GénesisCapítulo 16

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Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave girl named Hagar,

and Sarai said to Abram, "Look, the LORD has kept me from bearing children. Go to my slave girl; perhaps I can build a family through her." And Abram listened to Sarai.

So Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave girl, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. This was after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan.

He went to Hagar, and she conceived. But when she saw that she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.

Then Sarai said to Abram, "This wrong done to me is your fault. I put my slave girl in your arms, and when she saw that she was pregnant, she began to despise me. Let the LORD judge between you and me!"

Abram answered Sarai, "Your slave girl is in your hands. Do with her whatever you think best." So Sarai treated her harshly, and Hagar ran away from her.

The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness—the spring beside the road to Shur—

and he said, "Hagar, slave girl of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?" "I am running away from my mistress Sarai," she answered.

Then the angel of the LORD said to her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her authority."

And the angel of the LORD said to her, "I will greatly increase your descendants; they will be too many to count."

The angel of the LORD also said to her, "You are pregnant, and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard your cry of affliction. [Footnote: Ishmael means "God hears."]

He will be like a wild donkey of a man: his hand against everyone, and everyone's hand against him, and he will live at odds with all his kin."

So she gave a name to the LORD who had spoken to her: "You are the God who sees me," for she said, "Have I really seen him and lived, the One who sees me?"

That is why the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered. [Footnote: Beer-lahai-roi means "well of the Living One who sees me."]

Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram named the son she bore him Ishmael.

Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

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Resumen2

Capítulo 16

Main Theme: God sees and hears the outcasts – Hagar’s flight and God’s promise concerning Ishmael.

Content: Sarai, who is childless, gives her Egyptian slave woman Hagar to Abram so that she may have a child through her. When Hagar becomes pregnant, conflict arises between the women, and Hagar flees into the wilderness. There, the angel of the Lord meets her at a spring, commands her to return, and promises that her son Ishmael will become the ancestor of a numerous people. Hagar gives God the name "El Roi" (God who sees me), and she bears Ishmael when Abram is 86 years old.

Key Words/Images:

Hagar – Sarai’s Egyptian slave woman, who becomes the mother of Abram’s first son and the first person in the Bible to give God a name.
Ishmael – Means "God hears"; fulfillment of the promise that God heard Hagar’s distress.
El Roi – "The God who sees me"; Hagar’s confession that God sees the outcasts and suffering.
Be’er Lahai Roi – "The Well of the Living One who sees me"; the place where God met Hagar in the wilderness.

Contexto histórico

Historical and Cultural Context for Genesis 16

People

Hagar (הָגָר) is introduced as an Egyptian slave woman (שִׁפְחָה מִצְרִית) belonging to Sarai. Her name may be of Egyptian origin, or it could be associated with the Hebrew/Arabic word for "flight" or "foreigner". Being Egyptian possibly links her to Abram’s earlier stay in Egypt (Gen 12:10–20). Hagar is remarkable in a biblical context as the first person to receive a visit from the angel of the Lord and the only person in the Bible who gives God a name.

Ishmael (יִשְׁמָעֵאל) means "God hears" and becomes the ancestor of the Ishmaelites, a people who according to tradition lived as nomads in the desert regions south and east of Canaan (cf. Gen 25:12–18).

Places

The Way to Shur (דֶּרֶךְ שֽׁוּר) was a trade route leading from Canaan toward Egypt through the northern Sinai desert. The fact that Hagar is on this road shows she was fleeing back toward Egypt, her homeland. Shur is also mentioned as a desert area on the eastern side of Egypt.

Beer-lahai-roi (בְּאֵר לַחַי רֹאִי), which may mean "the well of the Living One who sees me" or "the well of the living one who sees", is located between Kadesh and Bered in the Negev desert. The place is mentioned again in connection with Isaac (Gen 24:62; 25:11).

Events and Customs

Surrogacy through a slave woman was a widespread practice in the ancient Near East. Texts from ancient Babylon and Nuzi (ca. 1500–1350 BCE) contain marriage contracts specifying that a childless wife should give her husband a slave woman to bear children. The Laws of Hammurabi (§144–147) regulate this practice, stating that a slave woman who bears children cannot be sold, but the wife retains authority over her. Sarai’s words "perhaps I may build up" (אִבָּנֶה) use a wordplay on the Hebrew word for "son" (בֵּן).

Change in status of a slave woman is reflected in the text by Hagar beginning to look down on her mistress (וַתֵּקַל גְּבִרְתָּהּ) after she becomes pregnant. This often created conflicts, as also documented in Mesopotamian legal texts. The Laws of Hammurabi allowed that a slave woman who acted arrogantly toward her childless mistress could be demoted back to slave labor.

Key Terms

The angel of the Lord (מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה) appears here for the first time in the Bible. This figure sometimes speaks as God’s messenger and at other times as God himself (verses 10–11, 13). The relationship between the angel and God himself is mysterious in the text and has been interpreted in various ways throughout history.

Gebirah (גְּבִרְתָּהּ), "her mistress", is a technical term for the relationship between a free woman and her slave woman. The same word is later used for the queen mother during the monarchy, showing the term’s connection to authority and rank.

Pereh adam (פֶּרֶא אָדָם), "a wild donkey of a man" (verse 12), describes Ishmael’s future way of life. The wild donkey was a symbol of freedom and independence in the desert, and the expression points toward a nomadic existence outside the control of established societies—not necessarily negative, but as a free and untamed lifestyle.

Personas4

Ishmael3 Hagar6 Sarah6 Abraham7

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Palabras clave10

Hagar — An Egyptian slave woman who was the servant of Sarah, Abraham's wife.
Sarah — Abraham's wife, who could not have children and therefore gave Hagar to Abraham to bear a descendant.
Abraham — The patriarch of the Jewish people, who made a covenant with God and received the promise of numerous descendants.
Pregnant — The condition in which a woman carries an unborn child in her womb.
Contempt — A feeling of strong disapproval or disgust toward someone or something.
Desert — A dry, inhospitable landscape with little vegetation and rainfall, where Hagar fled.
Angel — A divine messenger who conveys God's will and protection.
Ishmael — Son of Abraham and Hagar, and the ancestor of the Ishmaelites, an Arab people.
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