Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“Yahweh’s angel said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hands.” Yahweh’s angel said to her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, that they will not be counted for multitude.” Yahweh’s angel said to her, “Behold, you are with child, and will bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because Yahweh has heard your affliction. He will be like a wild donkey among men. His hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him. He will live opposed to all of his brothers.””
(Genesis 16:9-12)

God immediately instructed her to return. Not to proceed into an unknown future, but to return to where she belonged. She was still owned by Sarai. God doesn’t approve of slavery. He doesn’t support it. He NEVER has. That is demonstrated again and again throughout scripture. But He also doesn’t support REBELLION. There are ways to get out of slavery that don’t include rebellion. He doesn’t want us to be abused, but He wants us to be obedient. Thankfully, the world is agreeing more and more with the Lord and slavery is becoming less and less (though sadly it has not passed away). Taken with the rest of what God says here, there is the implication that God was saying she will be better off with Sarai. That she will not be abused. That she will be able to continue and thrive. After all, in the ancient world a single mother who was an escaped slave did not have a bright future. God didn’t promise easy times. He did tell her the truth: she was better off inside Abram’s household than outside of it.

The Lord God is a God of covenant. He demonstrates that here. Hagar was not a worshipper of the Lord, but she was pregnant with Abram and God was in a covenant with Abram. God speaks into the child’s life and echoes the blessings that He spoke over Abram. This child wasn’t THE child of the promise, but it was A child of Abram. As a result, the child would be a ruler and multiply into nations – although because of their choices, not nations who cleaved to the Lord. This child was not part of God’s plan. It had not been God’s will. But God met them where they were and honoured His covenant. He is a GRACIOUS and MERCIFUL God. He works WITH us and can make ANY mistake we make ultimately work out for His glory – even though we might not enjoy the consequences.

It was God who named the child in her womb. Ishmael means ‘God hears’. He was proving that He heard her cries and gave her child a name which would make it impossible for her to forget there was a God who LISTENS, and who CARES. He wasn’t asking for blind obedience, but giving a promise of blessing and a reassurance of care that could carry her through future hard times.

Ishmael’s life is not described in detail in the Word. The glimpse God gives us matches exactly with what God spoke over him in Hagar’s womb. He did live on his own, he did have a fierce life, and we know that there was communication between Ishmael and Isaac’s houses in some way (Genesis 25:7-11). But the attitude of everyone being against him and the hard set to a personality that creates certainly had carried down to the Arab-Jew question that causes so much upheaval in the Middle East today. If Abram and Sarai hadn’t tried to force the promise of God to happen their way, who knows what the world would be like today and the bloodshed that could have been avoided? There are ALWAYS consequences to choosing our own way instead of God’s. And we don’t always see that inevitable fruit in our lifetime.

There are those scholars and sages who believe the harsh treatment of Hagar by Sarai ended in a miscarriage, whereupon Hagar fled in her grief. They believe that the child God is speaking of is a future-tense child. That if she returned to Abram she would get impregnated again and this (new) child would be born and fulfill the prophesy God was speaking over her.

The sage Sforno writes: ‘והתעני, the additional comment after telling Hagar to return to her mistress, was an allusion to the future; it would be Hagar’s destiny, as well as that of her offspring to submit to the authority of the Jewish people. Kings II 13,17 where the prophet Elisha instructs the king to shoot arrows [which are ostensibly not intended to hit anyone. Ed.] is similarly an allusion to the future, foreshadowing events yet to occur. The words כן כן יסד המלך in Esther 1,8 are also to be understood in a similar fashion. The king’s decree to let everyone enjoy the feast according to the laws of his own religion was a cornerstone of the policy which enabled Achashverosh to rule over so many diverse cultures as existed in the 127 provinces of his empire.’

The sage Steinsaltz writes: ‘The angel of the Lord said to her: I will multiply your descendants; the child in your womb will grow into a great nation. And they shall not be counted due to their great number. Hagar’s child would also receive the blessing of fertility and strength granted to Abram.’

The sage Siftei Chakhamim writes: ‘When you return you will conceive … He did not tell her of the pregnancy that was, for she had already miscarried, as Rashi explained earlier (v. 5). This is a command … I.e., although it is written וְקָרָאת without a שוא under the ת, it still is a command, just as one would say וְקָרָאתָ when addressing a male. Loves the wilderness to hunt wild animals … He is called פרא as in the verse (Iyov 24:5): “פראים במדבר (wild donkeys in the desert).” This follows R. Yochanan’s view in Bereishis Rabbah 45:9. Accordingly, it makes sense that ידו בכל means: “a robber.” But according to Reish Lakish, who explains פרא אדם to mean “kidnapper,” ידו בכל will need to bear a different and far-fetched explanation.’

The sage Radak writes: ‘והוא יהיה; the letter ה at the beginning of the word והוא means that the angel’s prophecy referred not only to Yishmael, but to his offspring as well. He foretold the characteristics of the Ishmaelites based on their founder’s genes. פרא אדם, a desert Bedouin, known as such because most Bedouins live in tents instead of in permanent dwellings. Compare Jeremiah 3,2 כערבי במדבר, “as an Arab, at home in the desert.” The Arabs are the people descended from the Ishmaelites. ידו בכל, seeing that he will dwell in the desert, he will violate people’s rights, and they in turn will outlaw him, putting a price on his head. In spite of living in constant friction with his neighbours he will not flee but will continue to dwell in their presence. When the angel concludes with the statement that he will ultimately die in the presence of כל אחיו, the word אחיו is used as a simile for the word שכניו, “his neighbours.”‘ The desert was considered a place where there were no private property laws and where people didn’t conform or impose upon themselves the restrictions of civilized society. A place where they did what they wanted, when they wanted, and backed it up with force.