FRAMEWORKS:
Genesis 16: Hagar and Ishmael
v.1-4
Sarai suggests an alternative way
v.4-6
Saria drives Hagar Out
v.7-12
The Lord reassures Hagar
v.13-16
She affirms the Lord, returns, and bears Ishmael
v.1-4
Sarai suggests an alternative way
v.1,2
Now
Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an
Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has
kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps
I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai
said.
v.3
So
after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife
took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be
his wife.
v.4
He
slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
[Notes:
Abram's
wife Sarai has started wondering if there is another way for God's
promise to be fulfilled and so pressures Abram to use her servant
girl to have a child, and he gives way and agrees.]
v.4-6
Saria drives Hagar Out
When
she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.
v.5
Then
Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering.
I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant,
she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”
v.6
“Your
slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you
think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.
[Notes:
Hagar
the servant girl soon becomes pregnant and despises Sarai for
her barrenness. Sarai becomes upset and complains to Abram who
consents to her doing what she will with Hagar. She mistreats
her so Hagar flees into the desert. Neither Abram nor Sarai are
seen in a good light but maybe there are simply conforming to
the cultural norms of that day in respect of attitudes towards
servants.]
v.7-12
The Lord reassures Hagar
v.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.
v.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.
v.9
Then
the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and
submit to her.”
v.10
The
angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they
will be too numerous to count.”
v.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, [Ishmael
means God hears] for
the Lord has heard of your misery.
v.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 all his brothers.”
[Notes:
In
the desert Hagar finds a spring and while she is there she is
visited by an angel. The Lord reassures her and instructs her
as follows:
•
she is
to return to Sarai
•
she will
have many descendants
•
she is
to name her son Ishmael as a reminder that God heard her anguish
•
yet her
son will be a rebel outcast.]
v.13-16
Affirms the Lord, returns and bears Ishmael
v.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 the One who sees
me.”
v.14
That
is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi [ Beer
Lahai Roi means well
of the Living One who sees me. ];
it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
v.15
So
Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the
son she had borne.
v.16
Abram
was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him
Ishmael.
[Notes:
Hagar
acknowledges and affirms the Lord as the One who is there for
her, she returns home and has a son and, presumably telling Abram
of her encounter with the Lord, they name the child Ishmael.]
Lessons
or Challenges to Ponder from Genesis Chapter 16
1.
This chapter is not a high point in the testimony of Sarai and
Abram. Impatience, wifely nagging, wrong husband-submission, abuse
of others, a difficult future. What is amazing is not their behaviour
but God's, who is there for Hagar and blesses her with His presence
and encouragement in hurtful times.
2.
Amazingly the couple do not lose the inheritance God has promised
them, but we should not take that as an excuse to behave badly
towards others for our own benefit. Do I need to check out my
life to see if repentance, reconciliation, or even restitution
is required in respect of others?
Continue to Chapter 17