Hagar, Sarah and Abraham – Three’s a Crowd
Hagar was an Egyptian slave woman that Abraham and Sarah brought with them back to Canaan. Abraham’s relationship with Hagar resulted in the birth of Ishmael.
Abraham’s Story So Far
In previous posts, we learned that God called Abraham to a land that He would show him and told him that he would be blessed with many descendants.
Abraham was faithful but then failed in Egypt. When Abraham returned to Canaan, he parted from Lot and the promise was expanded. He was told his descendants would be like the dust.
Abraham rescued Lot later after he was captured during a regional war. Abraham was then blessed by Melchizedek, priest of God Most High, then told that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars
The Introduction of Hagar to the Story
Hagar was an Egyptian slave that Abraham and Sarah had presumably picked up when they were in Egypt. Abraham and Sarah used her for their own purposes.
Genesis 16:1-2 records that.
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”
Genesis 16:1-2
When we read about Abraham and Sarah’s actions in Genesis 16, it is easy for us to be shocked, even in our liberal minded, anything goes modern day culture. Without doubt, their actions were sinful. Despite this we need to remember that the Bible is full of culture and context and not always easy for us to understand or comprehend.
We need to try to unravel what is going on before we judge too quickly. We must also remember that here are many things in our modern culture at which Abraham and Sarah would be appalled.
Sarah Manipulating God’s Promise
Sarah is becoming impatient.
She probably had not witnessed any of God’s appearances to her husband up to this point. I suspect that she probably had not had firsthand experience.
Sarah decides that perhaps Abraham’s descendants are not destined to arrive into the world through her body.
So, she decides that perhaps they should help God out.
She decides to give her young Egyptian maid to Abraham so that he can father a child, lift the embarrassment, and help God fulfil His promise that Abraham would be a father to descendants as thick as the dust and as countless as the stars.
Sarah’s Cultural Context
To our 21st century minds, Sarai may seem to have completely lost her mind. I cannot imagine any wife thinking that it would be a good idea to provide her husband with another woman to sleep with!
However, we are not living in the same times.
We must remember that Abraham and Sarah were living before God had given His law to Moses. They were living by the codes, culture, laws and morals of the day.
Victor P Hamilton, in Eerdmans New International Commentary references an Old Assyrian marriage contracts which states the following:
“If within two years she has not procured offspring for him, only she may buy a maid-servant and even later on, after she procures somehow an infant for him, she may sell her whenever she pleases.”
Victor P Hamilton
Meredith P. Kline states:
“Sarai’s suggestion that Abram take Hagar as a concubine was in keeping with the practice of that day as attested in legal code and marriage contract. The latter sometimes stipulate that a barren wife must acquire a slave-woman for her husband. Sometimes a wife received a personal maid as a marriage fit; all legal rights over this maid’s child belonged to the wife.”
Meredith P. Kline
So according to the culture that they were living in, their actions were appropriate. The child born of the union between Abraham and Hagar will be the adopted son and heir. However, there is no mention at all of Abraham or Sarah consulting God, or receiving directions from God to carry this out.
Sarah’s Wisdom or God’s Promise
Sarah has made a proposal and Abraham has a choice to make. Is he going to trust in Sarah’s wisdom or in God’s promise?
Sadly, he chooses Sarai’s limited human wisdom and we read:
Abram agreed to what Sarai said.
Genesis 16:2
Why does he agree to such a thing?
- Perhaps he was thinking that Sarah’s plan made sense.
- Perhaps he is embarrassed. Abraham has probably shared God’s promise to others in their group. He has been confident that God was going to do this however…now he is embarrassed.
- Perhaps he is simply indulging his sexual desires.
Whatever his reasoning, he is forgetting what God has told him. His lack of faith fails him once again.
He is trusting his wife’s wisdom instead of the plan of the infinitely wise God.
God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah is Messianic. The Messiah will come through their line. God has no intention of changing this. His divine plan will be carried out.
Don’t Try to Manipulate God’s Plans
Nevertheless, lacking patience, or is it faith, Abraham and Sarah decide that it might be a good idea to help God out. It seems to me that it usually brings trouble when we are too impatient for God and decide to help Him out.
As if we know better! How many times have we tried to help God out?
Have you ever believed that God’s Holy Spirit was promising you something, yet been too impatient to wait? As one author puts it,
“Anything you have to manipulate to get, is rarely yours to keep.”
Beth Moore
Here’s the sad thing:
A child will be born of this union. A child that will produce many descendants.
But Abraham will not get to keep him. In fact, he must send this son away from his presence.
He is not God’s promise to Abraham.
Don’t try to manipulate God’s plans.
Don’t we believe that God can make it abundantly clear to us when we are to act?
Abraham’s Lack of Leadership
In the last study, we saw Abraham demonstrate strong, decisive male leadership in his dramatic rescue of Lot. However, here we see a clear lack of leadership.
He needed to stand up to his wife and say:
“Sarai, I understand your frustration, believe me I am frustrated too. But we need to wait for God to fulfil His promise when the time is right.”
Yet he fails this test of godly leadership, and takes Sarai’s advice.
Naturally, Hagar quickly becomes pregnant, adding insult to injury for Sarah as it is now obvious that it is her body that is the problem, not Abraham’s.
Hagar of course, begins to despise and mock her mistress, which is probably not a wise thing to do. Sarah, after consulting with Abraham who washes his hands of the affair, (no pun intended) mistreats Hagar, who flees into the desert.
Hagar and the Backstory to an Encounter With God.
Of all the twists and turns, the story of the promise to Abraham takes, what happens next is perhaps one of the most surprising.
Hagar, the Egyptian slave girl, encounters God.
Up to this point she seems to be nothing but a voiceless pawn in this little game. No one seems to value her opinion or her status as a human being.
Hagar is almost certainly one of the group of slaves given to Abraham in Genesis 12:14-16 as part of an anticipated wedding gift to Abraham while Sarah is in the palace being courted by the Pharaoh.
Likely she is quite young, perhaps in her teens, and has little or no say in what is happening to her in the scheme proposed by Sarah. Probably she is resentful of being used in this way, but also may see an opportunity to advance her standing in Abraham’s circle.
Hagar Becomes Pregnant
However, any plans she has for advancing herself fall foul of Sarah’s capricious mood when Hagar becomes pregnant and begins mocking her owner and master.
Sarah turns on Abraham, who again refuses an opportunity to demonstrate strong leadership.
“You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.” “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.”
Genesis 16:5-6
Was Hagar beaten? Probably. Sarah was determined to put this girl back in her place and make sure she understood that she was nothing more than a vessel to carry a child. Hagar is an unwilling surrogate mother with no say in the matter whatsoever.
Surrogacy today is a complicated matter with Christians and people of all faiths disagreeing about whether it is or is not moral. I simply point out that it is complicated when all parties are contractually agreed.
Here, the one, Hagar, has no say in the matter yet bears the consequences of Abraham and Sarai’s lack of faith in God.
Abraham missed an opportunity to be a “blessing to all nations” now he misses the opportunity to bless a young Egyptian slave girl with respect and protection.
A Fleeing Hagar is Found by God
We can imagine Hagar fleeing weeping into the desert. Even more so if she is a relatively young teenager. Her distress and her seemingly spontaneous action of fleeing without thinking of how she is going to survive seems to support the idea that she is young.
Then something truly amazing happens. We read:
“The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert.”
Genesis 16:7
Presumably, she is thirsty and has stopped for a drink. Perhaps she knew of the location of this spring because of her travels with Abraham’s party.
Although we cannot be certain, like the Samaritan woman at the well, it seems that Hagar meets the Lord himself.
Thoughts of Jesus’s promise in John 4:13-14 spring (no pun intended) to mind,
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 4:13-14
The God Who Sees Me
The Creator God finds the Egyptian slave girl, and calls her by name. Despite having been the innocent, manipulated victim in Abraham and Sarah’s machinations, she has value in God’s sight.
“Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
Genesis 16:8
There are three things to notice here. First, notice how the Angel of the Lord addresses her, he uses her full title:
- Hagar – he knows her name.
- Slave – he knows her status.
- Of Sarai – He knows her owner.
This must have rattled Hagar. This Being knew exactly who she was.
Secondly, notice that he questions her:
- Where have you come from?
- Where are you going?
Consider these questions for a moment.
God knows our circumstances, no matter how insignificant and forgotten we may feel. And he cares enough to meet us where we are. My wife and I minister to internationals and we often hear stories about how people believe that God brought them from their homeland to hear the good news about Jesus Christ.
Hagar is Known, Not a Nobody
Back to Hagar. The angel of the Lord knew where she was coming from, and He knows where she is going. He knows the intimate details of her life and cares deeply. The Lord comforts her by telling her what the future holds for her and her son
“You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son.
You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery.
He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone
and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”
Genesis 16:11-12
She is to have a son, but his future and the future of his descendants will be one of violence. Abraham and Sarah’s decision is going to have its consequences. Decades later it is Ishmaelite traders who purchase Joseph and sell him as a slave.
Others will be affected by their poor choices, as others are often affected by our poor choices.
Hagar Names God
Then an amazing thing happens. Hagar, a lowly Egyptian slave girl of little value gives God a name!
“You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi.”
Genesis 16:13-14
Beer Lahai Roi means “Well of the Living One Who Sees Me.”
Can you hear her plight coming through in the name she gives Him?
“The One Who Sees Me.”
“No one else has seen me!” No one else values me!”
Before God met her, no one noticed her or gave her even gave her the slightest consideration. She was ignored, until the moment of realization that her body had value as a reproductive machine. Even then she was not loved, just misused and mistreated.
Imagine that! Imagine Hagar’s surprise! The God of Abraham is real and is searching for her!
Why on earth would He care about a lowly, downtrodden, beaten down slave girl in the desert?
But He did and he does! Make no mistake, whatever kind of negative, uncomfortable, lost and lonely place we are in, God knows and cares.
Back to Her Mistress
Despite this, the Angel of the Lord sends her back to Abraham and Sarah.
“Go back to your mistress and submit to her.”
Genesis 16:9
At first glance we might be troubled by this instruction. We might wonder why she is told to return to a toxic situation. I suspect He sends her back for her own safety. A young pregnant women should not be out wandering in the desert alone.
We can picture her coming hesitantly, nervously, questioningly back into the encampment.
She is also likely afraid that she is going to get another beating. She is probably wondering if she will even be allowed access to Abraham to tell him what she has seen and heard.
She is probably bursting to tell the news, but wondering how she will be received, or if they will even believe her.
Perhaps the reception was frosty, especially from Sarah. But she is accepted back into the camp.
The Birth of Ishmael
Now we read of the birth of Hagar’s son.
So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
Genesis 16:15-16
Abraham, when he hears from Hagar what has happened, names his son Ishmael, as instructed. Later we find that Abraham develops a strong attachment to his son Ishmael.
Twice now God has failed to step in and protect women from sexual mistreatment. Both times Abraham, the man of faith, has been at the center of events, and has behaved shockingly poor.
It seems astonishing that Abraham could rally 318 men to rescue his weak nephew yet cannot stand up to his wife’s attempts to circumvent God’s plans by manipulating both he and and Hagar. Abraham should have performed much much better.
Despite everything, God is a forgiving God who is committed to His children and the promises He makes. This is still true today.
How is this story relevant to you? We would love to hear from you. Comment below or contact us at HopeStreamRadio.
Ray Marshall
Ray Marshall was born in Scotland but emigrated to Canada in 1977 where he met his wife Kelly.
In the 1990’s, Ray and Kelly served as missionaries in both Ireland and Ecuador, and after returning to Canada, they served as church planters in Belleville, Ontario. Later, Ray provided leadership to the Spirit Borne Christian Performing Arts Team in Quinte West.
Between 2009 and 2014, Ray and Kelly spent several years teaching ESL in China. After returning from China, Ray served with the Navigators of Canada as a community mentor.
These days, Ray serves with MSC Canada as a Global Outreach Worker, reaching out to international students; visiting scholars and professors; and immigrants.
He has also been providing digital media and SEO support for FBHInternational, and HopeStreamRadio since 2011.
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How to Read and Study the Bible: and Pray
Jesus said, I Am The Way, The Truth and The Life
Images courtesy of:
Girl with Hijab – Harmoniapictura
Desert, Camels – Pexels
Desert – Logga Wiggler
Egypt – henryleester
Desert spring – Peggychoucair
Arab – InstagramFOTOGRAFIN
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