“The angel of the Lord said to her further, “Behold, you are pregnant, And you will give birth to a son; And you shall name him Ishmael, Because the Lord has heard your affliction.”
Genesis 16:11
Biblical names are significant because they give meaning to the events that accompany the naming. In Genesis 16, two names tell us more about who God is. In the naming of Hagar’s son, Ishmael (v. 11), God revealed Himself as the God who hears our prayers, for Ishmael means “God hears.”
In response, Hagar named God “You are the God who sees me” (v. 13) or El-Roi. The Lexham English Bible translates it as: “She called the name of Yahweh who spoke to her, ‘You are El-Roi,’ for she said, ‘Here I have seen after he who sees me.’ ” Yahweh is the all-hearing and all-seeing God.
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