Taught by
Stephen ArmstrongGenesis
Genesis 2011 - Lesson 16B
Chapter 16:7-16
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Remember in Chapter 15 we witnessed the Lord take upon Himself a covenant with Abram
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In that covenant ceremony, the Lord appeared in the form of fire and smoke while Abram was in a deep sleep
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When the moment for the agreement to the covenant came, only God acted
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He proceeded through the bloody animals, thus binding Himself to His vows to Abram
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And the vows God made included not only the words spoken in that moment
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They also included the words God spoke to Abram in all three of the appearances God makes to Abram
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God promised to make Abram a great nation, to grant him descendants, an inheritance, and to bless those who bless him while cursing his enemies
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These promises were affirmed in Chapter 15, and they were a one-way, suzerainty grant without condition
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Abram need do no more to keep these promises than he did to obtain them in the first place
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They depended on God’s faithfulness, not Abram’s
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Because they reflected glory upon God and not Abram
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Now in Chapter 16, we’ve witnessed a great sin in Abram’s life, a sin of faithlessness
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Sarai was unwilling to wait on God for a son, while Abram was unwilling to act to correct his wife
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The results of their sin are profound, both in the immediate moment and over the course of centuries and millennia
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The second half of the chapter examines those consequences
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But above it all, it highlights God’s faithfulness
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When we ended last week, Sarai’s handmaiden Hagar had become pregnant with Abram’s first son
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The confirmation of Hagar’s pregnancy had created a new and dangerous dynamic in the family
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The slave now had the upper hand on her owner
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Scripture said that Hagar showed contempt for Sarai
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And Sarai, knowing that Hagar couldn’t be sold now that she was Abram’s wife, is at a loss for what to do next
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So she protested to Abram and demanded he come to her protection
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Abram for his part as husband is lying down on the job, so to speak
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He fails in correcting his wife and now he fails in supporting his wife
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His only response for Sarai was to state the obvious: Hagar was Sarai’s slave, do what you want with her
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How can we imagine the pain Sarai felt in her situation?
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She thought she was doing the right thing by her husband in sacrificing her position as wife when she gave Hagar
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She wanted to give her husband a child, and she made a mistake in how she tried to solve the problem
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Now Sarai could appreciate her mistake, and she comes to Abram looking for support and concern and she gets it thrown back in her face
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Left with no other options, Sarai treats Hagar harshly hoping to drive her away - and it works
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In v.16 we’re told that Hagar flees from Sarai
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This entire episode has been a disaster for everyone
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Abram lost a servant in his home
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Sarai lost her handmaiden
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And Hagar has lost a home and is now on the run in the middle of a pregnancy
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Hagar’s flight amounts to theft and kidnapping
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Running away as a slave was stealing from Abram
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And taking the unborn child was kidnapping, since the child belonged to Abram and Sarai
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Then the Lord stepped in…
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Gen. 16:7 Now the angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.
Gen. 16:8 He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”
Gen. 16:9 Then the angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority.”
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For the first time in Scripture, we’re introduced to the angel of the Lord
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The term angel of the Lord is an important character in the Old Testament
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It occurs 58 times in Scripture
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Despite the use of the word angel, this is no ordinary angel
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The word angel itself in Hebrew actually means messenger or ambassador
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And when this word is combined with the name for God, Yahweh, it always refers to the Second Person of the Godhead
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The Person Who is eventually revealed as the incarnate Jesus
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But prior to His incarnation, the Second Person of God appears as a messenger or ambassador of the Father
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We can know that this term is a reference to God Himself by looking at the context in which it appears
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In every context where He appears, there is also a reference to God in the same text
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For example, later in this text we will find Hagar addressing the “angel” as God in v.13
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Certainly, Hagar came to recognize this Messenger as Someone more than an angel
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When the Lord appears before Hagar, He finds her by a spring of water in the desert, on a road leading to Shur
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Shur is a wilderness bordering the Negev, which means Hagar is likely headed to Egypt
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This makes perfect sense
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Hagar is going home
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Where else would she go at this point?
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Since she is moving through a desert, water is a crucial resource, so she has stopped by a spring
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As the Lord appears to her, He asks two questions:
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Where have you come from and where are you going?
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Here we find another example of God asking questions when we know He already has all the answers
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Why does the Lord ask a question of any kind?
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When He wants to trigger new thinking and understanding
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He wants Hagar to think twice about what she’s doing
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Hagar may have been heading south toward Egypt, but she probably didn’t know her final destination
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It was simply fleeing, as her name means
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If you notice, the Lord began by identifying Hagar as Sarai’s maid
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The Hebrew word for maid literally means slave girl
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The Lord plainly calls Hagar Sarai’s slave girl
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He seems to be reminding Hagar right from the start where she belongs
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Hagar answers plainly
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She says she is fleeing from the presence of her master Sarai
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Hagar makes no attempt to deny the truth: she was wrong
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Hagar is the true victim in this entire episode
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Hagar was pressed into slavery to support Abram’s family
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She was pressed again into marrying Abram and giving him a child
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Then she was hated by her own mistress who made these decisions
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More importantly, Hagar had no knowledge of the Living God
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She had no promises from God, unlike Sarai and Abram
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She was just a Gentile suffering under the sin of her Hebrew masters
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But as she was committing this sin, the Lord stepped in and turned her around
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In v.9 the Lord says, return to your owner and submit to her authority
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Does the Lord’s command surprise you?
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Let me ask you what else can a holy and perfect God say?
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Hagar’s flight was breaking the law and depriving Abram of his child
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How could God approve of that behavior?
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It mattered not the reason for her sin…sin is sin
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And two wrongs don’t make a right
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The Lord needs Hagar to stay with Abram because it suits His purposes for Abram and Sarai
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As you may know, God will direct Abram and Sarai to send Hagar away in a future day
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But for now, God wants Hagar to remain in the household
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There are two reasons for this delayed departure
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First, God wants Hagar’s departure to teach a lesson for the future Israel
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Hagar and her son will form an important picture for God in telling the story of Israel
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There will be a seed to rule the world and save men from their sins
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But that seed will find its source in God’s promises, not in the works of men
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In order to tell that story fully, God needed not only a son by His promise, but He also needed a son by human effort
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Then God could contrast the outcomes of each, thereby teaching how only God’s promises lead to glory
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We’ll study more about this contrast in the next chapter
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Secondly, Abram’s sin must bear consequences for himself and his nation
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Remember I mentioned that Abram’s unique position in God’s plan for the world means that both his faithfulness and his sin carry great consequences
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When Abram is strong, the world benefits
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And when Abram is weak, the world suffers
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All this is according to God’s plan
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The child that will come from Abram’s sin must dwell near the sons of promise, because God will use one to chastise the other
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The offspring of Hagar will eventually become enemies of Israel
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And God will use these enemies to discipline His children in Israel
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For God works all things to good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose
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So the Lord tells Hagar to return, submit to authority, do the right thing
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And then God proceeds to show her how her obedience will lead to blessing
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Gen. 16:10 Moreover, the angel of the LORD said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.”
Gen. 16:11 The angel of the LORD said to her further,
“Behold, you are with child,
And you will bear a son;
And you shall call his name Ishmael,
Because the LORD has given heed to your affliction.
Gen. 16:12 “He will be a wild donkey of a man,
His hand will be against everyone,
And everyone’s hand will be against him;
And he will live to the east of all his brothers.”
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The Lord assures Hagar that her child will yield an uncountable number of descendants
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Notice the text says “I” will…
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The angel is speaking as God Himself, as He truly is
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This promise is exactly the same one that God made to Abram
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Why would God give the same promise to Hagar’s child?
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Because this child is also Abram’s child
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And the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable
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Because God promised that Abram’s seed would fill the world, so it must be with his child of Hagar
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This child will eventually become the father of all Arab nations
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What an amazing testimony to God’s faithfulness
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God is so faithful, His promises so sure, that not even God Himself can ignore them or change them
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God promised Abram that his seed would be uncountable, and so it must be
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And though God’s promise was directed toward a certain son yet to come, nevertheless it was spoken to Abram
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Therefore God’s word will reign true regardless of how many sons Abram conceives
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Now we are starting to understand the power of that earlier covenant moment in Chapter 15
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It means something when God makes a promise
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It will stand and nothing can change it
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God made promises to you when He called you into faith
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And those promises were spoken through His Word
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He said He would never leave us nor forsake us
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He will prepare a place for us
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He will confess us before His Father
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We will reign with Him in His kingdom
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We will receive an inheritance in that kingdom
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Those promises can’t be changed, not by the world, not by you, not by God Himself
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We will sin, though God desires we live holy and pleasing lives
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But our sin will not change these promises
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We will fail, but God will not
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This is why Paul can say:
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Rom. 8:38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
Rom. 8:39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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This son, however, is not the one of God’s design when He gave His promises to Abram
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So, even though Hagar will have the benefit of many descendants, she is not the direct recipient of all the other promises
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Remember, the promises were spoken to Abram not to Hagar
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So she is benefiting from her association with Abram
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She is not herself receiving those same promises
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Therefore her family has a different fate than does Abram’s
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And God shares those details with her
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Hagar learns what is in store for her pregnancy
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First, she will have a son
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God gives the first sonogram
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And God gives her the name, Ishmael
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The name Ishmael means “God hears”
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Because God heard her affliction and visited her
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There is great irony here, because God rescues an Egyptian after he hears her affliction at the hands of Hebrews
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Later, God will rescue the Hebrews when he hears their affliction at the hands of the Egyptians
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Both times, God hears because He is bound by his own word to hear
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By announcing the name of the child, God is making a prophetic statement
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As a slave mother, Hagar will have nothing to do with naming the child
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Abram will name the child
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So the only way the child’s name will be Ishmael is if Abram selects this name on his own
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And what do you think Hagar will think when she hears Abram announce the name of the child?
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Do you think she will be encouraged to witness God’s word coming to reality before her eyes?
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God is good to show Himself faithful in these ways
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Next, God tells Hagar her son will be a wild donkey (or ass) of a man
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His hand will be against everyone and everyone against him
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These are proverbial statements that carry much meaning
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Being a donkey reflects both his personality and his lifestyle
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The people from Ishmael will be roamers in the same way that wild herds of donkeys roam the desert in Abram’s day
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Wild donkeys are particularly unruly, independent and nomadic
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Such are the Arab peoples
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Historically nomadic, hot blooded, and rarely given to submit to the authority of non-Arabs
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Secondly, God says they will be a warring people
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More importantly, they will be aggressors by nature, provoking conflict with their neighbors
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This prophecy has proven true over the centuries
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And his aggression will result in others retaliating
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Why does the Lord determine this kind of future for the descendants of Ishmael?
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The answer comes in the last line of v.12
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Ishmael will settle east of all his brothers
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We all know the significance of east by now
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He will represent the sin and rebellion of the world
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And geographically, Ishmael will settle directly next to his brothers, the nation of Israel
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This explains why God has chosen to make Ishmael the man he becomes
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He will be a thorn in Israel’s side, by design
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He will be a cause for Israel’s chastisement in the days when God determines to send Israel a message
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Here we see the full implications of Abram’s sin
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By choosing to act outside God’s will Abram has set in motion a world of enmity between the seed of flesh and the seed of promise
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But this is always the pattern
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When Adam sinned, he set in motion a battle between the sons of the enemy and the sons of God
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The struggle between spirit and flesh will continue until God puts an end to all flesh
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And here we see it again, Abram’s child of flesh set to war with the child of promise
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We might ask ourselves at this point why God intervened to stop Hagar’s sin of running away, yet God didn’t stop Abram and Sarai from sinning in the first place
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The answer is that Abram and Sarai knew better
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They had God’s promises and knew Him through faith
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They were already in a position to obey properly
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And yet they didn’t
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When God’s people sin despite having the word of truth, then we face consequences
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But Hagar knew none of these things
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So only now God appears and reveals Himself
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And by that revelation, God brings understanding leading to obedience
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Look at Hagar’s response and what follows
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Gen. 16:13 Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees”; for she said, “Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?”
Gen. 16:14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
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Hagar’s first response is to declare that this angel is God Himself
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This is a statement of faith similar to the one Paul makes on the road to Damascus
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In both cases a traveler is arrested on a desert road by the Lord, who appears to correct the person’s sinful direction
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And in both cases the appearance results in a changed life, one that follows the Lord’s leading and receives the Lord’s blessing
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Here we have evidence that Hagar has received salvation as a result of this experience
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She may remain a slave and she may have a son destined to torment Israel
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But she has been called to become a child of God
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And what led God to bring Hagar into the family of God?
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Nothing more than her association with Abram, a man who has received God’s promises
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A promise to bless all the nations of the Earth
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And in response to that call she will return to Abram and submit to Sarai’s authority, as her Lord has asked her to do
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She may be a slave to Sarai, but her true Master is now the Lord – and Hagar is obeying Him now
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This is a beautiful picture of how we too share in the blessing to Abram
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Like Hagar, we are Gentiles who have been arrested in our normal course of sinful life
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We encountered the Lord, Jesus
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And by that encounter, our life of obedience began
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And we are receiving the blessings of promises made to Abram and Israel
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We are grafted into the promises, and so we share in the blessings
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