seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Genesis 16:7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.
9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”
11 The angel of the Lord also said to her:
“You are now pregnant
and you will give birth to a son.
You shall name him Ishmael,[a]
for the Lord has heard of your misery.
12 He will be a wild donkey of a man;
his hand will be against everyone
and everyone’s hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
toward(b) all his brothers.”
13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen[c] the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi[d]; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.
9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”
11 The angel of the Lord also said to her:
“You are now pregnant
and you will give birth to a son.
You shall name him Ishmael,[a]
for the Lord has heard of your misery.
12 He will be a wild donkey of a man;
his hand will be against everyone
and everyone’s hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
toward(b) all his brothers.”
13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen[c] the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi[d]; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
Genesis 16:11 Ishmael means God hears.
Genesis 16:12 Or live to the east / of
Genesis 16:13 Or seen the back of
Genesis 16:14 Beer Lahai Roi means well of the Living One who sees me.
This is what the easy english commentary says about these verses.
- Hagar ‘ran away’. The writer used the same Hebrew word when the Israelites ran away from Egypt.
- The writers in the Old Testament mention ‘the angel of the Lord’ 58 times. And they mention the ‘angel of God’ 11 times. The angels appear as men, but people know them later as angels. Some people think that God himself appeared here. Hagar was on her way to Egypt.
- The angel called Hagar by her name and he also called her Sarai’s maid. God knew where Hagar had come from. Similarly in Genesis 3:9, he knew where Adam was. And in Genesis 4:9, he knew what Cain had done to Abel. Hagar was honest. So she said that she had run away.
- Three times we read that the angel of the Lord spoke to Hagar. It shows that God really cared about Hagar. Everything that he said was really important. God was sending her back to Sarai. That would be difficult for Hagar. She needed to receive confidence from God that it was right. God’s promise about many descendants would encourage her. This was a wonderful promise for a woman who was just a slave.
- The angel promised a son to Hagar. The son would be called Ishmael. That name means ‘God hears’. God had heard Hagar. God did not promise that Hagar would have relief from difficulties. But Hagar knew that God would be with her in the difficulties.
- Ishmael would have a tendency to make war. He would not behave in the way that other people expected him to behave. He would be a wanderer. He would do whatever he wanted.
- Hagar recognized that it was an angel. When she realized that, the angel disappeared. Hagar said, ‘You are God, who sees me.’ She knew that God cared about her.
- The well is always there. Whenever people see it, they can remember God’s care. That was also true when people saw Ishmael.
- Hagar had a baby called Ishmael for Abram. Abram named him. Maybe Abram was protecting Hagar in that way. The writer does not mention Sarai here, although Sarai intended Ishmael to be her son.
- God can take a very long time to carry out his promises. Abram’s age here makes us remember that.
- This chapter shows how God cares about those that are suffering. Hagar was just a slave who was suffering. But God listened to her. And he took care of her. Hagar believed God’s message and she obeyed.
Another commentary points an important factor in here.
Hagar was not without her own share of guilt. She was not wrong in going to bed with Abram, so far as I can tell. She was a slave, subject to the will of her mistress. She had little or no voice in this decision. But she was wrong in the false sense of pride and smugness she felt toward Sarai.
Each of the three: Sarai, Abram, and Hagar, has been caught in the web of sin. Sarai acted in presumption; Abram lapsed into passivity; Hagar was the victim of pride. In yet another round of sin, each responds wrongly to the dilemma into which their sin has brought them.
Ishmael’s descendants, too, will be too numerous to count. From him will come princes and rulers . That which might seem a curse was perhaps Hagar’s greatest comfort. Ishmael would live a free lifestyle, unrestricted, unfettered, and a thorn in the flesh of his brothers. To Hagar, the afflicted slave of Sarai, this was a source of hope and comfort. Even under the cruel hand of her mistress, one can almost hear Hagar mumbling under her breath, “Just wait, Sarai.”
So God saw the spot Hagar was in. He also saw that the Egyptian Slave Girl was honest, unlike Adam and Eve.
Ishmael would be a warrior. Ishmael is the beginning of a long long long line of warriors..... The descendants of Ismael have at the very least, cantankerousness in their blood. They are born to fight.
