EL Roi, the All Seeing Eye of God

No! Not the Jetson's son, Elroy.  The Hebrew phrase El Roi was spoken by Hagar the Egyptian slave of Sarah.  

Let's look at this passage in Genesis 16:

Abram’s wife, Sarai, had not borne any children for him, but she owned an Egyptian slave named Hagar. Sarai said to Abram ... go to my slave; perhaps through her I can build a family.” ...Sarai, took Hagar, her Egyptian slave, and gave her to her husband, Abram, as a wife for him. This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan ten years. ...she became pregnant. ... her mistress became contemptible to her. ...Sarai mistreated her so much that Hagar ran away from her. 

The angel of the Lord found her by a spring in the wilderness.... He said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?”  She replied, “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai.”The angel of the Lord said to her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her authority.” The angel of the Lord said to her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, and they will be too many to count.” 

The angel of the Lord said to her, “You have conceived and will have a son. You will name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard your cry of affliction. ...So she named the Lord who spoke to her: “You are El-roi,” for she said, “In this place, have I actually seen the one who sees me?"... Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.

El Roi is a Hebrew name for God meaning "The God Who Sees Me".  This name, given by an Egyptian slave of a Hebrew woman who was the wife of the patriarch Abram of Ur of the Chaldeans, highlights God's intimate, watchful care over individuals.  

Abram had traveled from Ur of the Chaldeans to Haran and then into Canaan arriving when he was 76 years old.  Ten years later Abram's wife says we were promised offspring, but I have none. Take Hagar and get her pregnant so that I can build a family.  Notice that Sarai wants to "speed things up" so that she can have HER way rather than let God's prophesy play out naturally.  As so often happens when we try to rush things we screw it up.  

Hagar was a lowly servant.  She was given away like cattle to a man who didn't care for her.  She was treated poorly by a scornful wife of that man, whose self-centered plotting backfired on her.  But when she fled into the desert she found hope.  God was aware of Hagar's fears and predicament – my boss gave me a job to do.  I did it, now my boss HATES me and mistreats me so badly that I must run away. But the Angel of the Lord recognized Hagar, asked her of her intentions.  Pregnant, fleeing from abuse, Hagar was in the desert when the angel guided her to return to her boss and have the child for the children of Ishmael would likewise become a mighty nation.

Realizing that God had witnessed her suffering and intervened, Hagar called him El Roi, The God who sees emphasizing that God cares for the individual not just the crowd.  This name implies that God's sight leads to action—God provides, restores, and guides.

In our current society many feel vulnerable, invisible and forgotten.  The name of God that Hagar gave El Roi can provide hope and power.

Ro'iy in the original Hebrew can be translated as shepherd, seeing, looking or gazing.  In other words El (God) [of] Ro'iy sees us, looks upon us and will, if WE allow it, shepherd us to safety as he did Hagar.  Even in our most desperate moments we can, if we look back, see the fingerprints of God all over our past.  We know that the future is under his shepherding and he will never stop seeing us.  

Not even for a second.