Torah Mosheh 1:
Beresheet / בראשית
Genesis Chapter 16
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16:1
Now Sarai (שׂרי) Avram (אברם)'s wife had
bore him no children: and she had an
handmaid, an Mitzrites, whose name [was] Hagar (הגר).
16:2
And Sarai (שׂרי) said to Avram (אברם):
"Hinei now, YHWH (יהוה) has restrained me from bearing: I pray you, go in to my maid; it
may be that I may obtain children by her. And Avram (אברם) listened
to the voice of Sarai (שׂרי).
16:3
And Sarai (שׂרי) Avram (אברם)'s wife took Hagar (הגר) her maid the Mitzrites,
after Avram (אברם) had dwelt ten years in eretz Kenaan, and gave
her to her husband Avram (אברם) to be his wife.
16:4
And he went in to Hagar (הגר), and she conceived: and when she
saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her
eyes.
16:5
And Sarai (שׂרי) said to Avram (אברם):
"My wrong [be] upon you: I have
given my maid into your bosom; and when she saw that she had
conceived, I was despised in her eyes: YHWH (יהוה) judge between me and you."
16:6
But Avram (אברם) said to Sarai (שׂרי), Hinei, your maid [is] in your
hand; do to her as it pleases you. And when Sarai (שׂרי) dealt
hardly with her, she fled from her face.
“Malach,” a Divine
Messenger
16:7
And the malak (מלאך) YHWH (יהוה) found her by a fountain of mayim
in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.
16:8 And He said, “Hagar (הגר), Sarai's maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?” And she said, I flee from the face of my
mistress Sarai (שׂרי).
16:9
And the malak (מלאך) YHWH (יהוה) said to her, Return to your mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.
16:10
And the malak (מלאך) YHWH (יהוה) said to her, I will multiply your zera (descendants) exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for
multitude.
16:11
And the malak (מלאך) YHWH (יהוה) said to her, Hinei, you are with child, and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Yishma'el (ישׁמעאל); because YHWH (יהוה) have heard your affliction.
16:12
And he will be a wild man; his hand [will be] against
every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell
in the presence of all his brethren.
16:13
And she called the Name of YHWH (יהוה) that spoke to her, You Elohim (אלהים) sees me: for she said, Have I also here looked after
him that sees me?
16:14
Wherefore the well was called Be'er LaChai Roi (בּאר לחי ראי) ; Hinei, [it
is] between Kadesh and Bered.
16:15
And Hagar (הגר) bare Avram (אברם) a son: and Avram (אברם) called his son's
name, which Hagar (הגר) bore, Yishma'el (ישׁמעאל).
16:16
And Avram (אברם) [was] eighty and six years old, when Hagar (הגר)
bore Yishma'el (ישׁמעאל) to Avram (אברם).
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בּאר לחי ראי Beer Lachai Roi “well of the living One
that sees me,” a place in the desert: - Beer-lahai-roi (3).
There were three accounts of this place
being mention:
Be'er
laChai Roi (3 Occurrences
in Beresheet) (Well of living one בּאר לחי ראי)
16:14 Therefore the well was called Be'er
laChai Roi. Behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
24:62 Yitzchak came from the way of Be'er
laChai Roi, for he lived in the eretz haNegev.
25:11 It happened after the death of Abraham that Elohim blessed Yitzchak, his son. Yitzchak lived by
Be'er laChai Roi
Beresheet 16:14; Hagar ran
away from Sarah
Beresheet 24:62
(Yitzchak came from the way of Be'er
laChai Roi after the Akidah) and
Beresheet
25:11 after death of Avraham Yitzchak lived by Be'er
laChai Roi
Hagar was the daughter of Pharoah
bar Nimrod (Targum). When
Avraham and Sarah went to Egypt, their teachings about G-d and His Laws
made such an impact on the people that Pharoah said, “It is better for
Hagar that she be a servant in this house than a mistress of her own!”
Hagar was taken in by Sarah, which is a testimony to her great piety
and holiness, as another princess, Timnah, who said the same thing, was
turned away because of her character deficiencies. Sarah loved Hagar
very much and treated her as her own daughter.
Avraham and Sarah had no children. Avraham, because he loved Sarah,
refused to take another wife even after Sarah went through menopause.
Sarah convinced Avraham to marry Hagar so that the family of Avraham
could be built up through Hagar.
Hagar bore Avraham a son, Yishmael, whom Avraham loved very much.
Avraham prayed for Yishmael and G-d blessed him. However, Yishmael was
wild as a youth. Therefore he and his mother were exiled for several
years while Avraham lived in the land of the Pelistim. YYishmael and
Hagar were tended by angels (another testimont of their great
holiness). Yishmael repented and came back to his father sometime before
the Binding of Yitzchak (akiedah). After the akiedah, Sarah died. Then
Yitzchak went and sought out Hagar, who had never remarried, and brought
her back to his father. She was renamed Keturah (Incense: because her
deeds had become as pleasing as keturot) and lived the rest of her life
piously. She bore Avraham six more sons. Both Keturah and Yishmael died
righteous.
And Hagar praised and prayed in the name of the Word [Memra] Of YHWH who had revealed Himself to her…
(Jerusalem Targum Gen. 16:3)
Of this very incident Philo writes:
But Hagar flees out of shame. And a proof of this is, that the angel,
that is the WORD of Elohim, met her, with the intent to recommend her what
she ought to do, and to guide her in her return to her mistress's
house. For he encouraged her, and said to her: "Adonay has heard
the cry of your humiliation," which you uttered, not out of fear, nor
yet out of hatred. For the one is the feeling of an ignoble soul, and
the other of one which loves contention, but under the influence of
that copy of temperance and modesty, shame.
(On Flight and Finding (5))