Genesis 16:1-16

16:1-3 | Ten years had passed since the Lord’s first promise to Abram in 12:2, and Sarai knew the Lord Himself had restrained her from having children. So in a selfless (though impatient) act on behalf of her husband, she proposed using her maid as a surrogate - and Abram heeded. Like Adam with Eve in the Garden, Abram’s temptation came from the person closest to him (3:17). And in spite of the great visions God had given Abram, the realities of the couple’s age and Sarai’s barrenness seemed greater at that moment.

16:4-6 | After Hagar conceived and her contempt robbed Sarai of her happiness, Sarai blamed her husband (My wrong be upon you!). The Hebrew word speaks of wrong brought on her by Hagar, yet Sarai treated Hagar harshly in spite of cultural codes that demanded dignified treatment of surrogate mothers. Hagar, Abram, and Sarai all sinned.

16:7-12 | God’s commands are often accompanied by assurances and compassion. In Hagar’s moment of homelessness, God sent the Angel of the Lord - a phrase strongly suggesting a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ (22:11, 15; Judg. 2:4; 6:11; 13:3; 1 Kgs. 19:7) - to ease her despair. This promise to multiply her descendants exceedingly would be fulfilled with the birth of Ishmael, from whom the Arabic people would descend.

16:13-16 | Hagar was totally alone in the wilderness, yet God sought her out. Hagar gave the well the memorial name Beer Lahai Roi (“The Well of the One Who Sees and Hears Me”) to indicate that God finds His children when they are forgotten. Ishmael means “God hears.”