Genesis: 1a 1b 1c 1d 2a 2b 2c 2d 3 4a 4b 4c/5 6a 6b 7 8 9 10 11a 11b 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25a 25b 26a 26b 27 28a 28b 29 30a 30b 31a 31b/32a 32b 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44a 44b 45 46 47a 47b 48 49 50
Sarah
Having introduced Av-Ram the Mesopotamian, and the settlement in Kena'an, as well as the War of the Kings, the text now properly introduces Sarai, who has been a rather invisible presence until now.
16:1 VE SARAI ESHET AV-RAM LO YALDAH LO VE LAH SHIPHCHAH MITSRIT U SHEMAH HAGAR
וְשָׂרַי אֵשֶׁת אַבְרָם לֹא יָלְדָה לוֹ וְלָהּ שִׁפְחָה מִצְרִית וּשְׁמָהּ הָגָר
KJ (King James translation): Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.
BN (BibleNet translation): Now Sarai, Av-Ram's wife, bore him no children; and she had a handmaid, a Mitsri, whose name was Hagar.
HAGAR (הגר): meaning "to flee", because Sarai put her to flight; the meaning obviously came afterwards, so that we can say that we do not know what her name was. However, in South Arabic Hagar means "a village"; this is explained by the scholars, and in the Moslem, "hadith", as being because Hagar's grandchildren each lived in a village of his own; like the Beney Yisra-El explanation, this obviously came afterwards, and so again we can say that we do not know what her real name was. On the other hand, in South Arabic, her name is not Hagar at all, but Hajra (هاجر), which name does indeed mean "flight", and is connected with the Hejira or Hijrah, Muhammad's flight into exile from Mecca, as much as it was herown, and her son's, flight from Sarai.
The Talmud makes Hagar a Mitsri (Egyptian) princess; if so, did Sarai acquire her during the stay in Mitsrayim, or are we in fact dealing with something else altogether? That when Av-Ram went down to Mitsrayim, he married Hagar in a cultic assimilation?
The Qur'anic versions of the story of Hagar and her relationship with Av-Ram and Sarai can be read here.
The story is the first of many in which children are fathered on "handmaidens" rather than wives. See the Law of Hammurabi to explain this (the laws from 137 onwards are the relevant ones here). Also Savina Teuval has some interesting things to say. But it is one of the key proofs of the princess-priestess role; as with Joseph and Mary in the Gospels, this is a ritual event, surrogating for deities.
16:2 VA TOMER SARAI EL AV-RAM HINEH NA ATSARANI YHVH MI LEDET BO NA EL SHIPHCHATI ULAI IBANEH MIMENAH VA YISHMA AV-RAM LE KOL SARAI
וַתֹּאמֶר שָׂרַי אֶל אַבְרָם הִנֵּה נָא עֲצָרַנִי יְהוָה מִלֶּדֶת בֹּא נָא אֶל שִׁפְחָתִיאוּלַי אִבָּנֶה מִמֵּנָּה וַיִּשְׁמַע אַבְרָם לְקוֹל שָׂרָי
KJ: And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.
BN: And Sarai said to Av-Ram, "Behold now, YHVH has restrained me from having children; please, go in to my handmaid; maybe I can have a son through her." And Av-Ram listened to the voice of Sarai.
"YHVH has restrained me from bearing": this tells it all. She is not necessarily barren, but simply "restrained". Why has she been restrained? Because she is the high priestess and the time is not yet right for her to step back from her full-time "professional" role and become a mother. Remember that barrenness in the ancient world was a form of words and not necessarily a physical condition; a function of the fertility cult. All women are barren until the goddess bestows fertility upon them; so the goddess is honoured in the child, and even more so when it is the first male and then given back as a sacrifice. So the verse should really read: "Asherah has restrained me from bearing".
Obviously this business of fathering children on handmaidens was the common practice in a world where men were permitted multiple wives as well as concubines; it was not considered to be adultery in the same way that a man who slept with another man's wife or maidservant, with or without offspring, or a woman who took a lover, again with or without her falling pregnant and being found out; in any of these cases both the man and the woman would have been stoned to death. But this is not that; this is polygamy in practice in a world in which the laws of possession made a woman the property of her husband (this was true in all of the Christian world until very recently, and still is in some parts of it, as it still is in some parts of the Jewish and Moslem worlds), and the woman's handmaiden likewise, so that any child born to either Sarai or Hagar would have been considered to be Av-Ram's, but any child born to Hagar would count as Sarai's, and not as Hagar's own*, though she might well be given the task of nursing and bringing it up. Compare this with Bilhah and Zilpah in the Ya'akov story later, where their sons are just as able to become tribes as are the sons born to Le'ah and Rachel.
* The evidence for this lies in the laws pertaining to the freeing of slaves and bondspeople, which are different for Beney Yisra-El and non Beney-Yisra-El, in spite of the statement elsewhere that there shall be one law for all: see Exodus 20 and 21 and Deuteronomy 15 for the laws pertaining to Beney Yisra-Eli slaves, Leviticus 25 for the Jubilee freeing of slaves, and click here for an outstanding article on all the slavery laws.
From an emotional and psychological perspective, seeing this as literature; Sarai made the offer to Av-Ram; she has no grounds for complaint or jealousy later. Not that that will prevent her!
ULAI IBANEH (אולי אבנה): meaning what? There is a root connection between the word "to build" (בנה) and "a son" (בן); so can we read this as an alternate verb = "to have a son", and nothing to do with "building" at all? It seems only logical. But in fact the connection is most definitely there, and provides us another fascinating sociological perspective on the culture of that time and place. "Go forth and multiply" was such a powerful commandment (it still is!) in the faith community that "building up" a family was precisely what Sarai meant, and we shall see it again later with Le'ah and Rachel.
16:3 VA TIKACH SARAI ESHET AV-RAM ET HAGAR HA MITSRIT SHIPHCHATAH MI KETS ESER SHANIM LESHEVET AV-RAM BE ERETS KENA'AN VA TITEN OTAH LE AV-RAM ISHAH LO LE ISHAH
וַתִּקַּח שָׂרַי אֵשֶׁת אַבְרָם אֶת הָגָר הַמִּצְרִית שִׁפְחָתָהּ מִקֵּץ עֶשֶׂר שָׁנִים לְשֶׁבֶת אַבְרָם בְּאֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן וַתִּתֵּן אֹתָהּ לְאַבְרָם אִישָׁהּ לוֹ לְאִשָּׁה
KJ: And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.
BN: And so, ten years after Av-Ram had come to live in the land of Kena'an, Sarai, his wife, took Hagar the Mitsri, her handmaid, and gave her to Av-Ram her husband to be his wife.
The time factor almost seems to hint at a rite of some sort; ten years after leaving Mitsrayim, where he had given his wife to another man, she gives him another woman, who happens to be a Mitsrit. This needs more consideration.
The word Ishah (אשה) is a complicating factor in our trying to understand this, because it means both "woman" and "wife"; how can we deduce Hagar's precise status? If we were translating into French or German it would be simpler: Frau and Femme include the same ambivalence; but English makes a clear distinction, and it is about marriage versus concubinage versus common law status. Is she a second but lesser wife, or merely some woman with whom he breeds, while still a servant? Exodus 23:12, inter alia, includes "the son of your handmaiden", amongst those to whom the Shabbat laws apply, thereby making clear that such a child is a full member of the household, and not a "mamzer", an illegitimate child. Leviticus 25:44–45 first gives the right to acquire servants from the neighbouring peoples, and then makes clear that "moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them may you buy, and of their families that are with you, which they have begotten in your land; and they may be your possession."
The Jubilee laws (Leviticus 25), which cifferentiate between Beney Yisra-Eli and Kena'ani wives, and from which Rashi deduced that a Jewish child gets his identity from his mother not his father, are worth looking at in this regard; in brief there is a distinction between the child of a Beney Yisra-Eli and a non-Beney Yisra-Eli slave, the latter going free and being permitted to return to the ancestral tribe, the former being required to remain within the fold; because the determining factor in this instance is the mother and not the father, Rashi deduced that a child's Jewish identity must also derive from the mother.
A very thorough precis of the subject of slavery in the world of the Beney Yisra-El can be found at the Jewish Virtual Library
But we also know that the Beney Yisra-El practised polygamy right up until the early 19th century, if the documents of the first Sanhedrin of Paris are to be taken at face value, so his fathering a child on a second, or even third or fourth wife, would have been normative.
SHIPHCHATAH (שפחתה): from the root SHAPHACH (שפח), which means "to spread out" in the procreative sense of extending one's genealogy; whence also MISHPECHA (משפחה) = "family". But the root tells us that Hagar's status may not have been that of "handmaiden", the usual translation, but quite specifically "concubine". The same is also true of Bilhah and Zilpah. In which case the Redactor may have been trying to close out a period of history in which polygamy was normal, by having Sarai give Hagar because of special circumstances etc...
16:4 VA YAVO EL HAGAR VA TAHAR VA TER'E KI HARATAH VA TEKAL GEVIRTAH BE EYNEYHAH
וַיָּבֹא אֶל הָגָר וַתַּהַר וַתֵּרֶא כִּי הָרָתָה וַתֵּקַל גְּבִרְתָּהּ בְּעֵינֶיהָ
KJ: And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.
BN: And he went in to Hagar, and she fell pregnant; and when she saw that she had fallen pregnant, her mistress was despised in her eyes.
Is this because she believed that Sarai was genuinely barren, and now had proof that Av-Ram was not infertile - which would have been a major disgrace for Sarai, proof that she had failed to propitiate the fertility-goddess properly and therefore been deprived of children; see verse 2 above where she acknowledges this, but where the god is not the triple-goddess as it should be but as usual YHVH is over-written? Or is it more a matter of social status: I am the one who gave Av-Ram a son, not you. This would help explain the envy that led to Sarai banishing Hagar later.
It should not be forgotten throughout this tale that Sarai as Asherah was herself the fertility goddess, and Asherah's handmaidens were hierodules or what we tend to call "ritual prostitutes"; so this could all be just a rendition of the rites of Asherah, down-played for Beney Yisra-Eli purposes by the Redactor.
16:5 VA TOMER SARAI EL AV-RAM CHAMASI ALEYCHA ANOCHI NATATI SHIPHCHATI BE CHEYKEYCHA VA TER'E KI HARATAH VA EKAL BE EYNEYHAH YISHPOT YHVH BEYNI U VEYNEYCHA
וַתֹּאמֶר שָׂרַי אֶל אַבְרָם חֲמָסִי עָלֶיךָ אָנֹכִי נָתַתִּי שִׁפְחָתִי בְּחֵיקֶךָ וַתֵּרֶא כִּי הָרָתָה וָאֵקַל בְּעֵינֶיהָ יִשְׁפֹּט יְהוָה בֵּינִי וּבֵינֶיךָ
KJ: And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee.
BN: And Sarai said to Av-Ram, "My foolishness has fallen on you. I gave you my handmaid in good faith; but now that she has fallen pregnant, I am despised in her eyes. Let YHVH judge between me and you."
Which sounds like she is offering him a divorce: let's go to court to resolve this.
However (in TheBibleNet, as you will have noticed by now, there is always a however)...here we are "building up" to Sarai getting Av-Ram to throw Hagar out; yet Sarai is being "built up" by Hagar having this child on her behalf. In addition, we will be told in 17:25 that Av-Ram circumcises Yishma-El when Yishma-El is 13; so it takes Sarai an awfully long time to get around to throwing Hagar out! No, this is not as it seems... much more probably we are once again in the epoch of Gemini, mythological tales of twins or half-brothers, in which the laws of ultimogeniture cause the younger to inherit, the older to be obliged to leave the tribe and make his own way in the world... usually ending up in Edom, in these Tanachic tales: Kayin and Havel, Yishma-El and Yitschak, Ya'akov and Esav, Parets and Zerach...
According to Hammurabi: "If a man marries a priestess, and if she gives her husband a bond-maiden to bear him children, and if afterwards this bond-maiden demands equal honour with her mistress because of the children she has borne, the priestess may not sell her, but she may be returned to bondage among her fellow-slaves". Sarah (סרה) with a Samech (ס) instead of a Seen (ש) would mean "priestess". So is this simply an allegorical tale to exemplify didactically a paragraph from the Code of Hammurabi (which, after all, came from the same part of the world as Av-Ram and Sarai, and is now known to have been a key source for the Mosaic Codes)?
CHAMASI: Interesting word! Chamas generally means "violence" (Genesis 49:5/7, Exodus 23:1, et al), and is even used by political organisations as a self-descriptive acronym for their raison d'etre; here, however, it is understood to mean Sarai's "wrong" - but not in the sense of "sin", for which one of chet, peshah and avon are the words that we would expect (click here for an explanation based on Yoma 36). If this is Sarai's "wrong", she can only mean it in the sense of making an error of judgement, rather than breaching a law, custom or tabu.
YISHPOT YHVH BEYNI U VEYNEYCHA: Why "between me and you" and not "between me and her"?
16:6 VA YOMER AV-RAM EL SARAI HINEH SHIPHCHATECH BE YADECH ASI LAH HA TOV BE EYNAYICH VA TE'AN'EHAH SARAI VA TIVRACH MI PANEYHAH
וַיֹּאמֶר אַבְרָם אֶל שָׂרַי הִנֵּה שִׁפְחָתֵךְ בְּיָדֵךְ עֲשִׂי לָהּ הַטּוֹב בְּעֵינָיִךְ וַתְּעַנֶּהָ שָׂרַי וַתִּבְרַח מִפָּנֶיהָ
KJ: But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.
BN: But Av-Ram said to Sarai, "Look, your handmaid is your responsibility. Do to her whatever seems right in your eyes." And Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she ran away.
A good moral tale this! Except that the word for "fled" here isn't from Hagar = "to flee" at all, but from the more common VA TIVRACH (ותברח). Why would Sarai "deal harshly with her" for getting pregnant by Av-Ram, when she gave her to Av-Ram for precisely that purpose, unless there was something more to the story than we have been told? From verse 5 we have a sense of Hagar treating Sarai as though she were the first wife and Sarai the second, because of the child, and presumably, over a period of thirteen years, this will have communicated itself across the tribe, demeaning and diminishing Sarai, and thence the need to remedy the situation by removing the rival. Why has no one ever written this as a play or movie?
VA TIVRACH: I repeat myself, but the point needs to be made, strongly and separately: we have been given to understand that her name allegorises her story. Hagar = to flee. But her Hejirah is not given with that verb. She runs away, an act of cowardice, where the Hejirah is a statement of a rather more positive nature, as the details of Muhammad's carefully planned, slowly staged "flight" from Mecca to Yatrib demonstrate.
16:7 VA YIMTSA'AH MAL'ACH YHVH AL EYN HA MAYIM BA MIDBAR AL HA AYIN BE DERECH SHUR
וַיִּמְצָאָהּ מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה עַל עֵין הַמַּיִם בַּמִּדְבָּר עַל הָעַיִן בְּדֶרֶךְ שׁוּר
KJ: And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.
BN: And an angel of YHVH found her by one of the fountains of water in the wilderness, the fountain that is on the road to Shur.
The barrenness theme always runs like this: cf Rachel, Rivkah, Chanah (where again there are two wives, one of whom has a child, the other of whom appears to be barren), Shimshon's mother in Judges 13 (in which there is also an angelic annunciation), and of course Jesus: the annunciation by an angel tells us that this is a tale from the fertility cult carried forward into the Beney Yisra-El sky-god cult, and therefore in expurgated form.
MAL'ACH (מלאך): "angel", or more precisely "messenger"; YHVH himself only appears to genuine patriarchs, not to mere hard-done-by servants. As noted previously, angels were not a Beney Yisra-Eli nor a Kena'ani figuration, but very much one found in Persian (specifically Median, Achaemenid, Parthian and Sasanian) mythology, and not encountered in the Beney Yisra-El before the exile in the 6th century BCE. They were originally understood to be the stars, or rather the light that emanated from the stars, sending the messages of the gods out to the cosmos in a manner that only the expert (priests, shamans and horoscope readers; known to the Persians as Magi, whence the English "magic" and "magician") could translate.
There is no use of the definite article, yet most translations say "the angel", as if it was obvious which one, or there was only one.
SHUR (שור): SHUR has many meanings; it is "an ox"; it is the verb "to go on a roundabout journey"; it connects to SHIR (שיר), the word for "a song"; it gives "a person who lies in wait for their enemy"; it "puts in order"; it is "a wall"; and it is entirely unclear how so many different meanings came to be derived from the same root, but the evidence is presentable that they did.
Shur is mentioned in Genesis 20:1 and 25:18, as well as 1 Samuel 15:7 and 27:8. Josephus identified it as Pelusium, but Yehudit texts usually equate Pelusium with the wilderness of Sin, and Josephus was wrong about most things so why not this as well? Shur stood almost exactly where Suez stands today. Exodus 15:22 gives the Wilderness of Shur. Either way we are in the same domain that Mir-Yam (Miriam) will later inhabit, and as with Mir-Yam there is a water connection, here a fountain, and slightly later, more significantly, the well of Be'er Lechi Ro'i; meaning the Well of the Sacred Jawbone. What kind of a jawbone - an ox perhaps? Or the one from which Shimshon (in a story paralleled in the legends of Herakles/Hercules) took honey (Judges 14)?
Here though it is specifically the town of Shur, on the border between Mitsrayim and Kena'an, which infers that Hagar is trying to make her way home to Egypt; a problem for Moslems, whose version has her crossing the thousand miles of Nefud desert to end her journey in Mecca (click here to read it, and also an interesting Moslem take on Sarai's brief relationship with the Pharaoh). There is no equivalent of her flight in the Qur'an, but Moslem hadith describe her as fleeing towards the Hejaz, and finding water at the Zamzam well, which is in Mecca; Ibrahim will found Mecca as he goes in pursuit of her, and it will become her home.
Interesting that the angel in this version should find her by a "fountain of water", just as will happen in chapter 21 at Be'er Sheva, just as Jibril in the Moslem version will find her at the Zamzam well; in that version, the centrepiece of her arrival, still emulated in the sevenfold peregrination back and forth between the hills Safa and Marwa at the opening of the Hajj, is entirely focused on the discovery of water in the barren desert.
The same notes as these on Shur and Be'er Lechi Ro'i will apply when Hagar is sent away for a second time in chapter 21, and on that occasion goes by way of Be'er Sheva.
The same notes as these on Shur and Be'er Lechi Ro'i will apply when Hagar is sent away for a second time in chapter 21, and on that occasion goes by way of Be'er Sheva.
Implicit in all this is a suggestion that Av-Ram did not bring Sarai with him from Charan, but took up with her theologically upon finding her at Chevron; now he has moved his base into the deep south, and taken up allegiance with the principal cult-priestess of that region, an Egyptian linked cult under Hagar; and that this is why this covenant story has so many odd feminines etc. Making her the handmaid of Sarai would therefore be a later emendation of the text; Shiphchah (שפחה) can also mean "kinswoman" - the explanation above of the connection with MISHPECHAH should also suggest that "kinswoman" is a much more likely-to-be-accurate translation; and of course a kinswoman can be a handmaiden; which she was, in the sense that they were both cult-priestesses of the same goddess.
16:8 VA YOMAR HAGAR SHIPHCHAT SARAI EY MI ZEH VA'T VE ANAH TELECHI VA TOMER MI PENEY SARAI GEVIRTI ANOCHI BORACHAT
וַיֹּאמַר הָגָר שִׁפְחַת שָׂרַי אֵי מִזֶּה בָאת וְאָנָה תֵלֵכִי וַתֹּאמֶר מִפְּנֵי שָׂרַי גְּבִרְתִּי אָנֹכִי בֹּרַחַת
KJ: And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.
BN: And he said, "Hagar, Sarai's handmaid, where are you coming from? and where are you going?" And she said, "I am running away from my mistress Sarai."
Note that the angel is male, not female - there is no textual evidence for this, only historical; are there any female angels, in any of the world's mythologies? And can we assume, based on the Moslem version, that the angel in question would have been Gavri-El?
Given the delight in puns which we encounter throughout the Tanach, it is noteworthy that no pun is made on Hagar's name in this tale; rather surprisingly so. Again here Livro'ach rather than Hagar. Why?
16:9 VA YOMER LAH MAL'ACH YHVH SHUVI EL GEVIRTECH VE HIT'ANI TACHAT YADEYHAH
וַיֹּאמֶר לָהּ מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה שׁוּבִי אֶל גְּבִרְתֵּךְ וְהִתְעַנִּי תַּחַת יָדֶיהָ
KJ: And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.
BN: And the angel of YHVH said to her, "Go back to your mistress, and submit yourself into her hands."
Why? Is this the late writers trying to subsume one cult within another, in order to give the latter predominance? This appears to endorse the view that Sarai kicked her out because she had become too grand for her own good.
Or is that, once again, we are witnessing a central Biblical technique: people have fears and doubts and ask their deities for guidance; the voice, whether of god or angel, is always the voice of reassurance, the inner voice encouraging them to do the thing that they are minded to, telling them it will be alright. So Hagar has run away, but she can't go home to her people for the shame of the matter - and anyway they'll send her back. And she can't stay in the desert. So she has to go back. So she realises it. So she needs the strength to do so. So she prays - and receives this answer.
16:10 VA YOMER LAH MA'LACH YHVH HARBAH ARBEH ET ZAR'ECH VE LO YISAPHER ME ROV
וַיֹּאמֶר לָהּ מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה הַרְבָּה אַרְבֶּה אֶת זַרְעֵךְ וְלֹא יִסָּפֵר מֵרֹב
KJ: And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.
BN: And the angel of YHVH to her, "I will greatly multiply your seed, that it shall not be numberable for multitude."
This being said so often, and to so many people, does rather diminish the significance of having it said to you! But of course we now have the real point of this story; which is that the writers had to find some way of making Yishma-El a descendant of Av-Ram, but without making Yishma-El's mother as important as Sarai. In fact, she was just as important, and probably Av-Ram wasn't the father anyway.
And note that here the pun is played – HARBEH ARBEH. As it was previously with Yibaneh and Ben, and in exactly the way it was played in Genesis 3:16 - though in fact it was taken even further there, playing aurally with ITSVONECH as well - HARBAH ARBEH ITSVONECH - I will greatly multiply your pain - הַרְבָּה אַרְבֶּה עִצְּבוֹנֵךְ. So why not with Hagar?
16:11 VA YOMER LAH MAL'ACH YHVH HINACH HARAH VE YOLADET BEN VE KARA'T SHEMO YISHMA-EL KI SHAMA YHVH EL ANYECH
וַיֹּאמֶר לָהּ מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה הִנָּךְ הָרָה וְיֹלַדְתְּ בֵּן וְקָרָאת שְׁמוֹ יִשְׁמָעֵאל כִּי שָׁמַע יְהוָה אֶל עָנְיֵךְ
KJ: And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
BN: And the angel of YHVH said to her, "Behold, you are carrying a child, and it will be a boy; name him Yishma-El, because YHVH has heard your troubles."
The explanation is self-evidently wrong; the ending of his name is El, the Kena'ani principal god, and not YHVH; but that "the god has heard [your affliction]" we can accept. Unlike several other names (Yah-Natan/Jonathan for example, or Adoni-Yah/Adonijah), the Yud (י) at the beginning here is not an abbreviated form of Yah (יה), but simply the third person singular of the future tense... wait a minute... the future tense, but not prefixed by a Vav Consecutive to indicate the past tense... so in fact the explanation is still wrong, and we can assume that, yet again, an aetiology has been attached in order to make a particular point. Is there then another meaning; is there, that is to say, another usage of SHAMA, or another root SHAMA? To which the answer is yes, and actually several: in Joshua 15:26 there is a town named SHEMA in the south of Yehudah.
Much more likely however is Shema'ah the Gibeathite (SHEMA'AH HA GIVATI - הַשְּׁמָעָה הַגִּבְעָתִי) in 1 Chronicles 12:3, who is presumably part of the clan named as the Shimatim (שִׁמְעָתִים) in 1 Chronicles 2 :55. Variations on the name can also be found as Shime'i, Shima, Shamu'a and others, in 1 Chronicles 3:5, 6:17, 11:44 and 14:4, 2 Samuel 5:14 et cetera. The root word, in the Hitpa'el form, gives "obedient" in Daniel 7:27, a meaning that ties in much more meaningfully with the instruction of the angel in verse 9. Thus: "and you shall name him Yishma-El, so that he will be obedient to his god".
Note the poetic symmetry of the three verses all starting the same way.
Note also the important links to the Qur'an through all these tales. The founding of Mecca was by Av-Ram; the discovery of the Zamzam well was by Hagar and Yishma-El, etc. And one of the principal "idols" overthrown by Muhammad was precisely the triple-goddess, known as "The Daughters of al-Lah".
16:12 VE HU YIHEYEH PER'E ADAM YADO VA KOL VE YAD KOL BO VE AL PENEY CHOL ECHIV YISHKON
וְהוּא יִהְיֶה פֶּרֶא אָדָם יָדוֹ בַכֹּל וְיַד כֹּל בּוֹ וְעַל פְּנֵי כָל אֶחָיו יִשְׁכֹּן
KJ: 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.
BN: "He will be a wild ass of a man, with his arm raised against everyone, and everyone's arm raised against him; and he will live in opposition to all of his kinsmen."
Just what a mother wants to be told about her still unborn son! But meaning what precisely? It is strongly reminiscent of Kayin (Cain) of course; and like Kayin, like Esav (Esau) later, Yishma-El becomes a patriarch of Yisra-El's greatest enemy, the Edomites; and most of the early myths are Edomite myths which the Beney Yisra-El stole ("borrowed" would be more polite, but "borrowed" implies an intention to give back), just as the first-born sons will all lose their inheritances to the second-born Yisra-Eli. The pattern is inexorable, right up to the time of Yehoshu'a and Kalev. Actually, given that Herod was Idumean, which is to say Edomite, right up to the time of Jesus.
But what exactly does all this verse mean? We are in the realm of Ya'akov's blessings (Genesis 49), which may have been oracular and may have been astrological, or even both - it needs more deciphering.
The wild ass of course is Set, in the Egyptian mythology which Hagar would have been brought up with, the red-haired elder brother who kills Osher (Osiris), as Kayin kills Havel etc, through all the red-headed (Adam = red; Edom likewise) brother rivalries. The story at its political level reflects the struggle between Yisra-El and Edom for possession of the land, a struggle virtually replicated in today's Israel-Palestinian squabbles.
In Ya'akov's blessings of his sons (Genesis 49:14), Yisaschar is also compared with an ass: "Yisaschar is a large-boned ass, couching down between the sheepfolds." Yisaschar's tribal territory was on the Mediterranean coast, immediately south of Asher; which is to say, precisely at that point where Eshet (Isis), in the Egyptian legends, searched for the body of Osher (Osiris), and discovered it in fourteen parts, destroyed by his wicked uncle Set, who is Shet or Seth in the Genesis version, the third child of Adam and Chavah. Set will figure importantly in the stories of Sha'ul (Saul) later on, though Sha'ul was himself a Beney Yamin (Benjamite).
16:13 VA TIKRA SHEM YHVH HA DOVER ELEYHA ATAH EL-RA'I KI AMRAH HA GAM HALOM RA'ITI ACHAREY RO'I
וַתִּקְרָא שֵׁם יְהוָה הַדֹּבֵר אֵלֶיהָ אַתָּה אֵל רֳאִי כִּי אָמְרָה הֲגַם הֲלֹם רָאִיתִי אַחֲרֵי רֹאִי
KJ: 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?
BN: And she gave a new name to YHVH, the god who had spoken to her: El Ra-i, "the god of seeing"; because, as she said, "Have I not actually seen him who also sees me?"
Once again English translations do not make much sense here; but then, neither, at first glance, does the Yehudit. The reference to YHVH is only in the narrative, and clearly a late addition by the Redactor. Hagar herself seems convinced that the god in question is EL, whom she calls "EL-RA'I" (אל ראי), which should of course be EL-RO'I, as we shall see anon. Its meaning cannot be the meaningless one given in most translations, nor the still more meaningless one given in the text itself; for a god of any name does not see her, an angel does; and she does not see any god, but only an angel, though she may think it is an angel of god. We have to look elsewhere, and as always the best place to look is in the meaning of the words themselves. One option is that RA'I (ראי) is simply mis-spelled and the Aleph (א) should be an Ayin (ע) - still pronounced the same, after all; but then it would be an amalgamation of EL and RA (אל רע), which would make nice sense for an Egyptian handmaiden ten years exiled in Kena'an - the amalgamation working exactly as Av-Ram's YHVH EL ELYON (יהוה אל אליון) did earlier. Plausible, but stretching it. Unlikely.
On the other hand, as noted earlier, Judges 15:17/19 has Shimshon (Samson), like Yishma-El, being given water by god at a well called Lechi (לחי), which clearly means "jawbone" in that context. In that case we have "the well of the ram's jawbone", or more accurately, and even more anciently, "the well of the antelope's jawbone", the jawbone being a traditional cultic implement. This connects with other such wells, Eyn Gedi (אין גדי)= "the well of the kid" (Joshua 15:62) and Eyn Eglayim (אין אגלים) = "the well of the two calves" (Ezekiel 47:10); also Eyn Mishpat (אין-משפט) in Genesis 14:7.
All of which makes sense, if there is even the remotest connection between Lechi and Ro'i; which of course there is, or will be, in the very next verse.
In all probability the original Hagar was a water goddess, or at the very least a shrinal priest, probably at Be'er Lechi Ro'i, and this was one of the wells that Av-Ram took over, and Yitschak re-dug and fought over with the Pelishtim. This would then explain the need for a fertility tale in which Hagar is made subordinate to Sarai, even though her fertility is clearly more effective than Sarai's. This would allow us to read BE'ER LECHI RO'I, "the well of the antelope's jawbone", and the god here as EL RO'I, the antelope god who is the deity of this particular shrine.
16:14 AL KEN KARA LA BE'ER BE'ER LECHI RO'I HINEH VEYN KADESH U VEYN BARED
עַל כֵּן קָרָא לַבְּאֵר בְּאֵר לַחַי רֹאִי הִנֵּה בֵין קָדֵשׁ וּבֵין בָּרֶד
KJ: Wherefore the well was called Beerlahairoi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
BN: Which is why the well is named Be'er Lechi Ro'i; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
BE'ER (באר): Previously (verse 7) it was a fountain (AYIN BA DERECH SHUR - אין בדרל שור) on the road to Shur, not a well between Kadesh (which is earlier called Eyn Mishpat) and Bered. Again it seems that two versions are mixed up.
BE'ER LECHI RO'I (נאר לחי ראי): further undermining the explanation of the god-name in the translations above is the fact that LACHAY (לחי), which is how most Yehudit versions render it, or more correctly LECHI (לחי), means the "cheek" or "jaw" and refers quite specifically to one of the most primitive of all cultic rituals - the cult of the sacred jawbone. As follows, and quite obvious when understood: Question: how do you make a wild animal harmless? Answer: cut out its jawbone. Which is exactly what was done, the jaw being broken and the teeth extracted. From this comes the famous legend of the dragon's teeth which, sewn into the ground, come up as soldiers, ever doubling their numbers. The sacred jawbone of Adam has long been believed to be buried at Chevron, and to be the original purpose of the shrine there, though it is also believed to be buried at Golgotha (Calvary) in Yeru-Shala'im. Clearly this well is also a sacred shrine, with a sacred jawbone buried there as a sacred relic like a piece of the true cross in the Middle Ages. The jawbone of RA then? Highly unlikely. Or does RO'I indeed have some other meaning which the Ezraic scribes couldn't fathom any more than modern commentators can (unless it's connected with RO'EH and infers a shepherd cult; but that would involve an Aleph rather than the Ayin that we have here), and for which they therefore invented a nice story, tying it up with Hagar's for simple convenience? Worth investigating further. The jawbone was used for oracular purposes, so we can deduce the presence of a priestess easily enough: obviously Hagar herself.
KADESH: Is that the same Kadesh (Numbers 20:24, and Deuteronomy 32:51), also known as Meriyvah (Meribah), where Mosheh will later bring the Beney Yisra-El - Mir-Yam will die and be buried there - and draw water from the rock, with permission the first time, without on the second occasion - the latter causing him to be barred from entering the Promised Land? (Exodus 17:7 reckons it was Rephidim not Kadesh, but that is a separate conflict).
16:15 VA TELED HAGAR LE AV-RAM BEN VA YIKRA AV-RAM SHEM BENO ASHER YALDAH HAGAR YISHMA-EL
וַתֵּלֶד הָגָר לְאַבְרָם בֵּן וַיִּקְרָא אַבְרָם שֶׁם בְּנוֹ אֲשֶׁר יָלְדָה הָגָר יִשְׁמָעֵאל
KJ: And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.
BN: And Hagar bore Av-Ram a son, and Av-Ram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Yishma-El.
Clearly Hagar has accepted the instruction of the angel and gone back, though we are never told how relations with Sarai worked out after this - Sarai will shortly be announced as pregnant, so that is likely to have brought an interlude of peace and calm between them. A mere interlude, alas; Yishma-El is included in the general circumcision of the clan in chapter 17, but things then revert to hostility, and Hagar and Yishma-El will be sent away again, in chapter 21. In that version (which it probably is, rather than part 2 of the story), she goes to a different well, the one at Be'er Sheva, though once again the search for water will be the main focus.
YISHMA-EL (ישמעאל) Av-Ram giving him the name is all very well, but verse 11 has already told us that this was Hagar's name for the boy, and she chose it: "because YHVH has heard my affliction". Yishma-El (ישמע-אל) in that case. But the meaning is quite inappropriate to Av-Ram, for whom Ish-Me-El (איש מאל) would make at least a little more sense, as an abbreviation for Ish-Me-El-Shadai: "I have gotten a male-child from El (Shadai)". Not that I am suggesting that this is the correct name, or the correct meaning of the name. The question that hangs over this is: who would have named the child? Hagar is a possession of Av-Ram, so he has the precedence; but maybe he was a generous guy and asked Hagar what name she wanted. We cannot know; only we can know that, yet again, we have a text with an inner contradiction. But we can do what is the common approach to Biblical study, which is to ask if there are any other instances of naming from which we can draw a parallel. And the answer is, yes, innumerable. The most obvious and relevant is Rachel, who gives her son the name Ben-Oni in Genesis 35:18 while Ya'akov prefers Bin Yamin; we are told that Ben Oni means "child of my affliction", which is identical to Hagar's explanation of Yishma-El, though different words are used in each case. That notion of affliction derives from Chavah, and the HARBAH ARBEH ITSVONECH of Genesis 3:16 that we saw in verse 10.
Other parallels can be found with Chanah, whose "affliction" is described in detail in 1 Samuel 1:8-18, and who then chooses her child's name, Shemu-El (Samuel) when he is born in response to her prayers: a variation on Yishma-El in fact, both coming from the same root SHAM'A, meaning "to hear". Also the naming of David and Bat Sheva's (Bathsheba's) son, where he is both Shelomoh (Solomon) and Yedid-Yah (2 Samuel 12:24-25; Bat Sheva's "affliction" in this case was the loss of her husband Ur-Yah the Beney Chet.
16:16 VE AV-RAM BEN SHEMONIM SHANAH VE SHESH SHANIM BE LEDET HAGAR ET YISHMA-EL LE AV-RAM
וְאַבְרָם בֶּן שְׁמֹנִים שָׁנָה וְשֵׁשׁ שָׁנִים בְּלֶדֶת הָגָר אֶת יִשְׁמָעֵאל לְאַבְרָם
KJ: And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.
BN: And Av-Ram was eighty-six years old, when Hagar bore Yishma-El.
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