Friday, September 23, 2016

Genesis 16: 7-16 comments: God blesses Hagar


    7 ¶  And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. 8  And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. 9  And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.

    10 ¶  And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. 11  And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction. 12  And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. 13  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? 14  Wherefore the well was called Beerlahairoi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

    15 ¶  And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael. 16  And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.

The angel of the Lord is the presence of the Lord in a form found in many places in the Bible narrative.

Man and woman have three parts to them, as does God.

1Thessalonians 5:23  And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[Notice the union with and uniting body, soul, spirit as part of one person.]

Matthew 28:19  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

2Corinthians 13:14  The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.

1John 5:7  For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the physical image of God, the body of God.

Colossians 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

Hebrews 1:3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

John 14:9  Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

Three parts to one God with one will, not three individual persons with separate wills.

Deuteronomy 6:4  Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

John 10:30  I and my Father are one.

Christ is the appearance of God; the angel of the Lord, His presence.

Isaiah 63:9  In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

Galatians 4:14  And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. [Note that even typically links two things that are identical as in I, even I in nineteen verses.]

Who led the Hebrews out of Egypt.

Judges 2:1 ¶  And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.

God asking questions which He obviously knows the answer to is a common thread in the Bible beginning with asking Adam and Eve where they were when they hid after their sin.

The Lord told Hagar to return. Obviously, He would make the situation bearable. If we are obedient to God He can make even our enemies to be at peace with us.

Proverbs 16:7  When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

God promises Hagar a great multitude of progeny. In this, God has blessed her in a way the people of that time would understand more than we do now. She must feel that God has had great mercy on her. God also promises to give Hagar a son to be named Ishmael, meaning “God will hear.” He will be tribal, dwelling in the presence of his brethren, and violent, constantly quarrelling and warring against those around him. This is evident in history and one reason why it was so hard to unite the Arab tribes against the Turks during World War One.




The place where God visited Hagar is memorialized. Abram is 86 years old when Hagar, the Egyptian, bears Ishmael.

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