GENESIS
CHAPTER 16
OBSERVATION
STAGE
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
The purpose of
the observation stage is to maintain focus on the text at hand within the
normative rules of language, context and logic 
which limits the observer to the content offered by the book of Genesis.
This will serve to avoid going on unnecessary tangents elsewhere; and more
importantly, it will provide the framework for a proper and objective
comparison with passages located elsewhere in Scripture.
Remember that
something elsewhere may be true, but in the text at hand it may not be in
view.
I)
[Gen 16:1-3]:
A)
AFTER ABRAM HAD LIVED IN THE PROMISED LAND FOR TEN YEARS, HIS WIFE
SARAI, IN FAITHLESSNESS, BLAMED THE LORD FOR HER CHILDLESS CONDITION AND
AS WAS THE CUSTOM OF THE TIME, SHE PERSUADED ABRAM TO TAKE HER EGYPTIAN
SLAVE SERVANT HAGAR AS HIS WIFE AS A SUBSTITUTE CHILD BEARER FOR SARAI.
THIS CONTRADICTED GOD'S COVENANT WITH ABRAM, CAUSED MORE PROBLEMS IN
ABRAM'S HOUSEHOLD AND JEOPARDIZED THE COVENANT
II)
[Gen 16:4-6]:
A)
ABRAM TOOK HAGAR AS HIS WIFE AS SARAI SUGGESTED AND WHEN HAGAR CONCEIVED
SHE BEGAN TO OPENLY DESPISE SARAI HER MISTRESS KNOWING THAT THE CHILD
WOULD NOT BE HERS, BUT SARAI'S
1)
[Compare Gen 16:2 NKJV]:
B)
ABRAM SLEPT WITH HAGAR AFTER MAKING HER HIS SECOND WIFE AND WHEN HAGAR
KNEW SHE WAS PREGNANT WITH HIS CHILD WHO WOULD BE GIVEN TO ABRAM AND
SARAI AS AN HEIR, HAGAR UNDERSTANDABLY BEGAN TO OPENLY DESPISE SARAI,
WHEREUPON SARAI REACTED BY PLAYING THE VICTIM AND BLAMING ABRAM WHICH
ABRAM THEN GAVE HER LATITUDE TO DO AS SHE WISHED RESULTING IN SUCH ABUSE
THAT HAGAR FLED INTO THE WILDERNESS
III)
[Gen 16:7-16]:
A)
THE ANGEL OF THE LORD, GOD'S UNIQUE MESSENGER / AGENT, WHO IS GOD, MADE HIMSELF AS
HUMAN AND SPOKE WITH HAGAR AT A SPRING OF WATER AT SHUR ON HER WAY BACK
TO HER NATIVE EGYPT
B)
THE ANGEL OF THE LORD CALLS HAGAR BY NAME AND REFERS TO HER POSITION AS
A FEMALE SLAVE, BUT DOES NOT MAKE AN ISSUE OF HER ENSLAVEMENT. LATER HE
TELLS HER TO GO BACK IN SUBMISSION TO SARAI. HAGAR'S RESPONSE IS HONEST
AND OBEDIENT
C)
THE ANGEL OF THE LORD SAID TO HAGAR TO RETURN TO SARAI'S AUTHORITY AND
THEN SAID THAT HAGAR'S DESCENDANTS WILL SO MULTIPLY THAT THE NUMBER WILL
NOT BE COUNTABLE DEMONSTRATING THE OMNISCIENCE OF GOD
D)
THE ANGEL OF THE LORD DECLARES HAGAR IS WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON
IMPLYING OMNISCIENCE HENCE DIETY. THEN HE TELLS HAGAR TO CALL HER SON
ISHMAEL BECAUSE THE LORD HAS HEARD OF HER AFFLICTION, (THE NAME ISHMAEL
MEANS GOD HEARS. FINALLY, THE ANGEL OF THE LORD SAYS THAT ISHMAEL WILL
BE A WILD TEMPERMENTAL MAN WITH HIS HAND AGAINST EVERYONE AND WILL LIVE
IN HOSTILITY TOWARD HIS BROTHERS
E)
HAGAR NAMES THE ANGEL OF THE LORD 'YOU- ARE- THE- GOD- WHO- SEES'
DECLARING THAT HE IS GOD WHOM SHE HAS SEEN IN HUMAN FORM. THE WELL AT
SHUR, IN THE DESERT BETWEEN KADESH AND BERED, WAS NAMED 'BEER LAHAI
ROI', I.E., 'THE WELL OF A LIVING ONE MY SEER'
F)
HAGAR BORE ABRAM, NOW EIGHTY-SIX, A SON WHOM HE NAMED ISHMAEL, MEANING
'GOD SEES' WHICH IRONICALLY POINTS TO GOD SEEING ABRAM AND SARAI WORK
OUT A PROBLEM OF CHILDLESSNESS IN OPPOSITION TO THE PROMISE OF THE LOR
Continue
to Genesis chapter 17
