Genesis 16:6-16

2007.Apr.20 02:53

Hagar’s Child

Read Genesis 16:6-16 | Full Chapter

Abram said, “All right! She’s your slave, and you can do whatever you want with her.” But Sarai began treating Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away. Hagar stopped to rest at a spring in the desert on the road to Shur. While she was there, the angel of the LORD came to her and asked, “Hagar, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She answered, “I’m running away from Sarai, my owner.”
(Genesis 16:6-8, CEV)

As I said last entry, I have a lot more sympathy for Hagar than Sarai or Abram in this situation. However, Hagar’s pride comes back to her. We are, after all, responsible for our own sin, regardless of the mitigating circumstances. That Jehovah gives us grace is a gift rather than a right. Abram, who–I assume–had been keeping Sarai from treating Hagar badly, gives in to the pressure from his wife. Sarai and/or Abram could have reprimanded Hagar for her attitude in an appropriate way. Instead, Sarai treats her so harshly that Hagar runs away. Error compounds error, sin compounds sin. Sarai’s desire for a child turned into a lust, which caused her to abandon faith, which led to jealousy, to hatred, to cruelty. Which is to say nothing of Abram’s sins and follies here.

God’s having nothing of this mess though. He has an angel visit Hagar as she’s running away. Hagar makes a first move in getting this whole deal sorted out. When the angel asks her what she’s doing, she responds honestly. God makes himself known through his messenger, and Hagar does not run from him or start throwing out excuses. And suddenly, things start to change. Now, this soap opera is not going to suddenly go happy for everyone, and there’s much more to play out in it, but responding honestly to Jehovah changes the situation from an ever-sliding disaster to one in which appropriate steps can be taken. Now that someone’s listening to God, it turns out he has things to say.

The angel said, “Go back to Sarai and be her slave. I will give you a son, who will be called Ishmael, because I have heard your cry for help. And later I will give you so many descendants that no one will be able to count them all. But your son will live far from his relatives; he will be like a wild donkey, fighting everyone, and everyone fighting him.” Hagar thought, “Have I really seen God and lived to tell about it?” So from then on she called him, “The God Who Sees Me.” That’s why people call the well between Kadesh and Bered, “The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me.” Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to their son, and he named him Ishmael.
(Genesis 16:9-16, CEV)

Jehovah instructs Hagar to submit to Sarai. This now becomes a choice on Hagar’s part; she has run away, and does not have to go back, but she can honor God by doing so. That is to pointedly say, this is not a affirmation of human slavery, but rather a reminder that God may call us to submit to inhumane conditions because of a greater purpose. Jehovah does not leave Hagar to imagine what her carrot might be here. The angel tells her one of the blessings Jehovah has in store. Hagar’s child will be born, and while his life will have plenty of difficulties, Hagar’s descendants, like Sarai’s, will be numerous.

Hagar’s response to all this really encourages me. She doesn’t even get caught up in the descendants bit, as Abram sometimes seems to do. She is pleased to know that God has heard her and responded to her. She calls him “The God Who Sees Me”, from then on. She rejoices in the presence of God, makes a personal connection with him, and obeys him. And a situation that had multiple people competing for the dumb—- in the Bible award turns around by the power of God and the willingness of one person. Everything perfect? No, but things are looking up, as Hagar returns, gives birth and has Abram name his first-born Ishmael, in obedience to Jehovah’s instruction to Hagar.