There are several sounds that refer to me.
‘Dad’… ‘Sunil’… ‘monay’ are sounds that are intricately linked to who I am.
Till now I haven’t mentioned the sounds that refer to God in the Old testament.
‘Elohim’ and ‘Yahweh’ are two of them. The different sounds refer to the diverse levels of relationship that sounders of the name have with God.
Naming is a kind of power. God names Adam, Adam names Eve, Eve names Seth.
But Hagar, a woman, a foreigner, a slave… names GOD.
The lowest of the low performs an act of power over God.
She sounds God.
El-roi
The One who sees me.
Earlier in the story God promises a son for Hagar and he is to be named Ishmael.
Ishmael – God listens.
The listening God is now sounded as the seeing God.