Genesis 16:7-16. 7The angel of the Lord found [Hagar] by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” 9The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” 10The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” 11And the angel of the Lord said to her, “Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has listened to your affliction.12He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.” 13So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” 14Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered. 15And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.
Hagar is fleeing from Sarah, her mistress, and who can blame her. She has been exploited and afflicted in this “household of faith.” Used by a desperate old couple for her young womb so that they might get what they want. And when they get it, they take their own shame out on her. Abraham passively turns Hagar over to the anger of Sarah who aggressively tries to regain control of her slave. If this is what trusting their God looks like, then Hagar wants no part of it.
Assuming that Hagar was given to Sarah by the Pharaoh of Egypt (Gen. 12), then returning to her life in the palace makes perfect sense. The benefits of Egypt far outweigh the hassles and heartbreak of life with Abraham and Sarah.
This motif of Egypt keeps coming up in the book of Genesis, a book that was written by Moses for the Israelite people just as they were about to enter the Promised Land after their flight out of Egypt. God expressly forbid Israel to ever return to Egypt (Dt. 17:16). Why? Well, in very general terms, Egypt represents a lack of faith in God and the pursuit of the world with all of its pleasures. Hebrews tells us that Moses left Egypt and its sinful pleasures behind him in order to pursue the reward of faith.
Hebrews 11:24-27. 24By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. 27By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.
You might be thinking, but Hagar isn’t an Israelite. She’s Egyptian. So why can’t she just return to her homeland? Because God has an even better plan for her. A plan to make Hagar herself into a great nation.
Incredibly, Hagar is the first person in the Bible to name God. El-Roi. The God who sees me. A pregnant refugee slave, on the run, no rights, and no resources, whose very name means “stranger,” will encounter God in the desert.
I’m pretty sure Hagar must have thought that if she left Abraham, Sarah, and the Promised Land behind, she was also leaving their God behind. But Hagar isn’t just an Egyptian slave. A Gentile “stranger.” She is part of the household of faith. She is an outsider who has been brought near. She is married to the prince, Abraham, the one who is blessed forever.
Hagar forgot who she was. When she treated Sarah with contempt, she had forgotten whose she was. And I don’t mean Abraham. She forgot that she belonged to God. The blessings promised to Abraham were promised to all who live IN him.
Hagar’s flight to Egypt was a return to the gods of the Nile, but first she must cross the godless desert alone. But, as always in the Bible, it is in the desert that she will come face to face with God. And not just any God, but Jesus himself, the Angel of the Lord. The Image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15).
The Christ that brought Hagar into the blessing will never let her run away from that blessing. In fact, in her attempted escape, Hagar receives even more blessing. Her own personal promises from Jesus. She will bear a son, Ishmael, “God hears me.” He will be a wild man that won’t be tamed. He won’t be used, abused, afflicted, or enslaved. And yet, as with Cain before him, the effects of sin will be ever present in his endless wandering.
Hagar’s story reminds us that we are all both sinner and sinned against. We can’t run from the effects of our sin and we can’t run from the effects of our shame, even the shame that others inflict upon us. But praise God that in Christ we can never run from his blessings either. The blessing of being seen by him, heard by him, and looked after by him.
In Christ we are never alone. He is our El-Roi. As with Hagar, he sees us, he hears us, he knows and validates our affliction. Jesus is always looking after us, meeting us in the desert on our way to that “greener grass.” We might not love his word to us – Return to your mistress and submit to her. But we can always trust that his command to submit to his process will always come with the promise to give us the strength needed in our weakness. The grace required for our return to the land of faith.
You: Is there anything (or anybody) that you are running away from?
You in Christ: How does our union with Christ guarantee that God will always see us, hear us, and look after us?
Christ in you: Is Christ asking you to submit to him in a specific way? How does his caring presence allow you to return to a difficult place and let him bless you through the dark valley?
Prayer: Father, I’ve been on the run in the desert for a while, assuming that I am alone. But Christ has been with me. Help me to receive his blessed life and return to the difficult space I’ve been fleeing. Amen.
To Live is Christ 