NIV, Faithlife Study Bible | Page 87

Genesis 17:4 | 37

Abram had been liv ing in Ca naan ten years , Sa rai his wife took her Egyp tian slave Ha gar and gave her to her hus band to be his wife . 4 He slept with Ha gar , and she con ceived .

When she knew she was preg nant , she be gan to de spise her mis tress . 5 Then Sa rai said to Abram , “ You are re spon si ble for the wrong I am suf fering . I put my slave in your arms , and now that she knows she is preg nant , she de spis es me . May the Lord judge be tween you and me .”

6

“ Your slave is in your hands ,” Abram said . “ Do with her what ev er you think best .” Then Sa rai mis treat ed Ha gar ; so she fled from her .

7

The an gel of the Lord found Ha gar near a spring in the des ert ; it was the spring that is be side the road to Shur . 8 And he said , “ Ha gar , slave of Sa rai , where have you come from , and where are you go ing ?”

“ I ’ m run ning away from my mis tress Sa rai ,” she an swered .

9

Then the an gel of the Lord told her , “ Go back to your mis tress and sub mit to her .” 10 The an gel add ed , “ I will in crease your de scen dants so much that they will be too nu mer ous to count .”

11

The an gel of the Lord also said to her :

“ You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son .

You shall name him Ishmael , a for the Lord has heard of your misery .

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 b all his brothers .”

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 c the One who sees me .” 14 That is why the well was called Beer La hai Roi d ; it is still there , be tween Ka desh and Be red .

15

So Ha gar bore Abram a son , and Abram gave the name Ish ma el to the son she had borne .

16

Abram was eighty-six years old when Ha gar bore him Ish ma el .

The Covenant of Circumcision

When Abram was nine ty-nine years old ,

3

Abram fell face down , and God said to him , 4 “ As for me , this is my cov enant with you : You will be

16:1 – 16 This narrative shows Abram and Sarai attempting to work around Sarai ’ s barrenness to provide an heir for Abram . Yahweh ’ s reassurance in ch . 15 confirmed for Abram that Yahweh ’ s promise is intended for his biological offspring , but Yahweh did not specify that Sarai would be the mother . Since Sarai has been unable to provide an heir for Abram herself , she offers her servant , Hagar , to Abram as a wife . Hagar conceives , but her success causes strife in light of Sarai ’ s perceived failure . After Sarai makes life difficult for Hagar , the pregnant Hagar leaves the camp , heading back toward her native Egypt . On the way , an angel appears to her and convinces her to return to Sarai .

16:1 Sarai See 11:29 and note . Hagar The name may be related to Arabic hajara , meaning “ to flee ” — ​and thus may parallel her fleeing later in this chapter . 16:2 Lord has kept me from having children In the ancient Near East , barrenness was always considered a female problem due to the belief that the man deposited a seedling child into the woman , where it would grow like a plant . Failure to grow the child was thus viewed as divine judgment against the woman . I can build a family through her The procedure of a barren woman providing her husband with a concubine occurred in other ancient Near Eastern cultures , according to both the ancient work Hammurabi ’ s Code and ancient marriage contracts . 16:6 Sarai mistreated Hagar Ancient Near Eastern law codes , like that of Hammurabi , allowed slave owners to harshly punish their slaves for insolence . 16:7 The angel of the Lord Elsewhere , the Hebrew phrase used here , malak yhwh , is used in reference to Yahweh made visible or embodied , although it is not clear that the angel is always Yahweh ( Ex 23:20 – 23 ; Jdg 6 ). See the table “ Angels in the Bible ” on p . 2120 . beside the road to Shur Hagar was journeying toward Egypt , her native country ( 1Sa 15:7 ; 27:8 ).

16:8 – 10 Hagar is told by the angel to return to Sarai but adds that her son will become a nation . This passage features language similar to the promise to Abram ( compare Ge 12:1 – 3 ; 15:1 – 6 ).

16:11 Ishmael This name in Hebrew , yishma ’ el , means “ God hears .” See the table “ Symbolic Names of People in Hebrew ” on p . 1388 . 16:14 Beer Lahai Roi This name means “ well of the living one who sees me ” ( see 24:62 ; 25:11 ).

17:1 – 27 Once more , Yahweh appears to Abram to reiterate his covenant promises . To confirm the covenant , Yahweh gives Abram a new name and institutes the practice of circumcision as a sign of the covenant . This event takes place 13 years after the events of ch . 16 . Ishmael is now 13 years old ( v . 25 ).

17:1 God Almighty The Hebrew phrase used here , el shadday , which is commonly translated “ God Almighty ” or “ the Almighty God ” is translated as such based on English translation tradition ; however , this is not based on the original Hebrew but how the Septuagint ( the ancient Greek translation of the OT ) translates shadday in the book of Job ( Job 5:17 ; 8:5 ). Shadday is similar to the Hebrew term shad , meaning “ breast ” ( Eze 23:3,21,34 ; SS 4:5 ; 7:3 ), but “ God of breasts ” is not a reasonable translation . The possibly related Akkadian word shadu ( meaning “ mountain ”)— ​along with the abundant testimony in the OT associating God with mountains ( e . g ., Sinai ) — ​suggests that the word means “ God of the mountain ” or “ God of the mountainous wilderness .” God is called this name again later in Genesis and in Exodus ( Ge 28:3 ; 35:11 ; 48:3 ; Ex 6:3 ). See the table “ Names of God in the Old Testament ” on p . 917 . 17:2 I will make The Hebrew verb used here , nathan ,