Spiritual Beings

So far, in my journey through Genesis 1-18, the spiritual beings I’ve found in the text include the following:

Elohim/YHWH (throughout the text).

Ruah Elohim (possibly) in Genesis 1.

Cherubim in Genesis 3.

Malak in Genesis 16 and 18.

Elohim is the plural-singular or royal-singular word that we translated as “God.” In Genesis, it never means “angels,” but later biblical books appear to use this word to sometimes describe angelic beings.

God’s name is YHWH (I AM), and he’s never physically described.

In Genesis 1:2, the “Ruah Elohim” is translated as the “Spirit of God,” and it appears to behave as a living thing (“hovering over the surface of the deep”) and is described as somewhat distinct from God.

This is hard to understand because God is… spirit. It is not entirely clear from the text. But also, when we get to Genesis 6 where God says “My Spirit will not content with humans forever…” it is very difficult to visualize!

The Cherubim (plural for cherub) are not physically described in Genesis, except that they (plural, so more than one) have been set in front of the Garden of Eden, and they block the entrance while wielding flaming swords. They probably don’t look like winged babies.

The Malak/Malakim is written as “angels” of YHWH, but this word in Hebrew means “messenger.”

In the text, they look human, first appearing to Hagar in Genesis 16, and later to Abraham in Genesis 18. Apparently, they can eat and drink and talk to people.

Later, we’ll read that they can grab hold of people, blind people, and they can apparently ldestroy entire cities!

But here’s the very interesting bit: as messengers of God, they appear to be able to speak as though they ARE God, despite NOT being God. When the malak talks to Hagar, he says “I will increase your descendants,” but this is something only God can do. But then in verse 13, the text clearly says it was God who spoke to her.

Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”
Genesis 16:9-10 (NIV)

She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”
Genesis 16:13 (NIV)

Likewise, when the malakim speak to Abraham (at this point in Genesis 18, they’re only identified as “men” and not yet idenfied as malakim until the next chapter), one says “I’ll return to you,” but when the time comes, it’s not the malak who shows up. It’s God.

Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”
Genesis 18:10a (NIV)

This idea of the malakim being able to speak as God and doing things on behalf of God makes me wonder about how God interacts with humanity.

Are the malakim “spiritual beings” that materialize in this world, or is God working through actual humans to show himself?

It seems like “spiritual beings” is the correct answer, because… well, fire from heaven and all that. They’re super-naturally powerful.

But doesn’t Elijah call down fire from heaven later on? As a prophet, was he not also a “messenger of God?”

I wonder.

The Story of the Woman

But God said, “No, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
Genesis 17:19 (NASB)

There is something so sneaky and subversive about the way Genesis talks about women, you miss it if you read it too quickly.

For starters, while Abraham is the “father of our faith,” the story about the miraculous birth is really Sarah’s story, not Abraham’s.

Sarai was unable to conceive; she did not have a child.
Genesis 11:30 (NASB)

Remember, the inability to have children wasn’t Abe’s problem. He was able to have a son with Hagar, which meant he was perfectly capable of having children.

But Sarah was barren, and there is a sense of grief and desperation that surrounds her.

Though she is abusive towards Hagar, she reacts from a place of hurt and shame. It isn’t excusable, but it is understandable. She feels diminished and small, but God elevates her and changes her name.

The thing is, the name change for Sarah seems a bit subtle. Some translations (the NASB, for example) say that the words Sarai and Sarah are the same, but just in different dialects. But most translation commentaries state that going from Sarai to Sarah is going from “my princess” to “princess,” so there’s at least a sense of enlargement or increase in scope of her princessly responsibilities, whatever those may be. But what is a “princess,” exactly?

As it turns out, it has nothing to do with being the “daughter of a king,” but it does have everything to do with royalty and authority.

Both versions of her name are the feminine version of a word that means ruler. Chief. The one in charge. The shot caller.

I. prince, ruler, leader, chief, chieftain, official, captain
1. chieftain, leader
2. vassal, noble, official (under king)
3. captain, general, commander (military)
4. chief, head, overseer (of other official classes)
5. heads, princes (of religious office)
6. elders (of representative leaders of people)
7. merchant-princes (of rank and dignity)
8. patron-angel
9. Ruler of rulers (of God)
10. warden
Strongs: H269 (שַׂר): sar

Now, if you have gender-roles and leadership expectations in your head that precondition you to place a man in higher authority than a woman, you might think that Abram was wrong for listening to his wife in Genesis 16:6, but consider Genesis 21:12. Who tells Abraham to listen and heed his wife? It is God.

But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the boy and your slave woman; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named.
Genesis 21:12 (NASB)

And actually, any statement about the consequences of men “listening to women” fall rather flat when you realize that nothing Eve said was wrong back in the Garden of Eden. Look at Eve’s words!

The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”
Genesis 3:2-3

Perhaps Adam should have listened more closely, actually.

Sarah is elevated from being royal leadership with Abram to being royal leadership with Abraham: the leadership and authority tied to the father of nations. She is, in a way, wisdom, personified.

By me kings reign,
And rulers decree justice.
By me princes rule, and nobles,
All who judge rightly.
Proverbs 8:15-16 (NASB)

(In Hebrew, “by me” can also be read “with me.” It’s a connective preposition.)

And to make it even more clear how much Sarah is elevated, God says it twice in one verse!

I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
Genesis 17:16 (NASB)

So blessed!

And why not? God made it clear that the Son of the Promise will be through her. Yes, through Abraham, but *also* through Sarah. Because God does not view her lower than him, or higher than him, but with him.

And that’s how it is meant to be.

Three Angels

The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.

Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”

The angel of the Lord also said to her:
“You are now pregnant
and you will give birth to a son.
You shall name him Ishmael,
for the Lord has heard of your misery.
He will be a wild donkey of a man;
his hand will be against everyone
and everyone’s hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
toward all his brothers.”
Genesis 16:7-12 (NIV)

There is a teaching in the Midrash that suggests Hagar may have been visited by separate angels in Genesis 16. They each seem to have their own message:

verse 7: God’s call.
verse 9: Comfort and instruction.
verse 11: Truth and justice.

In Genesis 18, three men (angels) will appear to Abram… and then later, only two angels will travel to rescue Lot from the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Perhaps this is related.

Slave of Sarai

The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?
“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.
Genesis 16:7-8 (NIV)

When the angel first speaks to Hagar, he identifies her as “slave of Sarai,” and the rabbis debated over why this title is applied. Isn’t slavery bad?

It may be that the angel was telling her that she would be a slave forever, stating that this is her identity.

But there is another view, and it’s far more hopeful. After saying “slave of Sarai,” the angel draws a line in the sand:

Where have you come from?
Where are you going?

In these questions, perhaps clarity is given to us: the blessing Hagar is about to receive is not because of her status as an Egyptian, where hard labor and works defined her worth, but as her status as a member of the house of Abram. Of the blessings of God.

It’s awful that Sarai is harsh and cruel and that she chooses vengeance instead of grace, and that Abram says nothing. We can be that way at times.

Despite this, perhaps the angel is affirming Hagar’s proximity to God’s blessing. Perhaps it’s not about her her slave status.

If you’ve been mistreated by the people of God, but long to draw near to God anyway, perhaps the angel of God will come to you and ask you the same:

Where have you come from?
Where are you going?

God is with you.

Two Kinds of Sin

“Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.
Genesis 16:6 (NIV)

In a single verse, both the “sin of omission” and the “sin of commission” come into play. Sarai sins in her treatment of Hagar; Abram sins in his failure to stop her.

Both are guilty.

Gifts from the Empire

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said.
Genesis 16:1-2 (NIV)

The text is quite clear. We are not called to use the gifts of Empire to try to force God’s blessing into our lives.

It’s not by our efforts, nor the might of Empire that moves God to keep His promises.

To Life!

She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
Genesis 16:13-14

Translators and our concordances provide us with the plain and literal meanings of things, which is useful.

In Genesis 16, “Beer Lahai Roi” can be understood as the “well of the Living One seeing me.” The text basically explains itself in the passage.

But the Rabbis point out something else interesting here.

“Beer” (or Be-ayr) is well, or pit, or spring of water.
“Hai/Chai” means “living one,” like souls or living beings.
“Roi” means to see, but also the way a prophet sees. Just not eyeball vision, but like… having a vision.

So we get this “well of the living one who sees.”

Here it is in Hebrew: בְּאֵר, followed by חַי, and then רֹאֶה combined into this one compound word: בְּאֵר לַחַי רֹאִי

Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!
1 Samuel 25:6 (NIV)

Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra says the phrase “beer l’chai” is like the phrase “ko l’chai,” which we read in 1 Samuel 25. It’s a cheer of blessing, which means “To life!” or “So may you live!”

If you’ve studied Hebrew or listen to Jewish people, you may have heard the phrase “lechaim” (or “L’Chaim”) which contains the same phrase as a cheer: “To life!” It’s the same thing.

That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
Genesis 16:14 (NIV)

So in this verse, ibn Ezra directs us to this phrase: “It is still there.”

The well was so called because the Ishmaelites held annual festivities at this well. It is still in existence and is called the well of zamum.
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 16:14b

In his commentary, he writes that even at his time (ibn Ezra lived from 1089 to 1167), it was common knowledge that the sons of Ishmael once held festivities there as an annual tradition.

He reasons that the phrase “l’chai roi” was a cheer of blessing, meaning “to seeing life NEXT YEAR!

So the name of the well can also be understood as a promise to Hagar that Ismael will be born next year: it’s in the next year that you’ll see the promised life. L’chai Roi.

BEER-LAHAI. Beer lahai means the well of him who will be alive next year.
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 16:14a

The astute student of Scripture should get goosebumps here.

But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.”
Genesis 17:21 (NIV)

In our typical speed-run through scripture, we read that God later tells Abram that Ishmael is not the son of the covenant, but “by this time next year,” the covenant with Isaac will be established.

But this “life by next year” was already given to Hagar.

This doesn’t take away from Isaac or Abram and the covenant God makes with them. But what it does is firmly establish that God cares deeply for the oppressed: those who suffer will get God’s attention first. God will not abandon those who cry out to him due to their afflication.

In due time.

L’chaim.

Called by Name

The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.
Genesis 16:7-8 (NIV)

The first words to the lowly slave woman aren’t spoken by Abram, man of God. It isn’t by Sarai, woman of God and the one responsible for her. It’s by the angel of God, and he calls her by name.

The first time we read that an angel speaks, it’s to the one we’ve oppressed.

The Road to Shur

The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.
Genesis 16:7 (NIV)

After being afflicted by Sarai, Hagar the Egyptian woman flees and is met by the angel at a spring near the road to Shur.

The road to Shur is the path back to Egypt. Sarai’s actions led Hagar to want to return to her old life. Back to destruction. Back to the idols of Egypt.

Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water.
Exodus 15:22 (NIV)

The road to Shur leads to the Desert of Shur. It should be considered miraculous to flee Egypt by way of it. It should be considered certain death to travel back to Egypt through it.

That the people of God would make Hagar flee into certain death is a great shame.

The Angel

The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.
Genesis 16:7 (NIV)

The first time “the angel of the LORD” is mentioned in scripture, it’s when an angel visits Hagar after she is afflicted by Sarai.

Sarai is a part of “the People of God,” and yet God is rescuing Hagar because of Sarai. There is a lesson here.