The angel of the Lord (Genesis 16)

It may surprise us to see that the first mention of an angel in the Book of Genesis occurs in Genesis 16 with reference to Hagar. It should also surprise to see that the angel who is mentioned is no ordinary angel. We will see that is the case by considering what is said about him.

The background

The background to the incident is the flight of Hagar from the community gathered around Abram, a community in which the fear of God was found and where he was worshipped. Hagar was an Egyptian, the servant of Sarai, the wife of Abram. As was common in the custom of the time, Hagar had been used by Sarai to try and produce a child as an heir for Abram. Their plan seemed to have worked. Not surprisingly, Hagar regarded Sarai with contempt. Was this community not meant to be different? Sarai’s response was to treat Hagar harshly. Indeed, she did it so strongly that Hagar felt compelled to flee from the community.

We can see that the whole situation has gone wrong. Abram and Sarai had used a worldly method to try and fulfil God’s promise of an heir. Temptation had come to Abram from a surprising source – his wife, but he should not have fallen to it. Hagar no longer respected her mistress. Sarai then blamed Abram for agreeing with her suggestion about using Hagar (Calvin comments that she ‘makes her appeal to the judgment of God. What else is this than to call down destruction on her own head?’). Abram abandoned his responsibility to look after the household in a fair way. Sarai mistreated Hagar even although she was pregnant. Hagar had no one to help her, so she fled into the unknown.

The endearing intervention (v. 7)

In verse 7, the author says that the angel found Hagar by a spring in the desert. The author uses shepherding language to describe the angel’s activities. Hagar is likened to a lost sheep found by a caring shepherd from heaven.

The explicit identification (v. 8)

The angel addresses Hagar by name and also refers to her position in life, a position that she has abandoned. He asks her to reveal why she is there and where she intends to go. She reveals that she only knows where she has come from, but in her reply affirms that she belongs to Sarai. Perhaps she tried to hide where she was going, or maybe she did not know. As we look at this interaction, we are reminded of the One who said that he calls his own sheep by name. We can also see that the angel has the ability to lead Hagar freely to confess her wrongdoing.

The encouraging instruction (vv. 9-10)

The angel then speaks of Hagar’s future. His words include her immediate future and the further future. He not only merely informs her of the future. Rather, he gives her an instruction to obey and a promise to keep in her mind. The instruction is a revealing of God’s will for her, and the promise is a revelation of God’s will for her descendants. His instruction comes with authority as does the promise. The angel reveals that he personally will ensure the number of her descendants will be very large. As Griffith Thomas pointed out from this divine instruction, God ‘never makes a demand without giving us a promise’.

The expanded information (vv. 11-12)

The angel then speaks to her about the divine answer to her affliction. He knows that the Lord has listened to her pain. Listening requires a period of time to happen. Did the angel mean that the Lord had been listening in to her words with Sarai, or did he mean that the Lord had been listening to the groans of the heart of an outcast refugee? ‘Grief has an eloquent voice when Mercy is the listener. Woe has a plea which Goodness cannot resist’ (Spurgeon). Had Hagar called on the God of Abraham for help, or did she cry to the Creator for help? It would have been the same divine person, but viewed differently according to how her faith grasped who he is. Hagar must have been astonished to be informed that the Lord had listened to her.

The angel informed Hagar of the gender of her child, which she would not have known before then. His name had been chosen for him by the Lord, which is an interesting aspect. The name means ‘God has heard’ and is similar to the meaning of the name Samuel. Whatever else can be said about the child, every time she called his name she would be saying something about God.

The description of the life that Ishmael would live may sound harsh. Certainly, people would be against him and he against them, but the promise is that he would not be overcome. He would live in the desert, away from the habitations of people, in isolation.

The extraordinary exultation (vv. 13-14)

Hagar responded by giving a name to the angel and gave a reason for her doing so. Someone once said that she is the only person in the Bible who gives a name to God. We are not to read her words as if she was explaining the doctrine of divine omniscience. Rather her words reveal her awareness that God’s knowledge and God’s action had combined to help her. She confessed that God knew all about her, but she also confessed that his knowledge and his care and his compassion went together. Her God had looked after her as she was heading in the wrong direction, and he would look after her when she returned home. As Spurgeon put it, ‘She will go back and bear the reproach and rebuke, for she has a promise hidden in her heart to sustain her.’

The eventual ending (vv. 15-16)

We are told in verse 15 that ‘Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.’ No mention is made of any specific divine instruction to Abram. Rather, he realised that the family slave had met with God. Calvin commented: ‘Therefore, Abram shows himself to be obedient and grateful to God: because he both names his son according to the command of the angel, and celebrates the goodness of God in having hearkened to the miseries of Hagar.’ Her witness was accepted by Abram. Hagar the outcast returned to Abram and brought a message from God to him. The father of the faithful had his faith helped by the experience of Hagar.

Who was the angel?

This angel could use the divine name about himself and make wonderful predictions that only God could know. Who is the angel? ‘That Divine One, whom we adore as the Son of God and the Son of Man, condescended to be the Messenger of mercy to a poor slave woman who had run away from her mistress!’ (Spurgeon).

Reactions

Is it not striking that we are given an account here about the visit of One who can pass on divine messages without creating a sense of dread and fear?

Was this event a kind of foretaste for Jesus of when he would meet another lonely woman at a well, and reveal to her empty heart that he could give to her living water (John 4)?

Robert Candlish, while not sure whether Hagar was converted at this time, observed a wonderful truth when he wrote that ‘In the wilderness, the fugitive meets with a better friend.’ Hagar was in the middle of a wilderness experience and discovered that a divine Saviour could meet her there.

Have we spoken to God with such awe and appreciation as Hagar did? Surely the message of grace, when understood, will lead us to do so.