Chapter 6: El Roi

Then Hagar did something no one else in the Bible has ever done. She gave God a name.

HAGAR“You are the God who sees me, I have now seen the One who sees me.”— Genesis 16:13

In Hebrew, the name she spoke was El Roi, which means "the God who sees me." Throughout Scripture, God reveals His names to people. He told Moses "I Am Who I Am," in Hebrew Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh. He announced Himself to Abram as El Shaddai, God Almighty. Prophets and patriarchs received God's name. Hagar gave Him one.

The spring where this happened became known as Beer Lahai Roi, which means "the well of the Living One who sees me." A place in the middle of nowhere, a well that would still be remembered generations later.

Hagar went back. She returned to Abram's household and submitted to Sarai, just as the angel had commanded. And she gave birth to a son.

Abram named the boy Ishmael. The name the angel had spoken at the spring. This tells us that Hagar must have told Abram what happened in the wilderness, and he believed her. He used the name God chose.

Abram was eighty-six years old when Ishmael was born.