Genesis 16, El Roi

What an amazing story.  Abram and Sarai, who did what was common in the day (giving one’s handmaid to your husband so she can bear children that become yours), and  then mistreated Hagar.  Hagar became proud when she did what her mistress couldn’t do (bear a son to Abram).  The Egyptian woman was severely mistreated, and fled the situation.  Yet, Hagar would not have given up this day, in exchange for better treatment in the Abramic camp.  We know this, because she obeyed the Lord by returning and submitting herself again to Sarai.  Bible stories are rarely about the morality of humans; they feature the lovingkindness of God.

Look what God did for Hagar.  He found her, at a desert oasis (16:7).  He spoke with her (16:8).  He gave her a plan, to return to Sarai (16:9).  And He gave her hope, through an unconditional promise that she and her son would have a future (16:10-12).  Abram and Sarai had a promise of God’s grace (Gen. 12:1-3).  So did Hagar and her son.  Did you hear what the Angel said in v11?  Doesn’t that remind you a lot of Isa. 7:14 and Luke 1:31?  This was a powerful event.

Who spoke to Hagar?  At one and the same time, it was the Angel of the LORD (v9,10) and the LORD (v13).  In a future post we will study this truth, that one of God’s names in the OT is the Angel of the LORD.  But our attention today is drawn to the name Hagar gave to the LORD.  The name she was to give her son was Ishmael, “God will hear.”  Hagar might have called the LORD “El Shama,” the God who hears.  But the name she gave Him was more a response to her own need and name.  Hagar means “flight.”  She had fled into the desert, away from all who abused her.  No one would know where to find her.  Yet, the angel of the LORD found her.  Thus, she called Him El Roi (Row-ee), God Who sees me.  Beyond that, Hagar was taken by the fact that El Roi revealed Himself to her in a way that allowed her to see Him.  She saw the Angel of the LORD.  Thus, she called the place in the desert Beer Lahai Roi, “the Well of the Living One Who sees me.” 

Isaac dwelt there for a period of time (Gen. 24:62; 25:11), after the death of his parents, Abraham and Sarah.  Perhaps Isaac, like Hagar, was impressed, that when those who cared for him were gone, God, El Roi, still had His eyes on him.  Here are a few passages that emphasize this truth, that the LORD sees those in affliction.

·       Gen. 29:32: Leah, who was unloved by her husband, named her firstborn Reuben, meaning, he has seen my affliction.

·       Ex. 2:23-25; 3:7-10: God saw the affliction of Israel in Egypt.

·       Ex. 22:23: God hears widows and orphans.

·       1 Sam. 9:16: God saw and heard Israel’s cry for a king.

·       Ps. 22:24: God sees and hears the suffering of the afflicted ones.

·       Ps. 145:19-20: God sees and hears those who love and fear Him.