Genesis 16:1-16--The Birth of Ishmael

Genesis 16
World English Bible

16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. 2 Sarai said to Abram, “See now, Yahweh has restrained me from bearing. Please go in to my servant. It may be that I will obtain children by her.” Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband to be his wife. 4 He went in to Hagar, and she conceived. When she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. 5 Sarai said to Abram, “This wrong is your fault. I gave my servant into your bosom, and when she saw that she had conceived, she despised me. May Yahweh judge between me and you.”

6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your hand. Do to her whatever is good in your eyes.” Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her face.

7 Yahweh’s angel found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain on the way to Shur. 8 He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant, where did you come from? Where are you going?”

She said, “I am fleeing from the face of my mistress Sarai.”

9 Yahweh’s angel said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hands.” 10 Yahweh’s angel said to her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, that they will not be counted for multitude.” 11 Yahweh’s angel said to her, “Behold, you are with child, and will bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because Yahweh has heard your affliction. 12 He will be like a wild donkey among men. His hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him. He will live opposed to all of his brothers.”

13 She called the name of Yahweh who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees,” for she said, “Have I even stayed alive after seeing him?” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi. Behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

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

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Abram and Sarai heard the promise of God, but they thought that God meant to use natural means that would make sense to them and everyone else to accomplish His great plan.  That was not His plan.  They waited for a while and then they reasoned among themselves that Sarai was beyond the years of child bearing and it no longer made sense for Abram to try to have children with her, so God must have meant for Abram to take a concubine from among Sarai's servants (a common custom when the wife was barren or beyond the years of bearing children, and it appeared Sarai was both at this point) to be a kind of surrogate mother.  Hagar, Sarai's servant, would get pregnant, have the baby, and nurse the baby, but once the baby was weened, it would belong to Abram and Sarai.  As I said before, this was not the way God intended to fulfill His covenant.

The conflict began almost immediately as Sarai grew jealous of Hagar, for she had to see her pregnant every day--something Sarai desired greatly--and it got to the point where Sarai started to hate Hagar and wanted Abram to send her away.  Abram would not get involved and said that Hagar was Sarai's servant and it was therefore Sarai's decision what to do with her.  Sarai started to become abusive towards Hagar so that she ran away (probably not only for her own safety, but for the safety of the baby inside of her). 

The LORD speaking through the angel of the LORD (a preincarnate appearance of Jesus, the Word of the LORD) calls her "Hagar, Sarai's servant," for that is her identity to the LORD.  He asks her where she came from and where she is going.  He knows where she came from, but He wants her to think about it.  She has no plan for where to go, other than perhaps she is headed for Egypt (that is where she will go to later when she and the child are eventually case out, but that is many years from now when Ishmael is a young man).  She can only answer that she is fleeing from the face of her mistress, Sarai.  She doesn't really have a destination, she just wanted to get away.

The angel of the LORD told her to return to Sarai and to submit to her and gives her a name for the child within her (more on that in a moment).  He tells her He has seen her pain and affliction and heard her cries.  This is very similar language to what we will see in the opening chapters of the book of Exodus.

Exodus 2:23-25
American Standard Version
23 And it came to pass in the course of those many days, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 And God saw the children of Israel, and God took knowledge of them.

The angel of the LORD says that the LORD has heard her cries and that she is to call the name of the child Ishmael to remind her and everyone else "God hears me."  She also called the LORD by a name that we have not yet seen (and it never appears again in Scripture, even though the concept is all over Scripture) --El Roi--"The God Who Sees Me."  Hagar knew that the LORD saw her affliction and heard her cries for help and that if He was telling her to go back, He would take care of her.  Even though He was telling her to go back to Sarai, that was okay because He was going ahead of her and beside her and He would be with her ever step of the way.  That doesn't mean that He was going to remove the problem of Sarai's jealousy or the conflict that would be there because of Abram and Sarai's sin and Abram wanting the LORD to bless this son whom Abram loved greatly and Abram being told that this son and his people would never inherit the promises of Genesis 12 (this will be part of the discussion in the next chapter, so I won't get ahead of the story).

Now, let's talk for a moment about the bad news Hagar receives.  He will be a "wild donkey" among men.  He will constantly be waring with other men and they will constantly be at war with him.  All of his brothers will oppose him (his own family will want nothing to do with him).  What good is it to have lots of descendants who are constantly fighting and hating everyone else and everyone else hating them?  Certainly this is not Hagar receiving the blessing given to Abram of "I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse, and through you, all the nations of the world will be blessed."  No, Ishmael will not be the child of promise.  However, God has fulfilled His promises to Hagar and Ishmael by making Ishmael that father of a large people group, though they are exactly as the LORD said they would be--constantly at war with everyone else and everyone at war with them.  There is continued animosity between the descendants of Ishmael and the other descendants of Abraham (specifically the nation of Israel which is descended from Isaac and then Jacob).  You may be asking "Who are the descendants of Ishmael"?  This is answered in future passages, but I will post a video from GotQuestions.org to help you answer that question right now.