Genesis 16:13 - Printer Friendly

ESV: So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.”

NIV: 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.'

NASB: Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, 'You are a God who sees me'; for she said, 'Have I even seen Him here and lived after He saw me?'

CSB: So she named the Lord who spoke to her: "You are El-roi," for she said, "In this place, have I actually seen the one who sees me? "

NLT: Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, 'You are the God who sees me.' She also said, 'Have I truly seen the One who sees me?'

KJV: And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?

NKJV: Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?”

After the angel of the Lord found Hagar in the desert and told her to go back to Sarai and submit to her, he also told her that her descendants would become so numerous as to be uncountable. Then he gave to her a prophecy about the child she carried, a boy she was to name Ishmael. This boy would not be the promised heir for Abram, since his birth was not part of God's plan for fulfilling that vow. Despite being successful, Ishmael's descendants would be characterized by their conflict with others, especially their "kinsmen," meaning Abram's other children. Historically, we see that this proves true: the (Arabic) children of Ishmael have been at odds with the (Jewish) children of Abram's son Isaac for millennia.

In spite of the negative conclusion to the prophecy, Hagar speaks of the Lord in glowing terms. She names Him "a God of seeing." He saw and looked after her, and she was allowed to see Him. She appears to be rightly astonished by the whole experience.

Genesis 16:1–16 demonstrates that God hears and sees and cares, but that He won't be rushed or manipulated into keeping His promises. Sarai and Abram attempt to receive God's promised child through their own scheme. In this case, by marrying Abram to an Egyptian servant girl. The resulting pregnancy, though, leads to harsh conflict and a surprising revelation from the Lord to Hagar. Her son Ishmael will not be the child of the promise, though he will become a great nation, and his people will live in conflict with everyone. Abram and Sarai will continue to wait for the arrival of their own son.

Sarai, tired of waiting for a child, convinces Abram to go to plan B. She gives her Egyptian slave girl to Abram as a wife, with the understanding that any children will belong to Sarai. Once Hagar is pregnant, however, conflict sets in. Sarai deals harshly with Hagar, and she flees alone into the wilderness. The Lord finds her there and commands her to return and submit to Sarai. However, the Lord also reveals that Hagar's son will have an uncountable number of offspring and that they will live in conflict with everyone. Hagar praises God as the one who sees, returns to Abram and Sarai, and Ishmael is soon born.

After formally establishing His covenant promises with Abram in the previous chapter, the Lord still has not given Abram and Sarai a child. Sarai convinces Abram to take her slave girl as a wife in hopes of getting a child that way. Abram agrees. Pregnancy and conflict soon follow. Sarai treats Hagar so harshly that the girl runs off alone into the wilderness. The Lord finds her and commands her to return and submit. He also reveals, however, that Hagar's child Ishmael will become the father of a great people who will live in conflict with everyone.

The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.

Accessed 5/3/2024 10:40:19 PM