Article # 3 in series: "The Amazing Circle of Grace"

GRACE IN HIS INSTRUCTIONS

“And she called the name of Yahuwah[i] that spoke unto her, El Ro`iy: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that sees me?” (Genesis 16:13, Cepher[ii]).

THE GOD OF THE BIBLE IS THE GOD WHO SEES ME. “And there is not a created thing that is not manifest in His sight; but all things are naked and laid bare before the eyes of Him to Whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13, APV). “The names of God in the Scriptures reveal to us who God really is.”[iii] God sees everything![iv] He has no bad eyesight. God is paying attention to me. He watches everything that we do and what is done to us.

Let’s pause in our study of “grace in the eyes of God” to consider the pervasive eyes of God over His creation and look at an illustration of when grace (favor) was not expressed with His seeing a person, but instructions were.

A LOWLY SLAVE GIRL. Abram had been in Egypt for a while where he acquired wealth and slaves from Pharaoh because of Sarai’s beauty (Genesis 12:16). This may have been when and where the maid-servant Hagar joins Abram’s company. If so, then it was at this time she was acquired by Abram’s wife Sarai for her slave attendant.

Two thousand years before the New Testament birth of Jesus, Sarai, the barren wife of Abram, gave her slave Hagar “unto [Abram’s] bosom” which was compatible with a Mesopotamian custom authorized by its current Hammurabi Code[v] (Genesis 16:5). When Sarai saw that Hagar was with child, she discerned that Hagar despised her “in her eyes.” Abram gave Sarai permission to deal with the slave according to Sarai’s wishes. Sarai then maltreated [Grc[vi]] Hagar (v. 6). Consequently, Hagar fled from Sarai. An angel of the Lord found her by a fountain in the wilderness on the way to Shur.

'And he said, "Hagar, Sarai's maidservant, where did you come from? And where will you go?" And she said, "I flee from the presence of my mistress Sarai." And the angel of the LORD said to her, "Return to your mistress and submit yourself under her hands." And the angel of the LORD said to her, "I will multiply your seed exceedingly, so that they shall not be numbered for multitude." And the angel of the LORD said to her, "Behold, you are with child, and shall bear a son. And you shall call his name Ishmael because the LORD has heard your affliction”’ (Genesis 16:8-11, AFV).[vii]

THE DESCRIPTIVE NAME, EROIY. “And she called the name of the LORD Who had spoken to her, You are a God of Seeing! For she said, ‘Even here have I seen Him that sees me?’ Therefore, the well was called The Well of the Living One Seeing Me.” (Genesis 16:13, 14a, AFV).

In this context we witness how comprehensively hearing and seeing exists with God. God was aware of what was happening to a neglected and mistreated slave girl. She had been used (given as a slave by Pharaoh?) and now she was abused although we may think she was partially responsible. I say partially because as a slave she was required to obey even as God told her in Genesis 16:9.

It is here that we reason that Hagar was also in disobedience. She was not where she was supposed to be. Nothing is said about God having “grace in His eyes.” Rather, “And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.”

GOD’S GRACE? We know what she had to do to be pleasing to God (AND therefore to obtain His grace). “Go back.” “And submit.” She did both. She obeyed God; eventually, within a few years, she was sent away from Sarah. On the surface it appears to be a sad and uncaring ending. 1. But in actuality, Hagar and her son Ishmael are FINALLY blessed with freedom. She does not have to “go back” or be in subjection to anyone anymore. The circumstances warranted Abraham to send her away. 2. God does not abandon her but provides for her and the boy on their road to this freedom and greatness. God had fulfilled His promise to her.

Ishmael marries an Egyptian in Paran which economy is bordered by the Red sea and there is an important Arabian trade route running East to West through this area. Ishmael also as promised had twelve sons/ twelve tribes and died at 137 years of age (Genesis 25:16). It is thought historically that the nomadic Bedouin and Arabs are Hagar’s descendants.[viii]

THE SAME GOD IN THE OLD AND THE NEW. There are those that declare that the God of the Old Testament is different from that of the New. Whereas God was a severe god in the Old Testament, they say, we have a loving and good God in the New. However, the apostle Paul says in the New that the God he preached was both. “Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise, thou also shalt be cut off” (Romans 11:22).

THE STORY OF HAGAR IS FULL OF GOD’S GOODNESS. It is interesting that the location of this compassion text about God was not in the New Testament but in the Old Testament Genesis. She was a nobody, a foreign slave girl from Egypt. Yet the Lord of Heaven saw her in her distress, instructed her, provided for her need, and blessed her son. Hagar gave the name El Roi to God, which means “the God who sees.” Her story reminds us that, “no matter who we are or where we are, the Lord God sees us and cares about us.”[ix] Was there “grace’ in His eyes for Hagar? The Bible does not use the word here, but we do know that He told her what would please Him. “Go back and submit.” Her role in the family structure was being a servant to Sarai. Coupled with this is the favor in a promise similar to that grace expressed to Abraham.

A fledgling preacher might incidentally preach God as being like a Santa Claus who “sees you when you are sleeping; … he knows when you’ve been good or bad, so be good, for goodness’ sake!”[x] But God is greater than this threatening entity. God is and lives up to His Biblical names: in this case as this one el roi: “The God that Sees Me.” He always sees us as He always hears us ready with compassion just like He did this lowly slave girl. God’s love and concern for us is greater than that of any being; He is always concerned about His creation even in this state of a sin-riddled world (John 3:16).[xi] He teaches us to escape the pollutions of this world (e.g., Acts 15:20).

SUMMARY. How did Abraham contribute to God’s grace (Romans 4:4)? Was it not by heartening to His instructions? This is called faith. At times Abraham’s works were not of the white sheep sort. For examples, he authorized his wife to mistreat Hagar and he permitted his wife to give Hagar into his bosom. But Abraham did eventually as God specifically instructed him. Sarah gave birth to Isaac, though in their old age, as instructed. “And he, not being weak in the faith, considered not his own body, already having become dead, being about one hundred years old, nor did he consider the deadness of Sarah's womb; And he did not doubt the promise of God through unbelief; rather, he was strengthened in the faith, giving glory to God; For he was fully persuaded that what He has promised, He is also able to do” (Romans 4:19-21). “Therefore, it is of faith, that it might be by grace” (Romans 4:16).

CONCLUSION. GRACE IS IN THE INSTRUCTIONS. Although grace is not mentioned in Hagar’s history, neither was it specifically mentioned with Abraham’s obedient actions originally in Genesis. We wait for the New Testament to ascribe grace to Abraham because of his faith in obeying God’s instructions (Romans 4). But obviously, a lowly slave servant “repenting” and following God’s instructions likewise demonstrate God’s grace. Grace is in the instructions from God! God’s grace instructs us. “For the grace of God, which brings salvation for all men, has appeared, Teaching us…” (Titus 2:11, 12, AFV).

n Gaylon West

Thanks to my editors, Janie Ruth Ward; Mary Lou West