Abram’s Son, Ishmael – Genesis 16:1-16

Bethel Baptist Church – David Rising

Genesis 16:1-16; June 7, 2026 Sunday PM

Abram’s Son, Ishmael

Last time I preached Genesis 15 I followed it with a study of the three passages in the NT that used Genesis 15:6 as a key text to support the teaching of justification by faith (Romans, Galatians) and then justification by works (James). Since we will be covering Romans 4 soon, I decided not to do it this time. I will cover the same material mostly when we study Romans 4.

Romans and Galatians emphasizes the point that we are not justified by works of any kind to gain a right standing before God. Abram is the example of faith in each, and it is his faith and actions that we are observing here in our study of Genesis.

We come to Genesis 16 this evening as we observe the unfolding story of God’s promise to Abram and Sarai. The recurring theme in these narratives is that God has placed in Abram’s lap a dilemma. God has promised a future for his children, but he and Sarai have no children. Abram has seen God’s blessings in his own life as he has been given much resources and a land. But the element of a child is still in the queue awaiting fulfillment.

We have already observed that Abram has been told of God’s promise of a child and we already know that he believed God for this and God has accounted it to him for righteousness. He is a man of faith, and he now knows that the child will come from his body. He will be the father of this child. This is what we now as we begin our chapter tonight.

You know the story, but I want us to read it and think about it again afresh as we think of how life unfolded in real time for Abram and Sarai. I know for me it is easy to look at all of this and chide Abram and Sarai for their actions here, but just as I make that kind of critique I realize that my own life is also one that stands to have the same kind of critique as decisions in my life surely have been made in similar fashion. Pray.

16:1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. 3 Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan.

We see here in a few verses the whole scenario compressed in a few verses. Here we see the idea proposed for a solution and in verse 3 we see it enacted. We are told right from the opening comment that still Sarai did not have a child, and this is the looming “problem” in the situation.

We see in verse 3 that this “problem” had lingered for at least ten years since they had come into the land – the land of promise.

Ten years. As we get older, time does seem to fly by. But ten years is a long time to wait for something I would admit. Abram and Sarai were getting up in years and it just did not seem possible that Sarai would or even could have children as they continued to wait.

But there lingered the promise of God. What does one do?

Sarai’s maid was Hagar, an Egyptian, and so Sarai proposes to Abram a solution. Notice that she does not just say that she is barren but rather that the LORD has restrained (עֲצָרַ֤נִי) her from having a child. It is the LORD’s fault, as it were. God has held back, stopped this from happening (Swanson).

She proposes that Abram go to Hagar and have a child through her, Sarai considers this a way for her to obtain a child.

In parallel texts from other nations, we see that this was a common practice. In Hammurabi’s Code, a Nuzi text, an old Assyrian marriage contrast, and also a Neo-Assyrian text there was provision for an infertile wife to obtain children through a surrogate wife.

What precisely Sarai was thinking, we do not know, but we do see her actions. Clearly she believed that she was unable to bear a child, and so she suggests to Abram that Hagar fill that role.

Abram was a man of faith, as we clearly saw in chapter 15, and yet he obliges Sarai’s request without comment here in the end of verse 2.

Did he consider this an act of faith?

And so Sarai gives Hagar to Abram to be his wife, as it were, and as we noted earlier, all this took place after they had lived there for ten years.

Sarai has now discovered how God’s promise would be fulfilled, and so now everything will be wonderful. God made a promise that was impossible as we perceived it to be, and so Sarai has discovered the secret plan. Everything should go smoothly now.

4 So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived.

It is all working out. Abram and Hagar have succeeded. Sarai should be excited that God can now keep His promise. But notice:

And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes.

Hagar has not had anything recorded in this account of what she thought or might have said, but now we see that tension will build between her and Sarai and also Abram.

But what happens. As we read the end of verse 4 we could get confused: who is despising whom? The NKJV says that “her mistress” Hagar became despised in her (Sarai’s) eyes. The ESV translates it in an active way this way: “she looked with contempt on her mistress”. The NET makes it even more clear: “Once Hagar realized she was pregnant, she despised Sarai.”

This is not exactly what Sarai had in mind, but what should she have thought would happen? What woman would gladly view herself simply as a pawn, an instrument for her mistress to use at will?

We hear stories like this in our time where a surrogate agrees to bear another couple’s child, but as soon as that woman conceives it becomes very hard to remove herself emotionally and physically from that child. It is, after all, a child from her own body as well.

Abram was told that from his body would come his child, but Sarai and Abram were not convinced that it would also come from the body of Sarai. And hence Hagar is now pregnant with Abram’s child. What do they do now especially as Hagar is looking down upon Sarai?

5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between you and me.”

Abram, it’s all your fault! Literally it reads (per NET): “My wrong is because of you”. Sarai’s desire is that the LORD would ultimately show that her assessment of blame here was right.

Hagar’s attitude was due to some fault with Abram. It was Sarai’s idea, Abram went along and so did Hagar, but in the end Hagar gets the short end of the stick.

What does Abram do? What could a husband do at this point? There seems to be no good options now that things have flared up like this.

Abram has an idea:

6 So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.”

Abram suggests that Hagar is, after all, Sarai’s servant, and so he gives her authority to deal with her this as she desired. Abram skirts that one, or so he thinks. But Sarai takes up the idea and runs with it:

And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence.

What precisely Sarai did in dealing with her harshly, we do not know, but it led to her departure. Perhaps it was words. Perhaps it was excessive work. In either case, she departs.

It is hard not to jump ahead in the text and think of the Egyptian abuse of the Israelites which ultimately led to their departure. Perhaps this is a preview of that, though the details are not precisely the same.

It is interesting that Proverbs 30:21-23 has something to say about this scenario:

21 For three things the earth is perturbed,

Yes, for four it cannot bear up:

22 For a servant when he reigns,

A fool when he is filled with food,

23 A hateful woman when she is married,

And a maidservant who succeeds her mistress.

Sarai no doubt has become the fool in her own eyes, for Hagar the maidservant now has become the mother of the promised child. Perhaps she felt and believed that Abram might set her aside while her maidservant succeeds her.

Sarai was not going to wait around to see what happened, and so she pressed Hagar such that she had enough and left.

And so we have a maidservant leaving the protection of her mistress, pregnant and probably very confused. She could feel used and she would be vulnerable to so many things.

Notice the providence of the LORD toward Hagar, verse 7:

7 Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.

We see one of the 58 times in the OT where the Angel of the LORD appears in the text of scripture. The NKJV translators capitalize Angel to indicate their interpretation of this Angel as a Theophany of the LORD.

Here he finds her by this spring as she is headed to Shur. This is reminiscent also of Elijah.

“Shur was a wilderness region in northwest Sinai, situated between southwest Canaan and the northeast border of Egypt; it was near the border of Egypt through which the Israelites traveled (Exod 15:22//Num 33:8, Etham=Shur) and where Ishmaelites (see comments on 25:18) and Amalekites at times resided (1 Sam 15:7; 27:8). Shur may also be the name of a specific site as well as the region. Others relate Shur (meaning “wall”) to the wall of forts along the eastern Delta constructed to defend against foreign incursions. The region was a temporary homestead for Abraham (20:1). Hagar as an Egyptian may have hoped to return home by way of Shur when she was met by the angel. While Sarai, who was barren, resided in a fertile land, Hagar, who was fertile, finds herself in a barren land.[1]”

Mathews, K. A. (2005). Genesis 11:27–50:26 (Vol. 1B, pp. 187–188). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

The Angel speaks with Hagar:

8 And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”

It is interesting that the Angel addresses her specifically by name and by position: Hagar, Sarai’s maid. This Angel was clearly visible to Hagar, but perhaps she was not really sure who He was. But He knew my name and my title. And so she tells the details. She is running away from Sarai’s presence.

The Angel responds:

9 The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.”

Without any record of any response to this – which would not have sounded pleasant to her – the Angel continues with this important promise:

10 Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.” 11 And the Angel of the Lord said to her:

“Behold, you are with child,

And you shall bear a son.

You shall call his name Ishmael,

Because the Lord has heard your affliction.

12 He shall be a wild man;

His hand shall be against every man,

And every man’s hand against him.

And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”

This is remarkable and reflects a similar promise that God had given to Abram. The LORD promises multiple descendants that will be beyond counting. That is the very basic promise – many descendants.

The follow-up statement in verses 11-12 gives the details as poetry:

She was told she was with child, which she likely already knew, but the fact that it was a son was probably news to her. To have a son would emphasize the continuing lineage of her family.

She was to call him Ishmael as it reflected the LORD’s response to her situation. The name Ishmael (יִשְׁמָעֵ֔אל) means El hears, God hears. She has twice been noted for the affliction she has faced. Sarai treated her harshly in verse 6, and in verse 9 she is told by the Angel of the LORD to return and submit under her hand. This last directive was from the LORD, but it must have been difficult for her to hear this.

We have heard in Genesis several similar comments about children and their names, and we will hear plenty more as the book unfolds.

Verse 12 tells about the future of this son. The text says he will be a wild man. ESV translates this “he shall be a wild donkey of a man”. This is not exactly a complement as it highlights he will be someone who lives more like an animal than a man.

As such, he will be an independent man whose hand is against everyone. As a result, then, people will push back and he will experience the same response back.

Even though he is like this, he still will dwell near all of his family. His violent ways will extend to everyone, but will be especially noted against all his brethren.

Now as much as we extend these statements about her future child into the future, remember that this was meant to be an encouragement to Hagar. She was on the run, pregnant, rejected by Sarai, but she finds grace in the presence of the LORD and His Word.

We extend Ishmael’s conflict even to the present as Israel continues to face the violence noted here.

But for Hagar, she was just told to return to Sarai, and this promise from God would show her that she would not lose her child as she returned to Sarai and Abram. In other words, this would not be a child that Abram and Sarai would essentially take as their own. The promise of God here for this son is a much different future than we heard about in Genesis 12 and will hear as the text unfolds.

As a result of this encounter with the Angel of the LORD, notice what Hagar does:

13 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

Once again we have the naming of something as a response to the circumstances. Notice that her response was not necessarily about what the Angel had said but the fact that she had received divine revelation. Notice she response as the LORD who had spoken to her.

She gives one of the rare instances where someone gives to the LORD a name. She gives him a name that highlights what the LORD has done: seen her in her distress.

The last phrase of verse 13 has puzzled translators for a long time, but it may be best simply to see this as some kind of reaction of amazement that she has had this encounter with Deity. God saw her, and now she sees the LORD, as it were.

She called the LORD by this name, and then in verse 14 a place also receives the name Beer Lahai Roi, which means “the well belonging to the Living One who has seen me” (Hamilton).

This name focuses on the fact that God had seen her in her time of affliction. The focus was upon Him rather than upon her. To the original readers, its location between Kadesh and Bered would be clearer than it is to us.

“The well is located somewhere between Kadesh and Bered. Kadesh (or Kadesh-barnea) is located in northeast Sinai on the southern border of the Wilderness of Zin. This is the only reference to Bered in the OT.[2]”

Hamilton, V. P. (1990). The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17 (p. 457). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

And now we see a summary of how this turned out:

15 So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

Just as God had said, so was a son born and he was named Ishmael. Notice it was not Hagar who named him Ishmael, but rather the text says that Abram named his son. Did Hagar tell him that the LORD had told him this?

It is also interesting that Sarai is not mentioned at all, and perhaps she still had very hard feelings about this whole situation – which was her idea in the first place!

This is all the text gives to us, and next time we will see God’s promise yet again made and the added sign of circumcision is established.

What I would recommend to you is to read Galatians 4 and notice how Paul treats the circumstances of Hagar and Sarai. Hagar’s child is said to be connected to Law and bondage, while Sarai’s child is connected to promise and freedom.

We will get there in time, but for now consider these meditations:

1. We do not have to help God.

2. When we do help God, we usually make a mess.

3. Even when we make a mess, God is still gracious.

4. However, we still may bear many marks even though God is gracious and kind to us.

5. Thus, let us learn to hear and believe the promises of God. Let us be diligent to obey His Word as He tells it to us, and leave the results and outcome to Him.