1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. 2 And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.
Ten years have come and gone since Abram first arrived in Canaan. He and his wife Sarai are now both getting old, and Sarai fears that she will never be able to bear children to Abram. However God also promised that Abram would have an heir. So Sarai does something that is not uncommon of in the ancient middle east, she offers a servant as a concubine to Abram.
Hagar is much younger, perhaps late teens or early twenties, a prime age for bearing children. She is probably one of the servants they acquired from Pharaoh while in Egypt. She is listed and Sarai’s servant, meaning she may have acted as a maid, and could have been close to Sarai.
Abram agrees to this plan, not seeing any other means by which he may have an heir.
3 So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. 4 And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress.
Abram and Sarai make the arrangements for Hagar to be married to Abram, she is not taken as a concubine, but as a second wife, perhaps to ensure that Abram’s child through her would be an heir. Because she becomes a second wife, she may think that she has as much say as Sarai would in the household.
When it becomes clear that Hagar is pregnant with Abram’s child, Hagar looks down on Sarai. She sees the pregnancy as a blessing, one that was denied to Sarai. Perhaps Hagar takes this as a sign that she should be the matron of the house, for she was able to provide Abram with children.
5 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!”
Sarai is very angry. Not nessicarally because Hagar conceived, but because her servant is now looking down on her. Sarai takes her anger out on Abram, maybe perhaps thinking that Abram may have possibly loved Hagar more than Sarai, or perhaps now viewed Hagar as better.
6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.
Abram, not wanting to suffer that wrath of Sarai, gives her permission to punish Hagar for looking down on her. This clearly marks Sarai as Abram’s foremost wife, and reminds Hagar that she is only a servant. However, Sarai is furious, and mistreats Hagar to the point where Hagar flees into the wilderness.
7 The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.”
Hagar, left all alone, and possibly several months pregnant, is approached by an angel. The angel calls her the “servant of Sarai”, another reminder that her status as Abram’s wife did not elevate her above Sarai. He also asks where she is going, and Hagar does not give a direct answer, but simply says she is fleeing. Since she is traveling toward Shur, to the south, it seems she was trying to return to Egypt.
It seems odd that God chose to speak to Hagar. The Bible only mentions a handful of women to whom God spoke directly, and only three others, including Eve, are mentioned in the Old Testament. But God speaks directly with Hagar, who’s descendants are not going to inherit His promise. But God still cares for her enough to reach out to her in her time of need. God loves her even though she is, in a sense outside of His promise.
9 The angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.”
The angel commands her to return to Sarai, and more specifically to submit to Sarai. Hagar’s position is Abram’s house was a gift from Sarai, and she had previously responded poorly. The angel is telling Hagar to repent and seek forgiveness.
10 The angel of the LORD also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” 11 And the angel of the LORD said to her,
“Behold, you are pregnant
and shall bear a son.
You shall call his name Ishmael,
because the LORD has listened to your affliction.
12 He shall be a wild donkey of a man,
his hand against everyone
and everyone’s hand against him,
and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”
The angel then offers Hagar a prophecy, she will have a son, Ishmael (God Listens), who God will make into a great nation. He will be stubborn, headstrong, and prone to conflict with others, but he will still become a nation none the less.
The last phrase of the prophecy “he shall dwell over against all his kinsman” suggest that the descendants of Ishmael and the other descendants of Abram will live in close proximity and possibly conflict with each other. Today many of the Arab nations are descended from Ishmael, and they are often in conflict with Israel, which is descended from Abram’s son Isaac, fulfilling this prophecy. It is interesting to think that many of the current conflicts in the middle east can be traced back to this chapter of the Bible.
13 So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered.
Hagar is grateful for the angel and for God’s promise, and she names the spring “The well of the living God, who sees me.”
15 And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.
Hagar returns to Abram and Sarai, having learned humility, and submitting to Sarai’s authority. There she gives birth to Ishmael while Abram is 86 years old. Abram might very well have seen Ismael as the heir to God’s promise, although, as we shall see, God has different plans.