Genesis 16 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is Genesis 16. Let’s go!
Genesis 16:1-4 (NIV)
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.
On verses 1-4: Tired of waiting for God to bless her with a child, Sarai proposes that Abram sleep with their Egyptian maidservant Hagar so that Sarai can have children through Hagar. Perhaps Sarai thought, “Well, did God ever say the offspring had to come from my body?” (Not until the next chapter in Genesis 17:15-16 would God expressly say that Sarai will be the one to bear Abram’s offspring, although one could argue that this idea was already implied in God’s prior promises.) According to scholars, it was a customary ancient Middle Eastern practice for a slave to bear children for the wife if the wife could not bear children. So Abram agrees, Hagar conceives, but the relief that Sarai thought she would experience by executing her plan soon turns into regret. The fact that Sarai’s plan resulted in such pain and the fact that so many polygamous situations described in the Bible resulted in much pain and strife in the family might suggest that God does not approve of polygamy.
What can we learn from this? Just because society says it’s okay doesn’t mean that God says it’s okay. When we stray from God’s best and settle for a shortcut, often we will end up regretting it, being hurt, and hurting others.
Genesis 16:5 (NIV)
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.”
On verse 5: Sarai blames Abram for her suffering, even though it was Sarai’s idea that Abram sleep with Hagar in the first place. Was Abram responsible? Yes, in part. Though it wasn’t his idea, Abram went with along his wife’s ill-advised plan, similar to how Adam went along with Eve’s proposal in Genesis 3. What can we learn from this? Take responsibility for your part in the problem. Don’t just blame others.
Genesis 16:6-7 (NIV)
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.
On verses 6-7: Hurt, alone and scared, Hagar runs away looking for comfort wherever she could find it. Physically she found it by a spring in the desert (v7). Soon, God would come and, like a spring in the desert, provide relief to her wounded heart. Likewise, you might feel like you are alone in your pain right now, but you are not alone. God is there and He cares. If you let Him, He will bring relief to your hurting heart.
Genesis 16:8 (NIV)
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.
On verse 8: Why did God ask Hagar the question, “where have you come from and where are you going”? Doesn’t God already know? Of course He does. God didn’t ask Hagar the question because He didn’t know the answer. God asked Hagar the question because He wanted Hagar to know that He is concerned for her. Sometimes the best way to care for a person is simply to ask them about where they are at.
Genesis 16:9-12 (NIV)
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.”
On verses 9-12: Hagar was able to go back to her boss Sarai and submit to her as God commanded (v9), not because Sarai had changed for the better, but because Hagar had received and believed God’s Word for her life. God’s Word had given Hagar a vision for her life and her son’s life that was greater than her current circumstances.
That is why it’s so important to spend time in God’s Word and God’s presence. It’s in God’s Word and God’s presence that you will hear God speaking to you. It is through God’s Word and God’s presence that God gives you a vision for your future. God’s Word and God’s presence will give you courage to face scary circumstances, to persevere through hardship and to deal with difficult people. Hang onto God’s Word and God’s presence and the vision you get as a result of spending time there.
While it must have been encouraging for Hagar to hear that God would greatly multiply her son’s descendants (v10), it must have been hard for Hagar to also hear that he would be “a wild donkey of a man”; in other words, he would get into many conflicts with others. It is incredible to think that Muslims see Ishmael as the ancestor of Muhammad. If that is the case, then it means that Islam came through the line of Ishmael while Judaism and Christianity came through the line of Isaac. Consider all the centuries of conflict that have since happened between Muslims and the Judeo-Christian world. All of this because Abram and Sarai did not wait for God’s plan. What can we learn from this? When we don’t wait for God’s best and do something different from what God originally intended, it can have dire consequences for many people who come after us.
Genesis 16:13-14 (NIV)
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.
On verses 13-14: Whatever your situation, God sees us – always has and always will. But life change happens when we realize that God sees us. Knowing that God sees us can change everything. That’s what happened for Hagar. Later on a well would be built by the spring where Hagar met God. The well is called “Beer Lahai Roi” meaning “well of the Living One who sees me”.
Genesis 16:15-16 (NIV)
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.
On verses 15-16: In obedience to God’s command in verse 11, Hagar courageously gives birth and names her son Ishmael, meaning “God hears”.
Heavenly Father, thank You that even when I think I’m all alone and that no one understands what I go through, You are the God who hears me and sees me. Thank You for Your Word which gives me comfort and hope in my hardship. Thank You for Your vision for my life. Thank You that whatever I am facing today is a stepping stone to that vision becoming a reality. Instead of going for a wrong shortcut, please help me to trust in Your timing and Your plan. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
