Interesting Facts

• Hagar was an Egyptian handmaid belonging to Sarai, Abram’s wife.
• Sarai gave Hagar to Abram to bear children for her because Sarai was barren.
• When Hagar conceived, she began to despise her mistress Sarai.
• Hagar fled to the wilderness to escape Sarai’s affliction, where she encountered an angel of YHWH.
• Hagar named YHWH who spoke to her, “Thou God seest me” and called the well Beer-lahai-roi, meaning “the well of Him that liveth and seeth me”.
• Hagar later took a wife for her son Ishmael from among the daughters of Egypt, named Meribah (also called Ribah).

Genealogy

• Hagar was the handmaid of Sarai.
• She became a wife to Abram.
• She bore Abram’s first son, Ishmael, when Abram was eighty-six years old.
• The angel of YHWH promised to multiply Hagar’s seed exceedingly, so that it could not be numbered for multitude.
• Ishmael’s wife was an Egyptian woman named Meribah (Ribah).
• Meribah bore Ishmael sons: Nebaioth, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, and a sister Bosmath.
• Ishmael later cast off his wife Ribah and took another wife from the land of Canaan named Malchuth.
• Malchuth bore Ishmael sons: Mishma, Dumah, Masa, Chadad, Tema, Yetur, Naphish, and Kedma.

Historical Context

Hagar’s story unfolds during a time when Abram and Sarai were dwelling in the land of Canaan but facing a famine that led them to Egypt. In Egypt, Sarai’s beauty attracted the attention of Pharaoh, and Abram, fearing for his life, claimed she was his sister. This deception resulted in Pharaoh taking Sarai into his house, but YHWH plagued Pharaoh and his household because of Sarai. After discovering the truth, Pharaoh confronted Abram and Sarai and expelled them from Egypt with possessions. Returning to Canaan, Abram and Sarai continued to live without children, which was a significant concern in their culture, where progeny was highly valued for continuing the family line and fulfilling divine promises. The practice of a barren wife giving her handmaid to her husband to bear children on her behalf was a known custom, aiming to provide the household with heirs. This context explains Sarai’s decision to give Hagar to Abram. Later, Sarah’s jealousy and mistreatment of Hagar after she conceived reflects the tensions that could arise within such arrangements.

Narrative

Hagar enters the narrative as Sarai’s Egyptian handmaid, who is given to Abram as a wife so that they might have children. Upon conceiving Ishmael, Hagar’s perception of her mistress shifted, leading to her despising Sarai. This caused Sarai to deal harshly with Hagar, who then fled to the wilderness. In the wilderness, Hagar encountered an angel of YHWH by a well. The angel instructed her to return to Sarai and submit herself, while also promising that her offspring would be numerous and that the son she was carrying should be named Ishmael, meaning “because the Lord hath heard thy affliction”. Hagar obeyed and returned to Abram’s house, where she gave birth to Ishmael. Years later, after Sarah herself conceived and gave birth to Isaac, tensions rose again. Ishmael was seen mocking Isaac, which led Sarah to demand that Abram cast out Hagar and Ishmael. Although this grieved Abram, YHWH told him to heed Sarah’s voice, promising to make a great nation of Ishmael because he was Abram’s seed. Abram provided Hagar with bread and water and sent her and Ishmael away, and they wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. When their water was gone and Ishmael was near death, an angel of God appeared to Hagar, assuring her that God had heard the lad’s voice and would make him a great nation. God then opened Hagar’s eyes, and she found a well of water, saving herself and her son. Afterward, Hagar took a wife for Ishmael from Egypt. Later in Abram’s life, he desired to see Ishmael and visited him in the wilderness, testing Ishmael’s first wife before Ishmael eventually married Malchuth from Canaan. Hagar’s story highlights themes of barrenness, surrogacy, jealousy, divine intervention, and the beginnings of distinct lineages promised by God.