Genesis - Chapter 16

In Chapter 15 we met "the word of the Lord", when he came to Abraham.  In Chapter 16 we have another visit which is generally viewed as a pre-incarnate manifestation of Jesus.  This time the title used is "the angel of the Lord", and this is the first time that title appears in the Bible.  

The angel of the Lord says "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count." - which is a claim only God could make.  

I would also be surprised if the title "the angel of the Lord" referred to Jesus elsewhere in the Old Testament, but not here, where it first appears.  

It is also surprising, and very encouraging, that this appearance is not to Sarah - the ancestor of Jesus - but to Hagar, the mother of Ishmael.  An indication that Jesus' salvation is for all people - not just the Jewish descendants of Abraham and Sarah.  This is the truth about Jesus that is hidden in this chapter.