She called the name of Hashem Who spoke to her, “You are the G-d of vision,” for she said, “Could I have seen even here after having seen?”[2]
What seemed wondrous to Hagar appears murky to us. What was different about the seeing then, and what she had previously seen? Come to think of it, what is it that she saw altogether?
Chazal offer different takes in a midrash.[3] In one of them, R. Shmuel ben Nachman explains with an analogy. A noblewoman was summoned by the king for inspection. As was the custom for women of rank, she arrives assisted by her maidservant. During her brief encounter with the king, she demurely covers her face – which means that she does not take a good look at the king. Her servant, however, does no such thing, and therefore sees more of the king than her mistress does.
What does this mean? I believe that Chazal understand Hagar to be bragging about having come closer to “seeing” Hashem – of experiencing a prophetic conversation with G-d – than Soro did. Hagar, as Rashi points out, had grown accustomed to seeing malachim who frequented Avraham’s home. She had been happy that she and Soro, her mistress, were able to be this close to the Divine Presence. Hagar now stands transfigured. After fleeing from Soro, she receives a communication from on High. Soro is nowhere near. Hagar is the sole recipient. She asks rhetorically, could I really have seen entirely by myself after all the times before that I had seen only in the company of others? Nothing like this ever happened to Soro! She feels more than vindicated. Obviously, she is more deserving than Soro is!
Of course, she wasn’t. But she posed a good question. How was it that Hagar here was treated to this extraordinary privilege? Chazal answer with their analogy of the noblewoman and her maidservant – which itself requires explanation.
The key is understanding the mindset of someone summoned suddenly to appear before a king who wields absolute power. Such a person is paralyzed with fear. What is that the king is looking for? Is there something about me that he will find fault with, in which case who knows what consequences there will be? Awestruck by the king, the noblewoman, she covers up, and averts her glance from the king.
Her maidservant, on the other hand, knows no such fear. She accompanies her mistress, and doesn’t think twice about locking eyeballs with the monarch. Her demeanor is far more casual and flippant. Ironically, she sees more of the king than the noblewoman does. Similarly, Soro had a far greater appreciation of Elokus than Hagar did. Her reverence for G-d caused her to avert her glance, i.e. to shy away from peering directly. Hagar did not have such reticence. She saw more – not because she was the greater of the two, but because she was the lesser.
We will see similarly at Matan Torah. “Against the great men of the Bnei Yisrael, He did not stretch out His hand; they gazed at G-d, and they ate and drank.”[4] Great they were, but still lacking in a deeper and more reverential understanding of Elokus. After what should have been an electrifying and overpowering experience, they still found room to eat and drink in celebration.
- Adapted from Divrei Shaul, by Rav Yosef Shaul Nathanson ↑
- Bereishis 16:13 ↑
- Bereishis Rabbah 45:10 ↑
- Shemos 24:11 ↑