Genesis 16:13 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Thou God seest me. — Heb., Thou art El Boi, that is, a God of seeing. Not as Onkelos paraphrases it, “Thou art a God that sees all things,” but “Thou art a God that permits Himself to be seen.” For so Hagar proceeds herself to explain the name, Do not I still see after seeing? With all the love of an Oriental for dark sayings, Hagar plays upon the word “roï,” but her meaning is plain: “Do I not see, and therefore am alive, and not even blinded, nor bereft of sense and reason, though I have seen God.”