Gen 16:8-12 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Gen 16:8-12: 16:8-12 The angel’s rhetorical questions encouraged Hagar to pour out her heart to God. When she did, God commanded her to return and submit (16:9 ), promising that her son would have innumerable descendants. The angel of the Lord never referred to Hagar as Abram’s wife, only as Sarai’s servant. She would have Abram’s child, but Ishmael was not central to God’s covenant with Abram.

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‏ Genesis 16:8-12

Summary for Gen 16:8-12: 16:8-12 ^a The angel’s rhetorical questions encouraged Hagar to pour out her heart to God. When she did, God commanded her to return and submit (16:9 ^b), promising that her son would have innumerable descendants. The angel of the Lord never referred to Hagar as Abram’s wife, only as Sarai’s servant. She would have Abram’s child, but Ishmael was not central to God’s covenant with Abram.
Summary for Gen 16:10-12: 16:10-12 ^c Hagar’s son would become the father of a great but wild and hostile nation living in the Arabian Desert as perennial enemies of Israel (cp. 25:18 ^d). God blessed Ishmael as Abram’s descendant, but not as the line chosen to carry on the covenant. That blessing was reserved for Abram’s chosen heir.
16:11 ^e Names in Genesis often capture the message of a passage and aid the remembrance of the events and their significance in the history of the faith. The name Ishmael, which means “God hears,” commemorates that the Lord ... heard Hagar’s cry of distress (see also study note on 16:14-15). This name would have greatly comforted Hagar; God listened to her prayers and acknowledged her complaint.