Genesis 16:13: “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.’”
When Abram was in his seventies, the Lord spoke to him about the future. He promised him a son; his descendants would become as numerous as the stars; he was also promised a territory his future children would have to conquer. But years went by – and Abram and Sarai still had no children. In ancient times infertility was thought to be the woman’s fault, and so the pressure mounted for Sarai.
It was one of those busy mornings with a lot going on. Abram had to work through some issues with his servants when Sarai entered the tent. Abram knew his wife enough to know that something was up. “I think we can talk about this another time”, he said to his servants and they nodded and left.
Turning to Sarai Abram greeted her: “Good morning my love. You are up early.” – “As are you,” Sarai replied, “and as I can tell you have been up solving problems with our staff. And I too have been working on a big problem: providing an heir for you, Abram.” Abram sighed. They had had a lot of discussions about this topic already and he knew where this conversation was headed. “No Sarai”, he said, “We’ve discussed it before, there is no way that I …” – Uncharacteristically for her Sarai interrupted him, “Honey, I’m not pregnant and I will never be. Do you know how humiliating this is? I beg you to reconsider. Take my slave girl Hagar and if she is fertile, then she will bear you a son on my knees to be considered our child.”
“There are many “Ifs” in this situation, Sarai,” Abram countered, “What if your servant girl is infertile? What if we have a daughter? Are we supposed to try out until we produce a son? Sarai, that’s not how I understand the Lord. He promised us a child.” – “God-willing,” Sarah retorted, “my servant girl will give us a son, the very son that has been promised to us.”
In the end Abram gave in to Sarai’s wishes. The day and time was arranged, and as requested Abram went into Hagar’s tent. Then the waiting game began.
Surrogate motherhood was popular in ancient Egypt where slaves and servants bore the children of their masters. Sarai’s slave girl, who stemmed from Egypt, was therefore familiar with the concept. Hagar felt proud that she was selected to carry out her master’s deepest wish: providing an heir. She knew that she was pregnant when her period delayed and morning sickness set in.
Hagar’s fertility was a bitter pill for her mistress to swallow. Already the mood between them had become noticeably tense. Behind her back, Sarai complained to her husband about her slave girl. And to Hagar’s deep disappointment Abram would not side with her, but allowed his wife to do with her as she wished. From then on life became difficult until Hagar had had enough. “I can’t do this anymore,” she said to herself. After nightfall she packed as much water as she could carry and headed south into the desert. “My best bet is to return to my home country” – or so she thought.
On the road to Shur, Hagar rested near a spring in the desert. Suddenly an angel arrived on the scene. The Lord’s messenger spoke to her and said [Genesis 16:11]:
“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. 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.”
Hagar gasped. She was overcome with mixed emotions – deeply saddened that she had to return to her insufferable mistress, but touched with wonder and awe that the Sovereign Lord actually saw a lowly slave girl just like her. Moreover, He had already named her unborn son. “Ishmael” was to be his name meaning: “God hears” – and indeed, he had heard her desperate cries.
Hagar chuckled softly and said to herself, “The All-Merciful compares my unborn child to a wild donkey.” She touched her abdomen as she addressed her son: “And wild you are – I can already feel it when you move inside of me. We will both be wild and free someday.”
A bit clumsily she got up to refill her empty goat skin with fresh water. Then she started her way back to her master and mistress. The celestial being had been very kind to her; she had been privileged to see an angel and live to talk about it. Hagar named the place between Kadesh and Bered “Beer Lahai Roi” which means “You are the God who sees me”. She lifted her eyes and saw several men approaching her on camels and recognized them as Abram’s servants. They came to bring her back.
Meanwhile, Abram was pacing nervously and prayed: “Oh Lord,” he said, “I know Sarai was hard on Hagar and I allowed this to happen. Please Lord, give me another chance. Bring her back!” He hadn’t spoken the last word when he heard his servants arriving at the campground. Quickly Abram went outside. And there was Hagar! She climbed off her mule and stood there waiting. Sarai who had heard the commotion also rushed to the scene. Abram reached out his hand to Sarai and warned her: “Let me do the talking.” – “Oh! All of a sudden she is your servant girl?” Sarai snapped. “Sarai – please!” Abram cautioned, “Hagar ran away for a reason. I’m not going to let that happen again. You need to treat her with respect. She carries our heir!”
Sarai turned on her heels and went back to her tent while Abram waved Hagar to come closer. She looked radiant. There was something mysterious about her that intrigued Abram. “Hagar, what happened to you?” he asked and she smiled. Then Hagar told him everything that had occurred in the desert.
Eventually Hagar’s time came to give birth, and she bore Abram a son; he named him Ishmael, just as the angel had requested. Abram was eighty-six years old when Ishmael was born.