1. Adam and Eve
Our earliest parents Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden and were driven out of it. Outside the garden, life went on normally and they started a family. They gave birth to Cain and Abel. Cain the eldest became a farmer and Abel became a shepherd (Ge 4:2). In the family, they tolerated one another and the family thrived peacefully. But things took a dramatic turn the day Cain and Abel offered a sacrifice to God. Cain took some of his foodstuffs and offered it to God (Ge 4:3). And Abel offered one of his best livestock as a sacrifice to God (Ge 4:4). God accepted Abel’s sacrifice and rejected Cain’s (Ge 4:5).
Cain took offense and from that moment, he sought to take vengeance on Abel for having been accepted. One day he talked Abel into accompanying him to the field. There he killed Abel. Sooner, Cain himself was cursed and banished from home (Ge 4:11). At this point, Adam and Eve’s family was close to being destroyed for one son killed his brother and he also got banished such that he took his leave from home and never returned, wandering on the land. Adam and Eve lost their two sons within a short time. It was a traumatic moment for them similar to their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. However, later, Eve gave birth to Set and many other sons and daughters (Ge 5:4).
2. Abraham
Abraham came into the limelight when God called him to leave his father’s house in Haran. He was 75 years old at that time. Abraham’s nuclear family was made up of himself and his wife only, but they were living with many servants and there was peace in the family. When Abraham went to Egypt because of a famine (Ge 12:16), he left the country with some Egyptian servants he received from Pharaoh. One of these servants was Hagai. Because Sarah was barren, she gave Hagar to Abraham so that he would bear children with her. rivalry, tension, and problems reared their ugly heads in Abraham’s family when he impregnated Hagar.
When Hagar became pregnant, she began to disrespect her mistress Sarah. Sarah was displeased and complained bitterly to Abraham. Then she began to maltreat Hagai to the extent that Hagai ran away from home. Later, an angel met her near a spring in the desert and sent her back home, telling her to be submissive to her mistress (Ge 16:9). Hagar gave birth to a son called Ishmael. The birth of Ishmael raised Hagar’s status in the family as she and her son Ishmael became important to Abraham. And the shadow of rivalry still lingered in the family between Sarah and Hagar. Reference Genesis 16:1-16
Along the line, Sarah also gave birth to Isaac. Isaac grew and was weaned. When Isaac was weaned, Abraham held a great feast for him. At the occasion, Sarah saw that Hagar’s son Ishmael was making fun of the occasion. This provoked Sarah to tell Abraham to get rid of Hagar and Ishmael because she would not want Ishmael to share in the inheritance with her son Isaac. This matter distressed Abraham so much for he was unwilling to do it. But God encouraged him to do it. Finally, Abraham had to send away Hagar and Ishmael from his family, bringing peace to the family and securing the inheritance of Isaac. Reference Genesis 21:8-21
3. Jacob
Concerning family problems, Jacob had plenty. He married two sisters. The first was Leah whom he married first and, after her, Rachel the younger sister. Unfortunately, these two sisters did not get along well at all. Leah envied Rachel because Jacob loved Rachel more than her. Rachel envied Leah because she had born children.
Though the likes of Sarah and Rebecca had suffered infertility before, Rachel’s infertility denied Jacob his peace of mind. On one occasion she said to her husband Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!” Ge 30:2. Jacob was angry with her and retorted, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?” Ge 30:2.
When Rachel realized she was infertile, she gave her maid Bilhah to Jacob as a concubine. Jacob accepted her and, with her, he gave birth to Dan and Naphtali (Ge 30:3-8). With time, it happened that Jacob’s firstborn Reuben had an affair with Bilhah (Ge 35:22). Initially, Jacob did nothing about it. But during Jacob’s last days, while lying on his dying bed, he cursed Reuben that he would not excel (Ge 49:4).
Lastly, Jacob had twelve children but he loved Joseph the most (Ge 37:3). Jacob’s love for Joseph coupled with Joseph’s dreams sparked a raging envy and hatred in the hearts of Jacob’s other sons. Jacob could not deal with this problem of envy and hatred directed to Joseph. Moreover, he underestimated the extent of the hatred his other sons had for his beloved son Joseph. Before he knew it, his sons plotted, captured, and would have killed Joseph if they had not sold him into slavery (Ge 37:12-36).
4. Elkanah
At the time Elkanah came into the scene in the biblical narratives, he had two wives. One was called Hannah and the other one was called Peninah. Hanna was barren despite being loved more (1Sa 1:5), but Peninah had given birth to children (1Sa 1:2). It appears that Elkanah had married Hanna first. But because she was barren, he married Peninah so that he could have children. The two wives did not get along well which disrupted the peace in the family. Because Hannah has no child, Peninah provokes so much that she gets hurt and cries bitterly (1Sa 1:7). During moments like this, Elkanah steps in to comfort her in her sorrows and express how much he loves her (1Sa 1:8). With time, Hannah also got pregnant and gave birth to Samuel (1Sa 1:20), after whom she also gave birth to more children (1Sa 2:21).
5. David
David’s family was one of the families with many internal problems. Remember that when David committed adultery with Bathsheba and killed her husband, Uriel, God punished him. Among the punishments he received was that the sword would never depart from his house. Meaning there would be killings in his family (2Sa 12:10). Both David’s nuclear and extended family were greatly affected by this word.
The killings in David’s family were triggered by Absalom who killed his elder brother Amnon for raping his sister Tamar (2Sa 13:23-39). Later, Absalom rebelled against David and war broke out between them. Absalom built an army that was commanded by his cousin Amasa; whereas David’s army was commanded by his nephew Joab. When Absalom was defeated, it was Joab who killed him against the wishes of David. (2 Samuel 18:1-18)
Later after the war, Amasa was also killed by his cousin Joab (2Sa 20:7-13). After David’s death, Solomon ordered his cousin Joab’s death to avenge Amasa (1Ki 2:5; 1Ki 2:32). Solomon also had his rival brother Adonijah, who wanted to usurp the throne of Israel, killed (1Ki 2:25).