Genesis 16:1–16 - The Faith of the Fallen
- Chad Werkhoven
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
Hagar's tragic story points to God's faithfulness.
Genesis 16:1–16 (NIV)
16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 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. 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.
4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 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.”
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.
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. 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.
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.”
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,
for the LORD has heard of your misery.
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.”
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.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
Q&A 26
Q. What do you believe when you say, “I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth”?
A. That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who out of nothing created heaven and earth
and everything in them,
who still upholds and rules them
by his eternal counsel and providence,
is my God and Father
because of Christ his Son.
I trust him so much that I do not doubt
he will provide
whatever I need
for body and soul,
and he will turn to my good
whatever adversity he sends me
in this sad world.
He is able to do this because he is almighty God;
he desires to do this because he is a faithful Father.
Summary
Sarai's decision to give her Egyptian slave to her husband to be his wife seems creepy and wrong to our modern ears, but in the ancient near eastern culture that formed her context, it was actually quite acceptable - the right thing to do, even! The fact that our narrator specifies that this took place after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years isn't just a helpful timeline, it indicates that the ten year threshold of infertility required by the surrounding culture had been met, justifying Sarai's decision to build a family through Hagar.
Sarai almost sounds pious in her rationale. This was all God's will, she indicates. After all, the LORD had kept her from having children. Sarai wasn't wrong here, for Hagar's quick conception indicates that the issue wasn't with Abram! Clearly, then - according to Sarai's thinking, at least - God expected her to solve this issue on her own, and the culture of the day provided the perfect mechanism to do so.
Notice the parallels with Genesis 3. Just like Adam, Abram stayed silently passive through this whole process, abdicating his responsibility to be the godly leader of his household. His only words in this passage drip with irony: do whatever you think best. Sarai also emulates her predecessors. After bending God's will to align with her own design, she shifted the blame to everyone but herself when everything imploded.
The prevailing culture of the day always has, and always will, offer shortcuts that promise to deliver the blessings it seems that God has either forgotten about or is unable to deliver. When you're tempted to follow them, remember how well the shortcuts worked out here in Genesis 16. Instead, trust that God will provide whatever I need for body and soul, and will turn to my good whatever adversity he sends me in this sad world.
Dig Deeper
Hagar is one of the Bible's most fascinating characters. She was likely a gift from the Pharoah to Abram as he left Egypt in shame, and she's likely still a young girl. Her youthful immaturity is evident in her arrogance upon becoming pregnant. Yet our sympathy is with her as she flees Sarai's mistreatment trying to find her way back to a homeland she never really knew.
It's out there, in the middle of nowhere in the barren, inhospitable wasteland between Canaan and Egypt that she joins the very small club of people who've met the Angel of the LORD, who had found her (again, notice the parallel to Genesis 3! God comes to find His wayward people). Unlike nearly everyone else who encountered this mysterious Angel, Hagar shows no fear. In fact, she gives Him a name! She calls Him El Roi - The God who sees me.
The Angel has difficult words for her. She's to go back to her mistress and submit to her. How could God order such a thing?!? And her son would be a wild donkey of a man; his hand would be against everyone, and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers. Muslims consider Ismael their father, and his hostility has been evident through all of history.
Despite being told all this, Hagar obeys the LORD. She went back and bore Abram a son. What tremendous faith!
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, the God who sees (El Roi) and the God who listens (Ishma El);
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you'll not fall for culture's shortcuts and that you'll have faith like Hagar;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
