LESSON 10
Genesis for Today: Chapters 16-17
by Herb Drake

This work may be freely reproduced and distributed provided that no changes are made, no revenues are collected beyond the nominal cost of media, and credit is given to the author and House Church Central. Any other use requires the written permission of the author. Citing this material on other Internet sites is encouraged, but is to be done only by providing a hypertext reference to this file on this server.

Sarai and Hagar

Notwithstanding the ritual covenant renewal and God's promises, Abraham continues to doubt how he and the barren Sarai can possibly bear the promised son who will carry on the promise to future generations. This time, it is Sari who tries to help God out, giving her slave girl to Abraham so that the promise might be carried out though her. As the scheme begins to take shape in Hagar's belly, Hagar begins to take advantage of the situation in the way that she treats Sarai. When Sarai complains to Abraham, she is reminded that Hagar is in her power to do anything with her that she wants--a response directly from the ancient code of Hammurabi:

If a man take a wife and she give him a maid servant to her husband, and that maid servant bear children and afterwards would take rank with her mistress; because she has borne children, her mistress may not sell her for money, but she may reduce her to bondage and count her among her maid servants.

She treats Hagar so harshly that Hagar runs away into the wilderness where there is little hope that she and her coming baby will survive.

Hagar in the wilderness

It is not the LORD's will, however, to have Hagar and the baby perish. After all, the child she is carrying is the son of Abraham, which makes him a candidate as the bearer of the promise to the next generation. So the Angel of the LORD appears and asks the question that might be asked of each of us when confronting such a situation: "Where did you come from and where are you going." A comparison with Louis Carrol Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is compelling, Alice asking almost the identical question of the Cheshire cat:

"Cheshire-Puss," she began, rather timidly,
"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to go," said the cat.
"I don't much care where--," said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the cat.

In Ishmael's described character, we can see the Bedouin people. See Galatians, 4:21-27 for Paul's interpretation. Hagar is told to name the child Ishmael ("God Hears"), which is affirmed by Abraham when she obeys the instruction to return to her mistress and face the music.

The Angel of the LORD

But who is this Angel of the LORD?

When Yahweh first "speaks" (Heb. amar) to Abraham in Gen. 12:1, and again in Chapters 13 and 15, little can be learned about how Yahweh communicated. Was it a vision? A dream? A disembodied voice? But there are occasions when the LORD is clearly present in human form. Hagar "has seen" the LORD (17:13), the LORD ate bread (18:8), and The LORD "stood" before Samuel (1 Sam. 3:10), for example. There are some options on how to understand this:

  • In those places where the "Angle of the LORD" appears, better translated "messenger of the LORD," we might understand that this is a special divine individual who is following God's instructions.
  • Heiser argued that there are two powers in heaven having the same essence and therefore qualifying as the single, monotheistic God. One is purely spirit and one has human form. He found this in Second Temple Jewish writings as a solution to the LORD's human appearances in the Old Testament and as the historical person we know as Jesus, the son of God. If Heiser was correct, the church can trace the Trinity to Jewish roots. He noted that there were occasions where both powers were present at in the same scene (e.g., Jesus's baptism and transfiguration).*

The Sign of the Covenant

13 years after the birth of Ishmael, the LORD visited Abraham again, this time changing his name to Abraham. This is the first of several such name changes (Sarai becomes "Sarah") and is significant because it shows that God has made a significant change in that person's character. The promise is renewed, but some new requirements are added. Now that the first of Abraham's children have arrived, he needs to be aware of the circumcision rule; men who were circumcised bore the "sign" of the covenant, and their male offspring needed to have this done at the age of eight days. (It is noteworthy that this is the optimum age from a medical perspecitve, as it avoids a normal dip in Vitamin K that occurs shortly after birth.) This sign is important as it sets the people of the covenant apart. Typical of Abraham's obedience to God, the procedures commence immediately.

The LORD also gives a blessing to Sarah, promising that the son that Abraham has waited so long for will, indeed, be born by her. Abraham would rather have the son of the promise now in the person of Ishmael than to wait any more as his and Sarah's ages continue to add up, making it necessary that he and Sarah experience a miracle. The LORD's answer to that is to give Ishmael a blessing as well, but he must continue to be patient.

*Heiser's "Divine Counsel Worldview" can be found here: Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm (Beliington, Lexham Press, 2015).

Genesis 14-15 | Genesis 18-19