Deep Dive Genesis - Part 7

Chapter 16 - Hagar and Ishmael

Chapter 16 - Hagar and Ishmael

Chiasm: a literary device where words, grammatical structures, or concepts are repeated in reverse order, creating a symmetrical pattern

Name comes from the Greek letter X (Chi)

(See handout.)

This story takes place in the heart of Abram’s overall story.

New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition Genesis 16

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had an

New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition Genesis 16

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had an

Who’s voice should we be listening to? God or our own? Better yet, God or someone else’s?

“You see that the Lord has prevented…”

“Abram listened…”

New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition Genesis 16

So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. 4 He went in to

New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition Genesis 16

So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. 4 He went in to

Every single time we see people with more than one spouse in the Bible, it never goes well for them.

Contempt: the Hebrew word here can also be interpreted “to treat lightly.” This would imply that she simply did not see Sarai the same way, or had stopped being as submissive as she had been when she was only a slave.

Culture of the time would have her status change after marrying Abram, especially after bearing him a son.

Although some point out that there are customs where something like this might happen and then the child would be adopted by the other wife after birth.

New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition Genesis 16

Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my slave to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD

New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition Genesis 16

Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my slave to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD

Sarai blames Abram, and Hagar, and God…

Abram, unfortunately, throws this poor girl to the proverbial wolves.

“Dealt harshly with her…” This begins the echo of what will later be the Exodus story in reverse.

Also the wording here is the same verbiage used inExodus when we see that Egypt “oppressed” the Israelites.

New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition Genesis 16

The

New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition Genesis 16

The

Pre-incarnate Christ

God loves asking us questions. Which should really inform your idea of God in a huge way. The creator of all things, and the God that knows your heart better than you do yourself, still wants to interact with us in a way that is beneficial to us more than it is to Him. He doesn’t need to ask, but He does anyways.

As the CSB notes point out: she is answers the question of where she is from, but seems to ignore the one about where she is going, perhaps showing she hadn’t really thought it through.

New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition Genesis 16

The angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her.” 10 The angel of the LORD also said to her, “I will so greatly

New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition Genesis 16

The angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her.” 10 The angel of the LORD also said to her, “I will so greatly

Similar blessing as to what Abram has been promised, and is the beginning of the story of the Ishmaelites, or rather most of the Arab peoples.

Now, some interpret this as saying Hagar’s real issue is her “bad attitude towards her mistress,” which I think is a super shallow reading and does not line us nearly as well as the idea that she will persevere through the trail and be blessed for it because it is the will of God.

I think people get this “Main Character” mentality sometimes when reading scripture, where you think, “oh I know this person they’re important, they must be a great example of how to behave all the time!” which is woefully ignorant and not a reliable way to interpret the text. The only person we should ever look at that way is Christ, obviously, but more to my point, just because Hagar is a young Egyptian girl, doesn’t automatically make her in the wrong here. I’m not saying she has no blame at all, but I think the interpretation that its her attitude that is the problem is ridiculous.

Because it reduces her down to this very two dimensional “young girl that needs to learn respect” stereotype, and I think we have the capacity to be more critical with our study of the text.

New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition Genesis 16

And the angel of the LORD said to her,

“Now you have conceived and shall bear a son;

you shall call him Ishmael,

for the LORD has given heed to your affliction.

12 He shall be a wild ass of a man,

with his hand against everyone,

and everyone’s hand against him,

and he shall live at odds with all his

New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition Genesis 16

And the angel of the LORD said to her,

“Now you have conceived and shall bear a son;

you shall call him Ishmael,

for the LORD has given heed to your affliction.

12 He shall be a wild ass of a man,

with his hand against everyone,

and everyone’s hand against him,

and he shall live at odds with all his

יִשְׁמָעֵאל

Ishmael - “God hears”

אֵל

El - “God”

“wild ass of a man…” not an insult, they don’t have horses they had donkeys, and this description is one of freedom and independance. The wild donkey lived a nomadic life, so rather than direct conflict we are seeing that he would, by nature, push back against the rest of society that surrounds him.

New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition Genesis 16

So she named the LORD who spoke to her, “You are El-roi,” for she said, “Have I really

New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition Genesis 16

So she named the LORD who spoke to her, “You are El-roi,” for she said, “Have I really

The only place in scripture where someone “names God,” possibly related to Egyptian past, she has now come in contact with an “unknown god” and so declares a name by which to call Him.

El-roi: God-of-seeing or God who sees

Beer-lahai-roi: Well of the Living One who sees me

Also here we see the idea that when people come in contact with “The Angel of the Lord” they are left with a sense of awe and wondering if they are going to die, or rather are surprised that they did not die and are still living.

New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition Genesis 16

Hagar bore

New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition Genesis 16

Hagar bore