Genesis 16

S - Gen 16
O - This is where things start to get interesting (complicated).
1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservantnamed Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, "The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her."


SB: Some time had passed since the revelation of 15:4, Sarai impatiently implied that God was not keeping his promise. According to ancient custom and Old Assyrian marriage contracts, this was to ensure the birth of a male heir. Sarai decides to solve the problem of her barrenness herself.


 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, "You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me." 


SB: An expression of hostility or suspicion.


It seems that Sarai has taken matters into her own hands and then is annoyed with the unfavourable outcome.


6 "Your servant is in your hands," Abram said. "Do with her whatever you think best." Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.


Yea, Sarai isn't the nicest or Godliest lady.


9 Then the angel of the LORD told her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her." 10 The angel added, "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count." 11 The angel of the LORD also said to her: "You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery. 12 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." 


God promises to establish the family through Hagar. The first son Ishmael - SB: the hostility between Sarai and Hagar passed on to their descendants. Roam the desert like a wild donkey, away from human settlements.


13 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." 


And she had faith in the Lord.