Genesis 16

Genesis 16:1-3

Verse 3(a)

They have been in the land of Canaan for 10 years. That’s how long it has been since God made the promise that he would make Abram’s offspring into a great nation.

Verse 1

She has not birthed Abram any children. For ten years the promise still has not been fulfilled. So it would make sense that Sarai and Abram are starting to get a little anxious or impatient.

Verse 2

This was common practice in ANE at the time. With the amount of time that has passed and this culturally appropriate way of having a child, they are tricked into thinking this is the right thing to do.

Obviously there are deep moral issues with what is happening.

What is Sarai doing by giving Hagar to Abram for this purpose?

She is taking God’s promise into her own hands.

She is showing a lack of faith and trust in God to fulfill his promises.

Why does doubting what God is capable of so often lead to sin.

When we doubt what God can do, we often try to play God and do something that is within our own will and not His.

This was going to rob God of his glory. The miracle of God’s promise was that a woman unable to have kids was going to be a mother of a great nation. Galatians 4:22-23 “For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.”

The Hebrew idiom implies that Abram obeyed Sarai.

It wasn’t his idea, but he was still a participant and deserved blame for what happened.

Verse 3

The issue of multiple wives.

Some people will say this seems to be the Bible condoning polygamy.

Genesis 2:23-25 “Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”

Moses has already stated in chapter two of Genesis what the original design for marriage was. We must use scripture to interpret scripture. We also see that this was not God’s design based on what happens in the rest of the story.

Genesis 16:4-6

Hagar’s sin (verse 4)

Easy to understand why she felt this way

Sarai obviously has not treated Hagar well being that she gave her away to be married to much older man so she could claim product of the union as her own. Now the woman had done something Sarai never could.

Still, Hagar looked down upon Sarai because of something she had no control over. God could have made Hagar barren just as he did Sarai.

Sarai’s sin (verse 5)

Sarai then refuses to take any blame for the situation. She blames Abram for the situation that she started. You can almost hear Abram saying, “I just did what you told me to do, why are you mad at me?”

Why is it so easy to try and blame others for what we have done wrong?

Abram’s Sin (Verse 6)

This is a gutless response by Abram. He was the one that decided to elevate Hagar’s status from servant to wife. He was now allowing Sarai to abuse the woman that was carrying his child and who he had at least at one point would be his heir.

Genesis 16:7-14

Verse 7-10

This would have been in the direction of Egypt. It seems Hagar is trying to go back to her homeland. This makes sense. She has fled her husband and is with child. She probably wanted to get somewhere that she could be taken care of.

The Angel Of The Lord

Angel just means messenger. But the angel refers to God in the first person. This is also the terminology used when Moses talked to the burning bush. There are some who speculate that this is a preincarnate appearance of Christ.

God tells Hagar to return to her master Sarai

We don’t have to like this passage. We don’t have to completely understand it. But God told her to go and submit to her authority.

Verses 10-12

God gives a promise to Hagar.

Son will be multiple into great nation as well.

This was not going to be the son that had been promised to Abram. But God still cared for Hagar and said he saw her affliction. (Verse 11).

What does this say about God’s character?

But what does the description of Ishamel say about the consequences about sin?

Verses 13-14

Hagar is obviously touched about the fact that God had seen her affliction and come to her. Look at what she refers to God and why. Beer-lahai-roi means “The Well of The Living One Who Sees Me.”

What example does God set for us here?

Vereses 15-16

Here Abram takes Ishmael as his son and heir by giving him a name.