How Sarah Misinterpreted God’s Word?
“See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” (Genesis 16:2)
It is an awesome experience to receive a direct word from the Lord but it is equally hazardous to misinterpret what God actually said.
Here we see Sarah misinterpreting what God said indicated by the presumptuous word ‘perhaps (maybe)’
Back in the Garden of Eden, the serpent spoke to Eve saying, “Did God really mean that?” It was an attempt to misinterpret what God had said.
So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her Egyptian maid, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his [secondary] wife.
And he had intercourse with Hagar, and she became pregnant; and when she saw that she was with child, she looked with contempt upon her mistress and despised her. (Genesis 16:3-4)
This means that Abraham was not barren but it was Sarah’s womb that was closed.
Hagar must have thought “This can only be that I am better before God than Sarai my mistress, for all the days that my mistress has been with my lord, she did not conceive, but me the Lord has caused in so short a time to conceive by him.”
Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?” (Genesis 16:7-8)
Even though she had conceived Abraham’s child, that did not change her identity before God. She was still ‘Hagar, Sarai’s maid’
Your identity does not change until God does so.
Can you honestly answer these two questions?
Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?” (Genesis 16:7-8)
Where have you come from and where are you going?
If a person can answer these two questions honestly then you are secure.
Lord Jesus knew where He came from and where He was going.
Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, (John 13:3)
Why did the Lord ask Hagar to submit to Sarah?
The Angel of the Lord said to her, Go back to your mistress and [humbly] submit to her control. (Genesis 16:9)
Hagar was asked to submit and not rebel. The tendency of any person is to rebel. But there is a blessing in submission. The blessing does not come from the person to whom you submit but from the Lord.
What are the Prophecies concerning Ishmael?
He shall be a wild man;
His hand shall be against every man,
And every man’s hand against him.
And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.” (Genesis 16:12)
1.He shall be a wild man
This suggests a life of nomadic existence
2.His hand shall be against every man,
And every man’s hand against him.
Ishmael's hand "being against every man" indicates he would be a person who would fight and generate much contention and strife. It also means "having a war-like nature."
3.I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be numbered for multitude. (Genesis 16:10)
Ishmael grew up, married an Egyptian woman, and got twelve sons who became princes over their respective tribes (see Genesis 25:12-16) — exactly as prophesied.
These people inhabited the territory between Havilah (probably in NW Arabia) and Shur (near the Egyptian border), and were one of the several peoples who were the ancestors of the Arabs. Many Muslims of Arab descent trace their lineage back to Abraham through Ishmael.
Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here [f]seen Him who sees me?” (Genesis 16:13)
You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees: Hagar knew this was no mere angel who appeared to her. The Angel of the Lord was also the-God-Who-Sees, the same One watching over Hagar and Ishmael.
Ishmael was the first man in the Bible to receive his name before he was born.
Why did Abraham name his son Ishmael?
So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. (Genesis 16:15)
Interestingly, Abraham named the child which Hagar bore as Ishmael.
Hagar must have told about her encounter with God to Abraham.
It must be credited to Abraham that he did not pass her encounter as superficial and endorsed it by naming the child ‘Ishmael’ just as God had said.
Chapters
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5
- Chapter 6
- Chapter 7
- Chapter 8
- Chapter 9
- Chapter 10
- Chapter 11
- Chapter 12
- Chapter 13
- Chapter 14
- Chapter 15
- Chapter 16
- Chapter 17
- Chapter 18
- Chapter 19
- Chapter 20
- Chapter 21
- Chapter 22
- Chapter 23
- Chapter 24
- Chapter 25
- Chapter 26
- Chapter 27
- Chapter 28
- Chapter 29
- Chapter 30
- Chapter 31
- Chapter 32
- Chapter 33
- Chapter 34
- Chapter 35
- Chapter 36
- Chapter 37
- Chapter 38
- Chapter 39
- Chapter 40
- Chapter 41
- Chapter 42
- Chapter 43
- Chapter 44
- Chapter 45
- Chapter 46
- Chapter 47
- Chapter 48
- Chapter 49
- Chapter 50