Genesis 16:1–15; 21:8–21
For many years now, almost all romantic films have had the same plot. The script goes like this: a boy and a girl collide somewhere in a huge city, where they could have met at least a million other people. Yet fate brings precisely the two of them together — entirely by chance — and so begins the love of their lives.
Believe it or not, there is a single word for this – “serendipity.” A lovely word, but a hard one to translate. Broadly speaking, serendipity is stumbling upon some happy surprise or piece of good fortune without ever having looked for it. Something like searching for a needle in a haystack and finding a bar of gold instead. “Serendipity” is one of those foreign words that has no exact equivalent in our language, but it means roughly “happiness arriving at your door though you never asked for it,” or “good fortune befalling you completely unexpectedly.”
It may sound naive, but some of the most important scientific discoveries are owed precisely to serendipity. Take the case of penicillin. In 1928 Alexander Fleming was experimenting with the bacterium that causes influenza. Discouraged by the results, however, he decided to take a break. But he forgot about the bacteria, left exposed to the air. When he returned, he noticed that a blue-green mold had formed on those very bacteria, and where the mold had grown, there were no bacteria. And so, out of a bit of carelessness, a little serendipity, and a great deal of insight, Fleming discovered penicillin, for which he later received the Nobel Prize.
It was the same with the discovery of the microwave oven. Percy Spencer was not even trying to make any kind of scientific breakthrough. He was simply working at a company that manufactured radar equipment. Until one day, in 1945, Spencer invented the machine that no self-respecting homemaker can do without.
Serendipity also had a hand in the discovery of the X-ray, of Velcro, and even of America. Christopher Columbus had by no means set sail in search of a new land, but of a shortcut to India — yet by a happy accident he discovered an entire new continent.
As Christians, we do not believe in chance. We believe that God is in control. He knows everything, and He governs everything. So all those discoveries we have been talking about — they are not chance. Good families are not chance either. It is simply that those whom God has appointed for one another have found each other. That is why, when we speak of “serendipity,” we do not mean a random, favorable turn of circumstances, but a divine ordering of the circumstances of our lives. The Lord is good, and He longs to surprise us; so we must be ready for a divine serendipity.
THE LORD SEES YOU (Genesis 16:1–16)
At a very difficult moment in her life, Hagar experienced a divine serendipity — even though it all began far from well.
A PLAN TO HELP GOD OUT
In Genesis, chapter sixteen, we read:
1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said. (Genesis 16:1–2)
There was a promise. God had told Abraham that He would make him the father of many nations (Genesis 12:1–3; 15:1–5). God had promised Abraham an heir, yet Abraham and Sarai had no children. Perhaps twenty-five years had passed since the promise was given, and still it had not been fulfilled. And so Abraham and Sarai decided to help God carry out His promises. Of course, whenever we try to help God fulfill His promises, we make a great mess — one we usually regret afterward. But at that moment, in order to help God along, Sarai said to Abraham: “My dear, we have tried and nothing is happening; let us try something else — let us use surrogate motherhood.” Surrogate motherhood is when another woman carries the child, but the child is yours.
THE PLAN SEEMS TO WORK
And that is exactly what they set out to do. Sarai said to her husband, “Sleep with my slave.” And Abraham listened to her.
3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. (Genesis 16:3)
By that time, after Abram and Sarah had lived in Canaan for ten years, they were eighty-five and seventy-five respectively. We might say that Sarai was herself to blame for the troubles that followed, because the text does not say that she simply gave Abraham her slave so that he might conceive a child by her; it says she gave her to him “to be his wife.” Hagar, of course, was not Abraham’s official first wife; she was his concubine. But even as a concubine she was his wife, for the text says that Sarai gave her to him “to be his wife.”
THE TROUBLE COMES QUICKLY
Sarah’s mistake was that she did not make clear that Hagar would not receive a status equal to her own. Perhaps she thought it went without saying.
4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. (Genesis 16:4)
It seemed the plan had worked. Abraham slept with Hagar and she conceived by him. But then the complications appeared as well. When Hagar saw that she had become pregnant at once, she grew proud of her fertility. She began to think: “I am something more than Sarai, who cannot do the most ordinary thing expected of any woman — to bear children!” And the text says that “she began to despise her mistress.” This word “despise” can mean that she began to “look down on her,” but it can also mean “to curse her,” because the same word is used in God’s promise to Abraham, where He tells him, “whoever curses you I will curse” (Genesis 12:3). So perhaps Sarai heard Hagar cursing her. But one way or another, Sarai was offended and grew deeply embittered against Hagar. Sadly, when this happened, she did not go to Hagar to settle and clear up their relationship, but took it out on her husband.
5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.” (Genesis 16:5)
Notice her reasoning: she had given Hagar to Abram as a wife, and yet the man is the one held to blame. Men are always the guilty ones, aren’t they? From Sarah’s point of view, Hagar had not been like this before she came into Abraham’s arms. So, as Sarah saw it, he was to blame for the change in Hagar’s behavior. She is so certain she is in the right that she calls on the Lord to be judge in the situation. Abraham, once again, is a gentle — or a wise — husband. He does not argue with his wife.
6 “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her. (Genesis 16:6)
When Abraham handed Hagar back into Sarai’s hands, in effect he said to Hagar, “I will not protect you, even though you are my wife and carry my child in your womb.” This act of Abraham’s gave Sarai the chance to take revenge on Hagar for the insult Hagar had dealt her. Seeing this new situation, Sarai may have said, “Come here now, Hagar. Now I will show you who is mistress in this house.” And so Sarai began to torment Hagar and to “pay her back” for the curses and the contempt.
At the same time, Hagar was pregnant. In those days they had no ultrasound scans or any of the modern medical means and devices available today. So pregnancy was a very hard time for any woman in such a position. Hagar was pregnant and suffered so badly that the text says she fled from Sarai’s presence. She said to herself, “I will take my things, and while Sarai sleeps, I will slip away…” and she ran off. Most likely she set out back toward Egypt, since she was herself an Egyptian.
In this whole tangled situation, every one of the participants shows himself to be a sinful person. Abraham, though he was the father of faith, was also a sinner; Sarai too was a sinner; and Hagar too was a sinner. All three participants in this strange “love triangle” were sinners. They all acted in ways that are simply human ways. One woman conceives by the other woman’s husband… The relationships among the three are so strained that you might say, “This really is very bad.”
GOD STEPS IN
Today you may be in a similar hard situation. You may have made many mistakes. You may be in sin. You may have done harm. You may be living with the consequences of sin. You may feel wretched. Yet, whatever your sin, the good news is that you can expect a divine serendipity. The Lord can surprise you. The Lord loves you. And the good news is that He has something good for you. So expect the Lord to surprise you!
Hagar set out in the direction of Egypt. She was most likely distraught and weeping. She was fleeing from Sarai. She was fleeing from Abraham. She was pregnant. And she walked alone there, in that desert. But look what happens (v.7)!
7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. (Genesis 16:7)
The road to Shur was in fact the road to Egypt. But as she wandered and walked, desperate and weeping along her way, she stopped at a spring to drink and to wash her eyes. And there, beside the spring — an unexpected meeting. A divine “serendipity”! Suddenly she met someone. And this person was not merely a man; he was a heavenly being — “the angel of the Lord.”
8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” (Genesis 16:8)
The angel reminded Hagar of her position. And notice that he addressed her by name. He called her “Hagar.” See, the Lord knows your name. The Lord knows your position. The Lord knows your situation! “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
The Lord knows where we come from and where we are going, but He wants us to come to our senses. That is why He asks us questions. The purpose of these questions is to make us think about what we have done.
“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered. (Genesis 16:8)
Hagar was honest. She did not pretend to be anything else, but called things by their true names. She said, “I am running away from my mistress.”
9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” (Genesis 16:9)
When she heard these words, Hagar may have said to herself, “Oh my, how am I to do such a thing? I have barely escaped, and now He is sending me back.”
GOD’S WONDERFUL PROMISE
But listen to what follows:
10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.” 11 The angel of the Lord also said to her: “You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery.” (Genesis 16:10–11)
The name Ishmael means “God hears” (“the one whom God listens to”), for the Lord had heard her misery — another rendering says “the voice of your affliction.” So if you are in affliction, you must know that the Lord hears the voice of your affliction. The Lord hears your grief. He knows you by name. He knows where you are; He knows your condition. So rejoice, and expect the Lord to gladden your heart.
Without an ultrasound, Hagar learned the sex of the baby in her womb. She even learned his name. And look at the wonderful promises God gives concerning Ishmael, who was not yet born.
12 “He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” (Genesis 16:12)
These astonishing promises gave Hagar assurance and confirmation that her return to the family of Abraham and Sarai would carry great significance, in the long run, for the future of her son and his descendants. And what more does a mother need? She is ready for anything for the good of her child.
EL ROI
13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” (Genesis 16:13)
Glory to God! See, the Lord sees us. His name is “El Roi” — “the God who sees me.” He sees us all the time; He knows where we are, He knows what we are doing, He knows everything. He knows it all! And even when we sin, even when the consequences of sin come, even when we are in trouble, the Lord knows where we are, He knows how we feel, He knows what we are doing — and through it all He still loves us. He sees us, He has mercy on us, and He has a plan for us. So you must know that the Lord loves you. He has a plan for you; He has mercy on you. He will meet you, He will bless you, and He will reveal Himself to you. Even when you do not see Him, He goes on seeing you.
That is exactly why the well “beside the road to Shur” (v.7) was called “Beer Lahai Roi” (v.14).
14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered. (Genesis 16:14)
God is alive, and He sees and cares for what happens in the life of every one of His children.
THE BIRTH OF ISHMAEL
15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael. (Genesis 16:15–16)
Hagar returned, submitted to the words of the angel of the Lord, and was blessed. Evidently her relationship with Sarai was set right. In spite of all the problems, this chapter ends with the birth of a child. And the birth of a child is always a joyful event. Abram named his son with the name Hagar had told him — the name that had been revealed to her by the angel of the Lord. God had heard, but Ishmael would not be the son of the promise. Even so, he too would be blessed.
The Lord is a God who sees you. He sees us, and He will gladden our hearts. If we have made some mess, He will set things right. So expect a divine serendipity!
THE LORD HEARS YOU (Genesis 21:8–21)
The action of chapter 21 unfolds fourteen years after the birth of Isaac. What is good and encouraging in the account of Hagar and Ishmael is that the Lord has a plan not only for the “chosen,” but also for the “unchosen.” The chosen ones in this case were Abraham and Sarai, because the Lord chose Abraham to be His — the patriarch and founder of Israel, God’s people. Hagar and Ishmael were not among the chosen, yet the Lord still had a blessing for them as well. According to the New Testament, we ourselves are chosen, because the Lord has chosen us. God has chosen us in Jesus Christ to be His. Glory to God! But even though you have this knowledge, you may look at certain other people and think, “They seem more chosen than I am; they have more, they have finer things, they are more blessed. Perhaps I am not so chosen.” Yet even if you do not consider yourself chosen, the Lord has a blessing for you too. With God it is not a matter of “if I bless the one, I will not bless the other.” No! The Lord blesses both the one and the other. Glory to God!
SARAH DEMANDS THAT HAGAR AND ISHMAEL BE SENT AWAY
For look what happens here again with Hagar (Genesis 21:8).
8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. (Genesis 21:8)
In antiquity mothers nursed their children until around the age of three; so the feast was perhaps in honor of the fact that the promised child had survived the early, risky years of life.
9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, (Genesis 21:9)
The text notes that Sarah was displeased once more. This was Ishmael. Ishmael was mocking the little baby Isaac in some way. Although the name Isaac means “laughter,” the laughter in this case was not joyful. It was biting and derisive. Perhaps Ishmael could not grasp how God could use this tiny child as the chief channel of His blessing over the nations. Naturally, Sarah was offended by this.
10 and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.” (Genesis 21:10)
Notice that Sarah calls Hagar “that slave woman,” or more precisely “that slave.” This expression reveals the deep contempt she had developed toward Hagar. The fact that she speaks of Ishmael’s inheritance shows that even for Sarah, Ishmael would be one of Abraham’s heirs. What she wants is for Ishmael not to be an heir of the same standing as Isaac.
ABRAHAM IS CRUSHED BY WHAT IS HAPPENING
11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. (Genesis 21:11)
So his son Ishmael was by now perhaps fourteen years old. And now imagine having such a teenager and your wife telling you, “Drive him out of the house.” It was only natural for Abraham to be grieved. He regarded Ishmael as his son, not merely as the son of “that slave”; that is why the text says Sarah’s word seemed very hard to him “because it concerned his son.”
12 But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” (Genesis 21:12)
God stepped in and told Abraham to listen to Sarah. Just as before He had had him “listen” to her and take Hagar as a wife (16:2), now he had to listen to her and send Hagar away (21:12). The first proposal he accepted with joy, but now he had to accept the second as well — the one he deeply regretted.
It needed to become clear to everyone that Abraham’s heirs would be reckoned through the line of Isaac, and not through the line of Ishmael. From now on there was to be no confusion on this matter. This did not mean, however, that God would cease to care for Ishmael or to have a plan for him too.
13 “I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.” (Genesis 21:13)
Glory to God! So the one is chosen, but concerning the other, who is not chosen, God did not say, “He will die in the desert; you have no more need of him.” Instead He said, “He too will become a nation!” The result of the impatience for the fulfillment of God’s promises was the extremely sharp family conflict that the birth of Ishmael produced. This conflict led to the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael. But the expulsion of Ishmael does not mean that he was sent “to burn in hell.” He too is under God’s blessing. God assures Abraham that Ishmael will also be blessed. In His grace, God promises to take the son of the slave woman and make him into the patriarch of a nation, just like Isaac.
ABRAHAM SENDS HAGAR AND ISHMAEL AWAY
14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba. (Genesis 21:14)
Abraham did not put off the decision he had to make, however hard it was for him. We are not told what Abraham said to Hagar as they parted. Perhaps it was so hard for him that he could not utter a word. The situation was clear. Before, Hagar had fled on her own initiative; now she was driven out. How sad! How tragic! And, distraught, Hagar again most likely headed toward Egypt.
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she began to sob. (Genesis 21:15–16)
So again, you see, trouble… Years have passed, yet the old problems come to the surface once more, and Hagar leaves home — cast out, driven away, alone with this easily wounded teenager at her side. She does not know which road to take. She does not know what to do with Ishmael. The two of them wander through the desert, but the water runs out, and Hagar says, “What are we to do now? I have no strength left to walk, I cannot reach a spring, I cannot find water, we are dying!” Hagar fell into despair, gave up entirely, and said to Ishmael, “We are dying; this is the end, my boy. Stay under this bush, and I will go over there. We will lie down and wait for life to leave us completely.”
It was an extremely hard situation… The fact that Hagar “put the boy under one of the bushes” shows her despair. What had become of the promises she had received concerning her son in chapter 16? She had given up believing in them. In that moment she cast everything aside. She moved away from her son, because she did not want to watch him and hear his groans as he died. Her pain was so great that she broke into uncontrollable weeping — she “began to sob.”
THE LORD STEPS IN AGAIN
At this moment, perhaps you too feel this way; but what did we say? Expect a divine serendipity. Expect the Lord to surprise you! Expect God to gladden your heart! For God has a plan for you, does He not? Things may be very bad if there is no God, but the good news is that there is a God. And He sees us and hears us (v.17).
17 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.” (Genesis 21:17)
Glory to God! When you weep, you may think that no one hears you. But there is One above who hears your voice. And He will answer you. And here I would like to draw your attention to a detail. Hagar weeps, but the text does not say that she was calling out and praying to God. Ishmael, however, was evidently praying and crying out to God, because the text says that God heard the voice not of Hagar, but of “the boy.” God hears the voice of children. He answers the prayer of a child, because sometimes, when the grown-ups despair, the children release their faith and save the day.
Before, Hagar met the angel of the Lord on the earth. Now she hears him speak to her from heaven.
The verbs used here are the same as when Israel was under Egyptian slavery and cried out because of the bondage, and the Lord heard the voice of Israel (Exodus 2:23–25).
23 During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. 24 God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. 25 So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them. (Exodus 2:23–25)
In Exodus 2, God’s people, Israel, cried out; but in Genesis 21 the text says that Ishmael cried out, and the Lord heard the voice of Ishmael. Glory to God! God does not hear only the voice of Israel, He does not hear only the voice of Jacob’s descendants — He hears the voice of Ishmael as well. Glory to God! How good God is!
18 “Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” (Genesis 21:18)
Notice, God said to Hagar concerning Ishmael, “I will make him into a great nation.” God had not given up on the promise He made concerning Ishmael in chapter 16. Sometimes we are inclined to give up believing in God’s promises. That, however, does not make them invalid. Here God confirms His promise concerning Ishmael. And notice, this is a promise like the one God gave to Abraham concerning Isaac! Although Ishmael did not carry within his line the blessing and the promised Messiah, although he was not the patriarch of the people God had chosen, God would make even Ishmael into a “great nation”!
19 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. (Genesis 21:19)
GOD CONTINUES TO BE WITH HAGAR AND ISHMAEL
God not only saved Ishmael from dying of thirst in the desert. He continued to be with him even when Ishmael grew up and became a man.
20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. 21 While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt. (Genesis 21:20–21)
Hagar took a wife for Ishmael from Egypt, because she herself was an Egyptian. The women of Egypt were not unattractive; the Egyptian women were surely beautiful, and she wanted to take an Egyptian for her son. The very fact that Hagar could afford this in a patriarchal social system — in which the fathers of the young people negotiated the bride price — is remarkable. It shows that God was blessing her and supplying her needs. Hagar was a strong woman. There is no mention of her marrying anyone else after her parting from Abraham. She remained a single mother, yet in spite of this she managed in life — and not only managed, but prospered, and to such a degree that she had enough to be able to afford the life she wanted for herself and for her son.
The Lord gladdened Hagar. The Lord showed her that He is a God who sees, and that He is a God who hears, for concerning Ishmael the text says that the Lord “heard the voice of the boy.” In the one account with Hagar, God reveals Himself as a God who sees; and in the other account, He reveals Himself as a God who hears. So God hears and God sees. He knows our condition. He sees our hearts. And He is merciful to us. He has a plan for us. Therefore, “Expect the Lord to surprise you. Be ready for the Lord to gladden your heart. Expect a divine serendipity!”
In the account of Ishmael and Isaac, one was not chosen and the other was chosen, yet the Lord blessed them both. The Lord blessed Isaac, but the Lord blessed Ishmael as well. So expect the Lord to gladden your heart! Expect the Lord to bless you! For He is good and kind. And He has a plan for you, even if you are not one of the “privileged few.”
The Lord is a Lord who will surprise us — He sees and He hears, and He is concerned for us. Therefore, let us not be downcast; let us smile. We may have gone through many bad things, but let us expect the Lord to surprise us.
But let us also do something ourselves. For today the Lord usually works not with angels, but with people. So, when you expect the Lord to surprise you, think: “Can I not surprise someone?” Think, “Whom can I surprise?” Prepare a great surprise and surprise them! For what were the words of the Lord Jesus Christ? That it is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). So if you prepare a surprise for someone — it need not be anything big, do something small — surprise them, and you will see what joy will well up in your heart. For when we bless others, the Lord will give this joy in our hearts.
Prayer
God, we thank You for Your Word! See, it is encouraging, it is clear. We thank You for these biblical accounts. We thank You for the account of Hagar — for how You met her on the road to Shur, at that well, Beer Lahai Roi (the Lord who sees me). Lord, You heard the voice of the boy in the desert. You are a God who sees; You are a God who hears.
Grant us, Lord, that we too may be like You. Let us also be people who love everyone — not only those who do us good, but everyone. And, God, grant us to be people who prepare surprises for others, so that we may rejoice in You, because every good and every perfect gift is from You. We worship You and we give You glory, in the name of Jesus. Amen!