Genesis 16:10-16
New International Version
10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.” 11 The angel of the Lord also said to her: “You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael,[a] for the Lord has heard of your misery. 12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward[b] all his brothers.”13 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[c] the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi[d]; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered. 15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
Friday - July 16
Some people think that this passage shows that Jews, Christians, and Muslims all come from “father” Abram. That would take way too much space to unpack. Instead, what is abundantly clear is that God cares deeply for all people! God promised to bless the nations through the child of Abram and Sarai because God loves the nations, too! God sees the suffering of Hagar, the “outsider.” He hears her cries of suffering. Hagar was an Egyptian and later, after the Exodus, this story would be a reminder to Abram’s descendants, the Israelites, that God loves “outsiders” like the Egyptians who had enslaved them! It is a reminder that even “insiders” can be sinful and abusive like Sarai. In other words, God loves sinners and Jesus, the “seed” of Abram, came to die to forgive us all.