gen16v13

Cork Free Presbyterian Church, 10 Briarscourt (Annex) Shanakiel, Cork, Ireland
Pastor: Colin Maxwell. Email: colin.maxwell@fpcmission.org

Hagar, who was Abraham's Egyptian slave girl, does not enjoy a good press in the Bible. She is the girl whom Sarah very foolishly, gave to Abraham to bear a child on her behalf (v1-2) Unbelief on Sarah's part… Abraham too must share the blame. In ch.15 he listens to and believes the voice/Lord…now he "hearkened to the voice/Sarah" (v2) Instead of waiting patiently upon the Lord and letting Him make all the arrangements…their actions are an attempt to engineer God's will. The whole thing is an exercise in fleshly wisdom…which is no wisdom at all. The consequence of this action, as expressed here with the bitterness between the two women, followed by the birth of Ishmael and the later persecution of Isaac all add up to tell a sad bitter story. Although Hagar is not entirely to blame, yet as we will see, she did not help herself and contributed to her own misery. Again, she does not enjoy a good press in the Bible because Paul's allegory in Galatians 4 holds her up as a type of legalistic bondage. Paul uses her to depict the "other gospel which is not another" and so the name comes to us with an odium attached to it.
And yet it is not all bad. Our verse gives us a redeeming feature with which to look more favourably upon this young lady. Hagar was a real person. A living soul. With all our spiritual conclusions and even the damning allegory etc., we should not lose sight of this. Tonight she is in eternity. Was she a saved woman? I think so. The Lord certainly knows those who are His (2 Timothy 2:19) but our text gives us cause to hope that Hagar is among them. 3 thoughts:

1) THESE WORDS WERE SPOKEN BY A VERY WEAK BELIEVER:
A/ Let's establish the case that she, as an individual, was a believer.

[i] She was part of Abraham's household/faith. Had probably gotten her during his troublesome sojourn in Egypt (chapter 12) After he was restored/Lord again at Bethel (13:3-4) he had not dismissed her. As part/household, she partook in the spiritual blessings. Had she been male, she would have been circumcised (17:27) which, in itself (unattended) meant nothing Cf. Ishmael (17:26) but again not to dismissed out/hand. May look most favourable upon this blessing.

[ii] Main case for accepting her as a believer lies in words/text. Appear to be words/comfort. Nothing to indicate great fear on her part. Some think she was saved here at the well as the Angel/Lord (Christ) visited her…the main thing is to see that she was indeed a real believer, albeit somewhat weak.

B/ If we trace her salvation back to an earlier time, we may see her weakness. Weakness in a believer is usually traced to the flesh and with her name, we might expect nothing less.

[i] While all this trouble/Ishmael began with Sarah/Abraham, yet it was Hagar who lit the flame in the petrol soaked atmosphere (v4) Here, as Abraham's second (if only for the sake/convenience) wife, she was pregnant with his child, while Sarah was not and (humanly speaking) never would be. Instead of respecting Sarah's feelings, she began to despise her. The looks were scornful…the words suggestive and hurtful and the deeds unbecoming.

[ii] When Sarah got the upper hand (v5-6) Hagar did not take the chastening too well (v6) Can well imagine the revenge Sarah took! And so finally, in disgrace/defeat, Hagar fled the scene and started (it is thought) back to Egypt again (v7) Only divine intervention (another evidence/grace?) prevented apostasy from the household of faith.

So, perhaps with the judgement/charity, we conclude this young lady, great with child, fleeing the wrath of Sarah was indeed, warts and all, a true believer.

2) SHE DREW INSTRUCTION FROM THESE WORDS:
A/ Note the 4 things the Angel/LORD said to her:

[i] He identified her: (v8) He calleth His own sheep/name (John 10:3)

[ii] Interrogated her: Where did you come from? Where/going? (v8)

[iii] Instructed her: Return to thy mistress/submit (v9)

[iv] Informed her (v10) Told her all about Ishmael's future (v10-12)

B/ She suddenly feels overwhelmed here. What does God not know?

[i] He knew her name and station. Even though she had runaway, God still saw her as a slave girl. Had gone AWOL and so was still enlisted. Spiritual truth: Redemption from slavery/sin without the blood. Sinners can't just walk away from sin and think they are free. Even in the NT, Paul still treated the runaway Onesimus as Philemon's servant. This is a carefully guarded truth/Bible.

[ii] His interrogation was not for the purposes of filling in the blanks in His part. So worded to challenge her to get her to stop and think. He knew the outcome of such folly. Although this road seemed best to her at the time…God saw that it was anything but.

[iii] God saw that the best road was to return and submit. It wasn't: "Return/negotiate" but "Return/submit" No matter how difficult, God sees it is best for us to take up the Cross and follow after Him.

[iv] God foretold the sex of the unborn and the manner/life he would lead…all beforehand. God really is omniscient. Knows/declares the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10) This truth is under attack today from the open theists. Open theism is Arminianism gone mad! Open theists publicly declare: God does not know everything before hand. Certain matters upon which He must wait/see our response and then respond accordingly. Heresy! Certainly Hagar wasn't buying into it. She felt the omniscient eye/God which sees all and knows all had swept her entire soul. She would have agreed entirely with Paul: Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. (Hebrews 4:13) She would have sung heartily Psalm 139 where David said: O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. (139:1-3)

C/ This young woman is on a learning curve here. Whatever she learned from Abraham - and perhaps even this truth was included - yet it is now burning itself into her very soul. Notice: she makes no attempt either to lie to God or to justify herself. What's the point? If God sees all…then He sees those bits which expediency would tell us in other circumstances to hold back/play down. If God sees us in our entirety, then we must face the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

3) SHE DREW COMFORT FROM THESE WORDS:
A/ Seen in the fact that she called upon the name/Lord (text) We will only so call if we believe that He will hear our cries. It was Cain's apostasy that when God spoke to him after his sin - revealed himself as the all seeing God who heard the innocent blood etc., and indeed went further and invited Cain to seek restoration…yet Cain refused to do so (Genesis 4) Wallowed in rebellion/unbelief. Drew absolutely no comfort from his experience. Not so Hagar.

B/ Even with the curate's egg future in front of her (We dare not argue: Ishmael was ever a believer) she did what she was bidden to do. Indicates comfort/knowledge: God's way is the best way.

C/ We ought to take greatest comfort that all our ways are open to the view/God and happily commit our way unto Him, especially if He has revealed His will to us.

D/ Certainly Job's great comfort: But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. (Job 23:10) Spoken in absolute desolation…in a situation ten time worse than Hagar's, yet full/faith. Thought: Job Abraham were contemporaries & so it is probable: Hagar and Job were contemporaries. Job was well known in the east & I wonder did the one hear and draw encouragement from the other? If so… a lesson here for us to encourage each other's hand in God as David/Jonathan later did (1 Samuel 23:16)

E/ God never forsook Hagar. Later on when things weren't working out as hoped, Abraham had to send her away, but even there God intervened again in her life (Ch. 21) and so although the road was hard, she travelled it anyway, knowing that all her circumstances were known to God and that he would make all things work together for her good. On that note…as for Hagar, so for us if we love God and are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28)

THE END