Women of the Bible 
Hagar: A Woman Who Raised a Wild Donkey of a Man
Genesis 16:1-16; 21:9-20; 25:12-18; Galatians 4:21-31
 
by Kathryn Capoccia
                       
All Scripture references are taken from the HOLY BIBLE: NEW
INTERNATIONAL VERSION (C) 1978 by the New York Bible Society, used by
permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

  Abram had received a call from God to leave his home in the city of Ur and travel to a land that He would show him and give to him as an everlasting possession. Following the Euphrates River Abram came northwest to the city of Haran, where he acquired slaves, herds and other possessions, and then journeyed south to Canaan, the promised land. Shortly after arriving in Canaan there was a severe famine and Abram temporarily went down to Egypt for relief; and there he gained more riches, slaves and animals. Eventually Abram became “very rich in livestock, and in gold and silver.” He owned hundreds of slaves to guard his possessions and manage his holdings. Hagar was one of those slaves. When we first find Hagar on the pages of Scripture, in Genesis chapter sixteen, Abram had been thriving as a semi-nomad in Canaan for ten years, since the year 2090 BC.[1] Hagar lived in the household of Abram as a servant to his beautiful wife Sarai. Sarai and Abram were childless, though God had promised Abram a son and heir of his own body who would inherit the land, become a great nation, and be a blessing to “all the families of the earth” (GEN 12:2-3; 15:4-5).

 Who Was Hagar?
  
“Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar. So, Sarai said to Abram, ‘Now behold, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps; I will obtain children through her’” (GEN 16:1-2).

She was an Egyptian slave.
 
A. Egypt was a culturally advanced nation: 
1. The Old Kingdom (2686-2180) produced the pyramids and the Sphinx, elaborate royal temples of granite an alabaster, colossal cities and statuary in the round that was equal to that of the later Greeks.
2. The Middle Kingdom (2180-1551) produced highly developed wisdom literature which stressed right moral character. Schools’ taught literature, astronomy, mathematics (arithmetic, geometry, trigonometry), architecture, and music. Also, medical science and dentistry, anatomy, chemistry and embalming techniques were areas of knowledge. Metallurgy was practiced- they had gold mines and copper mines, and were familiar with iron and bronze.[2]
3. Egyptians had a polytheistic religion with a concern for the afterlife.
 
B. Slavery was a part of Egyptian life. People could become slaves in three ways:
                       1. They were taken prisoner in a war or were lawbreakers.
                       2. They were sold into slavery by kidnappers or sold to settle a debt.
                       3. They were born into servitude.[3]
 
C. Hagar was a"shiphchah,"a female servant or slave.
1. The word “Hagar” means, "flight" or "fugitive" or "immigrant;” it comes from an unused Egyptian word which means, “a wheel.”[4] In light of her later behavior it is appropriate foresight.
2. Her job was to serve Sarai in domestic chores such as cleaning, washing, cooking, and in attending to  Sarai’s needs.[5]
3. She was perhaps purchased during Abram and Sarai’s sojourn in Egypt. She may even have been one of the slaved gifted to Abram from Pharoah (GEN 12:16), and if so, would probably have been one of the more attractive and cultured slaves.
4. If she retained her Egyptian form of attire she would have worn a white linen garment that went from her shoulders to her feet, either a simple rectangular garment that was loosely wrapped around her body and tucked in at the waist, or a long sheath dress held up by one or two straps. She would have worn sandals on her feet and simple jewelry around her neck and wrists. Black makeup (kohl) may have been used around her eyes. 
5. She would probably have had dark hair and eyes and olive skin. Her hair would have been worn long (past her shoulders), straight and blunt-cut, with bangs. (Nobility shaved their heads and wore wigs.)[6] She would have probably stood about five feet two inches tall since that was the average height of ancient Egyptian women.[7]

She became Abram’s concubine.
 
WHAT IS A CONCUBINE?
 
 A concubine is a woman who has a sexual relationship with a man of higher social rank without being married to him.[8] 
 
“After Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife” (GEN 16:4).
 
“I gave my maid into your arms” (GEN 16:5).
 
A. Sarai could give her maid to her husband because Hagar was her property, and she had a legal right to do with her what she wished.
B. According to the traditions of the land a childless woman could obtain children through the union of   
a concubine and her husband, and that child would become hers and the legal heir of the father. This was later made law in the Code of Hammurabi (Babylonian), the Nuzi Tablets (Mesopotamia), and old Assyrian marriage contracts.[9]
C. According to Genesis 2:23 in God’s plan marriage was to be between a man and a woman, not multiple women. For Sarai to give her maid to Abram as another wife may have been acceptable by her society’s standards but it was a violation of God’s revealed word.
D. As a slave Hagar had no say in this matter and was just a pawn in the hands of Sarai. However, the change in her position afforded her the opportunity to be more secure—she could not be bought or sold or expelled according to local traditions—and she had the possibility of having a child.
 
*For Sarai, using Hagar to circumvent God’s will for her, “God has prevented me from bearing children,” was sin. It showed a weak faith in God’s sovereignty, promise and power. She was seventy-five years old, though she seemed much younger, and perhaps it was her age and the passage of time that caused her to try to make spiritual things happen through fleshly efforts. She should have known that “nothing is impossible with God” (LUK 1:17).

What did she do?
 
“He went into Hagar, and she conceived” (GEN 16:4).

She bore a son to Abram.
 
A. Hagar conceived:
 
1. Abram accepted Hagar as a wife. As in the Garden of Eden where the husband followed the ungodly lead of the wife, so Abram followed the advice of Sarai, putting his wife before God’s word.
2. Also, Abram perhaps took Hagar as a second wife because in his ten years of waiting his faith had grown weak as well. Possibly he began to think that the pagan practice of polygamy would accomplish the birth of “the promised child.” (He would later take another concubine, but only after Sarah’s death, GEN 23:2; 25:1.)
3. Abram had relations with Hagar, and she conceived. Abram was 85 years old (and would live to be 175) but he was still physically able to father a child.
                                              
*Doubt about God’s expressed word is sin. Satan started planting doubt in the Garden of Eden with Eve and he did it with Abram and Sarai. But God says what He means, and He means what He says. Our job is to believe.
 
B. Hagar forgot her place:
 
“And when Hagar she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight” (GEN 16:4). 
 
                       1. She despised her mistress.
a. The word despised literally means, “to be slight, swift or trifling,” but it is most often translated as “cursed.” To be barren was a great grief to women and considered a sign of God's disfavor (GEN 30:1; 1SA 1:6; LUK 1:36-58). Because Hagar was able to conceive a child by Abram when Sarai could not she mocked Sarai as a cursed woman. (This is similar to the way that Hannah was treated by her husband’s second wife, Peninnah (1SAM 1:6).)
b. The word mistress means, lady, queen, or mistress. Sarai (“my princess”) had authority over Hagar as her “queen” yet Hagar treated her as an inferior because of her pregnancy.
 
“And Sarai said to Abram, ‘May the wrong done to me be upon you! I gave my maid into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her sight. May the LORD judge between you and me’” (GEN 16:5).
 
                      2. She "wronged" Sarai (GEN 16:5).                    
a. The word wronged means, "to do evil or violence.” An evil relationship had developed between Sarai and Hagar, perhaps even to the point where Hagar sought to displace Sarai.
                                              b. Sarai blamed Abram for the wrong that she was suffering.
 
"Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up: a servant who becomes king, a fool who is full of food, an unloved woman who is married, and a maidservant who displaces her mistress" (PRO 30:21-23).
 
“But Abram said to Sarai, ‘Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight.’ So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence” (GEN 16:6).
 
                        3. She “fled” from Sarai.
                                              a. Abram gave Hagar back to Sarai as was the custom: in your power, or hand.
b. Sarai treated Hagar harshly. The word harshly, means “to be bowed down or afflicted.” If Sarai followed custom, she demoted Hagar and perhaps gave her menial or unpleasant tasks to perform. Perhaps she even beat her.
 
If she has given a maid to her husband and she has borne children and afterwards that maid has made herself equal with her mistress, because she has borne children her mistress shall not sell her for money, she shall reduce her to bondage and count her among the female slaves—Code of Hammurabi.[10]
 
c. Hagar ran away from Sarai, something she was forbidden by law to do, and something punishable by death.[11]
d. Hagar chose to try to run rather than submit to her mistress again. In her way she was a wild donkey of a woman.
e. She was in the wilderness, "on the way to Shur" (GEN 16:7), the road that ran from Hebron past Beersheba to Shur (the present Jifar, the north-western portion of the desert of Arabia) and thence on to Egypt, her homeland. She wanted to go back to Egypt, a refrain the Israelites would mutter in the wilderness under Moses.
 
C. Hagar reconsidered her way:
 
                       1. She met the Angel of the LORD. 
 
“Now the Angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on    the way to Shur. He said, ‘Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from and where are you going?’ And she said, ‘I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.’ Then the angel of the LORD said to her, ‘Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority’” (GEN 16:7- 9).
 
               a. The word angel means, “a messenger or ambassador;” this messenger was from 
               the LORD, Yahweh.
                            b. The Angel of the LORD “found” her. The word found means “to attain to, find.” 
                            As a fugitive slave Hagar did not want to be found, but the Angel of the LORD knew               
                            where she was. No one can hide from God (Psalm 139; Jonah 1).                              
                            c. The Angel of the LORD supernaturally knew her (“Hagar, Sarai’s maid”).
d. The Angel of the LORD confronted her and elicited a confession of sin from her, not unlike the confrontation in the Garden (GEN 3).
   
WHO IS THE ANGEL OF THE LORD?
                                              Scholars would call this angelic visitation a theophany, a self-manifestation of God because:
                                            He speaks authoritatively as God; He identifies Himself with God; He claims to exercise the                      
                                              prerogatives of God.
 
                       WHERE ELSE DO WE FIND REFERENCES TO HIM AS A MAN?
 
Genesis chapter eighteen—three “men” appeared to Abraham, one of whom was the LORD Who promised a child for Sarai and doom for the Valley of Sodom.
Genesis chapter thirty-two—a “man,” wrestled with Jacob all night, blessed him and renamed him.
Joshua chapter five—a “man,” “the captain of the LORD’s host, said that the place where He was standing holy ground.
Judges chapter thirteen—a “man,” “very awesome in appearance,” came to Manoah and his wife and promised them a son, Samson.
 
*After the incarnation of Christ, the Angel of the LORD does not appear in Scripture: it is inferred that the angel of the LORD is, in fact, a preincarnate appearance of Jesus, the second member of the Trinity.
 
2. She was commanded to return to her mistress (“queen”) and submit to her authority. The word submit means, "to be bowed down" or “afflicted;" the word authority means, “hand.” In other words, she was told to be submissive to authority, first to God and then to her owners.
 
   “Moreover, the angel of the LORD said to her, ‘I will greatly multiply your descendants so    
    that they will be too many to count.’ The angel of the LORD said to her further, ‘Behold, you    
    are with child, and you will give bear a son; and you shall name him Ishmael, because the     
    LORD has given heed to your affliction. He will be a wild donkey of a man, his hand will be
    against everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him; and he will live to the east of all his      
    brothers.’” (GEN 16:10-12).
 
3. She was comforted by The Angel of the LORD.
                       a. He promised to "greatly multiply her descendants.”
b. He assured her that she would bear a son called Ishmael or, " God hears," because God had "given heed to her affliction.”
c. He explained that her son would be "a wild donkey of a man"--he would be untamable or perhaps would roam the deserts freely like a wild donkey.
 
                       “Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees”; for she 
               said, ‘Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?’ Therefore, the well was called Beer-
               lahai-roi; behold it is between Kadesh and Bered” (GEN 16:13-14).
 
                       4. She named the Angel of the LORD, “The Living One Who Sees Me.”
                                            a. She recognized that deity had spoken to her.
 
                                              HOW?
 
                                              As an Egyptian she believed in gods. Perhaps she believed that she had encountered                                   
                                        one of many gods. Note that she does not call this God by the names that Abram used for 
                                              God, Yahweh, and God Most High (GEN 14:22).
                                              Also, Abram had undoubtedly spoken of his encounters with the Living God (GEN 12, 13, 
                                              15), and the compassion, omniscience and sovereignty of the Angel of the LORD showed 
                                              that this was truly God Himself.
 
                                           b. She marveled that she had seen God and lived (because there was a belief was that no    
                                              one could see God and live: see Exodus 33:20 and Judges 13:22).
                                              c. She named the well where she met God, "Beer Lahi Roi", or "well of the Living One Who    
                                              sees me."
                                              d. She returned to Sari and Abram to what must have been an uneasy peace.
 
                                              WILL WE SEE HAGAR IN HEAVEN?
 
                                              There are commentaries that firmly hold that this encounter was salvific because of the                            
                                              concern expressed by the Angel of the LORD, the confession of sin by Hagar, her obedience
                                               to the expressed command of God to return to her masters, and her continued submission                     
                                              to Sarai for the next sixteen or so years.
                       
                                              However, there are also those who see this as God intervening to save the life of 
                                              the unborn Ishmael, not Hagar herself. This view is supported by her further interaction with 
                                              the Angel of the LORD in chapter twenty-one where He says, “God has heard the voice of                          
                                              the lad crying,” not Hagar. (Also, Ishmael’s mocking (GEN 21) was like his mother’s                
                                              earlier behavior. The lives of the false prophet Balaam, King Saul and Judas show that one 
                                              can encounter God and yet not have saving, transforming faith. Only God Knows whether 
                                              Hagar had a saving faith.
 
D. Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son (GEN 16:15,16).
 
“So, Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him” (GEN 16:15-16).
 
                       1. Hagar completed her pregnancy term and safely bore to Abram and Sarai the son that the Angel had 
                       announced.
                                              a. This child was the legal heir of Abram, taking the place of Eliezer of Damascus (GEN 15:2).
                                              b. This child removed the sting of childlessness that Abram and Sarai had carried their entire married lives.
     2.  Abram named him, "Ishmael," the name the Angel of the LORD had given to Hagar. (This presupposes that Hagar told Abram everything that the Angel of the LORD had told her, which 
     he then believed and acted upon.)
                       3. Abram was 86 years old when Ishmael was born, eleven years after he had entered Canaan; so the date was 2079.[12]

She was cast out with her son.
 
“The child [Isaac] grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. Now Sarai saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. Therefore, she said to Abraham, ‘Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son, Isaac’” (GEN 21:10).
 
A. Abraham and Sarai had their own child, Isaac, “laughter” (GEN 21:5). 
                       1. Isaac was the promised child (GEN 15, 18):
 
“’One who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.’ And He took him outside and said, ‘Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be’” (GEN 15:5).
 
                       “God said, ‘I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a 
                       son’” (GEN 18:10).
 
                       2. Isaac was a miracle child:
                                              a. At 100 years old Abraham was too old to father a child:
                       
                                              “Now Abraham and Sarai were old, advanced in age” (GEN 18:11).
                       
                                              “Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as             
                                              good as dead since he was about a hundred years old” (ROM 4:19).
 
                                              b. At 90 years old Sarai was too old to conceive a child:
 
                                              “Sarah was past childbearing. She laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I have become old, shall I                   
                                              have pleasure, my lord being old also?’” (GEN 18:11-12).
 
                                              “…and the deadness of Sarah’s womb” (ROM: 4:19).
 
                                              “Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life” (HEB 11:11).
 
                       *This is a reminder to us, “Is anything too difficult for the LORD?’ Will the God who spoke the universe 
                       into existence and maintains it by His might, the Almighty, omniscient, omnipotent, all wise, all loving
                       inexhaustible God find anything too difficult to handle for us?
 
                       3. Isaac grew and was weaned (GEN 21:8).
 
                      “And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day that Isaac 
                 was weaned” (GEN 21:8).
 
                                            a. Hebrew children were weaned from breastfeeding at two to three years of age.[13]
                                              b. Hannah brought her son Samuel to the Tabernacle after he was weaned, so weaning was 
                                              considered a time when a child became independent of his mother, passed into childhood 
                                              and left infancy (1SA1:24).                                      
                                              c. Abraham threw a “great feast” (“impressive banquet”) to celebrate this first step toward
                                              adulthood. There would have been tender meats, special wine, bread and olive oil, cheeses, 
                                              vegetables and fruits, and entertainment.[14]
                                              
B. Sarai was offended by Ishmael:
 
                       “Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. 
               Therefore, she said to Abraham, ‘Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall 
               not be an heir with my son Isaac’” (GEN 21:9-10).
 
                       1. Sarah called Ishmael “the son of this maid,” and not her own son.
                       2. Sarah saw Ishmael mocking Isaac (literally, “laughed”). In Galatians chapter four the Apostle Paul 
                       labels this mockery as persecution (GAL 4:29). Ishmael was a sixteen or seventeen-year-old young man 
                       who aggressively and continuously mocked his two or three-year-old half-brother at that child’s own 
                       celebration (2063 or 2062 BC); Ishmael was fulfilling the prophetic word concerning him, "he will be a 
                       wild donkey of a man" and, "his hand will be against his brother.”
 
                       3. Sarah demanded that Ishmael and his mother be banished.
                       
                       WHY WOULD SARAH REQUEST SUCH AN ACTION?
 
                                            a. Maternal jealousy may have precipitated this outburst.
                                              b. Unresolved resentment about Hagar may have moved Sarah to use this incident as an 
                                              opportunity to rid herself of her rival.
                                             c. More likely, a prompting by the Holy Spirit may have moved Sarah to remove Hagar and 
                                              Ishmael from Abraham and Isaac. As John the Baptist said of himself and Christ, "He must 
                                              become greater; I must become less" (JOH 3:30); perhaps in order for God to deal with 
                                              Abraham and Isaac as He wished Ishmael and Hagar had to be put out of the way.
 
C. Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael away (GEN 21:11-14).
 
“The matter distressed Abraham greatly because of his son. But God said to Abraham, ‘Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; do whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named. And of the son of the maid, I will make a nation also, because he is your descendant.’”
 
                       1. Abraham was distressed (lit. "to be bad," i.e. grieved) to send them away (GEN 21:11).
                                              a. Ishmael was his son whom he loved, who had been his heir for fifteen years, and it 
                                              grieved Abraham to think of losing him.
                                              b. Ishmael had been promised prosperity and blessing, and banishment did not seem to fit 
                                              that prophecy.
                                            c. Abraham may have been concerned about violating the legal custom which forbade a 
                                              man from arbitrarily sending away a concubine and her son.[15] 
                        2. Abraham was reassured (GEN 21:12,13).
                                              a. God said to Abraham, "listen to whatever Sarah tells you" (GEN 21:12).
                                              b. He assured Abraham that He would indeed bless Ishmael, because Ishmael was 
                                              Abraham's son.
                       3. Abraham complied with Sarah's request (GEN 21:14).
                                              a. Seventeen was the age when young men normally established their own homes.[i][16]
                                              b. Beersheba was the area to which Hagar had previously fled, so she knew it.
 
                       “So, Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave them to 
               Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her away.” 
                       
                                            a. Abraham sent them off early in the morning (which means that he promptly obeyed God's 
                                              command), and thus showed them compassion so they could travel in the cool of the day.
                                              b. Abraham loaded them with provisions (bread and a skin of water) and sent them away (to 
                                              the Negev.
 
D. Hagar and Ishmael dwelt in the desert (GEN 21:14-21).
 
“And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba. When the water in the skin was used up, she left the boy under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, ‘Do not let me see the boy die!’ And she sat opposite him, and raised her voice and wept. God heard the lad crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, ‘What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.’ Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the lad a drink” (GEN 21:14-20).
 
                       1. The Angel of the LORD rescued them (GEN 21:14-20).
                                              a. Hagar and Ishmael wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba until their water and hope                        
                                              were gone (GEN 21:14,15).
                                              b. Hagar and Ishmael wept (“bewail or sob”) as they waited to die.
 
                                              WHAT SHOULD HAGAR HAVE BEEN DOING?
 
                                          She should have been praying to the LORD for salvation, not asking that she would be 
                                              spared from seeing her son die.
 
                                              c. The Angel of the LORD called to Hagar from heaven, gave her assurance that Ishmael
                                               would survive and become a great nation and showed her a well of water (GEN 21:15-19).
              
                                            *Hagar acted selfishly to have separated herself from her son so that she did not have to 
                                              watch him die. She was thinking of her needs, not her son’s needs since Ishmael would 
                                              not have wanted to die alone. It’s interesting to note that God heard Ishmael’s wailing and 
                                              not Hagar’s cries.
 
                       2. God was with Ishmael (GEN 21:21).
 
               “God was with the lad, and he grew; and he lived in the wilderness and became an archer. He 
               lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.” 
 
                                           a. Ishmael lived in the wilderness under God’s blessing; he was blessed for Abraham’s sake 
                                              (GEN 17:12).                  
                                              b. Ishmael matured and became an archer (literally, "to become much bowman"), an expert 
                                              with a bow and arrow. (Esau was also a bowman, hunting game with his bow (GEN 25:27, 
                                              27:3).)
                                              c. Ishmael and Hagar lived in the wilderness of Paran, the southern edge of Canaan desert 
                                              along the border of Egypt. He and Hagar had migrated south from Beersheba (the northern 
                                              edge of wilderness) to this area near the mountains of Horeb.[17]
                                           d. Ishmael married an Egyptian woman that Hagar had arranged for him to have. (He                                  
                                              eventually became the father of twelve sons and two daughters as God had promised (GEN 
                                              17:12; 25:13-16).
 
                                              WHY?
 
                                           Hagar was from Egypt; she knew the culture and perhaps still had family there or                                          
                                              connections she could use. She always tried to return home to Egypt when faced with a 
                                              crisis or need.

 Hagar became an allegory (GAL 4:22-31).
 
 “For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and one by the free woman. But the son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise. This is speaking allegorically, for these women are two covenants: one coming from Mount Sinai giving birth to children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar. Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is enslaved with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother. For it is written: ‘REJOICE, INFERTILE ONE, YOU WHO DO NOT GIVE BIRTH; BREAK FORTH AND SHOUT, YOU WHO ARE NOT IN LABOR; FOR THE CHILDREN OF THE DESOLATE ONE ARE MORE NUMEROUS THAN THOSE OF THE ONE WHO HAS A HUSBAND.’ And you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. But as at that time the son who was born according to the flesh persecuted the one who was born according to the Spirit, so it is even now. But what does the Scripture say? ‘DRIVE OUT THE SLAVE WOMAN AND HER SON, FOR THE SON OF THE SLAVE WOMAN SHALL NOT BE AN HEIR WITH THE SON OF THE FREE WOMAN.’ So then, brothers and sisters, we are not children of a slave woman, but of the free woman.”
 
A. Hagar, a slave, represents anyone who is working to satisfy the requirements of the Law of Mt. Sinai. 
As John MacArthur wrote, “Those who attempt to earn righteousness by keeping the Law receive only bondage and condemnation,”[18] and, “he was a slave, struggling for freedom he could not obtain by his own efforts.”[19] Only the new covenant of grace and faith, represented by Sarah and Jerusalem, can bring release from the bondage and condemnation of the Law.
 
B. Hagar’s spiritual children are also enslaved because they practice legalism. However, Galatians 2:16 says, “A man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus.” It is faith in the atoning work of Christ alone that leads to spiritual freedom. 
 
 C. Hagar’s spiritual children will continually persecute those “who are born according to the spirit;” i.e., born-again believers who trust in Christ alone for righteousness.

What can we learn from her story?
 
A. Abram and Sarai struggled to believe God’s words. When they did not conceive a child after ten years of waiting, they began to question what God had said. Did God mean that they themselves would be the parents of the promised child or would Abram alone be the parent? Could they do what the pagans around them did and bring a concubine into the picture and have the child with her? Obviously, they tried the latter course and had Ishmael, a disaster. But God says what He means and means what He says. Fourteen years after the birth of Ishmael Sarai bore the promised son, Isaac, just as God had promised. How often are we like Abram and Sari, knowing God’s word but doubting that it means exactly what it says? But God never lies (TIT 1:2), His promises never fail (2PE 3:9), and He is faithful and true (2TH 3:3, REV 19:11). God says He is watching over His word (JER 1:12), so, it is only right that we believe it. 
 
B. When Abram and Sarai used Hagar to get a child, they tried to accomplish a spiritual task by fleshly or natural means. Sarai and Abram had God’s promise that He would give them a child, and all they had to do was wait. But impatience and a lack of faith in God’s power led them to “help” God. Are we not sometimes like them? Those of us who are single and lonely—are we tempted to date unsaved members of the opposite sex in violation of God’s word (2CO 6:4)? Those of us who are childless—are we tempted to use pagan means to acquire a child? Those of us who are pastors—are we tempted to omit or add to the word of God to make it more palatable to the carnal mind? The word of God says, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for those are in opposition to one another…” and, “let us also keep in step with the Spirit” (GAL 5:16-17, 25). Either we live by the power of the Holy Spirit, or we will allow our flesh to lead us into sinful behaviors.
 
B. A strong male leader in the household is God’s will (EPH 5:23). When a husband defers to his wife and violates God’s revealed word it is sin. Adam obeyed his wife Eve, ate the forbidden fruit and plunged the entire human race into death and depravity; Abram listened to his wife and begot a child that brought strife and heartbreak to his family, and created an enemy for future Israel. According to God’s word, when husbands lovingly lead their wives in godliness and when wives submit to their husband’s lead in everything, then the husband can sanctify the wife (who is more susceptible to spiritual error (2CO 11:3)) and keep her from going astray (EPH 5:22-33).
 
C. Parents, especially mothers, have tremendous influence in their children’s lives. Hannah was a godly woman, though barren, and tormented by a rival wife. She prayed to God for a son that she could dedicate to God’s service, and she was answered with a son, Samuel, whom she taught to revere the true God, Yahweh. He became a Prophet and the spiritual leader of Israel until his death (1SA 1:2; 2:1-20; 3:1-19; 25:1). Athaliah, on the other hand, had a wicked and idolatrous mother, Jezebel, and she grew up to be a wicked and idolatrous woman who influenced her husband, King Jehoram, to sanction Baal worship; and after her son’s death she slew all her grandsons to become a usurper Queen (2KI 11:1-3). Hagar despised or mocked Sarai, and Ishmael later mocked Isaac: like mother, like son. Parents teach their children by word and deed. If we want godly offspring we need to teach them about the LORD, when we sit in our houses and when we walk and when we lie down and when we rise up (DEU 6:7). We need to model devotion to our God by reading our Bibles diligently, praying, serving, fellowshipping with spiritual believers, and disciplining our children when they go astray. God says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old, he will not depart from it” (PRO 22:6).
 
D. A person can encounter God and still be estranged from Him: Balaam spoke to God three times but preferred the riches of men to the favor of God (NUM 22:5-24:25; 2PE 2:15), King Saul prophesied for God but was later tormented by an unclean spirit and died apart from God (1SA 10:11; 1SA 18:10-11; 1SA 31:6), Judas walked with the Lord Jesus Christ for three years and even performed miracles and yet “was a devil’ and died unrepentant (JOH 6:70; ACT 1:18). Salvation is a work of the Holy Spirit. In salvation the Holy Spirit brings an individual a deep knowledge of his sin and lack of righteousness, and conviction of judgment (JOH 16:8). At the same time, He brings an awakening to that one’s dead heart so that he can acknowledge and confess his sin, believe that Jesus is the Savior of all those who trust in His atoning work on the cross, and submit his life to Him (TIT 3:5; 1JO 1:9; ROM 10:9). When that one responds to the Holy Spirit by confessing, believing and repenting he will be made a new creature in Christ, saved from the penalty of his sins forever (ACT 2:38; 2CO 5:17; JOH 3:16).

© Copyright Kathryn Capoccia 2024.  This file may be freely copied, printed out, and distributed as long as copyright and source statements remain intact, and that it is not sold.

[1] The MacArthur Study Bible, Second Edition, “Study Notes,” Thomas Nelson, Inc., © 2020, pg.18.
[2] Fred H. Wight, Manners and Customs of Bible Lands, Moody Press, Chicago, (1953), pg. 113.
[3] Merrill Tenney, The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Vol. 5, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, ©,1976, pp. 454-460; Wight, Manners and Customs of Bible Lands, pp. 290,291.
[4] Herbert Lockyer, All the Women of the Bible, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, n.p., pg.61.
[5] http;//brainly.com>question, May 19, 2020.
[6] J. Hill, “Clothing,” Ancient Egypt Online, 2010, www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk.
[7] Ucra Mew, Student Engager, “How Tall were Ancient Egyptians,” Petrie Museum, January 21, 2015, © Petrie Museum, petriemuseum@ucl.ac.uk.
[8] Collins Dictionary, www.collinsdictionary.com.
[9] Biblical Archeology Society, https://biblicalarchaeology.org, June 17, 2024; The NIV Study Bible, “Study Notes,” pg.29. 
[10] Lockyer, All the Women of the Bible, “Hagar,” pg. 62.
[11] Lockyer, “Hagar,” pg. 62; Carol Smith, Rachael Phillips, Ellyn Sanna, Women of the Bible, Barbour Publishing, © 2011, pg. 161.
[12] The MacArthur Study Bible, “Study Notes,” pg. 23.
[13] The MacArthur Study Bible, “Study Notes,” pg. 28.
[14] Wight, Manners and Customs of Bible Lands, pp.44-54, 65-66.
[15] The NIV Study Bible, “Study Notes,” Zondervan Publishing House, © 1985, pg. 36.
[16] The MacArthur Study Bible, “Study Notes,” pg. 28.
[17] Keil-Delitszch, The Commentary on the Old Testament, Vol. 1, pp. 245-246.
[18] The MacArthur Study Bible, “Study Notes”, pg. 1549.
[19] The John MacArthur New Testament Commentary, “Galatians,” Moody Publishers, Chicago, © 1987, pg. 125.