Genesis 16:13

16:7-16 Hagar was out of her place, and out of the way of her duty, and going further astray, when the Angel found her. It is a great mercy to be stopped in a sinful way, either by conscience or by providence. Whence comest thou? Consider that thou art running from duty, and the privileges thou wast blest with in Abram's tent. It is good to live in a religious family, which those ought to consider who have this advantage. Whither wilt thou go? Thou art running into sin; if Hagar return to Egypt, she will return to idol gods, and into danger in the wilderness through which she must travel. Recollecting who we are, would often teach us our duty. Inquiring whence we came, would show us our sin and folly. Considering whither we shall go, discovers our danger and misery. And those who leave their space and duty, must hasten their return, how mortifying soever it be. The declaration of the Angel, I will, shows this Angel was the eternal Word and Son of God. Hagar could not but admire the Lord's mercy, and feel, Have I, who am so unworthy, been favoured with a gracious visit from the Lord? She was brought to a better temper, returned, and by her behaviour softened Sarai, and received more gentle treatment. Would that we were always suitably impressed with this thought, Thou God seest me!

Either she called on the name of the Lord, and prayed unto him, that he would forgive her sin and give her some fresh tokens of his love; and also gave him thanks for his gracious regards unto her, that he should look upon, and look after so mean a creature, and such a backslider as she was, and return her, and make such gracious promises to her; so the Targum of Onkelos,"she prayed in the name of the Lord;''and the Targum of Jonathan is,"and she confessed, or gave thanks before the Lord, whose Word spake unto her;''and the Jerusalem Targum takes in both prayer and praise,"and Hagar gave thanks, and prayed in the name of the Word of the Lord, who was revealed unto her:''in which may be observed the sense of the ancient synagogue, that this angel that appeared to Hagar, and talked with her, was the Word of the Lord, the eternal Logos, or Son of God: or else the sense is, that she gave the following name or epithet to the Lord, that vouchsafed to discourse with her: thou God seest me; she perceived by experience his eye was upon her wherever she was, and saw all she did; saw all her transgressions, her contempt of her mistress, and her flight from her; saw her when she was at the fountain, and reproved and recalled her, and sent her back; saw all the workings of her heart, her repentance and sorrow for her sins; looked and smiled upon her, and gave her exceeding great and precious promises: he looked upon her, both with his eye of omniscience and providence, and with his eye of

Genesis 16:13 . And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her — That is, thus she made confession of his name, Thou God seest me — This should be, with her, his name for ever, and this his memorial, by which she would know him, and remember him while she lived, Thou God seest me. Thou seest my sorrow and affliction. This Hagar especially refers to. When we have brought ourselves into distress by our own folly, yet God has not forsaken us. Thou seest the sincerity of my repentance. Thou seest me, if in any instance I depart from thee. This thought should always restrain us from sin, and excite us to duty, Thou God seest me. Have I here also looked after him that seeth me? — Probably she knew not who it was that talked with her till he was departing, and then looked after him, with a reflection like that of the two disciples, Luke 24:31-32 . Here also — Not only in Abram’s tent, and at his altar, but here also, in this wilderness: here, where I never expected it.

(13) Thou God seest me. —Heb., Thou art El Boi, that is, a God of seeing. Not as Onkelos paraphrases it, “Thou art a God that sees all things,” but “Thou art a God that permits Himself to be seen.” For so Hagar proceeds herself to explain the name, Do not I still see after seeing? With all the love of an Oriental for dark sayings, Hagar plays upon the word “ roï,” but her meaning is plain: “Do I not see, and therefore am alive, and not even blinded, nor bereft of sense and reason, though I have seen God.”

13 . the Lord that spake unto her ] These words definitely identify the Angel with a manifestation of the Almighty; see Genesis 16:7 . Thou art a God that seeth ] LXX Σὺ ὁ Θεὸς ὁ ἐφιδών με , Lat. Tu Deus qui vidisti me . Hagar designates the Divine Person who had spoken to her, by the name Êl , with the epithet, or attribute, of “Vision”: see note on Genesis 14:18 . She says, “Thou art Êl roi ,” i.e. “a God of Seeing,” or “of Vision.” The familiar rendering, “Thou God seest me,” is, with our present text, incorrect. Have I even here looked after him that seeth me ] According to this rendering, the emphasis is on the words “even here.” The meaning is, “have I, even here, in the wilderness, met God? and, though I knew Him not, yet, after He had gone, I perceived that it was He.” The awkwardness of the phrase, “after him,” is obvious. The difficulty of the passage was realized at a very early time: LXX καὶ γὰρ ἐνώπιον εἶδον ὀφθέντα μοι , Lat. profecto hic vidi posteriora videntis me (explaining the clause from Exodus 33:23 ). On the assumption that the text is corrupt, Wellhausen conjectures “have I seen [God, and remained alive] after [my] vision,” reading Elohim for halôm , and inserting va-eḥi . This gives a good sense; but is rendered doubtful by the alteration of the unusual word halôm (= “even hither”).

Similarly, Ball conjectures “Have I even seen God, and survived?” ( S.B.O.T. ) It may be assumed that Hagar’s utterance denoted joy and thankfulness for having seen Jehovah, and for having lived afterwards. Cf. Genesis 32:30 ; Exodus 3:6 ; Exodus 19:21 ; Jdg 13:22 ; 1 Samuel 6:19 .

Thou God seest me; thou hast been pleased to take notice and care of me, and graciously to manifest thyself unto me. After him that seeth me, i.e. after that God whose eye is upon me for good. So she chides herself for her neglect of God, and of his providence, and that not only in her master’s house, but even here in the wilderness, where her desolate and miserable condition should have made her look after and call upon God for help. Or rather, these are words of admiration: q.d. Have I also here, i.e. in this desolate wilderness, looked after him that seeth me, i.e. seen the face of my gracious God! That God should appear to me in my master’s house, where he used to manifest himself, was not strange; but that I should have such a favour here, that God should not only look upon me, but admit me to look upon him, and visibly appear to me after I had run away from him, and from my godly master, this was more than I could hope or expect! Others thus, Have I here seen after him that sees me? i.e. after the vision of him that hath appeared to me? i.e. Do I yet see and live after I have seen God? She wonders at it, because it was then the common opinion that an appearance of God to any person was a forerunner of death. See Genesis 32:30 Exodus 33:20 Judges 6:22 13:22 . And seeing is here put for living, one function of life for life itself, as Exodus 24:11 Ecclesiastes 11:7,8 .

But the word seeing put by itself, as here it is, is neither in those places, nor elsewhere, used for living. And had that been her meaning, she would have expressed it plainly, as they do in the places alleged, and not have used so dark and dubious a metaphor, nor would have said, after him that sees me, but rather, after I have seen him.

Verse 13. - And she called the name - not invoked the name (Chaldee, Lapide), though occasionally קָרָא שֵׁם has the same import as קָרָא בִשֵׁס ( vide Deuteronomy 32:3 ) - of the Lord - Jehovah , thus identifying the Ma- leach Jehovah with Jehovah himself - that spake unto her, Thou God asset me . Literally, Thou (art) El-Roi, a God of seeing , meaning either the God of my vision, i.e. the God who revealest thyself in vision (Gesenius, Furst, Le Clerc, Dathe, Rosenmüller, Keil, Kalisch, Murphy), or, though less correctly, the God who sees all things, and therefore me (LXX., Vulgate, Calvin, Ainsworth; Candlish, Hofmann, Baumgarten, Delitzsch, Wordsworth). For she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me? Literally, Have I also hitherto seen? i.e. Do I also still live after the vision? (Onkelos,. Gesenius, Furst, Keil, Kalisch, Rosenmüller, Murphy). Genesis 16:13