SCRIPTURE: GENESIS 16
HAGAR AND ISHMAEL (vs. 1-16)
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; 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. 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. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 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.”
“Your servant is in your hands, “Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.
The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 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. Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel added, “I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count.”
The angel of the Lord also said to her: “You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ismael, for the Lord has heard of your misery. 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.”
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.” That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi, it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. Abram was eighty six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
THOUGHTS: (From Life Application Study Bible)
God had promised Abram to have his own descendants. But Sarai took matters into her own hands by giving Hagar to Abram. Abram agreed which showed a lack of faith that God would fulfill his promise. Out of this lack of faith came a series of problems. Instead of waiting for God’s time, Sarai and Abram take over for God, trying to make his promise come true through efforts that are not in line with his specific direction. So, they have to suffer the consequences. Sometimes when we ask God something, we have to wait instead of taking matters into our own hands and interfere with God’s plans.
Although Sarai arranged for Hagar to have a child by Abram, she later blamed Abram for the results. It is often easier to strike out in frustration and accuse someone else than to admit an error and ask forgiveness.
Hagar was running away from her mistress and her problem. The angel of the Lord gave her these advices: (1)- to return and face Sarai. (2)-to submit to her. This teaches us not to run away when we encounter problems. It is wise to return to our problems, face them squarely, accept God’s promise of help, correct our attitudes and act as we should.
There are 3 people who make serious mistakes:
- Sarai – She took matters into her own hands and gave her servant to Abram.
- Abram – He went along with the plan but, when circumstances began to go wrong, refused to help solve the problem.
- Hagar – She ran away from the problem.