Discovery BoxGenesis 16:11 
Context16:11 Then the Lord’s angel said to her,
“You are now 1 pregnant
and are about to give birth 2 to a son.
You are to name him Ishmael, 3
for the Lord has heard your painful groans. 4
Genesis 22:12
Context22:12 “Do not harm the boy!” 5 the angel said. 6 “Do not do anything to him, for now I know 7 that you fear 8 God because you did not withhold your son, your only son, from me.”
Genesis 48:16
Context48:16 the Angel 9 who has protected me 10
from all harm –
bless these boys.
May my name be named in them, 11
and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac.
May they grow into a multitude on the earth.”
1 tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) focuses on her immediate situation: “Here you are pregnant.”
2 tn The active participle refers here to something that is about to happen.
3 sn The name Ishmael consists of the imperfect or jussive form of the Hebrew verb with the theophoric element added as the subject. It means “God hears” or “may God hear.”
4 tn Heb “affliction,” which must refer here to Hagar’s painful groans of anguish.
sn This clause gives the explanation of the name Ishmael, using a wordplay. Ishmael’s name will be a reminder that “God hears” Hagar’s painful cries.
5 tn Heb “Do not extend your hand toward the boy.”
6 tn Heb “and he said, ‘Do not extend…’”; the referent (the angel) has been specified in the context for clarity. The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
7 sn For now I know. The test was designed to see if Abraham would be obedient (see v. 1).
8 sn In this context fear refers by metonymy to obedience that grows from faith.
9 sn The Samaritan Pentateuch reads “king” here, but the traditional reading (“angel”) may be maintained. Jacob closely associates God with an angelic protective presence. This does not mean that Jacob viewed his God as a mere angel, but it does suggest that he was aware of an angelic presence sent by God to protect him. Here he so closely associates the two that they become virtually indistinguishable. In this culture messengers typically carried the authority of the one who sent them and could even be addressed as such. Perhaps Jacob thought that the divine blessing would be mediated through this angelic messenger.
10 tn The verb גָּאַל (ga’al) has the basic idea of “protect” as a near relative might do. It is used for buying someone out of bondage, marrying a deceased brother’s widow, paying off debts, avenging the family, and the like. The meanings of “deliver, protect, avenge” are most fitting when God is the subject (see A. R. Johnson, “The Primary Meaning of √גאל,” Congress Volume: Copenhagen, 1953 [VTSup], 67-77).
11 tn Or “be recalled through them.”
