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okay you can turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 16 Genesis chapter 16 remember that in Genesis chapter 12 when God first calls Abram he gives him promises he tells him to get out of his land get out of the earth the Chaldeans he then gives him a land promise and a seed promise he also promises that he will be a blessing - he will himself be a blessing and he will be a blessing to the nations that specifically land and seed and we've noticed that this wasn't a walk in the park for Abram there were difficulties and trials and hardships for Abram certainly tests with reference to his faith and we see how in chapter 16 the promise of God is taking longer to be fulfilled than either Sarai or Abram are comfortable with and so they try to rush it along a bit by this particular plan of Ser eyes you'll see this in chapter 16 with reference to Sarai taking matters into her own hands and then in chapter 17 Abram specifically asked that Ishmael be the son of promise so they want the promises of God in their timeframe they don't really want to wait with reference to God as Calvin said Moses here recites a new history namely that Sarah through the impatience of long delay resorted to a method of obtaining seed by her husband at variance with the Word of God it's a good overarching summary of what's happening here in chapter 16 so I'll begin reading in verse 1 now Sarai Abrams wife had borne him no children and she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar so Sarai said to Abram see now the Lord has restrained me from bearing children please go into my maid perhaps I shall obtain children by her and Abram heeded the voice of Sarai then Sarai Abrams wife to Hagar her maid the Egyptian and her to her husband Abram to be his wife after Abram had dwelt 10 years in the land of Canaan so he went into Hagar and she conceived and when she saw that she had conceived her mistress became despised in her eyes and Sarai said to Abram my wrong be upon you I gave my maid into your embrace and when she saw that she had conceived I became despised in her eyes the Lord judge between you and me so Abram said to Sarai indeed your maid is in your hand do to her as you please and when Sarah don't harshly with her she fled from her presence now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness by the spring on the way - sure and he said Hagar Sarai's maid where have you come from and where are you going she said I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai the angel of the Lord said to her return to your mistress and submit yourself under her hand and the angel of the Lord said to her I will multiply your descendants exceedingly so that they shall not be counted from multitude and the angel of the Lord said to her behold you are with child and you shall bear a son you should call his name Ishmael because the Lord has heard your affliction he shall be a wild man his hand shall be against every man and every man's hand against him and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her you are the God who sees for she said have I also here seen him who sees me there for the well was called bear Lahaie Roy observe it is between Kadesh and Barret so Hagar bore Abram a son and Abram named his son whom Hagar bore Ishmael Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram a man was I said the primary emphasis here is on their impatience they did not want to wait for the fulfillment of God's promise in the way that God had specified in fact if you look at chapter 15 you see in verse 2 God or Abram rather says Lord God what you give me seeing I go childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus then Abram said look you have given me no offspring indeed one born in my house is my heir and behold the word of the Lord came to him saying this one shall not be your heir but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir so god they're intimates with Abram that it will be a supernatural act these are two older people Sarah is about 75 at this particular time and Abram is about 85 they were not fools with reference to biology they knew how things worked and they knew that the time of childbearing was probably a distant past in their own life and experience but nevertheless God had promised that there would be a great seed a great multitude and they needed to abide by that promise and wait upon Jehovah well I want to look first of all at the plan of Sarai and verses 1 to 6 and then secondly the goodness of the Lord in verses 7 to 16 notice in the first place I think what we have are two complaints of Sarai she complains in verses 1 to 2 and then in verses 5 to 6 in the first place we are reminded that she is in fact barren to go back to chapter 11 that is the first announcement that Sarah is barren again I think what God is doing here is showing his power and his majesty and his sovereignty and his glory in chapter 11 at verse 30 it says but Sarai was barren she had no child that's supposed to stick in our mind when God gives this seed promised we're supposed to reflect upon that and say wow we're gonna wait for a demonstration of the power of God to see how he makes good on this promise even though Sarah is barren it's already indicated again in chapter 15 at verse 2 and then it sets the stage for our understanding in Genesis chapter 16 now Sarai Abrams wife had borne him no children and she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar notice her complaint and proposal in verse 2 on the one hand she recognizes God's sovereignty over the womb which is a truism the Bible everywhere teaches that the children are a gift from your way notice in verse two so said I said to Abram see now the Lord has restrained me from bearing children so in the one hand as I said it's an acknowledgment of the sovereignty of God who's over the womb whether that's opened or closed but on the other hand is this a complaint against the Lord and is it a validation of the course of events that she's going to pursue in other words the Lord has restrained me from bearing children therefore I have concocted this particular idea so that I may bear children I think that's the point of her statement here and I think that underscores the practicality of this particular chapter for New Covenant believers we need to believe the promises of God and we need to make sure that we don't act in human ingenuity to try to affect those promises now certainly we use the means certainly we engage in those things that God calls us to but we don't take from him a promise and if we believe that he is slow in enacting that promise or fulfilling that promise we can't just concoct some human way to try to accomplish things and this is precisely what she is doing notice the request that Abram go into her made in order that Sarah I can obtain children that way now that is precisely what it means now loki explains that the practice of surrogate motherhood for an infertile wife through her maidservant seemed to be an acceptable social practice as can be judged from genesis chapter 30 verses 3 to 12 the instance with Jacob now there was a whole lot of him going into maids and that sort of thing and him being the father of those particular children but as well it's found in the Code of Hammurabi a newsie text in 1500 BC an old Assyrian marriage contract in the 19th century BC and then a neo-assyrian tax so it was a practice that wasn't original to her it was something that did obtain around the peoples among the peoples at that particular time that doesn't necessarily make it right in fact I think the author highlights the wrongness of it in a whole host of ways and will survey that as we move through this robert alter adds this living with the human consequences of the institution could be quite another matter as the writer shrewdly understands I don't think any of us gets to this proposal from suraíh and thinks at all that this is going to end well there is no possible way that this can end well now it does end well under the sovereignty of God in terms of his blessing and promise to Hagar his blessing and promise for Ishmael and the reality that Abram ultimately does have this particular sign but it brings a breach in the relationship it certainly introduces within this family unit great chaos and confusion we are not to engage in these sorts of practices in fact in the Code of Hammurabi it says if later that female slave has claimed equality with her mistress because she bore children her mistress may not sell her she may mark her with a slave mark encounter among the slaves so that law could recognize the potential problems involved in this situation of surrogate motherhood that pagan law code recognized that in this eventualities there will no doubt be difficulties and hardships when Hagar displeases Sarah it's because Hagar now feels superior to her in the Western world in the 21st century more often than not women are trying not to get pregnant that's not the situation that we find in Genesis chapters 16 pregnancy was coveted pregnancy was a validation of God's blessing pregnancy and lots of children was the mark of faithfulness and success on the part of both men and women and so in this particular situation even the pagan law code surrounding Israel saw the potential difficulties involved in surrogate motherhood and we see that fleshed out in our passage now notice the response of Abram in verses 3 to 4 he complies with his wife noticed the fact that Abram heeded the voice of Sarah the fact that Sarai instigated this hi writes that what goes on is not abraham's lust driving this the older commentators point this up it's not the case that Abram had a hankering after Hagar and so he concocted this particular plan but rather it was instigated by Sarai so it shows that it wasn't driven by Abraham's loss but it was rather a pursuit after the promised seed that God had given in other words they wanted Messiah but that good and doesn't justify bad needs gill says without consulting God about it the proposal agreeable to the flesh which may be imputed to the infirmity of the good man in other words this was not good on his part and now the author doesn't come right out Moses doesn't come right out in chapter 16 and say this is a bad idea it's a horrible thing they should have never concocted this but there is a parallel with Genesis chapter 3 that I suspect Moses wants us to appreciate when God comes to deal with Adam in Genesis 3:17 he says because you have heeded the voice of your wife and then when we get into Sarai actually executing this plan she tells Hagar and then she gives Hagar to her husband Abram just in the same way in Genesis 3:6 Eve took the fruit and then gave it to her husband Adam as he was with her and so Moses sets forth this parallel so that we won't have an idea oh they're just functioning the way the pagans around them did in terms of surrogate motherhood though this is wrong on every level they should have never tried to make good the promises of God in their own strength and according to their flesh they should have been patient and they should have waited on the Lord and that's what Moses is telling us they're taking and giving of a Hagar to Abram and then notice the time reference this is probably driving this in both Sarai - excuse me and in Abram at the end of verse 3 we read after Abram had dwelt 10 years in the land of Canaan John Gill says the one being 75 Sarah the other eighty-five so that there was no great possibility of having any children you see how that worked now on the one hand we appreciate the faith of Abraham and we have observed that along the way in our studies in Genesis tonight we have to appreciate the lack of faith or the lack of patience in the life of Abraham and we need to make note of that and realize that his was a great faith but it wasn't a perfect thing and he demonstrates this in patience now on the other hand it's it's hard to Monday Morning Quarterback right this man had been dwelling in the land for these ten years as far as he was concerned the land promise made by God was in fact good as far as he knows what God promised in terms of that piece of property had been actualized but the seed promised had it happen and so Sarah comes along and Sarah says I have a plan to try to move things along we've got the land we don't have to seed so go ahead and go into my mind made my my slave girl Hagar and impregnate her and then I will take that child and raise him as my own and then the fact that Abram went into Hagar verse 4 a so he went into Hagar and she conceived so the the deed was done the proposal was received by abram now notice the conception by hagar at the end of verse 4 so he went into Hagar and she conceived and when she saw that she had conceived her mistress became despised in her eyes again as far she's concerned she's functioning now as the better wife and the language in the tax is that specifically he has given her as a wife so she is wife number two now I know that the Bible says we are not to engage in polygamy the Bible sets forth at the creation of Adam and Eve the the ideal of monogamy but there is the case where these patriarchs and others as well multiplied wives the Bible is not condoning that the Bible is not suggesting goes out and do likewise the Bible rather is reporting what is it he's showing us the human condition and it is showing what US would even you know father Abraham does at this particular juncture so she now sees herself as superior and perhaps the one that Abram would certainly favor so she now looks down upon Sarah she is displeased with psoriasis Sarah is despised rather in her eyes now notice the second complaint of Sarah excuse me in verses 5 to 6 she blames a bruh she blames Abraham's I don't want to say this is pretty typical you know of even modern marriage but it is I mean here's the bottom line it was her plan it was her idea it was her concoction everything about this Rita of Sarah and now she says my wrong be upon you she enters into this particular situation knowing full well the potential for difficulty and hardship or she should have I mean come on you don't enter into something this huge without counting the cost we're thinking through consequences if she didn't then shame on her but now that it backfires and it doesn't yield the results that she thinks it should she blames her man again there's echoes of Genesis chapter 3 in this particular section it's not the same but it's very similar because when Adam and Eve fall into sin and God comes to requite with them they both others they both shift blame and that's precisely what Sarah is doing at this particular juncture am I wrong be upon you I gave my made into your embrace literally I gave my made into your lap it's a sexual euphemism she is speaking specifically as to what took place in this particular situation and when she saw that she had conceived I became despised in her eyes the Lord judge between you and me she decides this she concoct this she is the one that takes charge Abram heats his wife and now she heaps the blame upon him she is right because ultimately it is his responsibility ultimately it is his call ultimately he should have said no honey we're gonna wait until the promise of God comes to fruition in the means by which he said he said that it would be a son born of boss we need to wait upon Jehovah but he didn't do that he heeded the voice of his wife just like Adam heeded the voice of his wife in the garden now notice she places the blame on Abram she desires justice and then notice Abraham's response verse 6 so Abram said to Sarai indeed your maid is in your hand do to her as you please and when Sarai dealt harshly with her she fled from her presence I want to tell you something that you may not like she's right Sarah is right she has legal authority over Hagar we don't like that but that's the way it is we sympathize with Hagar in this particular passage and well we should but when God comes to deal with Hagar what does God tell her to do he tells her to return to Sarah this was a legal status this was a particular position or situation and Abram is right the legality of it is right again we sympathize with Hagar and while we should that notice what Sarah does Sarah dealt harshly with her and she fled from her presence so Abram does nothing ultimately with reference to either Sarai or Hagar he's really functioning passively here and quite contrary to the man that we meet in chapter 14 what does he do in that Eastern coalition of Kings comes into Canaan led by Kate ortley Omer and they go to Sodom and Gomorrah and there they plunder the goods they take people and they take specifically lot does Abram passively respond as he said well you know they have the right and authority to do that no he takes his 318 household servants this train meant he arms them and then he gives pursuit and he runs those Eastern Kings right out of the land of Canaan that's not the abram were faced with in this particular juncture were faced with the Abram in Genesis chapter 12 in verses 10 to 20 remember when he goes into Egypt he says I want you to tell people that you're my sister and not my wife so the bottom line brethren is that the best of men always remain men at best you can't ever expect a hundred percent even from father Abram you look at this and you say wait a minute you shouldn't go into other women wait a minute you shouldn't eat your wife's voice when she is contradicting the very word of God wait a minute you certainly should be involved in such a way that you try to bring peace and reconciliation in this condition or situation that you and your wife created but he doesn't do any of that he's passive he is not functioning that are there as a man of faith and so as we move through these narratives we ought to have a high view of Abraham we ought to appreciate that he is the father of the faithful but we ought to remember as well there's one hero in the Bible and that hero is Jesus Christ David was a great man who sinned tremendously Solomon was a great man who sinned tremendously the Apostle Peter great man who sinned tremendously who's the one hero consistently throughout scripture it's the Lord Jesus Christ the Bible sets forth to us all of these great men the men and women of faith but the Bible always cautions us against worshiping them or putting them on a pedestal or prising them over and above our Lord Jesus Christ he's the sole champion he's the sole victor he is the sole hero that the Bible sets forth as as Wenham says at the end of this this section he says thus the first scene ends in total disaster for all concern Hagar has lost her home Sarai her maid and Abram his second wife and newborn child it's just it's a mess isn't it it's terrible the effects and the ravages of sin are not our answer or are not listening to the promises of God or waiting rather upon the promises of God impatience is not a good thing it's a scary concept for a guy like me who's very impatient I need to think about Genesis chapter 16 when I'm sitting at traffic lights because that is the apex of my impatience but this is specifically the issue he had dwelt 10 years in the land he had been a recipient of the land he had been blessed with that promise but as of yet there was no seed so Sarai comes with this idea go into my my maid he heeds the voice of his wife he does so and there are disastrous results disastrous consequences now notice secondly the goodness of the Lord in verses 7 to 16 the location is important she's going back to Egypt she's going back to Egypt verse 7 now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness by the spring on the way to shore between the the southernmost part of Israel are Canaan into Egypt she's going back to her particular people to her particular land this is the first mention of an angel in the book of Genesis the angel of the Lord that is the Lord because as we move through the passage will see that this angel of the Lord knows things that only God could know he knows her name he knows her task he also makes promises or tells her he's going to have a son and then he promises to bless that son in a multitudinous way and so this angel of the Lord is the Lord Himself John Gill says the context excuse me most clearly proves him to be the Almighty in omniscient God since he promises to do what none but the omnipotent being could do and declares such things as none but the omniscient God could know look at verse 8 and he said Hagar Sarai's maid where have you come from and where are you going I'm sure that would have been a shock to Hagar right she flees from Yaser eyes home or abram and sarai eyes home she's on her way to Egypt and she meets this angel of the Lord by a spring of water in the wilderness and he says Hagar Sarai's maid where have you come from and where are you going she said I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarah she was leaving she was fleeing she didn't want anything to do with that particular situation now when the angel who asked the question you ought to think of it in terms of the garden again when God asks Adam and Eve questions he's not asking for his information he's asking to expose something concerning them he doesn't need the knowledge he doesn't he's not asking in terms of a were you going Hague all right I just don't have a clue of course he has a clue he knows her by name he knows her particular tasks he knows that she's got a boy a boy in her in her womb and the name and the blessing and all that sort of thing and so she knows or rather he knows specifics now note the command in verse 9 then the angel of the Lord said to her return to your mistress and submit yourself under her hand now that may seem like a tough one for us that you know I could hear it as I'm going through this and I'm thinking through the implications patience I can you know hear the woke people saying well that's just barbaric and terrible and horrific and I I cannot believe that God would would send her back to that place of abuse well we don't know that she was abused some could suggest that sir I delivered blows I don't think Sarah I delivered blows to a pregnant woman I just it would be very hard for me to fathom the concept that any blows were delivered upon this particular woman the dealing harshly with her doesn't necessarily necessarily imply there was any sort of physical violence but God the Lord sends her back to that particular situation we turn to your mistress and submit yourself to her hand or under her hand now I'm gonna moralize here and I'm gonna suggest that we understand the principle involved here we may be asked to do certain things in our lives that we don't like but it doesn't matter we're supposed to do what God calls us to the fifth commandment is huge with God now when I say fifth commandment you're probably thanking me and my kids the fifth commandment applies to any social relationship where there's a hierarchy and an in subjectivity involved your employment situation is a hierarchy that that involves the fifth commandment our response to the civil magistrate is a fifth commandment issue and so God tells this woman to go back to her situation again I think it's a hat tip to the fifth commandment and to the legality of the situation she did not have the right or the prerogative or the privilege to leave the employ or the the mastership of Saron and so God sends her back to that particular position it is all too common today for us to get so easily offended that we just flee that we just run now I would never suggest that you have to keep a bad job find a better job now don't just desert your post don't just run from your in fact Solomon in Ecclesiastes speaks to this he says if the spirit of the ruler rises against you do not leave your post for conciliation pacifies great offenses know the ESV has it if the anger of the ruler rises against you do not leave your place for calmness will lay great offences to rest again I think there's some parallel between the situation's here and I think the take-home lesson for us is that we're not always going to have the best conditions we're not always going to have the best situation it's not always going to be you know a bed of roses for us to to dance on to do our jobs there it's work they pay you to do it right I mean that's just the reality so so God is all about us being faithful all about us being diligent all about us honoring our obligations all about us giving ourselves to an understanding of the fifth commandment and all that that implies with reference to our subjection in terms of our relationships with one another so Sarah I was harsh with her but God doesn't say well I understand your plight so I'm gonna go ahead and let you go to Egypt and there raise your little boy no he says go back and submit yourself under her hand it is intriguing as well the situation that will obtain later one fellow says what the Egyptians would later do to Sarah's children Sarah I did to a child of Egypt but God listened to both his compassion is with all his creatures so this is a bit of foretaste as to what's going to happen but in the other direction Egypt is ultimately going to deal harshly with Israel but here Sarah is doing it and in both instances God hears the distress of his people or of our people and he comes to their aid and he brings rescue to them now notice the promise of award to this particular woman verse 9 he says returned Metra mistress and submit yourself under her hand then the angel of the Lord said to her I will multiply your descendants exceedingly so that they shall not be counted for multitude Abram would not only be the father of a multitude of the elect but he would be the father of a multitude of the knotty lakh there would be Ishmaelites there would be Arabs there would be a whole host of these people that would come as a result of this man Ishmael John Calvin said for although the Covenant of eternal life did not belong to Ishmael yet that he might not be entirely without favor God constituted constituted him the father of a great and famous people he was Abraham's son he was blessed as a result of his connection to Abram and that's what God tells Hagar in this particular place the angel of the Lord said I will multiply say see that's how we know the angel of the Lord is the Lord I will multiply your descendants exceedingly so that they shall not be counted for multitude and the angel of the Lord said to her notice the announcement of a son behold you are with child and you shall bear a son you shall call his name Ishmael because the Lord has heard your affliction so the name Ishmael means God hears it's one of those announcement tags very similar to what we find it turns the angel of the Lord or the angel rather announcing the birth of the Messiah behold you're with child you shall bear a son and you shall call his name Ishmael because the Lord has heard your affliction now that's the significance and if I just quoted this I want to repeat it what the Egyptians would later do to Sarah's children say I did to a child of Egypt but God listened to both his compassion is with all his creatures be careful here because as Calvinists are reformed we only think that you know the elected all the benefits there's a doctrine of common grace it's connected to the noahic covenant and even the Nani lacked benefit in this world even the nanny let yet to get to you know be fruitful and multiply even the Nani Lac get to Mary even the Nani yet to have families even the nanny let get to have nations and cities and the the benefits of a gracious and the kind God and that's not just a quote from a commentator the psalmist says the Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works that's the reality with our God he is that good even when he's not pouring out salvific benefit and redemptive blessing upon the heads of the Ishmaelites not to say that no Ishmaelite will ever come into the Church of Jesus Christ because thankfully a whole host has there is nevertheless this blessing and provision from God now he describes specifically this son Ishmael it's literally he shall be a wild ass of a man or a wild donkey of a man now this wild-ass lives in the desert looks more like a horse than a donkey and is used in the Old Testament as a figure of an individualistic lifestyle on chairman by social convention he'll be rough around the edges he's going to be on the fray he's not going to play well with others necessarily he's going to be marginalized in that regard he's not going to be a you know a beloved one with reference to the children of Israel he will be near them he will dwell among his brethren but it always be that renegade it'll always be that maverick he'll always be that wild ass of a man he is not going to play by social convention fact if you turn over to Genesis chapter 20 you get a flavor or out of 21 you get a flavor of him as a as a real outdoorsy kind of fellow not to say that all outdoorsmen are necessarily you know a wild ass of a man but you kind of get the vibe with reference to this guy verse 20 of chapter 21 so God was with the lad and and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness and became an archer he dwelt in the wilderness of paran and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt come the tax goes on back in chapter 16 to tell us that he would be at odds with every man he shall be a wild man and his hand shall be against every man and every man's hand against him as Calvin says we ought to always seek peace with reference to our relationships with others but when there's an absence of peace the blessing of God is such that Ishmael is going to be successful at least to a degree in other words there'll be this opposition there will be this warfare there will be these battles but Ishmael and the Ishmaelites will see their way through it this is the the blessing of God again non redemptive non salvific but in terms of an air with reference to Abram he's going to benefit and prosper in this particular way and at the very end it says and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren you can turn to chapter 25 Genesis chapter 25 where it gives us the families of Ishmael and Isaac at verse 18 they dwelt from have a lot as far as sure which is east of Egypt as you go toward Assyria he died in the presence of all his brethren so everything God says with reference to this man Ishmael comes to pass in the subsequent narratives and again we need to appreciate that not all the blessings that God gives or necessarily solve it you all agree now I know some don't like the language common grace they say well well grace is never common so they refer to it as common mercies I don't know how that makes it any better if you don't like the terminology common grace I get that at a certain level but you cannot resist I'm sorry I got some coughing fit going on it's only when I preach or teach anymore maybe God's telling me something here I don't know but maybe I should shut this down but but with reference to what was I saying him and calm and grace whether you call it that and accept that or not that is a concept that the Bible speaks to and sets forth and you see that displayed in this particular section you see it connected to them to the noahic covenant remember when we looked at the noahic covenant it is an honor if covenant it is a common grace covenant it provides the the protection and the stability of the order of the of the common grace order for the preaching of God's special grace Jesus speaks to common grace and the Sermon on the Mount again he doesn't use that identifier and if persons think that that's wrong to use that language again I get it but the concept is present and it's there Jesus says that God causes the rain to fall on the righteous and on the unrighteous he causes the the Sun to shine on the righteous and on the unrighteous as well and so God does that with reference to Ishmael and to his people now notice the response of Hagar in verses 13 to 16 then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her you are the God who sees the only time a person a woman names God and it's specific here you are the God who sees for she said have I also have our also here seen him who sees me and I think behind this thank you very much I do have some boy she calls him you are the God who sees because God obviously saw her in a reflection and blessed her and this is something very intriguing I tried to point this out as we're going through the book of Acts and we've been looking a bit at the book of Exodus when in chapter 2 of the book of Exodus God sees the affliction of his people he he hears their cries they're not crying out in repentance they're not crying out for God they're crying out because they hurt and in this same instance she's not crying out to God with her affliction she's not saying Yahweh of Israel because she would have certainly known Yahweh of Israel because she lives in Abraham's house she doesn't do that God sees her affliction that's the one of two ways he sees he sees through our prayers when we call out upon him but he just sees the misery that we find ourselves in and she recognizes that and now she identifies you you are the God who sees intriguing typically when persons see God not you know God is spirit he does not have a body like man but when they have a theophany or a manifestation of God they typically don't realize it until it's over I mean if you notice that they typically don't realize it until it's over and that's what we find in this particular instance and she names him you are the God who sees and then for she said have I also have I also here seen him who sees me now that second bit is a bit difficult to try and nail down in terms of translation some suggest that she is blown away at the thought that she's not dead in other words persons realize that you could not view God and then live she was blown away at the reality that her life was still intact even after having coming into contact with God and then if you note the margin in the New King James it speaks specifically of her seeing the back of him now that might represent the understanding behind the text as well it's similar to what we find with reference to Moses in Exodus chapter 33 when God says you can't look upon me he puts Moses in the cleft of the rock and then he passes by and gives Moses of view of the back parts of God that might be in view here as well I've only seen the back parts of God and I'm amazed that I'm still alive so she is blown away at the reality that this God of Israel has come to her and has blessed her and has spoken these words of promise to her and that she has lived to tell about it and then notice in verse 14 therefore the well was called beer-lahai-roi observe it is between kadesh and bered so that's the giving of a name to God now notice the giving of a son to Abram in verses 15 to 16 so Hagar bore Abram a son and Abram named his son whom Hagar bore Ishmael so obviously when Hagar got back to Abram she hold in everything how else would Abram know to call in Ishmael she reports beautifully back to Abram everything that God had told her the angel of the Lord had told her and so Abram now takes that particular task that authority and names the boy Ishmael notice that Sarah is nowhere to be found here Sarah is completely absent in verses 15 to 16 it was her plan it was her purpose it was her design so that the child would be her child but that's not the way that the writer interprets it for us it's Abraham's son at this particular point walki says contrast this with 16-1 which notes that Sarah has born Abraham no children the cost of salus human engineering is to watch Hagar give birth to and raise a child for Abraham the tension for the promised son is only heightened right whenever human ingenuity gets involved it creates a further tension in terms of the expectation of God with reference to fulfillment that's what he means as we leave chapter 16 we're no closer to a solution in fact our our our appetite is whetted even further we'll get into chapter 17 and Abram will say to God or Abraham will say to God may it be Ishmael and God says no you need to be patient you need to wait upon my fulfillment of this particular promise now brethren I think that is a real practical lesson that jumps out at us from this particular passage we need to be patient we need to wait upon God again that doesn't mean lay on your couch and eat Doritos and hope that God will just bless your life and make everything hunky-dory the horse is prepared for the day of battle but victory belongs to Yahweh one waters and other plants but it shows but it is God who gives the increase we are to use the means but were never to engage in human engineering in such a way to diminish the very sovereignty of God that is a crucial lesson that we learn from Genesis 16 as well we learn the faithlessness of this act the reality that both Sarah and Abram demonstrate a lack of faith in the promises of God and take matters into their own hands you're not supposed to do this you're supposed to wait upon Jehovah you're supposed to trust and obey Calvin says truly the faith of Abram wavers when he deviates from the Word of God and suffers himself to be borne away by the persuasion of his wife to seek a remedy which was divinely prohibited God specifically in Chapter 15 told him no it's not gonna be Eliezer no it's not gonna be somebody already in your house you're going to have a baby you and Sarah are going to have children we need to believe the very promises of God when he tells us something I think we learn as well in the passage the faithfulness of God if we see the faithlessness of abram and sarai in this particular account we continue to marvel at the faithfulness of God what does God do at this particular juncture with Abram and Sarai well you've taken matters into your own hands you know go ahead be done with it no he doesn't do that he basically says to them hold on wait be patient I'm going to make good on the promise to bring you a great multitude of descendants and then of course we see his faithfulness to Hagar I mean Hagar is a pathetic wretch in this and I don't mean wretch in a bad way she's a pathetic Center she's a sad case and yet God comes to her and God soothes her God comforts her God cares for her God brings her back to Abram and together they have this little baby boy and then I think finally there's an exhortation for us and I'll just quote Calvin here because I think it's so appropriate he says meanwhile when we see Abram who through so many years had bravely contended like an invincible combat ax and and again I think you know we read we read these narrative we meet together you know on Wednesday nights and we really lose the concept of time I mean he'd been ten years in Canaan right that's a long time it seems like a long time at least on this side of it I know we can all look back and say well you know ten years isn't that much but think about whatever age you are an ad ten that's probably thinking that's a long way from now I know time seems to speed up as you're older I have noticed that but but even then ten years seems like that's going to take a while so so there's this long period of time that's that's happening in Abram and Sarai and so we pop into attacks they are dare you I can't believe you do that well we do it all the time well we're faithless all the time we don't always believe the promises of God we don't always walk lockstep with the Word of God we don't always you know stick to the plan we we take things into our own hands as well so listen to Calvin meanwhile when we see Abram who through so many years had bravely contended like an invincible combatant and had surmounted so many obstacles now yielding in a single moment to temptation who among us will not fear for himself in similar danger therefore although we may have stood long and firmly in the faith we must pray daily that God would not lead us into temptation I think that's a great great reminder borne out of Genesis chapter 16 well that's closing the word of prayer father thank you for this chapter thank you for this section of narrative thank you for what you do in the life of Abraham and I pray that you would give us wisdom to learn the lessons as well to see how this fits in the larger scheme of redemptive history how the promised seed will come by the power of God Almighty and ultimately Jesus Christ will come from that line how we thank you for this and how we bless you that you have made us inheritors of the promises of God in him we ask that you would go with us now bless us in this coming week grant us grace to resist temptation and may you indeed protect us each and every day and lead us not into temptation and we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ a man