Illustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Commentary פַּרְשָׁנוּת
After Sarai invited Hagar to marry Avram so that he could have a baby with her, Hagar became pregnant, and started looking down on Sarai. Sarai then treated Hagar harshly, and Hagar ran away. She met an angel on the way, and this pasuk tells us what he said to her.
וַיֹּאמֶר לָהּ מַלְאַךְ ה'
הִנָּךְ הָרָה וְיֹלַדְתְּ בֵּן
וְקָרָאת שְׁמוֹ יִשְׁמָעֵאל
כִּי שָׁמַע ה' אֶל עׇנְיֵךְ׃
The angel of God said to her,
“Behold, you are pregnant, and you will give birth to a son,
you will call him Yishmael,
for God has heard your suffering.”
The name Yishmael connects the שֹׁרֶשׁ (shoresh, root) ש.מ.ע–which means to hear or listen–to a name of God.
Our פַּרְשָׁנִים (parshanim, commentators) wonder: Why did God want to convey this message, that God listens? Who needed to know this?
וְאָמַר לָהּ שֶׁהִיא תִּקְרָאֶנּוּ כֵּן, וְתִזְכָּר כִּי שָׁמַע אֱלֹקִים אֶל עׇנְיָהּ.
He (the angel) told her (Hagar) that she should call him this, to help her remember that God heard her suffering.
וְעַל זֶה אָמַר שֶׁתִּקְרָא שֵׁם הַנּוֹלָד יִשְׁמָעֵאל כִּי שָׁמַע ה' אֶל עׇנְיָהּ, וְיִתֵּן בְּלֵב שָׂרָה שֶׁלֹּא לְעַנּוֹתָהּ עוֹד.
The reason the angel told Hagar to name the baby Yishmael–because God has heard her suffering–was so that Sarah would understand that she should stop causing pain to Hagar.
According to Ramban, the message of the name was for Hagar. It aimed to comfort her and help her feel secure.
According to Malbim, the message of the name was for Sarai. It was to remind Sarai that God is paying attention - God heard about the pain caused to Hagar. This would make Sarai act more kindly.
- How does knowing that God is watching and listening help us act with more kindness?
- Before all this happened, the Torah tells us: וַתֵּרֶא כִּי הָרָתָה וַתֵּקַל גְּבִרְתָּהּ בְּעֵינֶיהָ (Hagar saw she had become pregnant, and she took her mistress lightly; Bereishit 16:4). How might Yishmael’s name affect how we understand this pasuk? How might Ramban explain this, and how might Malbim?
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