Genesis 21: Hope when all hope is lost

Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.

When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she began to sob.

God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.  Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”

Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer.  While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.

Genesis 21:14-21



Hagar owes her son and her situation to Abraham and Sarah's failure to trust in God.  Her situation is certainly wretched: jealousy leading to family breakdown, she finds herself with just enough food and water to last her a short time, and eventually faces almost certain death from thirst.  The whole situation, although hardly Hagar's fault initially, speaks of the mess that is caused when humanity does not follow God's order of things.  Hagar is not innocent in the relationship breakdown, looking down on Sarah once she gives birth (Genesis 6:14), just showing how sin spreads to touch everyone who comes into contact.

And yet, in this passage when Hagar and Ishmael face impending death, God shows his mercy and blessing, because God's plans are so much bigger than human failure; God's mercy stretches over all the world, and he is the God of all nations.

There is an awe-inspiring God-view here, where we are able to zoom out from the dire and wretched situation of Hagar and Ishmael and see that God has a bigger plan at work.  What seems like two now-very-insignificant people, is actually the future of entire nations hanging in the balance.  God does indeed make Ishmael's descendants into great nations - the Moabites and the Ammonites - and they too are part of God's plan.  These other nations surrounding Israel that we will see as the story progresses are not just there by accident - God is the God of those nations too, whether they acknowledge him or not.  It is humbling and comforting in equal measure to know that God is God over all - he is Lord over all.

And yet we also see the other side to this story - the tenderness of God as he cares for Hagar in the desert.  This servant woman, despised by her mistress, likely of very little spiritual learning or understanding, is cared for by the creator of the universe himself.   Where there is shame and sorrow, the Father brings hope - hope of a future.  Where there is thirst and death, God brings water - tending to her physical needs.

Our God is for the Hagars - those on the edges that everyone else has despised.  And very often, he works great plans through such people - just to show us what kind of a God he is.  Many years later there would be another young woman, little more than a girl, facing potential shame and ostracism, to whom God would bear a son.  That son would also be the head of a great nation - that of God's people in eternity.  The woman was Mary and the son was Jesus.

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