Genesis 16
Hagar
and Ishmael
1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no
children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has
kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; 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 slave Hagar and
gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
WHAT DO YOU THINK HAGAR’S REACTION MIGHT HAVE
BEEN? HOW WOULD YOU REACT WHEN YOU FIND YOURSELF IN A POSITION WHICH YOU HAVE
NO CONTROL? HOW CAN GOD HELP YOU WHEN YOU ARE IN SUCH A POSITION?
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 slave in your arms, and now that she
knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”
WHY DO YOU THINK THE PREGNANT HAGAR BEGAN TO
DESPISE SARAH? A CONCUBINE AND A WIFE. SHE LET HER PRIDE OVERTAKE HER
6 “Your slave 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, slave of Sarai, where have you come
from, and where are you going?”
“I’m running away from
my mistress Sarai,” she answered.
HAGAR RAN AWAY TO A PRETTY BARREN AND SPARSELY
POPULATED. SHE WAS DESPERATE TO LEAVE A DIFFICULT BUT SAFE ENVIRONMENT AND GO
TO THE DESERT. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN THAT DESPERATE? WHAT WERE THE CIRCUMSTANCES?
9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your
mistress and submit to her.” 10 The
angel added, “I will
increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”
WORDS OF ASSURANCE AND OF PROPHECY. A PROMISE. FIRST REVELATION
It is a great mercy to be stopped in a sinful
way, either by conscience or by providence. GOD KNOWS HER BONDAGE, HER BITTERNESS, HER ANXIETY ABOUT THE
FUTURE
11 The angel of the Lord also said to her:
“You are now
pregnant
and you will give birth to a son.
You shall name him Ishmael,[a] "GOD HEARS"
for the Lord has heard of your misery.
and you will give birth to a son.
You shall name him Ishmael,[a] "GOD HEARS"
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[b] all his brothers.”
his hand will be against everyone
and everyone’s hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
toward[b] 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[c] the One who sees me.”14 That is why the well was
called Beer Lahai Roi[d]; it is still there, between
Kadesh and Bered.
Have I, who
am so unworthy, been favoured with a gracious visit from the Lord? She was brought
to a better temper, returned, and by her behaviour softened Sarai, and received
more gentle treatment. Would that we were always suitably impressed with this
thought, Thou God seest me! (God aided her in her desperation.)
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.
GOD ALWAYS FULFILLS HIS PROMISE.. IN HIS OWN
TIME, NOT OURS. HIS LOVE AND PROTECTION IS ALWAYS AVAILABLE.
Genesis 21
Hagar
and Ishmael Sent Away
8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned
Abraham held a great feast. 9 But
Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, 10 and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that
woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”
11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his
son.12 But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to
whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring[b] will be reckoned. 13 I will make the son of the
slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.”
14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water
and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy.
She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of
the bushes. 16 Then
she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot
watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she[c] began to sob.
JUST IMAGINE HOW SHE
FELT DURING THAT TIME. SOME 16 YEARS LATER.. EVEN THOUGH HAGAR AND ISMAEL WERE
OUTCASTS AND ALONE. GOD LOVINGLY CARED FOR THEM.
17 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the
matter, Hagar? Do not be
afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great
nation.”
HOW DID GOD MEET HER
NEEDS? THE SECOND REVELATION.
REMINDER TO NOT BE
AFRAID!
19 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin
with water and gave the boy a drink.
20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. 21 While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt. GOD HAD SEEN, HAD HEARD AND HAD BEEN
FAITHFUL. HE KNOWS ALL THINGS. HE
IS OUR SUSTENANCE
