Genesis 16:1-16 "Abram Heeds Sarai's Voice"

Good evening, Calvary Chapel Lake City!

Let’s open our Bibles and continue in our Wednesday night study from Genesis to Revelation.

We are looking at Genesis 16 this evening. Gen 16:1-16… the entire chapter.

We are looking at the life of Abram… and it’s a bit like a roller coaster… lot’s of ups and downs.

High points and low points… very relatable. Very human.

Kind of takes the pressure for perfectionism off of us…

In the life of Abram… we clearly see that it was not his perfect faithfulness… but the faithfulness of God… whom Abram believed and was accounted as righteous.

We saw that in Chapter 15 where on the tail end of military battle… and meeting the king and priest Melchizedek… a high point…

The Lord appeared to Abram stating He was Abram’s ‘shield and exceedingly great reward.’

And Abram shared his hearts desire for an heir… for he was around 80 years old and childless… a low point… certainly in his feelings of being without an heir.

So God promised Abram would indeed have an heir from his own body… and Abram believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.… another high point.

And God then formerly established the Abrahamic Covenant with an animal sacrifice.

This was the covenant God initially promised in Gen 12… and will confirm in Gen 17 with Abram.

And again with the sons of Abraham.

Because is it not human nature to be forgetful… to allow our present circumstances… to influence our perception of the faithfulness of God…

Thankfully God is patient.… or as the Bible likes to describe Him… long-suffering.

God is long-suffering and kind towards His creation… towards Abram… towards you and I.

And good thing for Abram… because as we enter Chapter 16… we see another low point…

We turn from Chapter 15… where God promised Abram an heir from his own body… with his wife of course… Sarai.

And then we open Chapter 16.… and sadly see how Abram and Sarai take matters into their own hands… and get ahead of God and outside of His will… as we’ll see in the account of “Abram Heeds Sarai’s Voice”… our message title this evening.

Let’s Pray!

In reverence for God’s word, if you are able, please stand as I read our passage.

Genesis 16:1–16 “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. 3 Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. 4 So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes.

5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between you and me.” 6 So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.” And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence.

7 Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”

9 The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.” 10 Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.” 11 And the Angel of the Lord said to her: “Behold, you are with child, And you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, Because the Lord has heard your affliction. 12 He shall be a wild man; His hand shall be against every man, And every man’s hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”

13 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

15 So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.”

Praise God for His word. Please be seated.

In Chapter 15… Abram was somewhere around 80 years old… and we just read in V16 that Abram is now 86 years old.

Sarai would be 76 at this point… so well past the age of childbearing.

We could cast stones at them for their failure in clinging to God’s promises that they would have a child…

But, most humans… at least the ones who are breathing… have moments like these.

Doubts of whether God will come through.

Questions of whether we heard God right.

Frustrations with God’s timing… which is alway perfect, but a little too long for our liking.

And in our impatience… we intervene… to help God out…

“Maybe we need to do “our part” before He will fulfill His promise”

So we devise plans… purposed in fulfilling our will in our timing… and we create a mess in the sin of NOT trusting God… or NOT waiting on the Lord.

We cause harm… and we create problems with our “good ideas… that are NOT God’s ideas.”

And this is the reality of what we see here in Chapter 16.

Picking up in V1… we read that Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children.

Barrenness… remains a difficult trial to wrestle with.

Medical fertility services globally… is about a 40 billion dollar industry… as infertility rates are on the rise… and affect about 15-20% of couples.

And depending on where you live in the world… there may be a stigma attached…

Not as much in first world countries where infertility is viewed as a medical condition.

But in developing and third world countries, infertility is viewed often as a curse or reproach.

This is obviously Sarai’s feeling as she states in V2 “See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing children.”

This was also reflected with Hannah (Samuel’s mother) 1 Sam 1-2… the LORD had closed her womb.… her rival made her miserable… her soul was bitter… she wept in anguish… but she prayed to the LORD and

When women miraculously did conceive… they spoke about their reproach being lifted…

Like Jacob’s wife… Rachel (also barren)… but in Gen 30… God opened her womb… and after she conceived she declared, “God has taken away my reproach.”

Elizabeth… John the Baptist’s mother was barren as well… and also declared… the Lord “looked on me, to take away my reproach among the people.” (Luke 1:25).

And feeling this reproach was the case for Sarai… for without an heir… as Abram stated in Chapter 15… if he were to go childless… his heir would be Eliezer of Damascus… a trusted servant.

Which was a custom of that day… though not Abram’s preference… as we read in the beginning of Chapter 15.

But… it would seem now… some five years or so later… Sarai considers… no doubt out of desperation… another custom of the land…

… which was where a barren woman could give her “maidservant”… which was a nice way of saying “slave” to her husband.

The child of that union would be considered the first wife’s child. And if the husband said, “You are my son”… he would be adopted and become the heir.

So Sarai suggests Abram to consider this social norm… at the end of V2…

And she offers her maidservant or slave… the Egyptian named Hagar… who is mentioned in V1.

Which is just crazy… social norm or not…

This was not God’s norm… this goes against the “one flesh” principle that God founded for marriage.

Genesis 2:24 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

This also goes against the nature of wives. A wife (a normal wife… not like weirdos in society today)… does not want to share their husband with another woman.

And Sarai is going to recognize the wrong of this situation in V5… and interpersonal problems will erupt.

Eleven years prior… In Gen 12, another time Abram took matters into his own hands… and interpersonal problems ensued... was when a famine came into the land… so they went down to lush Egypt… near the Nile River… to weather the famine…

But encountered several moral problems namely with Pharaoh wanting Sarai as a wife… and Abram lying by saying she was his sister…

So Pharoah took her to wed… but God preserved them… Pharoah who was plagued by God because of Sarai…

So he sent Abram away with much livestock… and “male and female servants” (Gen 12:16)…

Hagar was very likely one of those servants… or slaves.

If you recall… when we looked at Gen chapters 12 & 13… we discussed how the “treasures of Egypt” came with a price.

Material treasures are highly sought after but come with a price.

Often the price is challenges with interpersonal relationships.

And that was true for Abram…

In chapter 13… the great flock and herds caused a rift between Abram and Lot… leading to their separation.

And now… in Chapter 16… Hagar… who also came from Egypt… get’s pulled into Abram and Sarai’s ‘not-so-good idea’… definitely not God’s idea… and more interpersonal issues will arise.

Abram and Sarai had not yet learned the lesson of Heb 6:12… that we must “through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

Now… note the words at the end of V2… “And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai.”

And this was where things went wrong. Not that Sarai was riddled with poor advice always for her husband.

Not that Abram should ignore the counsel of his wife always, but she was really off this time…

And Abram should have heeded the voice of God… which he didn’t.

Sarai was suggesting to follow what was normal and customary for the culture of the day.

And one lesson for us is TO NOT follow the voice of culture.

Historically… Culture does not follow God, but it’s own way… a sinful and Godless way. A broad road to destruction.

Another lesson is to follow God… to remember His promises… and to adhere to His word.

And God promised Abram a child from his own body. NOT a child from Hagar.

And Abram should have done better to lead his wife and his family in this moment when life was getting tough.

Married men… you are to lead your family in the ways of God.

God gave Eve to Adam as a help-mate… and your wife is a blessed help mate to you.

Proverbs 18:22 states, “He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor from the Lord.”

But, if your wife’s voice or anyone else’s voice contradicts God’s voice… you are to listen to God… and you are called to lead.

Adam made the same mistake in taking and eating the fruit from Eve.

God said he “heeded the voice of [his] wife” (Gen 3:17) and ate of the tree God commanded them not to.

He knew God’s command, but he transgressed it… (1 Tim 2:14)… which led to the fall of mankind into sin.

And here in Gen 16… as Abram does not lead… but heeds his wife’s poor counsel… Ishmael will be born… from him will come the Ishmaelites…

… whom Joseph is sold in slavery to (Gen 37:27)…

… whom in Ps 83:6 are listed as hostile against God and Israel.

… and in Islamic tradition… a descendent of Ishmael is Muhammed.

Ironically… Ishmael’s name means “He will hear God”…

Something Abram failed to do.

And it would take generations for troubles to arise… interpersonal issues would arise… and almost immediately for Abram.

In V3… Sarai gives Hagar to Abram. Note the end of V3 … “after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan.”

Perhaps a time stamp to help the reader understand the discouragement and impatience Abram and Sarai were feeling.

Where was God’s promise? Where was the heir?

Today… we wait on God’s promise of eternal life… of glory… and we must be careful as we wait ten years and more on the Lord… that we don’t throw away our confidence.

The writer of Hebrews wrote this to discouraged Christians who were close to casting away their confidence in Jesus and and returning to the Old Covenant.

Hebrews 10:35–36 “Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:”

Abram was waiting on the promise of an heir… but now after ten years… grows impatient…

Even after Gen 15… just a few years prior… where God formalized the Abrahamic Covenant…

What happened to that stone of remembrance?

Why did Abram cast away his confidence in God’s promise… and lacked endurance to wait on the Lord?

This leads to many problems.

A very appropriate passage in Galatians speaks about “not growing weary in doing good”… and why it is so appropriate is because it is tied to the law of sowing and reaping.

Galatians 6:7–9 “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. 9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”

Abram and Sarai grew weary in waiting on the promise of God… and they would sow to the flesh… and would reap corruption.

We see this almost immediately… in V4… Abram had relations with Hagar… she became pregnant and conceived…

And the very next sentence reads… “And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes.”

When Hagar realized she was pregnant… she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt.

Even if Abram and Sarai had the best of intentions… and Hagar willingly agreed to help the couple.…

God designed marriage for a monogamy… and anything else will create problems.

We don’t know the reason why the ladies will fall out of favor with one another… but if I had to guess… and I do… I imagine jealousy and pride were central to the new relational dynamics.

Sarai was a slave… who now was elevated to the position of a secondary-wife (according to V3)…

So there is a newfound shift in status and power dynamics… perhaps even a feeling of superiority from Hagar being that she conceived when Sarai could not.

And yet a feeling of inferiority knowing she was not the primary wife.

Did Hagar formerly trust and have fond feelings for Sarai, but now felt betrayed by her?

She may have felt resentful for being used… did she have a choice in the arrangement as a slave?

Especially knowing she will have to give up her child… who will be adopted as Sarai’s?

Whatever the case… and maybe there a little truth in all of these possibilities…

But, this was NOT God’s plan. And God doesn’t stop them. God gives us the free will to make really dumb choices in life.

But we also have to live with our choices. We reap what we sow.

And Sarai is feeling this in V5 as she said to Abram, “My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The LORD judge between you and me.”

NLT simplifies V5 where Sarai says, “This is all your fault! I put my servant into your arms, but now that she’s pregnant she treats me with contempt. The LORD will show who’s wrong—you or me!”

And every guy in the room is thinking, “How is that Abram’s fault?”

She gave him Hagar. If anything they are mutually wrong.

No… that’s not right. The blame falls on Abram’s shoulders.

As the leader of the home, he is responsible for the choices that will honor God.

And he is responsible for protecting his wife. Sarai’s in a really bad place in Chapter 16.

She has been bearing the reproach of barrenness… her faith in God’s promises are weakened…

She sees no solution… and looks to the ways of the land… instead of God’s promises.

This is not clear thinking.

And Abram’s duty was to tell her softly and firmly, “No. With all my heart… I love you, but this is not the way. This is not God’s way. We will wait on the Lord.”

He didn’t protect his wife from her desperation in a terrible situation…

… and in that he was at fault.

Men… whether you like it… or live it out… you are called to lead your home.

Eph 5… and other passages share God’s design for the home… Christ is the head… all submit to Him…

The husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church.

And if he does so… it’s much easier for the wife to submit to her husband as to the Lord… and to respect her husband.

And when these are in order… its much easier for Children to obey their parents.

And this is SO important to God… that in 1 Tim 3… when describing the character of leaders…

Paul was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write… that a church leader must be 1 Timothy 3:4–5 “… one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence 5 (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?);”

With Abram… he didn’t rule or govern his home well. He allowed an idea… taken from culture… to infiltrate his home…

He didn’t cling to God’s promise… He stepped outside of God’s will…

The fallout from this child with Hagar… one could argue that the world is still paying the price from that decision.

And, more immediately for Abram… he’s now in a major argument with his wife…

Sarai blamed him for Hagar treating her with contempt… and called upon God to be the judge between them.

Which is wild… NOT that my wife and I have ever argued…

But hypothetically… I can’t imagine either of us saying, “The LORD judge between you and me.”

But Sarai did… and Abram responds… V6 “So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.””

Which is to say, “Look, she’s your servant, so deal with her as you see fit.”

And this is an example of poor leadership. Abram doesn’t take ownership for his poor decision.

He doesn’t try to turn the ship by talking with Hagar… to address her attitudes… or whatever she was thinking and feeling…

He doesn’t press for peace…

He passes the buck to Sarai… which was wrong.

She was hurting… and thus she caused hurt.

We read at the end of V6 “And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence.”

We don’t know what Sarai did, but she was harsh with… she afflicted Hagar.

She likely spoke to her unkindly… and who knows what else, but it was bad enough that Hagar finally ran away.

Let me remind you… these are the Patriarch’s of Israel. Abraham and Sarah.

You say there names and there is a tendency to be in awe of them…

Afterall they are written into the Faith Hall of Fame… Heb 11… for believing God… for taking steps of faith to leave their land… and follow God…

Eventually Sarah would have the faith to bear a child in old age.

But this chapter reminds us that they were people none-the-less… people with issues who, like us, needed a Savior.

Most innocent in this situation seems to be Hagar… who, now mistreated by her lady… flees into the wilderness… the desert… heading home back to Egypt.

Look again at V7 “Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.”

Shur was the land to the East of Egypt… often referred to as the “Wilderness of Shur”… and Hagar was on the “way to Shur”… so she was so distraught that she was headed back to Egypt.

But this was not easy travel, so she finds herself in another desperate situation… the desert was hot and dry… thus she stops at a spring of water.

Then for the first time in the Bible we read about “the Angel of the Lord.” This phrase is used 68x in the Bible…

If you study through some of these cross references you find the Angel is identified with Yahweh…

Hagar in V13 reveals that this “angel” was the LORD… God Himself.

And yet distinct from Yahweh… (c.f. Gen 24:7, 2 Sam 24:16)…

Zechariah 1:12 reads, “Then the Angel of the Lord answered and said, “O Lord of hosts, how long will You not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which You were angry these seventy years?””

So… we can see a distinction.

And knowing “no one has seen God at anytime” (John 1:18; Exo 33:20, 1 Tim 6:16)…

This must be a theophany of the preincarnate Christ.

V8 “And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.””

Interesting… Hagar’s name means “flight” or “to flee”… and she now lives up to her name by fleeing from Sarai’s mistreatment.

Jesus finds her… and approaches her and addresses her by name, and by her position (Sarai’s maid).

We don’t read that hearing her name freaked her out… so, this approach must have been comforting for her.

This scene reminds me of John 4… the Samaritan woman by the well who stated, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”

True is the phrase, “It’s like He knew everything about me!”

Ps 139 captures this nicely… Ps 139:1-6 “O LORD, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. 2 You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. 3 You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. 4 You know what I am going to say even before I say it, LORD. 5 You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!

And like Hagar… God knows our names…

He knows our situations and circumstances… He knows our needs and our desires…

He knows the number of hairs on our heads… God values all of His creation.

And in grace, God give the following instruction to Hagar…

vv9–12 “The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.” 10 Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.” 11 And the Angel of the Lord said to her: “Behold, you are with child, And you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, Because the Lord has heard your affliction. 12 He shall be a wild man; His hand shall be against every man, And every man’s hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.””

Jesus instructs… return to Sarai and submit to her. Which would be difficult to hear and receive had it not been for the rest of what God said…

He promises in V10 that her descendants will multiply exceedingly… beyond counting.

In V11… He reveals He knows she is pregnant… and He knows the gender (a boy)…

And names the child… Ishmael saying “Because the Lord has heard your affliction.”

The name Ishmael means, “the Lord hears.”

He heard her affliction… her misery.

Looking forward to Ishmael and the tribe of Ishmaelites… God said in V12 that he would be a “wild man” (untamed)… and his hand would be against every man… he would be hostile and others would be hostile against him.

He would settle near his kinsmen. In Gen 25:12-28, you can read of genealogy of Ishmael… and V18 reveals they dwelt in the Arabian Desert.

This tribe was not God’s will… not God’s plan… but now that Abram and Hagar made this union… God would be gracious to their descendants.

Even knowing as God prophesied… in the verses we just read that this would be a hostile people.

Tensions between Arab nations and Israel today are a fulfillment of this prophesy.

And they would complicate God’s plan…

But God can use all things for good. For ex., Sarah’s great-grandson, Joseph, would be taken to Egypt by the Ishmaelites.

Which was bad, but God would use Joseph presence in Egypt for good…

He was elevated to number two behind Pharoah… to save many people alive from famine…

… including his family that became Israel.

But when mankind sows to sin, they reap sin… which sometimes stretches far into the future…

On Abram and Sarai’s sin… one scholar wrote… “When the way of faith (which involves patient waiting) was abandoned and the way of human calculation was taken, Abram was caught up in a chain of causes and effects that would trouble him for years to come. (Ishmael became the ancestor of the Arabs, who are still hostile to the Jews." -BKC

But, for Hagar… being heard by the LORD… she proclaims…

Genesis 16:13–14 “Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi [meaning “the well of the Living One who sees me”]; observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered.”

Hagar called the name of the LORD (all caps)… Yahweh… “The God Who Sees”… “El Roi” in Hebrew.

He would forever stand in contrast to her false God’s of Egypt… who were blind…

Psalm 135:15–17 declares, “The idols of the nations are silver and gold, The work of men’s hands. 16 They have mouths, but they do not speak; Eyes they have, but they do not see; 17 They have ears, but they do not hear; Nor is there any breath in their mouths.”

Hagar commemorated this event naming the well at this unknown location somewhere in the Negev desert South of Israel… after the true God who did see her.

Who looked out for her… who spoke to her… who guided her… who promised her… who foretold of a future for her lineage.

There’s SO many reflections that we could say of God in this chapter.

Tremendous grace was poured out on Hagar… despite her getting roped into a plan that was not of God.

Tell me we don’t serve a loving and gracious God… and I will tell you about the story of Hagar.

Wrapping up… Hagar obeys God and returns to Abram and Sarai.

vv15–16 “So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.”

Ishmael would grow up to be around 16 or 17 years old…

And it would seem that Abram, Sarai, and Hagar lived in relative peace… as best as then knew how through his childhood…

At least we don’t read of any major conflicts through Gen 17-20…

But in Gen 21, Isaac (the child of Promise)… was born…

And old jealousies… and conflicts would again arise… between Sarah and Hagar…

… ultimately leading to Sarah asking for Hagar to be permanently cast out… and she was.

But, we’ll look at that account in Gen 21.

But the lesson… the reminder for us Christians today from Genesis 16… (worship team please come).…

The lesson is that we are to cling to, trust and not forget the Word of the Lord.

His promises are sure… thus we are to wait on the Lord to fulfill His plan and promises in His timing.

And if we allow our plans… and our calculations to rise above God’s plans… this is foolish and we will reap what we sow.

We are to endure and wait patiently until the end. We are to live by faith on the God who sees and hears.

Amen? Let’s pray!

If you need prayer, please see us before you go.

Numbers 6:24–26 blesses with this blessing…

“The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; 26 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” ’”

God sees and hears you. Be blessed knowing this as you close out the week ahead.