Genesis 16:9

9 The angel of ADONAI said to her, "Go back to your mistress, and submit to her authority."

Genesis 16:9 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 16:9

And the angel of the Lord said unto her
The same angel; though Jarchi thinks that one angel after another was sent, and that at every speech there was a fresh angel; and because this phrase is repeated again and again, some of the Rabbins have fancied there were four angels ^F18, and others five, but without any reason:

return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands;
go back to her, humble thyself before her, acknowledge thy fault, enter into her service again, and be subject to her; do her work and business, bear her corrections and chastisements; and "suffer thyself to be afflicted" {s}, by her, as the word may be rendered; take all patiently from her, which will be much more to thy profit and advantage than to pursue the course thou art in: and the more to encourage her to take his advice, he promises the following things, ( Genesis 16:10-12 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 Bereshit Rabba, ut supra. (sect. 45. fol. 41. 1.)
F19 (yneth) "te patere affligi", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "quid si, patere te affligi?" Drusius.

Genesis 16:9 In-Context

7 The angel of ADONAI found her by a spring in the desert, the spring on the road to Shur,

8 and said, "Hagar! Sarai's slave-girl! Where have you come from, and where are you going?" She answered, "I'm running away from my mistress Sarai."

9 The angel of ADONAI said to her, "Go back to your mistress, and submit to her authority."

10 The angel of ADONAI said to her, "I will greatly increase your descendants; there will be so many that it will be impossible to count them."

11 The angel of ADONAI said to her, "Look, you are pregnant, and you will give birth to a son. You are to call him Yishma'el [God pays attention] because ADONAI has paid attention to your misery.