Genesis 16:10 - Meaning and Application

We may suppose that after the angel gave Hagar that good advice in Genesis 16:9, telling her to return to her mistress, she at once agreed and turned back home. Then the angel went on to encourage her with a promise of the mercy God had in store for her and her child. God often meets people with mercy when they are turning back to do right. “I said, ‘I will confess,’ and you forgave” (Psalm 32:5).

Here is a prediction about her descendants, given to comfort her in her present distress. The angel first notices her condition: “You are with child,” and so this is not the kind of place for her to be wandering in. It is a great comfort to a pregnant woman to know that she is under God’s special care. God kindly considers her situation and gives help suited to it.

First, the angel assures her that she will safely give birth to a son, which Abram wanted. Her fear and wandering might have crushed any hope she had of having a child, but God did not deal with her according to her foolishness. “You shall bear a son.” She was kept safe in childbirth, not only by providence, but also by promise.

Second, the angel gives the child his name, which was an honor to both mother and child. “Call him Ishmael,” which means “God will hear,” and the reason is that the Lord has heard, and therefore he will hear again. The help we have already received from God in trouble should encourage us to trust him for help in similar needs (Psalm 10:17). “He has heard your affliction” (Genesis 16:11). Even where there is little prayer spoken from the heart, the God of pity sometimes graciously hears the cry of suffering. Tears speak as well as prayers. This comforts the afflicted, because God not only sees their trouble, he also hears what it is saying. We should always remember such timely help with thankfulness. “At such a time, in such distress, the Lord heard my cry and helped me” (Deuteronomy 26:7; Psalm 31:22).

Third, he promises her a very large family, in Genesis 16:10: “I will greatly multiply your descendants.” The Hebrew repeats the idea for emphasis, as if to say, “I will keep multiplying them from age to age.” It is often thought that the Turks today descend from Ishmael, and they are indeed a great people. This was in line with the promise made to Abram: “I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth” (Genesis 13:16). Many children of godly parents receive a large share of outward blessings for their parents’ sake, even if they are not brought into God’s covenant. Many are multiplied who are not made holy.

Fourth, the angel describes the kind of man her child will be, and this likely did not sound harsh to her, even if it sounds so to us. “He will be a wild man,” or, more literally, a wild ass of a man, rude, bold, untamed, and unwilling to be controlled. He will live freely, without patience for service or restraint. The children of the slave woman, who are outside God’s covenant, are by nature like a wild donkey’s colt. It is grace that reforms people, gives them good sense, and makes them fit for useful living.

It is also foretold, first, that he will live in conflict and in a state of war. “His hand will be against everyone,” which is his sin, and “everyone’s hand against him,” which is his punishment. Those who have a restless spirit usually live troubled lives. If someone is always provoking, annoying, or hurting others, he should expect to be treated the same way. The one who has his hand and tongue against everyone will find everyone’s hand and tongue against him, and he has no right to complain.

Yet, second, he will also live in safety and hold his ground against the whole world. “He shall dwell in the presence of all his brothers.” Even if all his neighbors threaten and insult him, he will keep his place and, for Abram’s sake more than his own, will be able to stand his ground with them. We later read that he died, as he lived, in the presence of all his brothers (Genesis 25:18). Many people who expose themselves through their own poor choices are still strangely preserved by God’s providence. God is much better to them than they deserve, even when they not only risk their lives by sin, but also put them in danger.

Hagar’s godly response to this gracious appearance of God is found in Genesis 16:13-14. Notice, first, her reverent worship of God’s perfect knowledge and providence, applied to herself. She called on the name of the Lord who spoke to her, that is, she confessed his name and praised him, saying, “You are the God who sees me.” This would be her name for him forever, her lasting reminder of who he is. God is a seeing God, an all-seeing God. God is, as the old writers said, all eye.

We should recognize this truth and apply it to ourselves. The God who sees everything sees me too, as David said, “O Lord, you have searched me and known me” (Psalm 139:1). Believing that God sees us is very useful when we return to him. It is a fitting thought for a penitent person. He sees my sin and foolishness. “I have sinned before you,” says the prodigal son; “against you,” says David. He sees my sorrow and trouble, and that is especially Hagar’s point here. When we have brought trouble on ourselves through our own foolishness, God has not abandoned us.

He also sees the sincerity of our return and repentance. He sees our hidden sorrow over sin and our secret movements back toward him. He sees us if we begin to turn away from him in any way (Psalm 44:20-21). This thought should always keep us from sin and stir us up to duty: “You God see me.”

Second, she shows humble amazement at God’s kindness to her. “Have I also here looked after him who sees me?” Or it could be read, “Have I here seen the back of him who sees me?” She did not see him face to face, but only dimly, as through a mirror, as Paul says (1 Corinthians 13:12). She probably did not know who was speaking to her until he was leaving, as happened with Gideon and with Manoah and his wife (Judges 6:21-22; Judges 13:21). Then she looked after him with a reaction like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:31-32).

Or her words may mean, “Have I here seen him who sees me?” The fellowship holy people have with God depends on this, that their eyes of faith are turned toward him, while they know he looks on them with favor. This closeness is kept alive by the eye. The privilege of knowing God in this way should fill us with wonder. Think of who we are, if we are admitted to such favor. “Have I,” one so low and unworthy, as David said, “Who am I?” (2 Samuel 7:18). And think of the place where this happened, “here also?” Not only in Abram’s tent and at his altar, but here too, in this wilderness? Here, where I never expected such a thing, and where I was outside the path of duty? Lord, how is this? (John 14:22)

Some understand the answer to this question as a negative one, and see it as a sorrowful reflection: “Have I, even here in my distress and suffering, looked to God? No, I have been as careless and unmindful of him as ever. And yet he has still met me and cared for me.” God often comes to us with his kindness before we seek him, and he is found by people who were not looking for him (Isaiah 65:1).

The name given to the place was Beer-lahai-roi, which means, “the well of the living One who sees me” (Genesis 16:14). It is likely that Hagar gave it this name, and it was kept for a long time as a lasting reminder of this event. This was a place where the God of glory showed special care and notice to a poor woman in distress.

Let us learn three things from this. First, the God who sees all things is the living God, who lives and sees us. Second, those who are kindly brought into fellowship with God and receive timely comfort from him should tell others what he has done for their souls, so that others may be encouraged to seek him and trust him. Third, God’s kind ways of showing himself to us should be held in lasting remembrance and never forgotten.