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class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="http://biblehub.com/commentaries/">Commentaries</a> > Genesis 16:9</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../genesis/16-8.htm" title="Genesis 16:8">◄</a> Genesis 16:9 <a href="../genesis/16-10.htm" title="Genesis 16:10">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="topverse">And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.</div><div id="jump">Jump to: <a href="/commentaries/barnes/genesis/16.htm" title="Barnes' Notes">Barnes</a> • <a href="/commentaries/benson/genesis/16.htm" title="Benson Commentary">Benson</a> • <a href="/commentaries/illustrator/genesis/16.htm" title="Biblical Illustrator">BI</a> • <a href="/commentaries/calvin/genesis/16.htm" title="Calvin's Commentaries">Calvin</a> • <a href="/commentaries/cambridge/genesis/16.htm" title="Cambridge Bible">Cambridge</a> • <a href="/commentaries/clarke/genesis/16.htm" title="Clarke's Commentary">Clarke</a> • <a href="/commentaries/darby/genesis/16.htm" title="Darby's Bible Synopsis">Darby</a> • <a href="/commentaries/ellicott/genesis/16.htm" title="Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers">Ellicott</a> • <a href="/commentaries/expositors/genesis/16.htm" title="Expositor's Bible">Expositor's</a> • <a 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href="/commentaries/king-en/genesis/16.htm" title="Kingcomments Bible Studies">King</a> • <a href="/commentaries/lange/genesis/16.htm" title="Lange Commentary">Lange</a> • <a href="/commentaries/maclaren/genesis/16.htm" title="MacLaren Expositions">MacLaren</a> • <a href="/commentaries/mhc/genesis/16.htm" title="Matthew Henry Concise">MHC</a> • <a href="/commentaries/mhcw/genesis/16.htm" title="Matthew Henry Full">MHCW</a> • <a href="/commentaries/parker/genesis/16.htm" title="The People's Bible by Joseph Parker">Parker</a> • <a href="/commentaries/poole/genesis/16.htm" title="Matthew Poole">Poole</a> • <a href="/commentaries/pulpit/genesis/16.htm" title="Pulpit Commentary">Pulpit</a> • <a href="/commentaries/sermon/genesis/16.htm" title="Sermon Bible">Sermon</a> • <a href="/commentaries/sco/genesis/16.htm" title="Scofield Reference Notes">SCO</a> • <a href="/commentaries/ttb/genesis/16.htm" title="Through The Bible">TTB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/wes/genesis/16.htm" title="Wesley's Notes">WES</a> • <a href="#tsk" title="Treasury of Scripture Knowledge">TSK</a></div><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="comtype">EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)</div><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/ellicott/genesis/16.htm">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</a></div>(9) <span class= "bld">Submit thyself.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">humble thyself. </span>It is the verb translated <span class= "ital">dealt hardly </span>in <a href="/genesis/16-6.htm" title="But Abram said to Sarai, Behold, your maid is in your hand; do to her as it pleases you. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.">Genesis 16:6</a>. The angel therefore commands her to take the position which Sarai was forcing upon her; and by so doing proves to us that there had been no personal maltreatment. Commentators have taken this notion, not from the Hebrew, but from the English Version.<p><a name="mhc" id="mhc"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/mhc/genesis/16.htm">Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary</a></div>16:7-16 Hagar was out of her place, and out of the way of her duty, and going further astray, when the Angel found her. It is a great mercy to be stopped in a sinful way, either by conscience or by providence. Whence comest thou? Consider that thou art running from duty, and the privileges thou wast blest with in Abram's tent. It is good to live in a religious family, which those ought to consider who have this advantage. Whither wilt thou go? Thou art running into sin; if Hagar return to Egypt, she will return to idol gods, and into danger in the wilderness through which she must travel. Recollecting who we are, would often teach us our duty. Inquiring whence we came, would show us our sin and folly. Considering whither we shall go, discovers our danger and misery. And those who leave their space and duty, must hasten their return, how mortifying soever it be. The declaration of the Angel, I will, shows this Angel was the eternal Word and Son of God. Hagar could not but admire the Lord's mercy, and feel, Have I, who am so unworthy, been favoured with a gracious visit from the Lord? She was brought to a better temper, returned, and by her behaviour softened Sarai, and received more gentle treatment. Would that we were always suitably impressed with this thought, Thou God seest me!<a name="bar" id="bar"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/barnes/genesis/16.htm">Barnes' Notes on the Bible</a></div>The angel of the Lord either represents the Lord, or presents the Lord in angelic form. The Lord manifests himself to Hagar seemingly on account of her relationship to Abram, but in the more distant form of angelic visitation. She herself appears to be a believer in God. The spring of water is a place of refreshment on her journey. She is on the way to Shur, which was before Mizraim as thou goest rewards Asshur <a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/25-18.htm">Genesis 25:18</a>, and therefore fleeing to Egypt, her native land. The angel of the Lord interrogates her, and requires her to return to her mistress, and humble herself under her hands.<a name="jfb" id="jfb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/jfb/genesis/16.htm">Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary</a></div>7. And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain—This well, pointed out by tradition, lay on the side of the caravan road, in the midst of Shur, a sandy desert on the west of Arabia-Petræa, to the extent of a hundred fifty miles, between Palestine and Egypt. By taking that direction, she seems to have intended to return to her relatives in that country. Nothing but pride, passion, and sullen obstinacy, could have driven any solitary person to brave the dangers of such an inhospitable wild; and she would have died, had not the timely appearance and words of the angel recalled her to reflection and duty.<div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/poole/genesis/16.htm">Matthew Poole's Commentary</a></div> No text from Poole on this verse. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="gil" id="gil"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gill/genesis/16.htm">Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible</a></div>And the angel of the Lord said unto her,.... The same angel; though Jarchi thinks that one angel after another was sent, and that at every speech there was a fresh angel; and because this phrase is repeated again and again, some of the Rabbins have fancied there were four angels (r), and others five, but without any reason: <p>return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands; go back to her, humble thyself before her, acknowledge thy fault, enter into her service again, and be subject to her; do her work and business, bear her corrections and chastisements; and "suffer thyself to be afflicted" (s), by her, as the word may be rendered; take all patiently from her, which will be much more to thy profit and advantage than to pursue the course thou art in: and the more to encourage her to take his advice, he promises the following things, <a href="/genesis/16-10.htm">Genesis 16:10</a>. <p>(r) Bereshit Rabba, ut supra. (sect. 45. fol. 41. 1.) (s) "te patere affligi", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "quid si, patere te affligi?" Drusius. <a name="gsb" id="gsb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gsb/genesis/16.htm">Geneva Study Bible</a></div><span class="cverse2">And the angel of the LORD said unto her, <span class="cverse3">{e}</span> Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.</span><p>(e) God rejects no estate of people in their misery, but sends them comfort.</div></div><div id="centbox"><div class="padcent"><div class="comtype">EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)</div><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/cambridge/genesis/16.htm">Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges</a></div><span class="bld">9</span>. <span class="ital">And the angel of the Lord said</span>] Notice the triple repetition of these sayings of the Angel in <span class="ital"><a href="/context/genesis/16-9.htm" title="And the angel of the LORD said to her, Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hands....">Genesis 16:9-11</a></span>, containing in <span class="ital"><a href="/genesis/16-9.htm" title="And the angel of the LORD said to her, Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hands.">Genesis 16:9</a></span> the injunction to return and submit, in <span class="ital"><a href="/genesis/16-10.htm" title="And the angel of the LORD said to her, I will multiply your seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.">Genesis 16:10</a></span> the promise of a multitude of descendants, and in <span class="ital"><a href="/context/genesis/16-11.htm" title="And the angel of the LORD said to her, Behold, you are with child and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Ishmael; because the LORD has heard your affliction....">Genesis 16:11-12</a></span> the name and character of her future son. <a href="/context/genesis/16-9.htm" title="And the angel of the LORD said to her, Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hands....">Genesis 16:9-10</a> both begin with the same words as <span class="ital"><a href="/genesis/16-11.htm" title="And the angel of the LORD said to her, Behold, you are with child and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Ishmael; because the LORD has heard your affliction.">Genesis 16:11</a></span>, and probably are editorial additions from different versions of the story.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="pul" id="pul"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/pulpit/genesis/16.htm">Pulpit Commentary</a></div><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 9.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And the angel of the Lord said unto her</span> - as Paul afterwards practically said to Onesimus, the runaway slave of Philemon (<span class="accented">vide</span> Philippians 12) - <span class="cmt_word">return to thy mistress, and submit thyself</span> - the verb here employed is the same as that, which the historian uses to describe Sarah s conduct towards her (Ver. 6); its meaning obviously is that she should meekly resign herself to the ungracious and oppressive treatment of her mistress - <span class="cmt_word">under her hands.</span> Genesis 16:9<a name="kad" id="kad"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/kad/genesis/16.htm">Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament</a></div>Hagar no doubt intended to escape to Egypt by a road used from time immemorial, that ran from Hebron past Beersheba, "by the way of Shur." - Shur, the present Jifar, is the name given to the north-western portion of the desert of Arabia (cf. <a href="/exodus/15-22.htm">Exodus 15:22</a>). There the angel of the Lord found her by a well, and directed her to return to her mistress, and submit to her; at the same time he promised her the birth of a son, and an innumerable multiplication of her descendants. As the fruit of her womb was the seed of Abram, she was to return to his house and there bear him a son, who, though not the seed promised by God, would be honoured for Abram's sake with the blessing of an innumerable posterity. For this reason also Jehovah appeared to her in the form of the Angel of Jehovah. הרה is adj. verb. as in <a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-24.htm">Genesis 38:24</a>, etc.: "thou art with child and wilt bear;" ילדתּ for ילדת (<a href="/genesis/17-19.htm">Genesis 17:19</a>) is found again in <a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/13-5.htm">Judges 13:5</a>, <a href="/judges/13-7.htm">Judges 13:7</a>. This son she was to call Ishmael ("God hears"), "for Jehovah hath hearkened to thy distress." עני afflictionem sine dubio vocat, quam Hagar afflictionem sentiebat esse, nempe conditionem servitem et quod castigata esset a Sara (Luther). It was Jehovah, not Elohim, who had heard, although the latter name was most naturally suggested as the explanation of Ishmael, because the hearing, i.e., the multiplication of Ishmael's descendants, was the result of the covenant grace of Jehovah. Moreover, in contrast with the oppression which has had endured and still would endure, she received the promise that her son would endure no such oppression. "He will be a wild ass of a man." The figure of a פּרא, onager, that wild and untameable animal, roaming at its will in the desert, of which so highly poetic a description is given in <a href="http://biblehub.com/job/39-5.htm">Job 39:5-8</a>, depicts most aptly "the Bedouin's boundless love of freedom as he rides about in the desert, spear in hand, upon his camel or his horse, hardy, frugal, revelling in the varied beauty of nature, and despising town life in every form;" and the words, "his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him," describe most truly the incessant state of feud, in which the Ishmaelites live with one another or with their neighbours. "He will dwell before the face of all his brethren." פּני על denotes, it is true, to the east of (cf. <a href="/genesis/25-18.htm">Genesis 25:18</a>), and this meaning is to be retained here; but the geographical notice of the dwelling-place of the Ishmaelites hardly exhausts the force of the expression, which also indicated that Ishmael would maintain an independent standing before (in the presence of) all the descendants of Abraham. History has confirmed this promise. The Ishmaelites have continued to this day in free and undiminished possession of the extensive peninsula between the Euphrates, the Straits of Suez, and the Red Sea, from which they have overspread both Northern Africa and Southern Asia. <div class="vheading2">Links</div><a href="/interlinear/genesis/16-9.htm">Genesis 16:9 Interlinear</a><br /><a href="/texts/genesis/16-9.htm">Genesis 16:9 Parallel Texts</a><br /><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/niv/genesis/16-9.htm">Genesis 16:9 NIV</a><br /><a href="/nlt/genesis/16-9.htm">Genesis 16:9 NLT</a><br /><a href="/esv/genesis/16-9.htm">Genesis 16:9 ESV</a><br /><a href="/nasb/genesis/16-9.htm">Genesis 16:9 NASB</a><br /><a href="/kjv/genesis/16-9.htm">Genesis 16:9 KJV</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="http://bibleapps.com/genesis/16-9.htm">Genesis 16:9 Bible Apps</a><br /><a href="/genesis/16-9.htm">Genesis 16:9 Parallel</a><br /><a href="http://bibliaparalela.com/genesis/16-9.htm">Genesis 16:9 Biblia Paralela</a><br /><a href="http://holybible.com.cn/genesis/16-9.htm">Genesis 16:9 Chinese Bible</a><br /><a href="http://saintebible.com/genesis/16-9.htm">Genesis 16:9 French Bible</a><br /><a href="http://bibeltext.com/genesis/16-9.htm">Genesis 16:9 German Bible</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a><br /></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="mdd"><div align="center"><div class="bot2"><table align="center" width="100%"><tr><td align="center"><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div><br /><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:200px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="3592799687"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /><br /> </div> <div id="left"><a href="../genesis/16-8.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Genesis 16:8"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Genesis 16:8" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../genesis/16-10.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Genesis 16:10"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Genesis 16:10" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div> <div id="bot"><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhnew2.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>