Genesis 16:13

And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(13) Thou God seest me.—Heb., Thou art El Boi, that is, a God of seeing. Not as Onkelos paraphrases it, “Thou art a God that sees all things,” but “Thou art a God that permits Himself to be seen.” For so Hagar proceeds herself to explain the name, Do not I still see after seeing? With all the love of an Oriental for dark sayings, Hagar plays upon the word “roï,” but her meaning is plain: “Do I not see, and therefore am alive, and not even blinded, nor bereft of sense and reason, though I have seen God.”

Benson Commentary

Genesis 16:13. And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her — That is, thus she made confession of his name, Thou God seest me — This should be, with her, his name for ever, and this his memorial, by which she would know him, and remember him while she lived, Thou God seest me. Thou seest my sorrow and affliction. This Hagar especially refers to. When we have brought ourselves into distress by our own folly, yet God has not forsaken us. Thou seest the sincerity of my repentance. Thou seest me, if in any instance I depart from thee. This thought should always restrain us from sin, and excite us to duty, Thou God seest me. Have I here also looked after him that seeth me? — Probably she knew not who it was that talked with her till he was departing, and then looked after him, with a reflection like that of the two disciples, Luke 24:31-32. Here also — Not only in Abram’s tent, and at his altar, but here also, in this wilderness: here, where I never expected it.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

16:7-16 Hagar was out of her place, and out of the way of her duty, and going further astray, when the Angel found her. It is a great mercy to be stopped in a sinful way, either by conscience or by providence. Whence comest thou? Consider that thou art running from duty, and the privileges thou wast blest with in Abram's tent. It is good to live in a religious family, which those ought to consider who have this advantage. Whither wilt thou go? Thou art running into sin; if Hagar return to Egypt, she will return to idol gods, and into danger in the wilderness through which she must travel. Recollecting who we are, would often teach us our duty. Inquiring whence we came, would show us our sin and folly. Considering whither we shall go, discovers our danger and misery. And those who leave their space and duty, must hasten their return, how mortifying soever it be. The declaration of the Angel, I will, shows this Angel was the eternal Word and Son of God. Hagar could not but admire the Lord's mercy, and feel, Have I, who am so unworthy, been favoured with a gracious visit from the Lord? She was brought to a better temper, returned, and by her behaviour softened Sarai, and received more gentle treatment. Would that we were always suitably impressed with this thought, Thou God seest me!

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

God of my vision - (El-roi). Here we have the same divine name as in Ishmael. "Have I even still seen" - continued to live and see the sun after having seen God? Beer-lahai-roi, the well of vision (of God) to the living. To see God and live was an issue contrary to expectation Exodus 33:20. The well is between Kadesh and Bered. The site of the latter has not been ascertained. R. Jonathan gives חוּצא chelûtsā' the Ἔλουσα elousa of Ptolemy, now el-Khulasa, about twelve miles south of Beersheba. Rowland finds the well at Moyle or Muweilah, still further south in the same direction. The birth of Ishmael is in the sixteenth year after Abram's call, and the eleventh after his arrival in Kenaan.

- The Sealing of the Covenant

1. שׁדי shaday, Shaddai, "Irresistible, able to destroy, and by inference to make, Almighty." שׁדד shādad "be strong, destroy." This name is found six times in Genesis, and thirty-one times in Job.

5. אברהם 'abrâhām, Abraham, from אברם 'abrām "high-father," and הם hām the radical part of המין hāmôn a "multitude," is obtained by a euphonic abbreviation אברהם 'abrâhām, "father of a multitude." The root רהם rhm is a variation of רום rvm; affording, however, a link of connection in sound and sense with the root המה hāmâh "hum, be tumultuous," from which comes המון hāmôn a "multitude." The confluence of the biliterals רם rm and הם hm yields the triliteral רהם rhm occurring in Arabic, though not elsewhere in our written Hebrew. The law of formation here noticed is interesting and real, though רהם rhm may not have been an actual result of it.

11. נמלתם nemaltem formed from נמל nāmal, "circumcised." מוּל mûl "cut, circumcise."

15. שׂרה śārâh Sarah, "princess."

19. יצהק yı̂tschāq Jitschaq, "laughing."

The present form of the covenant is not identical with the former. That referred chiefly to the land; this chiefly to the seed. That dwelt much on temporal things; this rises to spiritual things. That specifies only Abram; this mentions both Abram and Sarai. At the former period God formally entered into covenant with Abram ברית כרת kārat berı̂yt, Genesis 15:18); at present he takes the first step in the fufillment of the covenant ברית נתן nātan berı̂yt, seals it with a token and a perpetual ordinance, and gives Abram and Sarai new names in token of a new nature. There was an interval of fourteen years at least between the ratification of the covenant and the preparation for the fulfillment of its conditions, during which Abraham's faith had time to unfold.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

13. called the name—common in ancient times to name places from circumstances; and the name given to this well was a grateful recognition of God's gracious appearance in the hour of Hagar's distress.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Thou God seest me; thou hast been pleased to take notice and care of me, and graciously to manifest thyself unto me.

After him that seeth me, i.e. after that God whose eye is upon me for good. So she chides herself for her neglect of God, and of his providence, and that not only in her master’s house, but even here in the wilderness, where her desolate and miserable condition should have made her look after and call upon God for help. Or rather, these are words of admiration: q.d. Have I also here, i.e. in this desolate wilderness,

looked after him that seeth me, i.e. seen the face of my gracious God! That God should appear to me in my master’s house, where he used to manifest himself, was not strange; but that I should have such a favour here, that God should not only look upon me, but admit me to look upon him, and visibly appear to me after I had run away from him, and from my godly master, this was more than I could hope or expect! Others thus, Have I here seen after him that sees me? i.e. after the vision of him that hath appeared to me? i.e. Do I yet see and live after I have seen God? She wonders at it, because it was then the common opinion that an appearance of God to any person was a forerunner of death. See Genesis 32:30 Exodus 33:20 Judges 6:22 13:22. And seeing is here put for living, one function of life for life itself, as Exodus 24:11 Ecclesiastes 11:7,8. But the word seeing put by itself, as here it is, is neither in those places, nor elsewhere, used for living. And had that been her meaning, she would have expressed it plainly, as they do in the places alleged, and not have used so dark and dubious a metaphor, nor would have said, after him that sees me, but rather, after I have seen him.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her,.... Either she called on the name of the Lord, and prayed unto him, that he would forgive her sin and give her some fresh tokens of his love; and also gave him thanks for his gracious regards unto her, that he should look upon, and look after so mean a creature, and such a backslider as she was, and return her, and make such gracious promises to her; so the Targum of Onkelos,"she prayed in the name of the Lord;''and the Targum of Jonathan is,"and she confessed, or gave thanks before the Lord, whose Word spake unto her;''and the Jerusalem Targum takes in both prayer and praise,"and Hagar gave thanks, and prayed in the name of the Word of the Lord, who was revealed unto her:''in which may be observed the sense of the ancient synagogue, that this angel that appeared to Hagar, and talked with her, was the Word of the Lord, the eternal Logos, or Son of God: or else the sense is, that she gave the following name or epithet to the Lord, that vouchsafed to discourse with her:

thou God seest me; she perceived by experience his eye was upon her wherever she was, and saw all she did; saw all her transgressions, her contempt of her mistress, and her flight from her; saw her when she was at the fountain, and reproved and recalled her, and sent her back; saw all the workings of her heart, her repentance and sorrow for her sins; looked and smiled upon her, and gave her exceeding great and precious promises: he looked upon her, both with his eye of omniscience and providence, and with his eye of love, and grace, and mercy; yea, she was sensible that he was not only the God that saw her, but saw all things; was God omniscient, and therefore gives him this name under a thorough conviction and deep sense of his omniscience; and so Onkelos paraphrases the words,"thou art he, the God that sees all things;"

for she said, have I also here looked after him that seeth me? this she said within herself, either as blaming herself, that she should not look after God in this desolate place until now, and call upon him, and praise his name, whose eye was upon her, and had a concern for her, and care over her; and yet so ungrateful she had been as to neglect him, and not seek after him as it became her: or as wondering that here, in this wilderness, she should be favoured with the sight of God, and of his angel, whom she had seen in Abram's house; where to see him was not so strange and marvellous, but it was to have a sight of him in such a place, and under such circumstances as she was: or else as admiring that she should be alive after she had had such a vision of God, it being a notion that pretty much obtained, that none could see God and live, only his back parts were to be seen; wherefore others read the words, and they will bear such a version, "have not I also seen here the back parts of him that seeth me?" (y) so Moses did, Exodus 33:23.

(y) So Fagius.

Geneva Study Bible

And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, {g} Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?

(g) She rebukes her own dullness and acknowledges God's graces, who was present with her everywhere.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

13. the Lord that spake unto her] These words definitely identify the Angel with a manifestation of the Almighty; see Genesis 16:7.

Thou art a God that seeth] LXX Σὺ ὁ Θεὸς ὁ ἐφιδών με, Lat. Tu Deus qui vidisti me. Hagar designates the Divine Person who had spoken to her, by the name Êl, with the epithet, or attribute, of “Vision”: see note on Genesis 14:18. She says, “Thou art Êl roi,” i.e. “a God of Seeing,” or “of Vision.” The familiar rendering, “Thou God seest me,” is, with our present text, incorrect.

Have I even here looked after him that seeth me] According to this rendering, the emphasis is on the words “even here.” The meaning is, “have I, even here, in the wilderness, met God? and, though I knew Him not, yet, after He had gone, I perceived that it was He.” The awkwardness of the phrase, “after him,” is obvious. The difficulty of the passage was realized at a very early time: LXX καὶ γὰρ ἐνώπιον εἶδον ὀφθέντα μοι, Lat. profecto hic vidi posteriora videntis me (explaining the clause from Exodus 33:23).

On the assumption that the text is corrupt, Wellhausen conjectures “have I seen [God, and remained alive] after [my] vision,” reading Elohim for halôm, and inserting va-eḥi. This gives a good sense; but is rendered doubtful by the alteration of the unusual word halôm (= “even hither”).

Similarly, Ball conjectures “Have I even seen God, and survived?” (S.B.O.T.) It may be assumed that Hagar’s utterance denoted joy and thankfulness for having seen Jehovah, and for having lived afterwards. Cf. Genesis 32:30; Exodus 3:6; Exodus 19:21; Jdg 13:22; 1 Samuel 6:19.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 13. - And she called the name - not invoked the name (Chaldee, Lapide), though occasionally קָרָא שֵׁם has the same import as קָרָא בִשֵׁס (vide Deuteronomy 32:3) - of the Lord - Jehovah, thus identifying the Ma-leach Jehovah with Jehovah himself - that spake unto her, Thou God asset me. Literally, Thou (art) El-Roi, a God of seeing, meaning either the God of my vision, i.e. the God who revealest thyself in vision (Gesenius, Furst, Le Clerc, Dathe, Rosenmüller, Keil, Kalisch, Murphy), or, though less correctly, the God who sees all things, and therefore me (LXX., Vulgate, Calvin, Ainsworth; Candlish, Hofmann, Baumgarten, Delitzsch, Wordsworth). For she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me? Literally, Have I also hitherto seen? i.e. Do I also still live after the vision? (Onkelos,. Gesenius, Furst, Keil, Kalisch, Rosenmüller, Murphy). Genesis 16:13

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In the angel, Hagar recognised God manifesting Himself to her, the presence of Jehovah, and called Him, "Thou art a God of seeing; for she said, Have I also seen here after seeing?" Believing that a man must die if he saw God (Exodus 20:19; Exodus 33:20), Hagar was astonished that she had seen God and remained alive, and called Jehovah, who had spoken to her, "God of seeing," i.e., who allows Himself to be seen, because here, on the spot where this sight was granted her, after seeing she still saw, i.e., remained alive. From this occurrence the well received the name of "well of the seeing alive," i.e., at which a man saw God and remained alive. Beer-lahai-roi: according to Ewald, ראי חי is to be regarded as a composite noun, and ל as a sign of the genitive; but this explanation, in which ראי is treated as a pausal form of ראי, does not suit the form ראי with the accent upon the last syllable, which points rather to the participle ראה with the first pers. suffix. On this ground Delitzsch and others have decided in favour of the interpretation given in the Chaldee version, "Thou art a God of seeing, i.e., the all-seeing, from whose all-seeing eye the helpless and forsaken is not hidden even in the farthest corner of the desert." "Have I not even here (in the barren land of solitude) looked after Him, who saw me?" and Beer-lahai-roi, "the well of the Living One who sees me, i.e., of the omnipresent Providence." But still greater difficulties lie in the way of this view. It not only overthrows the close connection between this and the similar passages Genesis 32:31; Exodus 33:20; Judges 13:22, where the sight of God excites a fear of death, but it renders the name, which the well received from this appearance of God, an inexplicable riddle. If Hagar called the God who appeared to her ראי אל because she looked after Him whom she saw, i.e., as we must necessarily understand the word, saw not His face, but only His back; how could it ever occur to her or to any one else, to call the well Beer-lahai-roi, "well of the Living One, who sees me," instead of Beer-el-roi? Moreover, what completely overthrows this explanation, is the fact that neither in Genesis nor anywhere in the Pentateuch is God called "the Living One;" and throughout the Old Testament it is only in contrast with the dead gods of idols of the heathen, a contrast never thought of here, that the expressions חי אלהים and חי אל occur, whilst החי is never used in the Old Testament as a name of God. For these reasons we must abide by the first explanation, and change the reading ראי into ראי.

(Note: The objections to this change in the accentuation are entirely counterbalanced by the grammatical difficulty connected with the second explanation. If, for example, ראי is a participle with the 1st pers. suff., it should be written ראני (Isaiah 29:15) or ראני (Isaiah 47:10). ראי cannot mean, "who sees me," but "my seer," an expression utterly inapplicable to God, which cannot be supported by a reference to Job 7:8, for the accentuation varies there; and the derivation of ראי from ראי "eye of the seeing," for the eye which looks after me, is apparently fully warranted by the analogous expression לדה אשׁת in Jeremiah 13:21.)

With regard to the well, it is still further added that it was between Kadesh (Genesis 14:7) and Bered. Though Bered has not been discovered, Rowland believes, with good reason, that he has found the well of Hagar, which is mentioned again in Genesis 24:62; Genesis 25:11, in the spring Ain Kades, to the south of Beersheba, at the leading place of encampment of the caravans passing from Syria to Sinai, viz., Moyle, or Moilahi, or Muweilih (Robinson, Pal. i. p. 280), which the Arabs call Moilahi Hagar, and in the neighbourhood of which they point out a rock Beit Hagar. Bered must lie to the west of this.