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It’s not by accident, I think, that the first angel in the pages of the Bible arrives to comfort and strengthen Hagar, a woman too long pushed down into the footnotes of our Bible studies. Hagar is a slave, a foreigner and a sexualized competitor to Sarai (Genesis 16:1-13). Sarai treats Hagar harshly and Hagar runs away.
That’s the moment the angel of the Lord steps in, just when Hagar seems abandoned and out of options. The angel gives Hagar a tremendous promise: The son she is carrying won’t belong to Sarai; he will be Hagar’s son. He will bear a proud name of faith: “Ishmael,” meaning “God hears.”
The crowning touch of this story is when Hagar realizes she was not only comforted and coached by an angel of the Lord, but that truly it was Godself who had visited her – a mark of favor and incredible distinction. Moreover, Hagar has the honor of giving a new name to God: El-roi, which means “the God who sees.” God sees the one who is left out, sent out, bereft, and God sends her the first comforting angel of the Bible.
This message is excerpted from the Bible study “Journey with angels” (Session three) by Christa Von Zychlin in the March 2021 Gather magazine. Today we commemorate Michael and all angels