Texts in Conversation
In Genesis 16, the angel of God, and perhaps God himself in an earlier version, asks Hagar where she is, a question similar to the one God asks Adam in Genesis 3. This reflects one of many elements in the Hagar narrative that parallel Adam.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Genesis 3:9
Hebrew Bible
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the orchard at the breezy time of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the orchard. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 The man replied, “I heard you moving about in the orchard, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”
Genesis 16:8
Hebrew Bible
7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring of water in the wilderness—the spring that is along the road to Shur. 8 He said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She replied, “I’m running away from my mistress, Sarai.” 9 Then the angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her authority.
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Notes and References
"... For the first time, Hagar is addressed by name and is called “Sarai’s maid.” This may have surprised Hagar. How could a stranger have known about her identity? The reader, knowing that the stranger is the angel of the LORD, is not surprised. But the question that follows, “Where have you come from?” although sounding quite natural to Hagar, strikes the reader as rhetorical. It is as unnecessary as the LORD asking Adam “where are you?” (3:9) or Cain “where is Abel?” (4:9). This is, in fact, the first time the LORD has asked someone their whereabouts since Gen 4, and it emphasizes the parallel between this story and those earlier ones. But whereas Adam and Cain prevaricated, Hagar is perfectly honest in her answer ..."
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