Matthew Henry on Genesis 16:10-14
We may suppose that the angel having given Hagar that good counsel (Gen 16:9) to return to her mistress she immediately promised to do so, and was setting her face homeward; and then the angel went on to encourage her with an assurance of the mercy God had in store for her and her seed: for God will meet those with mercy that are returning to their duty. I said, I will confess, and thou forgavest, Psa 32:5. Here is,
I. A prediction concerning her posterity given her for her comfort in her present distress. Notice is taken of her condition: Behold, thou art with child; and therefore this is not a fit place for thee to be in. Note, It is a great comfort to women with child to think that they a…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 16:13
called the name--common in ancient times to name places from circumstances; and the name given to this well was a grateful recognition of God's gracious appearance in the hour of Hagar's distress.
Next: Genesis Chapter 17
Adam Clarke on Genesis 16:14
Wherefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi - It appears, from Gen 16:7, that Hagar had sat down by a fountain or well of water in the wilderness of Shur, at which the Angel of the Lord found her; and, to commemorate the wonderful discovery which God had made of himself, she called the name of the well באר לחי ראי beer-lachai-roi, "A well to the Living One who seeth me." Two things seem implied here:
1. A dedication of the well to Him who had appeared to her; and,
2. Faith in the promise: for he who is the Living One, existing in all generations, must have it ever in his power to accomplish promises which are to be fulfilled through the whole lapse of time.
John Gill on Genesis 16:14
Wherefore the well was called Beerlahairoi,.... That is, the fountain where the angel found her, Genesis 16:7; this, from the appearance of God to her at it, was afterwards called by her and others by this name, which signifies "the well of him that liveth and seeth me"; that is, of the living and all seeing God, and who had taken a special care of her, and favoured her with a peculiar discovery of his love to her: or this may have respect to herself, and be rendered, "the well of her that liveth and seeth"; that had had a sight of God, and yet was alive; lived though she had seen him, and after she had seen him, and was still indulged with a sight of him. Aben Ezra says, the name of this we…
