Sarai And Hagar Abram’s Son Ishmael. So Sarai said to Abram, “See here, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. I am asking you to go in to [the bed of] my maid [so that she may bear you a child]; perhaps I will obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to Sarai and did as she said.
After Abram had lived in the land of Canaan ten years, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian [maid], and gave her to her husband Abram to be his [secondary] wife. Gen 16:2-3
INTRODUCTION TO THE OLD TESTAMENT
II. GOD AND THE CHOSEN FAMILY, Genesis 12-50
1. The History of Abraham and His Son Isaac, Genesis 11:27-25:11
24. How did Ishmael get his name?
SARAI AND HAGAR
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not borne him any children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar.
So Sarai said to Abram, “See here, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. I am asking you to go in to [the bed of] my maid [so that she may bear you a child]; perhaps I will obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to Sarai and did as she said.
After Abram had lived in the land of Canaan ten years, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian [maid], and gave her to her husband Abram to be his [secondary] wife.
He went in to [the bed of] Hagar, and she conceived; and when she realized that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress [regarding Sarai as insignificant because of her infertility].
Then Sarai said to Abram, “May [the responsibility for] the wrong done to me [by the arrogant behavior of Hagar] be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, and when she realized that she had conceived, I was despised and looked on with disrespect. May the LORD judge [who has done right] between you and me.”
But Abram said to Sarai, “Look, your maid is entirely in your hands and subject to your authority; do as you please with her.” So Sarai treated her harshly and humiliated her, and Hagar fled from her.
But the Angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, on the road to [Egypt by way of] Shur.
And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where did you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.”
The Angel of the LORD said to her, “Go back to your mistress, and submit humbly to her authority.”
Then the Angel of the LORD said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.”
The Angel of the LORD continued, “Behold, you are with child, And you will bear a son; And you shall name him Ishmael (God hears), Because the LORD has heard and paid attention to your persecution (suffering).
“He (Ishmael) will be a wild donkey of a man; His hand will be against every man [continually fighting] And every man’s hand against him; And he will dwell in defiance of all his brothers.”
Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are God Who Sees”; for she said, “Have I not even here [in the wilderness] remained alive after seeing Him [who sees me with understanding and compassion]?”
Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi (Well of the Living One Who Sees Me); it is between Kadesh and Bered.
So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son; and Abram named his son, to whom Hagar gave birth, Ishmael (God hears).
Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.
Comments by
F.B.Meyer
On
Genesis 16:1-16
ABRAM’S SON ISHMAEL
Poor Hagar! What contrasts met in her life! Bought in an Egyptian slave-mart, but destined to be the mother of a great people! She is not the last to suffer from the mistakes and sins of God’s children, but she was abundantly recompensed. Abram did her a great wrong. Human policy will often suggest a course which seems right in our own eyes, but the end is death. How remarkable is the advice given to Hagar by the angel: return and submit! Does not the child of God often seek to evade the cross! “Let me but get away from this intolerable trouble,” we cry. But God meets us. “No stranger He to all our wanderings wild!” We have to take up the cross, and sit down again on the hard stool. Some day we shall be permitted to go out, but not till we have learned our lesson perfectly. In the meanwhile, we are assured that our life shall be prolific in great results. In an outburst of awe and joy, the slave-girl learned that God sees and hears. Note 2Ch_16:9; 1Pe_3:12.
Comments by
WILLIAM MACDONALD
Believers Bible Commentary
On
Genesis 16:1-16
II. THE PATRIARCHS OF ISRAEL (Chaps. 12-50)
A. Abraham (12:1–25:18)
5. Ishmael, Son of the Flesh (Chaps. 16, 17)
16:1-6 The restlessness of the sin nature is seen here. Instead of waiting on God, Sarai persuaded Abram to obtain a child by her maid, Hagar, who was probably acquired during the ill-fated sojourn in Egypt. God is faithful in recording the marital irregularities of His people, even if He never approved them. When Hagar became pregnant, she looked down in disdain on her mistress. Sarai responded by blaming Abram, then driving Hagar out of the house. This illustrates the conflict between law and grace. They cannot cohabit (Gal_4:21-31). While some of the behavior in this section may have been culturally acceptable then, it is certainly irregular from a Christian standpoint.
16:7-15 While Hagar was in the desert at Shur, on the way to Egypt, the Angel of the LORD came to her. This was the Lord Jesus in one of His preincarnate appearances, known as a Christophany. (See Judges 6 for an essay on the Angel of the LORD.) He counseled her to return and submit to Sarai, and promised that her son would become head of a great nation. That promise, of course, is fulfilled in the Arab people. The words “Return . . . and submit” have marked great turning points in the lives of many who have had dealings with God.
Hagar’s exclamation in verse 13 might be paraphrased, “You are a God who may be seen,” for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?” She named the well “Beer Lahai Roi” (literally, well of the One who lives and sees me).
16:16 Abram was eighty-six when Ishmael was born to Hagar. The name Ishmael means God hears. In this case He heard Hagar’s misery. We should remember throughout this narrative that Hagar represents law whereas Sarai represents grace (see Gal. 4).
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