"And the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness,
and He said, "Hagar, Sarai's maid, where have you come from and where
will you go?" And Hagar answered, "I flee from the face of my mistress,
Sarai." And the Angel told her, "Return to thy mistress and submit to her."
(Genesis 16)
Scottish portrait painter
The Egyptian slave girl Hagar had angered her mistress Sarai and fled from
Abraham's camp. She was now wandering alone in the wilderness. According to
Matthew Henry's commentary, "Hagar was out of her place, and out of the
way of her duty, and going further astray, when the Angel found her. It is a great
mercy to be stopped in a sinful way, either by conscience or by providence."
When the Lord asked Hagar, "Where did you come from?" He was referring
to the privileges she had been blessed with in Abraham's tent as his second wife.
Although Hagar had not seen it this way, and her pride had been the cause of her
barren mistress' anger, she had left her husband and the security of his camp.
More importantly, she had left the place where worship of the one true God
was a daily practice and where the Lord Himself dwelt with His people.
"Where will you go?" the Lord asked Hagar. Not only could she run into
danger traveling through the wilderness alone, but, if she managed to return
to Egypt, she would be retuning to the worship of the idols in that land.
Henry's commentary attests, "Hagar could not but admire the Lord's mercy and feel,
"Have I, who am so unworthy, been favored with a gracious visit from the Lord?"
And she called the name of the Lord Who spoke to her, "El Roi" (The God who sees me).
Hagar also realized that God had not forsaken her and that He loved her and the child
she was carrying within her womb. Although His covenant would be with Isaac,
God blessed the fruit of Hagar's womb, saying "I will multiply thy seed exceedingly,
that it shall not be numbered for multitude." (Genesis 16:10).
Hagar obeyed the Lord's command to return to Abraham's camp and humbly
submitted to her mistress. She brought forth a son and called him Ishmael,
which means, "God hears."
Traditionally, he is seen as the ancestor of the Arab nations.
