And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he [is].
Ver. 17. And God heard the voice of the lad.] Weeping hath a voice. Psa 6:8 And as music upon the water sounds farther and more harmoniously than upon the land, so prayers joined with tears. These, if they proceed from faith, are showers quenching the devil's cannon shot; a second baptism of the soul, wherein it is rinsed anew, nay, perfectly cured: as the tears of vines cure the leprosy; as the lame were healed in the troubled waters. Whether Hagar's and Ishmael's tears were for sin, or for the present pressure only, I have not to say. a But God is so pitiful, that he hears and helps our affliction, as he had done Hagar's once afore. Gen 16:11 And as our Saviour raised the young man of Nain, though none sought to him, merely because he was the only son of his mother, a widow, the stay of her life, and staff of her old age. See a sweet place, 2 Kings 14:26,27 .
a Lachrymas angustiae, exprimit crux; lachrymas poenitentiae, peccatum.