God As El Roi, "The God of Seeing"

Genesis 16 is a difficult text to read. It starts out with Sarai 'giving' her maidservant Hagar to Abram to act as a surrogate mother. Once Hagar conceives Sarai doesn't like her attitude and so abuses her so severely that Hagar flees into the wilderness. I mean Sarai and Abram come off pretty bad in this. Sarai betrays a women who did her a solid, and treats this person as nothing more than chattel that exists only to please her. Abram at best comes off as spineless and at worst also dehumanizes the whole woman.

But once in the desert, something truly amazing happens. God visits Hagar in the form of an angel, and promises her that despite the abuse she suffers, she has before her a wonderful destiny. God names her son "Ishmael" which means approximately "God is with me." Such a naming was a wonderful blessing indeed. Hagar names God in this moment, as God named her son. She names God "El Roi" which means "The God of Seeing". The name as a double meaning. On the one hand it refers to Hagar's divine vision. She knew that God was something that could be perceived, experienced....SEEN. But it also has to do with the fact that God Himself SAW Hagar. Hagar was, for every person in the story, nothing more than an object. No one could truly SEE HER. But God came down and let her know that He saw and cared about her as a person. She knew that whatever happened, God had His eye on her. Could there be anything more beautiful.

The whole story has the mark of truth. I have little doubt that the broad outline of the story is true. For one thing, the very fact that it paints the patriarch and his wife in such a negative light makes it much more believable. Additionally, it isn't impossible to believe that Hagar, lost in the desert, had some kind of vision. This isn't to say that what she saw wasn't real, but it puts the whole thing in a very believable context. Further, the message from God is just so profound. Isn't this what we really want? To know that we are SEEN? Hagar was humanized by God's vision, and by her vision of God. God named her son, she named God, and what she named God is as significant today as it was 3000+ years ago. This is why I love the Bible, this is the reason for my being a Christian. I read this story and say, 'yes, this is truth, this fits with what I experience as well. My God too is a God who sees.'