Genesis 16

Genesis 16:1

It all begins with God An EasyEnglish Bible Version and Commentary (2800 word vocabulary) on the Book of Genesis www.easyenglish.info Marie Wetherill and Keith Simons This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.

Words in boxes are from the Bible.

Tap the * before a word to show an explanation.

Chapter 16 Hagar and Ishmael, 16:1-16 God had promised a son to Abram. But Sarai, Abram’s wife, thought that she was too old to have a baby. So, she suggested that Abram should have a baby with Hagar. Hagar was a slave who worked as Sarai’s maid.

Sarai’s idea was a natural solution to Abram’s problem. But it was not God’s solution. God wanted Abram to continue to trust him. God’s plan was that Sarai would be the mother of Abram’s son. And God wanted that son to be born as the result of God’s promise (Galatians 4:23).

There was an important reason for God’s plan. God’s promise was not merely to any son of Abram. It was to Abram’s special *descendant, who is Christ (Galatians 3:16). And, by means of Christ, Christians become the sons of God (Galatians 4:6). But nobody can please God by his or her own natural efforts. So, nobody can become a real Christian by natural methods. We have to trust God to become Christians. Then we shall receive the things that God has promised.

Abram too needed to learn to trust God. Abram made many mistakes. But, when Abram trusted God, Abram pleased God. And then God gave to Abram the things that he (God) had promised.

God still cared about Abram’s first son, although that son was born in the natural way. That son was called Ishmael, and his mother was Hagar. God even made promises about Ishmael. And Abram also cared about Ishmael. But Ishmael’s behaviour would cause trouble for Abram (Genesis 21:8-11). Abram had to send Ishmael away in order to protect Abram’s second son, called Isaac. Isaac was the son whom God had promised to Abram (Galatians 4:29-30). A quarrel in the family, 16:1-6 v1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had no children. She had an *Egyptian maid called Hagar. v2 So Sarai said this to Abram: ‘Because the *Lord has not given children to me, have sex with my maid. Perhaps she will give birth to my sons for me.’ Then Abram obeyed his wife. v3 Abram lived in Canaan for 10 years. After that, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar, her *Egyptian maid. And Sarai gave her to Sarai’s husband Abram. So then Hagar could act like a wife towards him. v4 Abram had sex with Hagar.

And she became *pregnant. When Hagar knew that, she was unkind to her boss Sarai. She was unkind because she considered Sarai worse than Hagar herself. v5 Then Sarai said to Abram, ‘It is your fault that I am unhappy. I gave my maid to you so that you could have sex with her. Now, when she is *pregnant, she is unkind to me. She is being unkind because she considers me worse than herself.

Let the *Lord *judge between you and me!’

v6 Abram said to Sarai, ‘Your maid is in your power. Do to her whatever you want.’ Then Sarai was cruel to Hagar. And Hagar ran away. God’s *angel finds Hagar, 16:7-16 v7 But the *angel of the *Lord found Hagar in the desert. Hagar was near a well that gave water. That well was on the way to Shur. v8 The *angel said, ‘Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from? And where are you going to?’

Hagar replied, ‘I am running away from my boss Sarai.’

v9 The *angel of the *Lord said this to her. ‘Return to your boss and obey her.’ v10 The *angel of the *Lord also said, ‘I will give many *descendants to you. Nobody will be able to count them.’

v11 The *angel of the *Lord then said this to Sarai.

‘You are now *pregnant and you will have a baby son. The *Lord has heard that you are suffering. So you will name your son Ishmael. v12 Ishmael will be a man that is like a wild *donkey. He will oppose everyone, and everyone will oppose him. He will always fight against his relatives.’

v13 Hagar called the *Lord, who spoke to her, this name. ‘You are God, who sees me.’ She said, ‘Here I have seen God, who cares about me.’ v14 That well is called Beer Lahai Roi. (Its name means ‘the well of the Person who lives, who sees me’.) Hagar called it that because there, God saw her. The well is between Kadesh and Bered. v15 Hagar had a baby son for Abram. Abram named his son Ishmael. v16 Abram was 86 years old when Hagar had Ishmael.

Verse 1 From this verse, we learn what the chapter is about. At that time, Sarai had no children. But God had promised children to her a long time before. Hagar was a slave. *Pharaoh probably gave her to Abram when Abram and Sarai left Egypt.

Verses 2-6 Sarai gave orders to both Abram and Hagar.

Sometimes when people had no children, it would be a punishment from God. But that was not so here.

People considered that it was very important to have children. So, wives without children thought that they had failed. At that time, it was common for a maid to have children for her female boss. Therefore Sarai suggested that Hagar should have Abram’s child. It may seem as if she was right to do that. However, we think that she was wrong. God had promised a son to Abram and Sarai. So they could have trusted God to carry out his promise. He knew the best time for it, and he would do it then.

Verse 2 Abram listened to his wife. So, Sarai took Hagar and she gave Hagar to Abram, Sarai’s husband. At that time, people did not think that a man should have only one wife.

These events happened 10 years after they came to Canaan. So God had shown that he had carried out his promise to give them a country. But still God had not yet carried out his promise to give *descendants. (Look at Genesis 15:2.)

Verse 4 When Hagar got *pregnant, Sarai’s plan seemed successful. But there was trouble. Sarai became jealous of Hagar. Hagar had become *pregnant, but Sarai had not. And Hagar’s attitudes were also wrong. She should have been grateful for the opportunity that Sarai had given her.

Verse 5 Sarai blamed Abram. And she also blamed Hagar because Hagar had become proud. Sarai almost *cursed Abram. The *Hebrew text has ‘Let the *Lord *judge between you and me.’ We would say ‘It is your fault that I am unhappy.’

Verse 6 Abram did not try to make things right. He did not tell Sarai that her attitude was wrong. Instead, he told Sarai to act as she wanted towards Hagar.

But Abram should have protected Hagar because she was like his wife. And she would soon become the mother of his son.

Sarai was cruel to Hagar. So, Hagar ran away.

Hagar ‘ran away’. The writer used the same *Hebrew word when the *Israelites ran away from Egypt.

Verse 7 The writers in the *Old Testament mention ‘the *angel of the *Lord’ 58 times. And they mention the ‘*angel of God’ 11 times. The *angels appear as men, but people know them later as *angels. Some people think that God himself appeared here. Hagar was on her way to Egypt.

Verse 8 The *angel called Hagar by her name and he also called her Sarai’s maid. God knew where Hagar had come from. Similarly in Genesis 3:9, he knew where Adam was. And in Genesis 4:9, he knew what Cain had done to Abel. Hagar was honest. So she said that she had run away.

Verses 9-10 Three times we read that the *angel of the *Lord spoke to Hagar. It shows that God really cared about Hagar. Everything that he said was really important. God was sending her back to Sarai. That would be difficult for Hagar. She needed to receive confidence from God that it was right. God’s promise about many *descendants would encourage her. This was a wonderful promise for a woman who was just a slave.

Verse 11 The *angel promised a son to Hagar. The son would be called Ishmael. That name means ‘God hears’. God had heard Hagar. God did not promise that Hagar would have relief from difficulties. But Hagar knew that God would be with her in the difficulties.

Verse 12 Ishmael would have a tendency to make war. He would not behave in the way that other people expected him to behave. He would be a wanderer. He would do whatever he wanted.

Verse 13 Hagar recognised that it was an *angel. When she realised that, the *angel disappeared. Hagar said, ‘You are God, who sees me.’ She knew that God cared about her.

Verse 14 The well is always there. Whenever people see it, they can remember God’s care. That was also true when people saw Ishmael.

Verse 15 Hagar had a baby called Ishmael for Abram. Abram named him. Maybe Abram was protecting Hagar in that way. The writer does not mention Sarai here, although Sarai intended Ishmael to be her son.

Verse 16 God can take a very long time to carry out his promises. Abram’s age here makes us remember that.

This chapter shows how God cares about those that are suffering. Hagar was just a slave who was suffering. But God listened to her. And he took care of her. Hagar believed God’s message and she obeyed.

© 2006, Wycliffe Associates (UK)

This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level B (2800 words).

May 2006

Visit our website: www.easyenglish.info

var w1 = new Array;w1[0]=’<b%3Edescendant</b%3E ~ a child, grandchild, and so on; a person in your family who lives after you are dead.’;w1[1]=’<b%3EEgyptian</b%3E ~ a person from the country called Egypt; when someone or something is from Egypt.’;w1[2]=’<b%3Elord</b%3E ~ a man that has complete authority over someone or something.