It’s easy to run ahead of the Lord.
It’s not because He’s slow. It’s because we’re impatient.
Abram and Sarai decided to take matters into their own hands. Sarai wanted Abram to have sex with Hagar, her servant, so Abram would provide a child. They believed this was the way the Lord would provide the promised child. It was culturally acceptable, but completely wrong.
This was not how the Lord was going to fulfill the promise. And the results were disastrous. Eventually, Hagar runs away because of how Sarai treats her.
We continue in Genesis 16:7-16:
7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
Genesis 16:7-16, New International Version
“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.
9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”
11 The angel of the Lord also said to her: “You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery. 12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”
13 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.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
In verse 7, we have the first mention in the Bible of “the angel of the Lord.” The Angel of the Lord appears in the Bible, and typically, they are seen as men. Regardless, the viewer realizes the encounter was divine.
Many theologians believe the Angel of the Lord is a Christophany. A Christophany is an appearance of Christ before He arrives in the world in the New Testament.
When the Angel of the Lord speaks, He not only speaks for the Lord, but speaks as the Lord. This is very different from when the Lord’s messengers (Angels, in particular) deliver a message for the Lord.
Here in our text today, the Angel of the Lord tells Hagar something only the Lord Himself could say.
The Angel of the Lord asks Hagar where she has come from and where she is going. Answering, Hagar confesses she is running from Sarai.
In response, the Angel of the Lord provides a covenant between the Lord and her.
We see:
- Hagar’s descendants will be too numerous to count (verse 10)
- She will have a son (verse 11)
- She will call him “Ishmael” (which means “God hears”) (verse 11)
- Ishmael will be a “wild donkey of a man” (verse 12)
- He will be an enemy to all and of all (verse 12)
The covenant was somber. It would be accomplished through difficulty and pain. There is a promise from the Lord here. However, it is not the blessing that the son of Abram and Sarai had.
This was the result of human “wisdom.” This is the result of people trying to do it their own way.
If you recall from last week, I opened that blog with a question and answer between myself and my dad. “Why was the Middle East always at war?”
The answer is Genesis 16: the sons of Isaac (the name of the son promised by the Lord) and the sons of Ishmael are still in a bitter rivalry. The sons of Isaac are the Jews and bear the promise of the blessing of the Lord. The sons of Ishmael are the Arabs, the bearers of the promise of the one who would live at war with his brothers.
When we take the Lord’s matters into our own hands, disaster can follow. Let God be God, and us be His followers.
Life Meets Theology 