Sermon Text: Genesis 16

Gen. 16:1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar.
Gen. 16:2 And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children* by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.
Gen. 16:3 So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife.
Gen. 16:4 And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress.*
Gen. 16:5 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!”
Gen. 16:6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.
Gen. 16:7 The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur.
Gen. 16:8 And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.”
Gen. 16:9 The angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.”
Gen. 16:10 The angel of the LORD also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.”
Gen. 16:11 And the angel of the LORD said to her,
“Behold, you are pregnant
and shall bear a son.
You shall call his name Ishmael,*
because the LORD has listened to your affliction.
Gen. 16:12 He shall be a wild donkey of a man,
his hand against everyone
and everyone’s hand against him,
and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”
Gen. 16:13 So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,”* for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.”*
Gen. 16:14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi;* it lies between Kadesh and Bered.
Gen. 16:15 And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.
Gen. 16:16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.