Hagar is unique and important in the Bible for a lot of reasons. We’ve already talked about some of them but perhaps her most important contribution to our faith is when she gave God a name. No one else ever does. What does that name tell us about Hagar, about God, and about her son Ishmael? Plus, we’re going to explore another “what if” story to try and make sense of what happens later.
If you want to watch me recording a slightly longer version of this live on YouTube, check this out! If you can’t see the podcast player, click here.
Hi! I’m Miss Tyler, and welcome to this week’s episode of Context for Kids, where I teach you stuff most adults don’t even know. If this is your first time hearing or if you have missed anything, you can find all the episodes archived at contextforkids.podbean.com, which has them downloadable, or at contextforkids.com, where I have transcripts for readers or on my Context for Kids YouTube channel, where I now post slightly longer video versions. (Parents, all Scripture this week comes from the MTV, the Miss Tyler Version, which is the Christian Standard Bible tweaked a bit to make it easier for kids to understand the content and the context without reading an entire chapter every week!)
If you ever play a Bible trivia game and you get the question, “What gift did Hagar give God that no one else in the Bible ever gave Him?” After today, you will know the answer. Hagar was one unique lady, and God blessed her even when He knew no one else would. In fact, maybe that was even why God blessed her. This is going to be our final teaching of Gen 16 and, boy oh boy, has this been a drama-filled chapter. Our heroes are behaving badly and God is having to step in with the help of the Angel of the Lord to start to set things right again. I am not exaggerating when I say that this is a big mess that only God can fix—not just this time but also in another sixteen years! When we don’t trust God, and do our own thing instead, sometimes the consequences last for the rest of our lives. Abram is really going to suffer because of how he has and hasn’t handled this terrible situation. Let’s look at this week’s surprising and wonderful verses!
So (after Hagar heard God’s promise to give her a son whom she would name and who would give her many grandchildren and great grandchildren and would be free and not a slave) she gave a name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are El-roi!” She explained, “Here in this place (in the middle of nowhere), have I actually seen the one who sees me?” That is why the well is called Beer-lahai-roi (which means the “well of the living one who sees me”). It is between Kadesh and Bered. So, Hagar returned to their camp and gave birth to Abram’s son, and Abram named his son (whose mother was Hagar) Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar had her baby. (Gen 16:13-16)
Hey, wait—do you guys remember Genesis 15 when the Word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision (which is a dream people have when they are still awake), and that word was talked about like it was more than just words, and even as though the Word of the Lord was God Himself? And we were wondering why on earth it doesn’t just say that it was God talking to Abram when later that seems to be exactly what the Bible is saying? Well, same thing here with Hagar and the Angel of the Lord. The Angel of the Lord told Hagar, “I will give you so many children and grandchildren that you would never be able to count them.” I mean, that’s not something just an angel could do. That’s what God does. The people of Canaan and Egypt believed that there were special gods for everything and especially ones who gave babies to humans and animals. And they were usually goddesses like Hathor in Egypt and Asherah in Canaan, which makes sense because only women can have babies, right? Have you ever seen a man with a baby inside him? Nope. Men and women are very different in some ways and not really very different in others. Women and men can be good at the same things and be just as smart as one another, but it’s a lot easier for men to pee outside when they are camping, and only women can have babies. How did I even start talking about this? I have no idea, so let’s get back to talking about the Angel of the Lord!
We know that it was the Angel of the Lord who spoke to her, but right there in verse 13, it says that it was the Lord Himself who spoke to her. It’s like Abram’s vision all over again, except this isn’t a vision. Hagar is really seeing the genuine Angel of the Lord right in front of her–and it is also the Lord Himself. Let’s talk about titles a bit. Not like the title of a book, but like when we would call someone a king or a queen or a doctor or whatever. Their name isn’t king, queen, or doctor, but they are called that. God is the same way. In the Bible, there are a lot of Hebrew and Greek words that describe Him, and some of those words are common enough that they can also be used for people and other gods–but some are unique to our God. God’s actual name in the Bible appears almost seven thousand times! There are four Hebrew letters that make up his name—the letters yod, hey, vav, and hey. No one knows totally for sure how to pronounce it, but we do know that when Jesus was on earth, the Greek-speaking Jews sometimes wrote the name in Greek as Iawe. So, that’s what I use. Your family might say it another way, which is totally okay with me. Without a time machine, it is impossible to know for sure, right?
But Yahweh is only one way that the Jews used to talk about God. We use Lord now, but in Hebrew and Greek, they called Him Adonai or Kyrios—which all mean the same thing. Where we use the word God, they would use Elohim or Theos and again, these all mean the same thing. When Jesus is called the Christ, that is the Greek word Christos that means “anointed one,” which in Hebrew is Mashiach and in English is Messiah. Now, here is where it gets complicated. Except for the name Yahweh, all of those other words are also used in the Bible to describe people too, or sometimes other gods. Even words like El and Ba’al are used by God to describe Himself—they just mean God and Master or sometimes even Husband. It all depends on who is using it and how it is used. God doesn’t hate these words because we also use them to describe people and other gods. God even uses them that way. What concerns God is who you are worshiping and placing your trust in. Is it Him or one of the fake gods that the other people worshiped and the children of Israel were told to never, ever worship or pray to?
Hagar is very, very blessed and surprised that the Lord has appeared to her as an Angel (however that works, I don’t think we can ever really understand it totally because our brains are too small). In the ancient world, they believed that if you saw any god you would just straight-up die. But not only is Hagar still alive, but she has been given all these wonderful promises when she probably thought that Abram’s God never even knew she existed. She is surprised that God sees her and that she can see Him, so she gives Him a Name—El-Roi—which means “God sees me.” God gave her son Ishmael the name “God hears,” and she is giving God the name “God sees me.” In Hagar’s way of looking at the world, gods don’t see slaves, or usually women either. Of course, we know that God sees and hears everyone, especially the people who cry out because they are being hurt. In the Book of Acts, Peter was shocked when he found out that God doesn’t only listen to Jews! Peter realized that God is no respecter of persons, which is a fancy way of saying that He doesn’t care if you are a man or a woman or a girl or a boy or a grown-up or a kid or Jewish or a Gentile (which means anyone who wasn’t Jewish) or a rich person or a poor person or anything that we care about. God doesn’t respect people just because humans think that they are all that and a bag of chips. Compared to God, aren’t we all just like Hagar?
Like, I would be silly to think that God loves me more than you just because I am a Bible teacher. God’s love doesn’t work like that. He sees you, and He hears you. I am a Bible teacher because that is the job He chose for me. My husband Mark is an engineer because God made him with a mind that is just super good at figuring things like that out. I am just as good as he is at Math and Physics, but I am better at Chemistry, and he is better at Engineering. I took an engineering class in college, and I was bored out of my gourd and hated it. I was super good at literature and English and got straight A’s in college in those classes, but Mark is just terrible at it, and I needed to help him. God makes people different because there are a lot of jobs that people need to be able to do to make the world a better place for everyone. I do that by teaching people about the Bible, God, and Jesus. I wonder what you will do. I can’t wait to find out. There are a lot of ways to make the world more like God’s Kingdom, and most of them have nothing to do with doing what I do or being a Pastor of a church. God has a special plan for you—just like He had a special plan for Hagar and for her son Ishmael. He saw and heard them, and He sees and hears you too, just the same way. Just, don’t run away out into the desert and expect Him to show up, okay? That doesn’t usually work out well for anyone. Let’s get back to the story.
Hagar goes back, and at this point, I have to guess that Abram was freaking out because if she was gone, then so was the child they have been counting on to take care of them in their old age. Hagar was probably gone about two weeks altogether. The Bible says that Abram named Ishmael once he was born, and so that’s going to take a bit of a “what if” story and some explaining about the ancient world. Oh, and before I forget to mention it, the Bible says that Abram is now eighty-six years old. He was seventy-five when they left Haran to follow God to the Land of Canaan. That means they have been in Canaan for eleven years, with the exception of however long they were down in Egypt before the Pharaoh kicked them out. So, God told Hagar that she would call the baby Ishmael, but Abram named him instead? Why would that happen? In the ancient world and especially in the Bible, usually the moms name the babies. All twelve of Jacob’s sons will be named by their moms. So what gives? That’s where the “what if” story comes in. Of course, in a “what if” story, we make up something that the Bible doesn’t say to try and make sense of the story. We don’t know if it is true or not, but it helps us to understand what might have happened. So here’s what I think probably happened:
Hagar’s feet were just killing her when the first of Abram’s shepherds saw her coming toward the camp. She was tired, hungry, thirsty, and the baby kicking her wasn’t making her feel any better. But she kept reminding herself that she was having a son who God already knew all about. He was going to be independent and strong, and many people would come from him. She thought about Abram and Sarai and knew that she couldn’t and shouldn’t tell them everything. Abram wouldn’t be happy to find out that Ishmael wasn’t going to be living with him once he grew up. In a lot of ways, God had told Hagar that Ishmael would be hers and not Abram’s. Sarai was already so angry with her—what would she do if she found out that this child wouldn’t be hers and wouldn’t be the answer to their prayers? She was beginning to understand why God had sent her back. As long as they didn’t know the whole story, they would protect her and be good to her son. He would be educated and would learn how to be a great man. Hagar was a slave, so all she knew how to do was to work hard doing what everyone else told her to do. Her son would be his own man, and maybe he would even have slaves of his own. Hagar wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t seen it and heard it for herself, but she couldn’t ever forget the Angel of the Lord and all he had to say to her. He knew her name. He knew she was a slave. He knew about Sarai and everything that had happened. It had been a week, and she still couldn’t quite believe that God had noticed her. But God had only told her to go back, obey Sarai, and name her son Ishmael. He never told her to tell them everything that had happened or even anything, really.
She heard them shouting, and a runner went back to camp while a few of the others came toward her with their water skins, offering her flatbread, and one even had a raisin cake, which she gratefully gobbled down between gulps of watered-down wine. She had immediately dropped to her knees, sat down, and didn’t feel like she would be able to get back up for a week. Whatever Sarai would do to her, it felt good to be in a familiar place with people around her to protect her. She knew that she was safe for the time being because of what she knew to be true about her son Ishmael. Maybe it was just due to her relief and exhaustion, but she fainted as she saw old Abram and Sarai hurrying toward her.
She woke up later—it felt as though she had been asleep for weeks, but the slave women caring for her told her that she had just gotten back yesterday. They had tended to her cuts and scrapes and had done whatever they could to make her comfortable. They knew how important the baby was, and Abram had ordered them to do whatever they had to do to make sure that his baby was safe. They looked behind them and whispered to her, “You were speaking in a language we don’t understand, but we heard you say “El-Roi” over and over again; who is this god who sees you?” Hagar realized that she must have been speaking her native language, Egyptian, the language she spoke as a child. That was good because she didn’t want what had happened to her to become camp gossip. It might put her and her son in danger. Another spoke, “and who is Ishmael? Is this the name of the god who sees you? We have never heard of this god before.”
Hagar suddenly knew exactly what she had to say, and she knew that once she said it, no one would ask her any more questions. “The god of our master Abram came to me in the wilderness, at the spring on the road to the desert of Shur outside the Land of Egypt. He told me that I would have a son who would be named Ishmael and to return here.”
One of the women shrieked and then cried out in joy. Then they all did. All except for the oldest of the household slaves, who was too old to run, left Hagar to tell their mistress the news—as well as anyone else whom they saw on the way back. They knew it was for Sarai to tell Abram, but the news was too exciting not to relay immediately. One thing they knew for sure—there would be a fatted calf killed tonight, and they would all feast. Maybe for a week! This was the news that everyone had been waiting on for eleven years. A son was to be born to Abram! Their futures were no longer uncertain. This boy Ishmael would grow up to inherit everything, and the clan would continue to grow and prosper. They would be safe under the authority of their Master’s son and not in danger from raiding marauders and thieves. Of course, they were so excited that the entire camp figured out that there was great news, and they figured it out before the women reached Sarai. “It’s Hagar,” they all spoke at once before the oldest shushed them and continued on her own, “she was visited by our Master’s god out in the wilderness—she is carrying a son inside her! God even named the boy Ishmael and told her to come back here!”
Sarai was incredibly relieved. She had been angry, and she had beaten Hagar terribly. Abram had been very unhappy with her when Hagar disappeared. It was Sarai’s idea to give Hagar to Abram as a wife, and although Abram didn’t love her, he was very concerned about the child. This child, if it was a son, was the answer to all of their prayers and hopes over more than sixty years of marriage. They were so close to having what they wanted, and Sarai’s jealousy and anger at having been shamed had driven Hagar away. They had looked and looked, but they had long since believed that Hagar was dead or captured and sold to someone else. In some ways, things were worse once she disappeared. It was much easier for them when there was no baby at all than to have a baby dead or lost out in the wilderness.
Sarai saw Abram coming in from the fields, and she met him, telling him the wonderful news. “Abram, your god sent Hagar home to us and told her that you will have a son who will be named Ishmael!” Abram was so surprised that he dropped his staff and jumped and shouted, “I have a son! I have a son! May the Lord be blessed! Servants, prepare a feast, and Eliezer, go share the news with Amre, Eshkol, and Aner! Invite them to share in our joy!” The camp erupted with shouting and laughter, dancing and excitement. They knew that a child named by the gods would be a very special man when he grew up! What would this man be?”
By the time anyone remembered to go back to Hagar, she was very relieved that her plan had worked. Sarai and Abram left her mostly alone. When Sarai did ask Hagar to do things, they were much less difficult than her normal work. When Sarai looked at Hagar, she seemed to be somewhat in awe of her. Sarai had never seen the god of her husband or heard His voice. She had seen God do amazing things to save her in Egypt and to protect her husband in battle, but she knew that God was ignoring her and she was not favored by Him. He had not given her a child, not all of these years, and now it was too late. But Hagar, her slave, was having a special child who was blessed by God. Sarai wasn’t sure what it meant, but she was beginning to see that she was out of the picture. Abram loved her and was devoted to her, she knew that, but she also knew that this child wasn’t ever going to be hers. Hagar was special; that much was clear. And her baby was special, too. It was Hagar who was saving them from being childless, not Sarai. Sarai didn’t know much for sure, but she did know that she had to be very careful—perhaps the God who appeared to her husband would kill her if she made any more bad decisions about Hagar. From that time forward, she pretty much left Hagar and her mysterious baby alone. When Hagar had the baby, and the baby was a son, and her husband named him Ishmael as God had told Hagar, Sarai was even more determined to stay away from Hagar and her son. She had wanted to be a mother, but it was very obvious that it wasn’t God’s will.
Of course, I don’t know if that’s what happened or not, but maybe it is. It would make sense of everything that happened before and after. We’re about to make a huge time jump in our story. Genesis 12 through 16 happened over an eleven-year period, but at the beginning of chapter 17, another thirteen years will have gone by. Let’s tell another short “what if” story. Next time we see them, Abram will be 99, Sarai will be 89, and Ishmael will be thirteen years old. That will be a huge change. Ishmael will be the age where boys of his time would be with their fathers all the time, learning to do grown-up jobs. Ishmael would be learning how to be in charge of all the slaves and hired men, plus learning how to care for the flocks and the herds. He would be hanging around with Abram’s allies. He would be learning languages. His mother Hagar would teach him Egyptian, and Abram would be teaching him the language of the Canaanites as well as the Babylonians so that he could do business with them as the household traveled. Abram loved his son. Ishmael was his pride and joy and the answer to his prayers. He couldn’t imagine being happier than he was. Ishmael was strong, independent, and clever; he would be a great leader in a few years. Abram was proud of his son. Hagar was proud of Ishmael too, and she could see why God had told her everything that He did. She felt important because she was the mother of an important man, and sometimes it was easy to forget that she was still a slave.
But not always. Sarai had never gotten over the shame of Hagar being able to give Abram a baby. Sarai hated her, but she didn’t dare admit it to anyone. But Hagar could see the hurt and anger in Sarai’s eyes. She never forgot how badly Sarai had beaten her, but Abram never treated Hagar like she was a real wife, so she had to be content to be Ishmael’s mother. One day, old Abram would die, and then everything would change. And when Ishmael was in charge, Hagar knew she would be free at last. Sarai wouldn’t be the head woman in charge anymore!
I love you. I am praying for you. The Bible doesn’t do a lot of talking about what people are feeling inside, and so sometimes, we have to use our imaginations. God wanted Abram to have a son, but do you think that this situation is really the sort of thing that God would make happen? Definitely not.