Genesis 16

This chapter is part of the account of Abram (later Abraham) that begins in Genesis 12. In Genesis 15, God promised Abram that one who would come from his own body would be his heir, and He made a covenant with him. This chapter tells how, as time passed without the promise being fulfilled, Sarai sought to obtain a child by human means.

Outline

• Verses 1–3: Sarai, who has borne no children, gives her Egyptian maidservant Hagar to Abram as a concubine. This takes place after Abram has lived ten years in the land of Canaan.
• Verses 4–6: When Hagar conceives, she despises her mistress Sarai. Sarai blames Abram, and when Abram tells her to do with her maid as she pleases, Sarai deals harshly with Hagar. Hagar flees.
• Verses 7–12: The angel of the LORD finds Hagar by a spring of water on the way to Shur. The angel tells her to return to her mistress and submit to her, and announces that her descendants will be too many to count and that she will bear a son and call him Ishmael.
• Verses 13–16: Hagar calls the LORD who spoke to her "Thou God seest me," that is, the God who sees. The spring is called Beer-lahai-roi. When Hagar bears a son, Abram names him Ishmael. Abram is eighty-six years old at this time.

Key Verses

• Genesis 16:2 "I pray thee, go in unto my maid" — the starting point at which Sarai, unable to wait for the promise, turns to a human solution.
• Genesis 16:11 "Because the LORD hath heard thy affliction" — the meaning of the name Ishmael ("God hears") is explained.
• Genesis 16:13 "Thou God seest me" — the scene in which an outcast foreign maidservant herself gives God a name.

Characters and Places

• Abram: The patriarch who received the promise. He accepts Sarai's proposal and, when conflict arises, leaves the matter in Sarai's hands.
• Sarai: Abram's wife. Being childless, she seeks to obtain children through her maidservant.
• Hagar: A maidservant from Egypt. In this chapter she bears her son Ishmael.
• The angel of the LORD: Appears to Hagar in the wilderness and delivers God's word. See the article on angels.
• Canaan: The land where Abram was dwelling.
• Shur: A wilderness on the route from southern Canaan to Egypt.
• Beer-lahai-roi: Commonly interpreted as "the well of the Living One who sees me." The text says only that it lies between Kadesh and Bered; its exact location is unknown.

Points for Reflection

• Obtaining children through a maidservant: Many scholars explain that in the ancient Near East there was a custom by which a wife gave her maidservant to her husband in order to obtain children. The text does not directly evaluate this act, but it shows its consequences through the conflict that follows.
• The identity of the angel of the LORD: In verse 13, Hagar addresses the angel as God. Many commentators in the Reformed tradition regard this as a preincarnate appearance of Christ. Others interpret the figure as an angel sent by God.
• The prophecy concerning Ishmael (verse 12): Some read the image of the "wild donkey" (KJV "a wild man") as describing a rough and contentious life; others read it as the unfettered life of a wilderness nomad. A tradition regards Ishmael as the ancestor of the Arab peoples, but this tradition lies outside the text. The list of Ishmael's descendants appears in chapter 25.
• Hagar's place: Recent interpretation draws attention to the fact that the one who gave God a name was a mistreated foreign maidservant who had fled.
• The later story and the New Testament: Hagar and Ishmael are sent away again in Genesis 21. In Galatians 4, Paul uses Hagar and Sarah as an allegory of two covenants (Galatians 4:21–31).

In the Korean Church

Sermons frequently treat this chapter as an example of failing to wait for God's promise and putting human methods first. The expression "Thou God seest me" is also often cited in connection with the theme that God watches over those who are abandoned and suffering.