The God who Sees: Genesis 16:7-16

The story focuses briefly on Hagar and her flight back to her home country of Egypt.  There God (v.13) speaks to her and tells her to return to Sarai.  He also tells her of her son and his descendants.  Before we look at what God tells her here, let's remember how God called Abram back in Genesis 12:2-3.

I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you.

Also remember how God described the number of Abram's descendants in 13:16 - like the dust of the earth - if they could be counted.  Now, in 16:10, God tells Hagar that her descendants will similarly be too numerous to count.  But that is where the similarity between Hagar's descendants and Abram's descendants ends.  Unlike God's promise to bless those who blessed Abram and curse those who cursed him, God tells Hagar that her son's life will be marked by conflict (16:12).  There is no mention of making him into a great nation and no mention of God using him to bless the earth.

This difference makes it clear that Hagar's son is not the child of God's promise to Abram.  This is the child of Abram taking control and doing for himself.  The implication of God's pronouncement in 16:12 is that Ishmael will follow in Abram's footsteps of doing for himself.  For him, there will be no peace associated with letting God act to bless and protect.  Instead there will be struggle and hostility.

We should not be surprised by this pronouncement or think that it is harsh.  God is described here as The One who sees me.  He is the one who sees Hagar in her distress and hears her misery.  His direction and pronouncements are intended to comfort and provide for Hagar and her son.  In spite of God's comforting intention, there can be no peace without God's presence in our lives.  Ishmael was not to be a man of peace and - I think we can conclude - not to be a man who sought after God's presence.

Looking back:  I think there is a similarity with God's pronouncements about Ishmael here and his relational pronouncements in the Garden of Eden.  There, God told Adam and Eve about their broken relationships with Him, each other, and the world.  As I mentioned before, this was not a new punishment from God, he was simply listing the things that had already been broken as a result of their decision to seek after their own glory.  Similarly, When God says Ishmael will not be a man of peace, He might not necessarily be pronouncing a new judgment, He may be saying something about the nature of mankind in His absence.