Wherefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
The well Beer-lahai-roi was Hagar's memorial that God saw her in the wilderness when she was driven out and supplied her need, and it lay between Kadesh and Bered in her story. It stands in the account of the birth of Ishmael, when Sarai's jealousy and conflict led to Hagar being sent away. Abram and Sarai had doubted that God would give them the promised son through Sarah, and in weakness of faith tried to fulfill the promise themselves by having Hagar bear Abram a child, bringing bondage and trouble. Hagar the bondwoman and Sarah the freewoman are the two covenants explained in Galatians 4:21-30, so Genesis 16 must be read with Genesis 15, Genesis 17, and Genesis 21:1-21: Ishmael was born through the flesh by human planning unto bondage, while Isaac was born by God's power through promise. God's seeing Hagar at the well is comfort to discouraged souls, that He sees not to condemn but to save and supply need, and that reliance on human schemes brings bondage to sin while trust in God's promise brings freedom in Christ by faith.
Well and Its Story
The well called Beer-lahai-roi stands as Hagar's memorial that God saw her in the wilderness when she thought she had been driven out to die, showing He had not forgotten her but supplied her need. Its seeing is comfort and not a deterrent to keep from sin, so discouraged souls may know that God sees them not to condemn but to save. The well lay between Kadesh and Bered and belongs to the account involving Hagar, not the children of Israel.
The verse belongs to the chapter that records the birth of Ishmael, Sarai's jealousy, and the sending away of Hagar and her son. It comes after God's covenant with Abram that his own literal seed would possess the land and after Abram's faith was counted to him for righteousness, and just before the Lord's next appearance to Abram. The passage in Genesis 16:11-16 tells who Ishmael is and when he lived. Ishmael was another of Abraham's sons and the ancestor from whom the Arabs came.
Faith Tested by Scheming
Abram and Sarai doubted that God would give them a son, the promised Seed through Sarah, and arranged for Hagar to bear Abram a child. Through human weakness and temporary lack of faith they attempted in their own way to do what God had promised to do for them, seeking to secure God's promised heir by human scheming instead of trusting God's promise and power. Sarah gave her bondwoman to Abraham, Hagar conceived Ishmael, and the arrangement led to conflict.
Hagar then despised Sarai, and jealousy followed until Hagar and her son were sent away. The chapter records the birth of Ishmael, Sarai's jealousy, and the sending away of Hagar and her son. The episode shows the harm, bondage, and trouble caused by trying to bring about God's promise through human schemes.
The well lies in the account of God's call to Abram and his sojourn and trials of faith, showing constant and remarkable evidences of God's overruling providences. Abraham did not come at once to fullness of faith but had the lesson come over and over. His distrust in taking Hagar contributed to his later severe test, which asks whether its readers are children of Abraham. The chapter is an example of a patriarchal violation of the marriage institution, but such a violation does not make marriage itself unsacred, just as any violation of the Sabbath would not make the Sabbath institution unsacred.
Covenants, Heirs, and Comfort
The account of Hagar the bondwoman and Sarah the freewoman in Abraham's family is where the subject of the two covenants begins, for the two women are the two covenants and the mothers of Abraham's two sons. To understand it Genesis 16 must be studied together with Genesis 15 and Genesis 17 and Genesis 21:1-21, the whole record from Genesis 15:18 onward that sets forth the old and the new covenants. That experience, in which Abraham through human weakness and temporary lack of faith attempted to do for himself in his own way what God had promised to do for him, is the one Paul compares with the old covenant and the new covenant in Galatians 4:22-31, and explains in Galatians 4:21-30, especially verse 24.
The incident belongs to the history Paul uses to explain the contrast between the child born through human effort and the child born through promise. Ishmael was Hagar's natural son, born through the flesh and through human planning rather than by God's promise, and since Hagar was a bondwoman and an Egyptian slave her child could only be born to bondage and trouble. Isaac by contrast was born contrary to human order by God's power and promise, so that descent from Abraham in the flesh did not make anyone an heir of the promise. Hagar being a slave and bearing a slave child types the old covenant at Mount Sinai, where Israel trusted in their own promises and works without power to fulfill them, leading to bondage rather than liberty. Sarah being a freewoman and bearing Isaac by God's promise types the new covenant resting wholly on God's eternal promises, giving freedom and liberty of the Spirit to all saved in Christ Jesus by faith.
The difference between Ishmael born through Hagar the maidservant and Isaac born through Sarah the freewoman illustrates the two covenants, testaments or dispensations, the typical and antitypical systems, and the two peoples, literal Israel and true Israel, or Jews and Gentiles, as representatives of the Lord and His work in two special periods of its development on earth. Since the Arabs descended from Ishmael are not reckoned as entitled to the promises made to Israel, this proves that physical descent from Abraham does not make a person an Israelite entitled to the promises, but some other principle besides lineal descent decides who are Israelites. The arrangement by which Sarah gave her bondwoman to Abraham and Hagar conceived Ishmael illustrates reliance on human schemes instead of trusting God's promise and power, and is used as a figure of bondage to sin. As Isaac was persecuted by Ishmael, so God's true children meet persecution from followers of men's schemes until God saves His children and casts out the rest.
The well named Beer-lahai-roi was Hagar's memorial that God saw her in the wilderness when she thought she was driven out to die, that He had not forgotten her but supplied her need. His seeing is therefore a message of comfort and not a deterrent to keep from sin, so discouraged souls can know God sees them not to condemn but to save.
The well Beer-lahai-roi was Hagar's memorial that God saw her in the wilderness when she was driven out and supplied her need, and it lay between Kadesh and Bered in her story. It stands in the account of the birth of Ishmael, when Sarai's jealousy and conflict led to Hagar being sent away. Abram and Sarai had doubted that God would give them the promised son through Sarah, and in weakness of faith tried to fulfill the promise themselves by having Hagar bear Abram a child, bringing bondage and trouble. Hagar the bondwoman and Sarah the freewoman are the two covenants explained in Galatians 4:21-30, so Genesis 16 must be read with Genesis 15, Genesis 17, and Genesis 21:1-21: Ishmael was born through the flesh by human planning unto bondage, while Isaac was born by God's power through promise. God's seeing Hagar at the well is comfort to discouraged souls, that He sees not to condemn but to save and supply need, and that reliance on human schemes brings bondage to sin while trust in God's promise brings freedom in Christ by faith.
Well and Its Story
The well called Beer-lahai-roi stands as Hagar's memorial that God saw her in the wilderness when she thought she had been driven out to die, showing He had not forgotten her but supplied her need. Its seeing is comfort and not a deterrent to keep from sin, so discouraged souls may know that God sees them not to condemn but to save. The well lay between Kadesh and Bered and belongs to the account involving Hagar, not the children of Israel.
The verse belongs to the chapter that records the birth of Ishmael, Sarai's jealousy, and the sending away of Hagar and her son. It comes after God's covenant with Abram that his own literal seed would possess the land and after Abram's faith was counted to him for righteousness, and just before the Lord's next appearance to Abram. The passage in Genesis 16:11-16 tells who Ishmael is and when he lived. Ishmael was another of Abraham's sons and the ancestor from whom the Arabs came.
Faith Tested by Scheming
Abram and Sarai doubted that God would give them a son, the promised Seed through Sarah, and arranged for Hagar to bear Abram a child. Through human weakness and temporary lack of faith they attempted in their own way to do what God had promised to do for them, seeking to secure God's promised heir by human scheming instead of trusting God's promise and power. Sarah gave her bondwoman to Abraham, Hagar conceived Ishmael, and the arrangement led to conflict.
Hagar then despised Sarai, and jealousy followed until Hagar and her son were sent away. The chapter records the birth of Ishmael, Sarai's jealousy, and the sending away of Hagar and her son. The episode shows the harm, bondage, and trouble caused by trying to bring about God's promise through human schemes.
The well lies in the account of God's call to Abram and his sojourn and trials of faith, showing constant and remarkable evidences of God's overruling providences. Abraham did not come at once to fullness of faith but had the lesson come over and over. His distrust in taking Hagar contributed to his later severe test, which asks whether its readers are children of Abraham. The chapter is an example of a patriarchal violation of the marriage institution, but such a violation does not make marriage itself unsacred, just as any violation of the Sabbath would not make the Sabbath institution unsacred.
Covenants, Heirs, and Comfort
The account of Hagar the bondwoman and Sarah the freewoman in Abraham's family is where the subject of the two covenants begins, for the two women are the two covenants and the mothers of Abraham's two sons. To understand it Genesis 16 must be studied together with Genesis 15 and Genesis 17 and Genesis 21:1-21, the whole record from Genesis 15:18 onward that sets forth the old and the new covenants. That experience, in which Abraham through human weakness and temporary lack of faith attempted to do for himself in his own way what God had promised to do for him, is the one Paul compares with the old covenant and the new covenant in Galatians 4:22-31, and explains in Galatians 4:21-30, especially verse 24.
The incident belongs to the history Paul uses to explain the contrast between the child born through human effort and the child born through promise. Ishmael was Hagar's natural son, born through the flesh and through human planning rather than by God's promise, and since Hagar was a bondwoman and an Egyptian slave her child could only be born to bondage and trouble. Isaac by contrast was born contrary to human order by God's power and promise, so that descent from Abraham in the flesh did not make anyone an heir of the promise. Hagar being a slave and bearing a slave child types the old covenant at Mount Sinai, where Israel trusted in their own promises and works without power to fulfill them, leading to bondage rather than liberty. Sarah being a freewoman and bearing Isaac by God's promise types the new covenant resting wholly on God's eternal promises, giving freedom and liberty of the Spirit to all saved in Christ Jesus by faith.
The difference between Ishmael born through Hagar the maidservant and Isaac born through Sarah the freewoman illustrates the two covenants, testaments or dispensations, the typical and antitypical systems, and the two peoples, literal Israel and true Israel, or Jews and Gentiles, as representatives of the Lord and His work in two special periods of its development on earth. Since the Arabs descended from Ishmael are not reckoned as entitled to the promises made to Israel, this proves that physical descent from Abraham does not make a person an Israelite entitled to the promises, but some other principle besides lineal descent decides who are Israelites. The arrangement by which Sarah gave her bondwoman to Abraham and Hagar conceived Ishmael illustrates reliance on human schemes instead of trusting God's promise and power, and is used as a figure of bondage to sin. As Isaac was persecuted by Ishmael, so God's true children meet persecution from followers of men's schemes until God saves His children and casts out the rest.
The well named Beer-lahai-roi was Hagar's memorial that God saw her in the wilderness when she thought she was driven out to die, that He had not forgotten her but supplied her need. His seeing is therefore a message of comfort and not a deterrent to keep from sin, so discouraged souls can know God sees them not to condemn but to save.