Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Genesis 16:7 - 16:16
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
The Return of Hagar and the Birth of Ishmael
v. 7. And the Angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. The providence of the Lord was watching over this erring child. The great Angel of the Lord, the Son of God as He often appeared in the Old Testament, went out and found her by a spring of water near Shur, on the way to Egypt, her old home.
v. 8. And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou, and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. From the entire story it is apparent that the angel speaking with Hagar is not an ordinary, created angel, but the Son of God, who even in the Old Testament was near His people and proved a very effective help to the patriarchs of Israel. Upon His calling Hagar by name and demanding an account of her coming and going, the slave gave a truthful answer. She herself was probably a believer in the true God, as a member of Abram's home congregation.
v. 9. And the Angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands. The Lord having brought Hagar to a sense of her real position in the house of Abram, namely, that she was Sarai's maid, not Abram's wife, now bids her return to her duty, to humble herself under her mistress's hand.
v. 10. And the Angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. First the call to duty, then the gracious promise, one which was especially welcome to the Oriental mother, and ought to be to the mothers of all time.
v. 11. And the Angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael, because the Lord hath heard thy affliction.
v. 12. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. Because the fruit of her body was the seed of Abram, Hagar was to return to her mistress, and for the sake of his father the promise of innumerable progeny is given. The very name of her son is given her, namely, Ishmael, "God hears," because the Lord had heeded the cry of her misery and distress. This son should, moreover, unlike his mother, be free from the oppression of men, as free as the wild ass of the deserts, wild-roving and untamable; and his descendants would be characterized by the ceaseless feuds between themselves and with their neighbors, as they dwelt in the presence of their brethren, of the children of Israel, to whom they were a constant menace and challenge. To this day the Ishmaelites are in unimpaired, free possession of the great peninsula lying between the Euphrates, the Isthmus of Suez, and the Red Sea, whence they have spread over wide districts in North Africa and Southern Asia.
v. 13. And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou, God, seest me; for she said, Have I also here looked after Him that seeth me?
v. 14. Wherefore the well was called Beerlahairoi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. Hagar realized that it was no ordinary angel that had spoken with her, as her confession shows, for she calls Him: Thou art a God that sees me; for His all-seeing eye had not overlooked the helpless and forsaken, even in that remote corner of the desert. She had experienced the goodness and mercy of the Lord: she had had the privilege of seeing and speaking with Him that had looked after her and protected her. The incident even gave a name to the spring in the desert, since it was afterward known as "the well of Him that lives and sees me. " It is located in the wilderness, south of Beersheba.
v. 15. And Hagar bare Abram a son; and Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.
v. 16. And Abram was fourscore and six yearn old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram. To the son which Hagar bore after her return to his house, Abram, then eighty-six years old, gave the name Ishmael, the mother undoubtedly having given him an account of the occurrence in the desert which caused her to return. Thus the places and the times which remind us of special acts of God's goodness and mercy are written in the memories of the believers, and ever and again cause them to break forth in prayers of thankfulness.