And the angel of the Lord said unto her
Continued his discourse with her, informing her she should have a
son, and what his name should be, and what his character, and the
place of his habitation:
behold, thou [art] with child;
this she knew, and it is said, not for her information, as to
this respect, but to lead on to something else he had to acquaint
her with, she did not know. Jarchi indeed would have the sense to
be, "thou shall conceive" or "be with child", as was said to
Manoah's wife, ( Judges 13:5 ) ; for it
is a fancy of his, that Hagar had miscarried, and he, supposes
the angel to promise her, that if she would return, or when she
should return, she should conceive again; but this is said and
supposed without any foundation:
and shalt bear a son;
this was what she hoped for, but was not certain of; but the
angel assures her of it, that the child she went with was a son,
which none could foretell but God, that is omniscient:
and shall call his name Ishmael;
the Jews F19 observe, there were six persons who
had their names given them before they were born, and Ishmael is
one of them; the six were Isaac, ( Genesis
17:19 ) ; Ishmael, here; Moses, ( Exodus 2:10 ) ;
Solomon, ( 2 Samuel
12:24 ) ; Josiah, ( 1 Kings 13:2
) ; and the Messiah, ( Isaiah 7:14 ) (
Matthew
1:21 ) ( Luke 1:31 ) : the reason
of his name follows,
because the Lord hath heard thy affliction:
heard of it, had took notice of it, and observed, and fully
understood the nature and cause of it; he had heard her groans
and sighs under it, and her prayer and cries for deliverance from
it; and so the Targum of Onkelos,
``for the Lord hath received thy prayer,''which she had put up in her affliction, both when in the service of her mistress, and since her flight from her.