Genesis 16:1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. 3 Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan.
Here, Abram followed the traditions of man rather than the Commandments of God. "It being a customary law that a patriarch must have children, a dotal maid was often given with the bride, that in case of failure of issue, the maid might bear children for her mistress.” (Sutcliffe’s Commentary) "We have here the marriage of Abram to Hagar, who was his secondary wife. Herein though he may be excused, he cannot be justified; for from the beginning it was not so: and when it was so, it seems to have proceeded from an irregular desire to build up their families, for the more speedy peopling of the world.” (Benson Commentary)
4 So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between you and me.”
"Did Hagar, after conception, suffer herself to be elated with the idea that she should now be the favourite wife of the patriarch, and that her child should be the heir of all his wealth? Let the sinner learn not to be exalted in the day of prosperity, for in one moment our empty boasting may receive a blast. Self-knowledge is the most useful study for a man flattered by the world. He should ever remember that he is but sinful dust, and should never exalt himself in his own sufficiency, lest the wicked deride him in his fall.” (Sutcliffe Commentary) Afterwards: "Sarai falls upon Abram, and very unjustly charges him with the injury, suspecting that he countenanced Hagar’s insolence...” (Benson Commentary)
6 So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.” And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence.
"Abram seemed to make a bad situation worse by turning the situation over to Sarai and not taking care of the child he is father to. Yet, in this, he also puts his relationship with Sarai first, and that is good… These terribly complicated and difficult situations often arise out of our sin. All in all, it is much easier to live life trusting in the LORD. God wants to spare us from these difficulties.” (David Guzik)
7 Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”
Now the Angel of Jehovah … "The Son of God, who oft appeared in man’s shape, before he took man’s nature, is called an Angel or Messenger, because he was the Angel of the covenant, Malachi 3:1, and was sent upon divers messages to men in the Old Testament, and at last was to be sent in the flesh as God’s great Ambassador, or Messenger of peace and reconciliation.” (Matthew Poole) The Great Angel of the Covenant found Hagar by a spring of water in the wilderness... It is noted that "water sometimes symbolizes the spiritual cleansing that comes with the acceptance of God's offer of salvation ( Ezek 36:25 ; Eph 5:26 ; Heb 10:22). In fact, in Ephesians 5:26, the 'water' that does the cleansing of the bride, the church, is directly tied in with God's Word, of which it is a symbol."
She was on the way to Shur. "Hagar no doubt intended to escape to Egypt by a road used from time immemorial, that ran from Hebron past Beersheba, 'by the way of Shur.'- Shur, the present Jifar, is the name given to the north-western portion of the desert of Arabia (cf. Exodus 15:22)." (Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary)
"And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s maid — 1st, This was to check her pride. Though she was Abram’s wife, yet he calls her Sarai’s maid, to humble her. 2d, It was a rebuke to her flight. Sarai’s maid ought to be in Sarai’s tent, and not wandering in the wilderness. Whence camest thou?...” (Benson Commentary)
Where have you come from and where are you going?"It would be well if our afflictions would make us think of our home, the better country. But Hagar was now out of the way of her duty, and going farther astray when the angel found her. It is a great mercy to be stopped in a sinful way, either by conscience or providence.” (Benson Commentary)
9 The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.” 10 Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.”
Messiah bid her return to her camp to her position as Sarai’s handmaid, by thus doing: "Hebrews 'Multiplying I will multiply it'; that is, multiply it in every age, so as to perpetuate it. The Hagarenes, Saracens, and various other tribes of Arabs were descended from Ishmael, and they have been, and still are, a great people.” (Benson) "God’s promise to Hagar to multiply her descendants is similar to the one given to Abram and Sarai (see 15:5; 17:20; 22:15–18). Descendants translates the Hebrew word for seed (for its use elsewhere, see 3:15; 15:3, 5, 13, 18).” (Nelson Bible Study Notes)
11 And the Angel of the Lord said to her:
“Behold, you are with child,
And you shall bear a son.
You shall call his name Ishmael,
Because the Lord has heard your affliction.
12 He shall be a wild man;
His hand shall be against every man,
And every man’s hand against him.
And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”
You shall call his name Ishmael-- "That is, God will hear; and the reason is, because the Lord hath heard — He hath, and therefore he will. The experience we have had of God’s seasonable kindness in distress should encourage us to hope for the like help in the like exigencies. Even there where there is little cry of devotion, the God of pity hears the cry of affliction: tears speak as well as prayers." (Benson Commentary)
He shall be a wild man-- "Ishmael and his descendants would be unsettled, ever on the move. 'His hand … against' suggests that his descendants would often be at war. Still this people would endure. They would dwell in the presence of all his brethren. This has indeed been the case, for Ishmael’s descendants are the Arab peoples who populate most of the Middle East today. Very few of the peoples of the OT world have survived to our own day. For example, all ten nations of 15:19–21 have ceased to exist. But two peoples survive:Israel, the Jewish people, descended from Isaac; and the Arabs, descended from Ishmael...” (Nelson Bible Study Notes)
There exists a relatively new religion, Islam, that I do not believe is the religion of Hagar, nor Ishmael, nor any of the masses of his descendants until its creation after the first Advent of Messiah. It is not an issue here.
13 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi [Literally Well of the One Who Lives and Sees Me]; observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
"Though Hagar was Egyptian, she had evidently come to faith in the Lord of Abram and Sarai. As a recipient of God’s blessing, she gave Him a commemorative name, You- Are- the- God- Who- Sees. Her words, Have I also here seen Him, suggest amazement at God’s grace and humility in His presence. After the death of Abraham, his son Isaac lived at Beer Lahai Roi (25:11)” (Nelson Bible Study Notes)
15 So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.
This son was born in the tent of Abram and he and each of his descendants have every access to the spiritual graces bestowed on their father Abraham, even to any who desire to join themselves to them. "Did the Lord, notwithstanding, approach this woman when she fled from her mistress; and give her counsel and comfort in the day of trouble? Then let all strangers, exiles, and wanderers, yea all families in like circumstances, be careful to take no rash and hasty steps. Let them seek God by weeping and supplication, and he will surely guide them in the way they ought to go. It is better for a servant who may find himself harshly treated, patiently to suffer a little, and especially when he is faulty, than rashly to rush into greater calamities. But let the backslider also, who has wandered from God and his people, hear this voice which commanded Hagar immediately to return.” (Sutcliffe Commentary) But the Seed of the Woman would come from the line of a child born to Abram and Sarai.