Cart Before The Horse

Good stormy evening from the Panhandle. Genesis 16, and things don't go quite as planned for Abram and Sarai. It is not so difficult to explain the laps in faith on the part of Abram. How many times have you prayed and you were just sure God had said yes to your prayer. But then everything comes to a screeching halt. No doubt Abram thought God had delayed his promise. Because of this he took matters into his own hands and attempted to assist God. Tell me you haven't been there and done that.

CHAPTER 16 AT A GLANCE:

Hagar is the person mostly concerned in the story of this chapter, an obscure Egyptian woman, whose name and story we never should have heard of if Providence had not brought her into the family of Abram. Probably she was one of those maid-servants whom the king of Egypt, among other gifts, bestowed upon Abram (Gen 14:16). Concerning her, we have four things in this chapter: -

I. Her marriage to Abram her master v. 1-3.

II. Her misbehavior towards Sarai her mistress v. 4-6.

III. Her discourse with an angel that met her in her flight v. 7-14.

IV. Her delivery of a son v. 15-16.

(From Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

Gen 16:1-5

16:1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, "The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; 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 maidservant 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 servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me."

1. THE BIRTH OF ISHMAEL: Sarai Give Hagar To Abram (vv. 1-5)

As the promise of a heir (Gen 15:4) did not seem likely to be fulfilled, even after the covenant had been made, Sarai resolved, ten years after their entrance into Canaan, to give her Egyptian maid Hagar to her husband, so that she might "be built up by her," i.e., obtain children, who might found a house or family (Gen 30:3). The idea seemed a good one, and according to the customs of the East, there would be nothing wrong in carrying it out. So Abraham being a good husband said okay. Malachi in 2:15 says, he sought the seed promised by God.

But they would soon learn, that their thoughts were the thoughts of man and not of God, and that their wishes and actions were not in accordance with the divine promise. Sarai, the originator of the plan, was the first to experience its consequences. When the maid was with child by Abram, "her mistress became little in her eyes." Soon Sarai complained to Abram about the contempt she received from her maid and blamed him for her problem. Then she called upon Jehovah to judge between her and her husband

Abram gave her full power to act as mistress towards her maid, without raising the slave who was made a concubine above her position. But as soon as Sarai made her feel her power, Hagar fled. So, instead of securing the fulfillment of their wishes, Sarai and Abram had reaped nothing but grief and annoyance. But the faithful covenant God turned the whole thing into a blessing.

Gen 16:6-14

6 "Your servant 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, servant 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 so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count."

11 The angel of the LORD also said to her:

"You are now with child

and you will have 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.

2. Hagar Flees (vv. 6-14)

Hagar no doubt intended to escape to Egypt by a well known road, that ran from Hebron past Beersheba. There the angel of the Lord found her by a well, and directed her to return to her mistress, and submit to her; at the same time he promised her that she would have a son, and that her descendants would also be too numerous to count.

Because the baby in her womb was the seed of Abram, she was to return to his house and there bear him a son, who, though not the seed promised by God, would be honored for Abram's sake. For this reason also Jehovah appeared to her in the form of the Angel of Jehovah. This son she was to call Ishmael ("God hears"), "for Jehovah hath hearkened to thy distress."

It was Jehovah, not Elohim, who had heard, although the latter name was most naturally suggested as the explanation of Ishmael, because the hearing, i.e., the multiplication of Ishmael's descendants, was the result of the covenant grace of Jehovah.

Moreover, in contrast with the oppression which has had endured and still would endure, she received the promise that her son would endure no such oppression. "He will be a wild ass of a man." The figure of that wild and untamable animal, roaming at its will in the desert, of which so highly poetic a description is given in Job 39:5-8, depicts most aptly "the Bedouin's boundless love of freedom as he rides about in the desert, spear in hand, upon his camel or his horse, hardy, frugal, reveling in the varied beauty of nature, and despising town life in every form;" and the words, "his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him," describe most truly the incessant state of feud, in which the Ishmaelites live with one another or with their neighbors.

"He will dwell before the face of all his brethren." denotes to the east of (cf. Gen 25:18), and this meaning is to be retained here; but the geographical notice of the dwelling-place of the Ishmaelites hardly exhausts the force of the expression, which also indicated that Ishmael would maintain an independent standing before (in the presence of) all the descendants of Abraham.

Gen 16:15-16

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.

3. Birth Of Ishmael (vv. 15-16)

Having returned to Abram's house, Hagar bare him a son in his 86th year. He gave it the name Ishmael, and regarded him probably as the promised seed, until, thirteen years afterwards; the counsel of God was more clearly unfolded to him.
(From Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)