Genesis 16: The God who sees Hagar

Sarai's plan brings strife, but the angel of the LORD finds the fleeing Hagar and promises her a son.

Chapter 16 of 5016 verses3 sectionsBSB

Where Genesis 16 sits

Genesis66 books · 1,189 chaptersRevelation

In the story: Act III, Promise: Genesis 12–50; Job
In the Bible: Old Testament · The Law · chapter 16 of 50 in Genesis
In Genesis: Terah's line: Abraham, 11:27–25:11 · part of One family
Before: Genesis 15: Credited as righteousness
After: Genesis 17: The covenant of circumcision

Genesis 16 summary

Sarai, still barren, gives her Egyptian maid Hagar to Abram, and Abram listens to her; Hagar conceives and despises her mistress, and when Sarai treats her harshly she flees. The angel of the LORD finds her by a spring on the way to Shur, sends her back, promises descendants beyond counting, and names the child Ishmael, “God hears”; Hagar calls the LORD “You are the God who sees me.” She bears Ishmael when Abram is eighty-six.

Genesis 16 in context

Speaking: Moses, narrating; the angel of the LORD speaks as God, and Hagar names Him
Written for: Israel, tempted to reach God's promises by their own schemes, and reminded that the LORD sees the outcast
Around it: Follows the promise of an heir from Abram's body (ch. 15); God's covenant naming Isaac as the heir follows (ch. 17)

How Genesis 16 points to Christ

Paul sets the son born according to the flesh beside the son born through the promise (Gal 4:22–23); the angel who speaks as God yet is sent points ahead to the Son, sent to make the Father known (John 1:18)

The sections of Genesis 16

Sarai's plan
Sarai gives Hagar to Abram; Hagar conceives and despises her, and when Sarai deals harshly, Hagar flees.
16:1–6
The God who sees me
The angel of the LORD finds Hagar, sends her back, promises offspring and names Ishmael; she calls Him “the God who sees me.”
16:7–14
Ishmael born
Hagar bears Abram a son, and Abram names him Ishmael; Abram is eighty-six.
16:15–16

Read Genesis 16

Hagar and Ishmael

¹Now Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar. ²So Sarai said to Abram, “Look now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go to my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family by her.”

And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. ³So after he had lived in Canaan for ten years, his wife Sarai took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to Abram to be his wife. ⁴And he slept with Hagar, and she conceived. But when Hagar realized that she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.

⁵Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be upon you! I delivered my servant into your arms, and ever since she saw that she was pregnant, she has treated me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me.”

⁶“Here,” said Abram, “your servant is in your hands. Do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she fled from her.

⁷Now the angel of the LORD found Hagar by a spring of water in the desert—the spring along the road to Shur. ⁸“Hagar, servant of Sarai,” he said, “where have you come from, and where are you going?”

“I am running away from my mistress Sarai,” she replied.

⁹So the angel of the LORD told her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her authority.” ¹⁰Then the angel added, “I will greatly multiply your offspring so that they will be too numerous to count.”

¹¹The angel of the LORD proceeded:

“Behold, you have conceived and will bear a son.

And you shall name him Ishmael,

for the LORD has heard your cry of affliction.

¹²He will be a wild donkey of a man,

and his hand will be against everyone,

and everyone’s hand against him;

he will live in hostility

toward all his brothers.”

¹³So Hagar gave this name to the LORD who had spoken to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “Here I have seen the One who sees me!” ¹⁴Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi. It is located between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. ¹⁶Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.

Berean Standard Bible, 16 verses. The BSB is in the public domain.

Around Genesis 16

Also in Terah's line: Abraham

Places

Shur
Beer-lahai-roi
Kadesh

Read alongside

Genesis 3:6 Abram “listened to the voice of” his wife, and Sarai “took” and “gave” her maid (16:2–3), in the words of the fall (3:6, 17).
Galatians 4:22–25 Hagar stands for the covenant from Mount Sinai, which bears children into slavery.

How Genesis 16 connects

The Seed Line · Genesis 16:1–4 · A son born according to the flesh, not through the promise. (Galatians 4:22–23)
Type · The angel of the LORD, sent yet speaking as God pictures The Son, sent by the Father and making Him known (John 1:18)

Doctrines Genesis 16 teaches

Providence · Genesis 16:7–13
Christ the Mediator · Genesis 16:7–13

Questions on Genesis 16

Which words in 16:2–3 echo the fall in Genesis 3?
Show the answer
“Abram listened to the voice of Sarai” (16:2), as Adam had listened to the voice of his wife (3:17); and as the woman took the fruit and gave it to her husband (3:6), Sarai took Hagar and gave her to Abram (16:3).
What name does Hagar give the LORD who met her in the wilderness?
Show the answer
“You are the God who sees me” (16:13). Hagar, a runaway slave in the wilderness, says she has seen the One who sees her, and the well is named Beer-lahai-roi (16:14).

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