Genesis 16. Sarai and Hagar

Sarai and Hagar

• We see similar patterns from Eden

Genesis 3	Genesis 16
Eve took the fruit.	Sarai took Hagar.
Eve gave it to her husband.	Sarai gave Hagar to Abram.
Adam listened to the voice of his wife (Gen. 3:17).	Abram listened to the voice of Sarai (Gen. 16:2).

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children.

• 10 years in the land and still no children! (and still 13-14 years until Isaac) Sometimes God’s promises take time.

She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. 

• Most likely obtained during their time in Egypt.
• Hagar הָגָר means “the” (ha) “immigrant”/ “foreigner” (gar).

² And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. ³ So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. 

• Hagar is still considered a slave even though she is ‘married’ to Abram

⁴ And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 

• I wonder if Hagar getting pregnant made Sarai think that the childbearing issue was completely on her instead of Abraham
• I won’t get into the specific practices done with men and “surrogate mothers” but you can read more here: https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/genesis-16/

⁵ And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!” ⁶ But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.

• This story is raw and deeply unsettling. Hagar is sexually exploited, then mistreated by Sarai. At one point, she seems to respond with a sense of pride or contempt but reading this again, it just feels like a cycle of abuse. Hagar’s agency is so limited, and it’s hard to watch her suffer for decisions that weren’t truly her own

⁷ The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 

• The first appearance of the Angel of the Lord/YHWH! Little video on this here https://bibleproject.com/videos/angel-lord/. Distinct from God and also God. Many say this is the pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ.

⁸ And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” ⁹ The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” 

• Why would God tell Hagar to go back to an abusive situation? Perhaps different under the protection of God’s promise

 ¹⁰ The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” ¹¹ And the angel of the Lord said to her,

“Behold, you are pregnant
    and shall bear a son.
You shall call his name Ishmael,
    because the Lord has listened to your affliction.
¹² He shall be a wild donkey of a man,
    his hand against everyone
    and everyone’s hand against him,
and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”

• This is the first angelic birth announcement. We will see similar patterns for Isaac, Samson, John the Baptist, and Jesus.
• “…because the LORD has listened to your affliction.” Ishmael (יִשְׁמָעֵאל, Yishma’el) means ‘God hears’
• Later on we see “He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.” (Genesis 17:20, Many Arab tribes (particularly northern) trace their ancestry back to Ishmael

¹³ So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.”¹⁴ Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered.

• Let’s break this down
  • בְּאֵר (beʾer) “well” or “spring”
  • לַ (la) “belonging to”
  • חַי (ḥay) “living”/ “alive”
  • רֹאִי (roʾi)
    • from the verb רָאָה (raʾah) = “to see”
    • When the י (i) ending is attached, it usually means “my”
• Put it all together: “Well belonging to the living One who sees me “

¹⁵ And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. ¹⁶ Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.