Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said.
Genesis 16:1-2 (NIV)
The text is quite clear. We are not called to use the gifts of Empire to try to force God’s blessing into our lives.
It’s not by our efforts, nor the might of Empire that moves God to keep His promises.
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 the One who sees me.” That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
Genesis 16:13-14
Translators and our concordances provide us with the plain and literal meanings of things, which is useful.
In Genesis 16, “Beer Lahai Roi” can be understood as the “well of the Living One seeing me.” The text basically explains itself in the passage.
But the Rabbis point out something else interesting here.
“Beer” (or Be-ayr) is well, or pit, or spring of water.
“Hai/Chai” means “living one,” like souls or living beings.
“Roi” means to see, but also the way a prophet sees. Just not eyeball vision, but like… having a vision.
So we get this “well of the living one who sees.”
Here it is in Hebrew: בְּאֵר, followed by חַי, and then רֹאֶה combined into this one compound word: בְּאֵר לַחַי רֹאִי
Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!
1 Samuel 25:6 (NIV)
Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra says the phrase “beer l’chai” is like the phrase “ko l’chai,” which we read in 1 Samuel 25. It’s a cheer of blessing, which means “To life!” or “So may you live!”
If you’ve studied Hebrew or listen to Jewish people, you may have heard the phrase “lechaim” (or “L’Chaim”) which contains the same phrase as a cheer: “To life!” It’s the same thing.
That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
Genesis 16:14 (NIV)
So in this verse, ibn Ezra directs us to this phrase: “It is still there.”
The well was so called because the Ishmaelites held annual festivities at this well. It is still in existence and is called the well of zamum.
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 16:14b
In his commentary, he writes that even at his time (ibn Ezra lived from 1089 to 1167), it was common knowledge that the sons of Ishmael once held festivities there as an annual tradition.
He reasons that the phrase “l’chai roi” was a cheer of blessing, meaning “to seeing life NEXT YEAR!”
So the name of the well can also be understood as a promise to Hagar that Ismael will be born next year: it’s in the next year that you’ll see the promised life. L’chai Roi.
BEER-LAHAI. Beer lahai means the well of him who will be alive next year.
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 16:14a
The astute student of Scripture should get goosebumps here.
But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.”
Genesis 17:21 (NIV)
In our typical speed-run through scripture, we read that God later tells Abram that Ishmael is not the son of the covenant, but “by this time next year,” the covenant with Isaac will be established.
But this “life by next year” was already given to Hagar.
This doesn’t take away from Isaac or Abram and the covenant God makes with them. But what it does is firmly establish that God cares deeply for the oppressed: those who suffer will get God’s attention first. God will not abandon those who cry out to him due to their afflication.
In due time.
L’chaim.
“Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.
Genesis 16:6 (NIV)
When Sarai “mistreated” Hagar, the Egytian slave, the word is עָנָה (ahnah). It means “to afflict.”
So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.
Exodus 1:11 (NIV)
It’s the same word that describes how the Egyptians treated their Israelite slaves.
And in both cases, God heard the cry of the afflicted.
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
Matthew 7:1-3 (NIV)
The teaching about “not judging others” is a bit more nuanced than simply “don’t judge.”
If you ask God to judge between you and another, you’re putting yourself in a rather precarious position. You’d better be righteous.
Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”
Genesis 16:5 (NIV)
Imagine a heavenly court whereby if you bring an accusation against someone and demand that the court determine who is at fault, the FIRST thing the court does is examine you, the accuser.
At any rate, we have a rule that if someone calls upon G-d to determine if concerning an accusation leveled against a fellow human being he or she had been correct, the first thing the heavenly tribunal does is to examine if the accuser has led a blameless life himself or herself.
Chizkuni on Genesis 16:5:4
And if they find you to be unrighteous or guilty of anything, the first thing they do is punish YOU for your sins. Only then will they address the accusation.
That is what the teaching is that informs us of this “do not judge” teaching. It is a warning.
If faults are found in the accuser’s life, he is judged, i.e. punished first, before the accusation is examined in greater detail.
Chizkuni on Genesis 16:5:4
In the case of Sarai, we want to blame her for lack of faith, or perhaps we want to apply a modern standard and accuse her of causing infidelity. But notice that God does not discipline her here.
But also, what is her accusation, exactly?
But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
Genesis 15:2-3 (NIV)
The rabbis suggest that in Genesis 15, when Abram prayed for a child, he prayed only for himself and not for his wife. Remember: she was the one who was barren. She is the one who needed prayer.
She accuses him of being selfish in his prayer, and she is vindicated.
There are so many lessons to learn here, if we have the ears to hear.
So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.
Genesis 16:3 (NIV)
The reason I’m not convinced that Abram was meant to kill the animals that God told him to bring in Genesis 15 is because of what we read in Genesis 16.
The Midrash and Jewish commentary say that the “10 years” in Genesis 16 refers to the time after which a man may leave his wife who bears no children. If a man could not “be fruitful and multiply” with his wife, he could divorce her and find another woman.
“This was the custom” is the explanation. And while that explains the actions, it doesn’t tell us that this is what God demands. Sarai’s offer of her concubine was to appease the custom.
God can bless us, but He does so in spite of our customs, not because of them.
On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying,
“To your descendants I have given this land,
From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.
Genesis 15:18 (NIV)
When the scriptures tell us that God “made a covenant” with Abram in Genesis 15:18, the word “made” is the hebrew word כָּרַת (kaw-rath). It means to cut down. The idiom is to “cut a covenant.”
1. to cut off
– 1. to cut off a body part, behead
2. to cut down
3. to hew
4. to cut or make a covenant
H3772: כָּרַת (kāraṯ)
I wonder if scripture gives this because God is responding to Abram’s action.
So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.
Genesis 15:9-10 (NIV)
It seems very sad to me that Abram cut up the animals. If you look closely, God did not ask him to do this.
As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.
Genesis 15:15 (NASB)
The English renders the Hebrew word “bo” here as “go,” and it makes the place of the dead seem far away, like a distant place to arrive after a long journey through life.
But the rabbis say this word more often means “come.” As in, even in death there is nearness to God.
Then [God] said to him, “I am יהוה who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to assign this land to you as a possession.”
Genesis 15:7 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS 2006)
The Midrash contains a fascinating story about Abram, suggesting that Nimrod (king of Babylon) threw Abram into a blazing furnace for not worshipping his idol. “Ur” means “flame.”
He was in the fire, but not consumed by it.
The rabbis say that Genesis 15:7 is the first time God tells Abram His name.
Later, when God meets Moses, He presents His name and another fire, this time on a bush that is not consumed.
Perhaps this is how Moses remembers the covenant God made with Abram: these are intentionally linked stories. God preserves us, even through the fire that should consume us.
But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”
Genesis 15:2 (NIV)
Abram has a servant named Eliezer. His name is a compound word, comprised of El (God) and ezer (help). It means “God is my help.”
This is the same servant who later will find a bride for Isaac.