Genesis 16

Do you ever get tired of waiting on God? Waiting for a job that isn’t materializing.  Waiting for recovery from an illness. Waiting for marriage with no prospect in sight. Waiting for a prodigal child to come back home. You’ve spent plenty of time in prayer crying out to God, but you are stalled. So, I’ll ask the question again—Do you ever get tired of waiting on God? Well, you are not alone. Today, we are going to consider a godly couple who decided the wait wasn’t worth it. And we will have an explicit example of what happens when we take matters into our own hands.

Abram and Sarai heard the promise. God was going to create a great nation through them, but they were now past the child-bearing age. They patiently waited…nothing happened…and they kept waiting for ten years…still no child. So, Sarai decided to take control of the situation.

Genesis 16:1-2
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

Sarai initiated the plan; Abram willingly complied.  The plan was legal according to the customs of the day.  Sarai’s servant, Hagar the Egyptian, would become Abram’s pilgash—wife of secondary standing. The plan worked. Hagar became pregnant. But the “wife of secondary standing” despised Sarai. The word “despise” means “become little in one’s eyes.” Hagar looked down on Sarai. Hagar felt blessed while Sarai was still barren. The tension was palpable.

Remember in Genesis 3 how Adam blamed Eve for the sin in the garden, and Eve blamed the snake? The pattern continued here as Sarai blamed Abram for carrying out her idea.

Genesis 16:5-6
And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!” But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.

Sin is messy and makes our hearts calloused. Sarai’s plan was outside of God’s will, but she blamed Abram. And it’s true; Abram should not have agreed to the scheme. Hagar was a victim in the process until her pride took over, and she had contempt for Sarai.  Abram’s statement sounds flippant and harsh. “Do to her as you please.” He is basically demoting Hagar from a pilgash—wife of secondary standing—back to Sarai’s servant. The severe treatment from Sarai, who was back in charge, caused Hagar, now  pregnant, to run for her life. But now the problem was solved. Hagar was gone. Mistake covered. Not quite. God was not finished with this situation.

Genesis 16:7-9
The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.”

Often in Scripture, we read about “angels of the Lord” or “an angel of the Lord,” but this is the first reference in the Old Testament to “the angel of the Lord.” Some believe “the angel of the Lord” refers to a theophany of the preincarnate Christ.[1] Other scholars believe this refers to an angel that represents the Lord.[2] When “the angel of the Lord” is referring to Jesus, there is other evidence in the passage. In these verses, Hagar believes she has seen God because she calls him “a God of seeing” and says, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” So, was this the preincarnate Christ? We can’t say for sure. But we do know that God’s message to Hagar was clear. She was to return to Abram and Sarai. God would protect her. She was to name her son, Ishmael, which means “God hears.” God told Hagar that her son would be a “wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him.” We read later in Genesis that Ishmael becomes a great nation (Genesis 25:12-18).

There are some who teach that Ishmael became the father of the Arabian Muslims. According to the Quran, Muhammed claimed to be a descendant of Ishmael. While this theory may be somewhat true, not all Arabians are his descendants.[3]

Hagar responded to God’s promises by calling him El Roi—the God who sees me. She said, “You are a God of seeing . . . Truly here I have seen him who looks after me” (Genesis 16:13). She returned to Abram and Sarai and gave birth to Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when his first son was born.

Let me wrap up with some lessons from today’s passage.

1. Waiting on God is always worth the wait.
   Don’t take matters into your own hands. Trust God to work in his way and his timing.

2. Consistent obedience demands fresh faith.
   Abram’s faith in Genesis 15 faltered in chapter 16. We have seen that happen to Abram before. We know it happens to us. You cannot live with yesterday’s successes. You must renew your faith every day!

3. The decisions we make today matter for tomorrow.
   The decisions Abram and Sarai made in Genesis 16 had consequences in their family and in the lives of their descendants.

4. God’s name is still El Roi
   Wherever you are; whatever you are going through, God sees you and is working in your life. Remember, he is writing his story in you.

5. God works through broken people.
   God never wrote off Abram and Sarai for their disobedience. No failure is fatal, no sin is beyond his forgiveness. His covenant with us is unconditional.

PERSONAL TIME WITH GOD
Read Genesis 16. Don’t miss God’s goodness and grace even in our sin and failure.

Prayer and Application
Ask God to help you wait on him and his timing. Seek his forgiveness for the times you have taken matters into your own hands and made a mess of things. Thank him for his forgiveness and restoration. He continued to use Abram and Sarai. He will continue to write his story in you.

Have Questions?
Send us any questions you have. Maybe you have some questions about “the angel of the Lord.”  Our team is here to assist you as you explore God’s Word. Simply submit your question below, and we’ll get back to you soon.

[1] This is the first reference in the Old Testament to “the Angel of the Lord” (lit., “the Angel of Yahweh”). This angel is identified with Yahweh in 16:13, as well as in 22:11–12; 31:11, 13; 48:16; Judges 6:11, 16, 22; 13:22–23; Zechariah 3:1–2. And yet the Angel is distinct from Yahweh (Gen. 24:7; 2 Sam. 24:16; Zech. 1:12). Thus “the Angel of the Lord” may refer to a theophany of the preincarnate Christ (cf. Gen. 18:1–2; 19:1; Num. 22:22; Judges 2:1–4; 5:23; Zech. 12:8). Allen P. Ross, “Genesis,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 57.
[2] Some identify the angel of the Lord as the preincarnate Christ because in some texts the angel is identified with the Lord himself. However, it is more likely that the angel merely represents the Lord; he can speak for the Lord because he is sent with the Lord’s full authority. In some cases, the angel is clearly distinct from the Lord (see Judges 6:11–23). It is not certain if the same angel is always in view. Though the proper name following the noun “angel” makes the construction definite, this may simply indicate that a definite angel sent from the Lord is referred to in any given context. It need not be the same angel on every occasion. Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition Notes (Biblical Studies Press, 2006), Gen. 16:7.
[3] https://www.gotquestions.org/descendants-of-Ishmael.html