05/20/2020 GETTING THROUGH IT
(Lessons from Hagar)
Genesis 16:7-9, 13 The angel of THE LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert: it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And HE said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going? “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered…. She gave this name to THE LORD who spoke to her: “You are the GOD who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen THE ONE who sees me.”
[New International translation]
Genesis 21:15-19 When the water was gone, she [Hagar] left the child [Ishmael] beneath a bush and went off and sat down a hundred yards or so away. “I don’t want to watch him die,” she said, and burst into tears, sobbing wildly. Then GOD answered the lad’s cries, and the ANGEL OF GOD called Hagar from the sky, “Hagar, what’s wrong? Don’t be afraid! For GOD has heard the lad’s cries as he is lying there. Go and get the boy and comfort him, for I will make a great nation from his descendants.” Then GOD opened her eyes and she saw a well…. [New International translation]
HAGAR
Life Before the Trial –
My name is Hagar. I am Egyptian—from Africa1 (Genesis 16:1). I am also a slave, a servant to Sarai, an older woman who is married to Abram. In Egypt, there are many gods. My mistress and her husband Abram serve one GOD. I often hear them speaking about how their GOD will make them a great nation. I listen, but these things did not affect me, until one day they did.
After many years of living with Abram and Sarai and Sarai remaining barren (which has always been viewed as a sign of “disfavor” among women, just as fertility is viewed as a “honor,”), my mistress Sarai summoned me. She decided to make me a “second wife” or “surrogate” so that Sarai could have children through me (Genesis 16:1). Abram agreed. And, I soon became pregnant. I must admit that I became very proud. I strutted my pregnancy and even looked down on my mistress, who became very angry. In fact, she beat me!
I was so angry at being beaten I just ran. I had no plan, no money, no place to go. I just ran.
My Trials
When I stopped running, I was at a desert spring along the road of Shur. I was distressed. Again, I had no plan. I was by a spring when an angel found me. The angel knew my name and asked, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?” All I could say was that I was running away from my mistress, Sarai. The angel told me to return to my mistress and to act appropriately. The angel told me that my baby would be a boy and that I was to name him “Ishmael,” which means ‘GOD hears” because GOD had heard my woes! I was told that my son would be “a wild one—free and untamed as a wild ass!” I was told the child will be against everyone and everyone will feel the same toward him. I was told I would be the mother of a great nation (Genesis 16:8-12). I then realized that all of this was from GOD, the LORD. I realized that unlike the Egyptian gods, who are statues, but do not see, here was a GOD who saw me and that I saw GOD in the form of an angel and lived to tell about it! I later called the well where I was “The well of the LIVING ONE WHO SEES ME!” This was my first introduction to GOD. I did as GOD told me and returned to my mistress and gave birth to a son, Ishmael.
GOD not only blessed me with a son but blessed Sarai and Abram with a son too! Abraham was about 100 (Genesis Genesis17:1)! Sarai was about 90 or 91(Genesis 17:17)! Abraham and Sarah (GOD changed their names) had a son who GOD named “Isaac,” which means “laughter” (Genesis 17:19).
My son Ishmael was the cause of our second trial. Ishmael was teasing and mocking Isaac when Sarah became angry. Now that Sarah had “a child of her own,” she wanted nothing to do with Ishmael, who Sarah now considered “my son—the Egyptian slave girl’s child.” She wanted nothing to do with us and certainly didn’t want “my son” to inherit along with “her son,” Isaac. So, Sarah demanded that Abraham “get rid of us.” Abraham did. One morning, Abraham strapped some bread and a bottle of water on my shoulder and sent me and Ishmael away! We hiked into the wilderness---wandering aimlessly. When the water ran out, I left Ishmael under a bush, because I didn’t want to watch him die, and went a few feet away and burst into tears! I sobbed wildly. Ishmael was crying too! Once again, I was reacting to my immediate circumstances. All I could see was desert. I felt hopeless. My fears (about dying in the desert, about having no place to go, about my whole predicament) were consuming me.
Again, suddenly the Angel of GOD called out. The Angel told me GOD had answered Ishmael’s cries (. The Angel told me: “Don’t be afraid!” Then the Angel told me that GOD would make a great nation from Ishmael’s descendants (Genesis 21:18). Then GOD opened my eyes and when I looked around me, I saw a well (Genesis21:19). Ishmael and I drank and then everything turned out fine!