Chapter 16
Sarai gives Hagar to Abram so he can father a son. She takes it upon herself to come up with a way to fulfill God's promise to Abram. This usually works out badly in the Bible. There is an interesting note on this verse:
2 And Sarai said to Abram, "Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her." And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. [Gen 16:2 ESV]
In Hebrew, the literal translation of the underlined phrase is "be built up by" her. The Hebrew words for built up by sound like the same word for children. So Sarai didn't really say right out loud that Hagar's children would be counted as her own, she sort of "bounces the idea off of Abram", who decides it's a good plan.
2021 - I have been reading "The Word of God in English". From that, I know that the ESV phrase, and what I labeled the "literal translation" are in fact both "literal, that is word for word" translations. But they are entirely different phrases. When I look at the interlinear translation, I see that neither ESV nor KJV is word for word here. A single Hebrew word - transliterated "bana", shows up in ESV as six words. This one word is translated as a whole phrase. Apparently this is a difficult word to turn into English. If you look at other uses of the word, it very often means "build". In Genesis two, "bana" is translated "made" as in with the rib, God "made" the woman. As I look at it myself, and see what the literal words that are there mean, I have no idea how to translate it into English. This is one of those places that is expressing so very much, so many aspects, ideas, and relationships all at once in the native Hebrew that these spoke and understood - many of the ideas being cultural and specific to that time thousands of years ago, that you just cannot bring it over into English with the same depth and complexity of meaning that it has in Hebrew. Here is another translation that I think ought to be considered. The interesting thing is that I know very little about this translation: 2 And Sarai said to Abram, Behold now, Jehovah has shut me up, that I do not bear. Go in, I pray thee, to my maidservant: it may be that I shall be built up by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. [Gen 16:2 DBY] But...In Hebrew, Sarai may have used "bana" just because it sounded like "children", and not because of its underlying meaning...or more likely, she used it because of the double meaning that is implied. Sarai is a smart, complex woman who communicated much to Abraham with this one phrase. And what a great example of so many things I've read in the "The Word of God in English". Ahhh!!! By translating it I shall obtain children", we have interpretation taking place as part of the translation. The literal words do not include "children", but the "hearing" of the word inserts the idea of children. Even the ESV has reduced the nuances of this phrase to the single one that they chose, rather than interpreting it as Darby, with a footnote, and leaving built up in there. Wow! That is exactly what has happened here!!!
This verse is also worth noting:
3 So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. [Gen 16:3 ESV]
Hagar was a second wife, not a slave used to produce children by her master. We will see that as a wife, Hagar's son is blessed just as Isaac will be blessed. Polygamy violated the rules, but not as badly as making Hagar a concubine - or less - would violate the rules.
Hagar gets pregnant and looks down her nose at her mistress. Sarai complains to Abram. Abram gives her leave to treat Hagar however she wants. Sarai treats her harshly, and Hagar flees.
2021 - Sarai is angry at Abram for the way Hagar looks at her after Hagar gets pregnant. Why would she be so angry with Abram since the whole thing was her idea? I suspect that Abram was so overwhelmingly joyous to finally be having a son that he lavished Hagar with attention. He naturally would. Hagar interpreted this as Abram favoring her far above Sarai, Hagar's mistress. So what Sarai is mad about is not that baby, but about the excessive (in Sarai's eyes) attention Abram is lavishing on Hagar. So by allowing Sarai to treat Hagar very harshly, the message is sent unmistakably to Hagar that Sarai is still the real wife, the favorite, the one in charge. One can imagine some pretty ugly scenes as Sarai "enforces" her position, and Abram backs her up. This is all very understandable, and I have never "figured it out" before.
2026 - According to the custom of those days, the child Hagar had should have been credited to Sarai, her mistress. The child was provided to Abram via Sarai, though she did not actually bear it. But servants had no status - and yet we are told Abram took Hagar as his wife. This may have been the decision that led to all the trouble. We will see later in the OT where there is that expression about "birthed on my knees" meaning a child born to one woman but considered the son of another. I think there is a lot of cultural stuff to this story which the writer assumed his readers would understand. Instead, in our day, we try to superimpose our own culture on the people of Abram's day...without noting that our culture changes daily!
Because of the harsh treatment, the slave Hagar runs away. She would have had very little hope of improving her position this way. A pregnant woman, alone, a slave running away...who would help her? An angel appears to Hagar (a theophany is more likely) and tells her to return and submit, and her son's name will be Ishmael, and her descendants will be too many to number. Ishmael will be a "wild donkey of a man", always at odds with everyone. MSB note says Ismael is father to the Arabs. It is not more specific than that. Doesn't say father of the Bedouins, or the Saudi's, or anything like that. So there is likely a lot of speculation about the specifics. Or we will be more informed later when we see where Ismael settles. Hagar calls the name of the Lord (angel it said earlier) who spoke to her "ro i" (pronounced row ee), meaning "You are a God who sees me". In the Hebrew, she does not use the word Jehovah, so there is really no "Jehovah Ro i", so far as I can tall. I am not sure Hagar thought this was God, nor Lord, but more "lord", as in someone or something very powerful and helpful and saving for her and her son, perhaps along the lines of him being another god in the Egyptian pantheon who had chosen to speak to her. For that reason, she would not use the word Jehovah. Now the interesting part of this is that Ishmael means "God hears". So this "Lord" has just told her to name her son "God hears", and her name for that Lord is "You see". Then she names this well where all this happens "Beer-lahai-Roi", which means "Well of the Living One seeing me".
Ishmael was born when Abram was 86, 11 years after he left his father's home.