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Genesis 16
The Voice
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
New International Version
Genesis 16
New International Version
Hagar and Ishmael
16 Now Sarai,(A) Abram’s wife, had borne him no children.(B) But she had an Egyptian slave(C) named Hagar;(D) 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children.(E) Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”(F)
Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan(G) ten years,(H) Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar,(I) and she conceived.
When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.(J) 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.”(K)
6 “Your slave is in your hands,(L)” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated(M) Hagar; so she fled from her.
7 The angel of the Lord(N) found Hagar near a spring(O) in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.(P) 8 And he said, “Hagar,(Q) slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”(R)
“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.”(S)
11 The angel of the Lord(T) also said to her:
“You are now pregnant
and you will give birth to a son.(U)
You shall name him(V) Ishmael,[a](W)
for the Lord has heard of your misery.(X)
12 He will be a wild donkey(Y) 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.(Z)”
13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,(AA)” for she said, “I have now seen[c] the One who sees me.”(AB) 14 That is why the well(AC) was called Beer Lahai Roi[d];(AD) it is still there, between Kadesh(AE) and Bered.
15 So Hagar(AF) bore Abram a son,(AG) and Abram gave the name Ishmael(AH) to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old(AI) when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
Footnotes
- 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.
The Voice (VOICE)
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