Genesis 16
The Voice
16 Despite God’s promise, years went by. Still Abram’s wife Sarai remained childless. But she did have an Egyptian servant girl whose name was Hagar. Sarai had an idea so she approached her husband.
Sarai (to Abram): 2 You can see that the Eternal One has still not allowed me to have any children. Why don’t you sleep with my servant girl? Maybe I could use her as a surrogate and have a child through her!
Sarai’s solution to her problem is not unique. Ancient Near Eastern custom allows for these kinds of arrangements.
Abram listened to Sarai and agreed to follow her plan. 3 After they had lived 10 years in Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took her servant girl Hagar, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. 4 So Abram slept with Hagar. It was not long before she conceived. But as soon as she knew she was pregnant with Abram’s child, Hagar’s attitude changed and she became haughty toward Sarai. 5 Sarai would not tolerate her servant looking down on her, so she approached Abram again.
Sarai (to Abram): This is all your fault. I allowed my servant girl to be intimate with you, and as soon as she saw she was pregnant with your child, she started behaving arrogantly and disrespectfully toward me! I have done nothing to deserve this. Let the Eternal One judge who is in the wrong here—you or me!
Abram (to Sarai): 6 Sarai—look, she’s still your servant girl. Do whatever you want with her. She’s under your control.
So Sarai clamped down on Hagar severely, and Hagar ran away. 7 The Special Messenger of the Eternal One found Hagar alone by a spring of water out in the desert. It was the spring of water along the road that went to Shur.
When the Lord sends His Special Messenger, it is generally an important and sensitive mission (see, too, Exodus 3; Numbers 22; and Judges 6). This special agent bears God’s unique, covenant name and speaks with divine authority in ways other messengers do not. In fact, by what Hagar says and does next, it is clear she thinks she has encountered the Lord Himself.
Special Messenger: 8 Hagar, Sarai’s servant girl? Where have you come from, and where are you planning to go?
Hagar: I am running away from my mistress, Sarai!
Special Messenger: 9 Hagar, go back to your mistress, and change your attitude. Be respectful, and listen to her instructions. You’re pregnant, and you need to go home. 10 Trust me: I am going to give you many children and many descendants, so many you won’t be able to count them!
The descendants from Hagar are included in the promise given to Abram that his family will be so large that he will not be able to count them.
11 Look, you are pregnant,
and you’re going to have a son.
I want you to call him Ishmael
because the Eternal One has heard your anguished cries.
12 Just to warn you, though:
Ishmael, your son, is going to be a wild and rowdy man;
he’ll put his fist in every face,
And everyone will turn against him,
and he will live at odds with all of his relatives.
13 As a result of this encounter, Hagar decided to give the Eternal One who had spoken to her a special name because He had seen her in her misery.
Hagar: I’m going to call You the God of Seeing[a] because in this place I have seen the One who watches over me.
14 Because of this, the well between Kadesh and Bered is called Beer-lahai-roi, which means, “Well of the Living One who watches over me.”
15 So Hagar returned home and gave birth to Abram’s son. Abram named his son (that is, the one born to Hagar) Ishmael. 16 Abram was already 86 years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.
Footnotes
- 16:13 Hebrew, El Roi
Genesis 16
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar.
2 And Sarai said to Abram, See here, the Lord has restrained me from bearing [children]. I am asking you to have intercourse with my maid; it may be that I can obtain children by her. And Abram listened to and heeded what Sarai said.
3 So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her Egyptian maid, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his [secondary] wife.
4 And he had intercourse with Hagar, and she became pregnant; and when she saw that she was with child, she looked with contempt upon her mistress and despised her.
5 Then Sarai said to Abram, May [the responsibility for] my wrong and deprivation of rights be upon you! I gave my maid into your bosom, and when she saw that she was with child, I was contemptible and despised in her eyes. May the Lord be the judge between you and me.
6 But Abram said to Sarai, See here, your maid is in your hands and power; do as you please with her. And when Sarai dealt severely with her, humbling and afflicting her, she [Hagar] fled from her.
7 But [a]the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness on the road to Shur.
8 And He said, Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where did you come from, and where are you intending to go? And she said, I am running away from my mistress Sarai.
9 The Angel of the Lord said to her, Go back to your mistress and [humbly] submit to her control.
10 Also the Angel of the Lord said to her, I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be numbered for multitude.
11 And the Angel of the Lord continued, See now, you are with child and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Ishmael [God hears], because the Lord has heard and paid attention to your affliction.
12 And he [Ishmael] will be as a [b]wild ass among men; his hand will be against every man and every man’s hand against him, and he will live to the east and on the borders of all his kinsmen.
13 So she called the name of the Lord Who spoke to her, You are a God of seeing, for she said, Have I [not] even here [in the wilderness] looked upon Him Who sees me [and lived]? Or have I here also seen [the future purposes or designs of] Him Who sees me?
14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi [A well to the Living One Who sees me]; it is [c]between Kadesh and Bered.
15 And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son whom Hagar bore [d]Ishmael.
16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael.
Footnotes
- Genesis 16:7 “The Angel of the Lord” or “of God” or “of His presence” is readily identified with the Lord God (Gen. 16:11, 13; 22:11, 12; 31:11, 13; Exod. 3:1-6 and other passages). But it is obvious that the “Angel of the Lord” is a distinct person in Himself from God the Father (Gen. 24:7; Exod. 23:20; Zech. 1:12, 13 and other passages). Nor does the “Angel of the Lord” appear again after Christ came in human form. He must of necessity be One of the “three-in-one” Godhead. The “Angel of the Lord” is the visible Lord God of the Old Testament, as Jesus Christ is of the New Testament. Thus His deity is clearly portrayed in the Old Testament. The Cambridge Bible observes, “There is a fascinating forecast of the coming Messiah, breaking through the dimness with amazing consistency, at intervals from Genesis to Malachi. Abraham, Moses, the slave girl Hagar, the impoverished farmer Gideon, even the humble parents of Samson, had seen and talked with Him centuries before the herald angels proclaimed His birth in Bethlehem.”
- Genesis 16:12 “Nothing can be more descriptive of the wandering, lawless, freebooting life of the Arabs than this. From the beginning to the present they have kept their independence, and God preserves them as a lasting monument of His providential care and an incontestable argument of the truth of divine revelation. Had the books of Moses no other proof of their divine origin, the account of Ishmael and the prophecy concerning his descendants during a period of nearly 4,000 years would be sufficient. To attempt to refute it would be a most ridiculous presumption and folly” (Adam Clarke, The Holy Bible with A Commentary).
- Genesis 16:14 This, “it is between Kadesh and Bered,” is further proof of the antiquity of the original names, since the place had to be identified to the reader in the time of Moses.
- Genesis 16:15 Ishmael was the first person whom God named before his birth (Gen. 16:11). Others were: Isaac (Gen. 17:19); Josiah (I Kings 13:2); Solomon (I Chron. 22:9); Jesus (Matt. 1:21); and John the Baptist (Luke 1:13).
Genesis 16
The Message
16 1-2 Sarai, Abram’s wife, hadn’t yet produced a child.
She had an Egyptian maid named Hagar. Sarai said to Abram, “God has not seen fit to let me have a child. Sleep with my maid. Maybe I can get a family from her.” Abram agreed to do what Sarai said.
3-4 So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took her Egyptian maid Hagar and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. Abram had been living ten years in Canaan when this took place. He slept with Hagar and she got pregnant. When Hagar learned she was pregnant, she looked down on her mistress.
5 Sarai told Abram, “It’s all your fault that I’m suffering this abuse. I put my maid in bed with you and the minute she knows she’s pregnant, she treats me like I’m nothing. May God decide which of us is right.”
6 “You decide,” said Abram. “Your maid is your business.”
Sarai was abusive to Hagar and Hagar ran away.
7-8 An angel of God found her beside a spring in the desert; it was the spring on the road to Shur. He said, “Hagar, maid of Sarai, what are you doing here?”
She said, “I’m running away from Sarai my mistress.”
9-12 The angel of God said, “Go back to your mistress. Put up with her abuse.” He continued, “I’m going to give you a big family, children past counting.
From this pregnancy, you’ll get a son: Name him Ishmael;
for God heard you, God answered you.
He’ll be a bucking bronco of a man,
a real fighter, fighting and being fought,
Always stirring up trouble,
always at odds with his family.”
13 She answered God by name, praying to the God who spoke to her, “You’re the God who sees me!
“Yes! He saw me; and then I saw him!”
14 That’s how that desert spring got named “God-Alive-Sees-Me Spring.” That spring is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
15-16 Hagar gave Abram a son. Abram named him Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave him his son, Ishmael.
* * *
Genesis 16
Names of God Bible
Abram and Hagar
16 Sarai, Abram’s wife, was not able to have children. She owned an Egyptian slave named Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Yahweh has kept me from having children. Why don’t you sleep with my slave? Maybe I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed with Sarai.
3 After Abram had lived in Canaan for ten years, Abram’s wife Sarai took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When Hagar realized that she was pregnant, she began to be disrespectful to Sarai, her owner.
5 So Sarai complained to Abram, “I’m being treated unfairly! And it’s your fault! I know that I gave my slave to you, but now that she’s pregnant, she’s being disrespectful to me. May Yahweh decide who is right—you or me.”
6 Abram answered Sarai, “Here, she’s your slave. Do what you like with her.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar so much that she ran away.
7 The Messenger of Yahweh found her by a spring in the desert, the spring on the way to Shur. 8 He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s slave, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
She answered, “I’m running away from my owner Sarai.” 9 The Messenger of Yahweh said to her, “Go back to your owner, and place yourself under her authority.” 10 The Messenger of Yahweh also said to her, “I will give you many descendants. No one will be able to count them because there will be so many.” 11 Then the Messenger of Yahweh said to her,
“You are pregnant,
and you will give birth to a son.
You will name him Ishmael [God Hears],
because Yahweh has heard your cry of distress.
12 He will be as free and wild as an untamed donkey.
He will fight with everyone, and everyone will fight with him.
He will have conflicts with all his relatives.”[a]
13 Hagar named Yahweh, who had been speaking to her, “You Are El Roi.” She said, “This is the place where I watched the one who watches over me.” 14 This is why the well is named Beer Lahai Roi [Well of the Living One Who Watches Over Me]. It is still there between Kadesh and Bered.
15 Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son. Abram named him Ishmael. 16 Abram was 86 years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.
Footnotes
- Genesis 16:12 Hebrew meaning uncertain.
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