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Bible story · Genesis 21:8–21 (see also Genesis 16:7–13)
The Well She Couldn’t See
Read it yourself in the King James Bible: Genesis 21:8–21 (see also Genesis 16:7–13) ↗
“And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.”
Genesis 21:19 (KJV)The Story
Hagar was an Egyptian servant in Abraham’s household. Years earlier, she had given birth to Abraham’s son Ishmael. But after Sarah finally had her own son, Isaac, tension in the family boiled over. Sarah demanded that Hagar and Ishmael be sent away.
Early one morning, Abraham gave Hagar some bread and a skin of water, put it on her shoulder, and sent her and the boy into the wilderness of Beersheba.
They wandered until the water ran out. Hagar couldn’t bear to watch her son die of thirst. She placed him under a bush, walked away about the distance of a bowshot, sat down, and sobbed.
But God heard the boy crying. An angel called to Hagar from heaven: “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.” He told her to lift the boy up, because God would make him into a great nation.
Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. It had been there all along.
Reflection
This wasn’t the first time God met Hagar in the wilderness. Years earlier, when she ran away from Sarah, an angel found her by a spring. That day she gave God a name: “Thou God seest me.” Now, abandoned again, she discovered He still saw her.
More Bible stories from Genesis. More about: Family · Women of the Bible · Abraham
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Day 27 of Book 1
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