Genesis 16:7 - Exposition

And the angel of the Lord . Maleach Jehovah , elsewhere styled Maleach Elohim ( Genesis 21:17 ; Genesis 31:11 ); supposed but wrongly to be a creature angel, for the reasons chiefly

1. The Maleach Jehovah explicitly identifies himself with Jehovah ( Genesis 16:10 ) and Elohim ( Genesis 22:12 ).

2. Those to whom he makes his presence known recognize him as Divine ( Genesis 16:13 ; Genesis 18:23-33 ; Genesis 28:16-22 ; Exodus 3:6 ; 6:15 , 6:20-23 ; 13:22 ).

3. The Biblical writers constantly speak of him as Divine, calling him Jehovah without the least reserve ( Genesis 16:13 ; Genesis 18:1 ; Genesis 22:16 ; Exodus 3:2 ; 6:12 ).

4. The doctrine here implied of a plurality of persons in the Godhead is in complete accordance with earlier foreshadowings ( Genesis 1:26 ; Genesis 11:7 ) and later revelations of the same truth.

5. The organic unity of Scripture would be broken if it could be proved that the central point in the Old Testament revelation was a creature angel, while that of the New is the incarnation of the God-Man.

Found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness . Properly an uninhabited district suitable for pasturing flocks, from a root signifying to lead to pasture; hence a sterile, sandy country, like that here referred to, Arabia Deserta, bordering on Egypt ( Genesis 14:6 ; Exodus 3:1 ). By the fountain . The article indicating a particular and well-known spring. In the way to Shur. "Before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria" ( Genesis 25:18 ); hence not Pelusium on the Nile (Jos; 'Ant.,' 6.7, 3), but probably the modern Dachifar in the north-west of Arabia Deserta (Michaelis, Rosenmüller, Keil, Lange). Hagar was clearly directing her flight to Egypt.