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| "... reaching forth unto those things which are before ... toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus " (Philippians 3:13-14) Vol. 8, No. 5, Sep. - Oct. 1979 |
Harry Foster
WE seldom pay much attention to little Hagar. The allegorical use of her as the slave mother in Paul's letter to the Galatians, tends to make us think slightingly of this Egyptian and her son. We are told that they had to be cast out, and on the whole we are prepared to leave it at that.
But Hagar was more than an allegorical figure -- she was a human being whom God loved. It is true that she was a stranger by birth and a slave at heart, but is not that where we all begin? She has things that can be said against her but she has left us all in her debt, for she it was who first pronounced this wonderful spiritual truth: "Thou God seest me". I, for one, thank her profoundly for such comforting words.
It is typical of graceless men that they distort this happy confession and make it into an attack [97/98] upon the God of the Old Testament. Is there a single writer with some early experience of the Bible who can resist a sneer at this conception of a malicious snooper upon human affairs? One after another, in their biographies or novels, they describe the wall-text with a large EYE, and the ominous warning that a fault-finding God is spying on you in your most private room. It almost seems a 'must' for those who want to have a sly dig at the Old Testament. If they sincerely considered the matter they would discover that the description applies equally to the Jesus of the New Testament, and if they really verified their reference by turning to the actual story in Genesis they would find that Hagar -- far from resenting God's all-seeing eye -- found the sweetest comfort in her discovery of an understanding God.
"Thou God seest me." Is it a warning? Well, if Abraham's daughter-in-law, Rebecca, had just remembered that story of Hagar, she might not have plotted with Jacob to deceive Isaac. Her old husband was blind, and fair game for their deception, but God is not blind. He sees it all. She might have saved her family from that disgraceful quarrel if she had kept Hagar's words in mind. True, she did not foil God's purposes -- nobody can do that -- but she lost her pampered son Jacob, and never saw him again, and all because she ignored that all-seeing eye of God.
