Genesis 16

An Egyptian woman worked in Sarai's household. Her name was Hagar. She was Sarai's maidservant. She was enslaved, which means she was owned by another person.

Hagar was far from Egypt, her home. The Bible does not tell us how she came to belong to Sarai.

Sarai had no children. She said to Abram, "The LORD has prevented me from bearing children" (16:2). She told Abram to sleep with Hagar. Sarai hoped to build a family through Hagar's baby.

Abram listened to Sarai. He agreed to her plan. So Sarai gave Hagar to Abram as a wife.

Nobody asked Hagar. She had no choice. Her body was being used to give someone else a child.

Sarai had her own sorrow. Abram had lived in Canaan ten years, and the child God promised him had not come. Sarai believed the LORD had kept her from having children.

Hagar became pregnant. When Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to look down on Sarai.

Sarai was hurt and angry. She blamed Abram. "May the wrong done to me be upon you," she said (16:5).

Sarai said she had given Hagar to Abram herself. Now Hagar treated her with contempt, which means scorn. Sarai asked the LORD to judge between her and Abram.

Abram did not defend Hagar. He told Sarai that Hagar was her servant. Sarai could do whatever she wanted with her.

Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that Hagar ran away.

The Bible doesn't say what Sarai did. But remember, Hagar was pregnant. She chose to go alone into the desert rather than stay.

The angel of the LORD found Hagar by a spring in the desert. It was on the road to Shur, the way back to Egypt.

The angel called her by name. "Hagar, where have you come from? Where are you going?"

The angel called her "servant of Sarai." That is who she was in Abram's house.

Hagar told the truth. "I am running away from Sarai."

Then the angel said something hard. "Return to your mistress and submit to her authority" (16:9).

Then the angel said more. He promised Hagar that her family would grow too big to count. This promise was like the one God gave Abram.

The angel told her she would have a son. She must name him Ishmael, which means "God hears." The angel said why. "The LORD has heard your cry of affliction" (16:11). Affliction means suffering.

The angel said her son would be like a wild donkey. This is a comparison. He would live free and untamed. The angel also said he would be against everyone, and everyone would be against him.

Hagar did something rare in the Bible. She gave God a name.

"You are the God who sees me," she said (16:13). "Here I have seen the One who sees me" (16:13).

Nobody in Abram's household had paid attention to her. God had seen her.

The well was called Beer-lahai-roi. It means "the well of the Living One who sees me."

The spring was between two places called Kadesh and Bered.

The Bible does not tell the trip back as a scene. But Hagar's son was born in Abram's household. Abram named him Ishmael, as the angel had said. Abram was 86 years old.