunity to assuage her inability to bear a child due to her advancing years. She asks Abram to knock up Hagar so that she can deliver them a child, as per God’s promise, and since biblical men weren’t considerably different from contemporary men, Abram thinks about it for around four seconds before legging it to the tent to do the deed.

However, because biblical women aren’t considerably different from contemporary women, Sarai begins to doubt this plan, despite it having been her idea in the first place. She gets annoyed with Abram for not considering it for longer – which is a fair point – and wants Hagar to leave and return to Egypt the moment she gives birth. She’s determined to stop Hagar and Abram from getting too close and lovey-dovey, so this second outcome is easier to achieve, but Hagar, understandably, becomes attached to the child in her womb and wants to have a role in his life once he’s born.

As we move into The Faithful: Women of the Bible Episode 2, this rift only worsens. However, even after a pretty nasty spat, God gets involved and speaks to Hagar directly, instructing her to submit to Sarai’s will and name her son Ishmael. However, God also speaks to Abram again and reassures him that he will have a child by Sarai, despite her advanced age, as per the original terms of the agreement. This also comes to pass, with the rather complicated caveat that God’s covenant will be with Sarai’s son, Isaac, leaving the elder Ishmael – and thus Hagar – out in the cold. Ishmael, who has no idea about his true parentage, grows up openly resenting Isaac and the clear favouritism that Abram – now calling himself Abraham – and particularly Sarai are displaying to little bro.

This all comes to a head when Ishmael just so happens to uncover a tablet in Abram’s tent, which outlines the original agreement between Sarai and Hagar, revealing that Sarai isn’t his mother after all. Knowing that Ishmael will never submit to Isaac, Sarai pushes Abram to banish them both, which he does, albeit reluctantly. Despite almost dying in the desert during the long trek to Canaan, God comes in clutch again and saves Hagar and Ishmael, who both survive in the many years that follow.

On her deathbed, Sarai confesses to Abram that it was she who left the tablet where Ishmael would find it. She knew Abram loved his son too much to ever banish him, but she also firmly believed that the only way in which God’s will would be fulfilled was if Isaac was allowed to become the ruler of his people unopposed by his brother. It’s worth noting that the Bible itself does kind of validate her position, with Isaac continuing Abram’s legacy, while Ishmael became the leader of his own people, leading to the divergence between Christianity/Judaism and Islam.

All’s well that ends well, too, since Hagar even attends Sarai’s modest funeral. Rumour has it that an ageing Abram may have even taken her as his second wife. Age is just a number, I guess.