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 people, herds and other possessions, and then journeyed south to Canaan, the promised land. Shortly after arriving in Canaan there was a severe famine there 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 she joined Abram’s household is not expressly stated in Scripture, but we first find her in Genesis chapter sixteen with Abram’s entourage, when Abram had been living as a semi-nomad in Canaan for ten years (since 2090 B.C.). Hagar was then the personal attendant to Abram’s 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). Hagar’s story would be interwoven with theirs in their quest for an heir.

 Who Was Hagar?

She was an Egyptian slave.

“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).

A. Egypt was a great civilization:

Though records are few and sometimes conflicting in Egypt’s early history, it appears that people had settled in the Nile River Valley as early as 6,000 B.C., living in small, isolated farming villages. Eventually these villages joined together to form two kingdoms, one in Lower Egypt (in the northern Nile Delta by the Mediterranean Sea) and one in Upper Egypt (in the south). This two-kingdom state, the Red Land (in the Nile River Delta and along the Nile to Atfih), and the southern White Land (extending from Atfih to Gebel es-Silsila), existed until 3100 B.C. when King Menes (Narmer) conquered the north and united the kingdoms into a single country, with his capital at White Walls (Memphis). This unification is considered the founding of the nation of Egypt. This early period, the Early Dynastic Period or Archaic period, lasted from c. 3100 B.C. until 2675 B.C. and was marked by the development of hieroglyphic writing, taxation payable in grain, and the belief that the king was god-like and associated with Horus. Following the Early Dynastic Period the Old Kingdom arose (c. 2675 B.C. to 2181 B.C.). The Old Kingdom produced the pyramids and the Sphinx, elaborate royal temples of granite and alabaster, colossal cities and statuary in the round that was equal to that of the later Greeks. The kings of this period were now associated with Ra, the sun-god. The last great ruler under the Old Kingdom was Pepi II Neferkare who ruled for more than 90 years. Pepi II grew senile and self-indulgent, and after 20-30 years of low Nile floods, drought and famine, his government broke down and his regional governors, nomarchs, autonomously ruled their own communities. Within two years of Pepi’s death, two nomarchs, one in the north at Herakleopolis and one in the south, at Thebes, established their own sovereign kingdoms, thus dividing Egypt into two again. This First Intermediate Period, c. 2181-2040 B.C., a time of instability and civil wars, lasted until the Theban rulers conquered the northern kingdom and reunified the country. 

The First Intermediate Period was followed by The Middle Kingdom (2030/2040-1650) which produced highly developed wisdom literature stressing right moral character. Schools taught literature, astronomy, mathematics (arithmetic, geometry, trigonometry), architecture, and music. Medical science and dentistry, anatomy, chemistry and embalming techniques were also areas of knowledge. Metallurgy was practiced—they had gold mines and copper mines and were familiar with iron and bronze. A Second Intermediate Period followed The Middle Kingdom, and this was, in turn, followed by The New Kingdom (c. 1570-1069 B.C.) which was the peak of Egypt’s power.

B. Egypt was a pagan nation: 

Egyptians had a polytheistic religion but the number of gods, though large, was not fixed; new ones appeared and old ones lost favor. Their gods were not all-powerful and not all-knowing but were greater than humans, could live almost indefinitely, could survive fatal wounds, could be in multiple places at one time, and could affect people in obvious or hidden ways. They were represented in human form in temple reliefs, some with the animal head closely associated with their deity, some as wholly human. The most important animal forms were the falcon and the bull for gods, and the cow, vulture, cobra and lioness for goddesses. Images of the gods were thought to be inhabited by those deities if they received proper reverence: at dawn the image was “purified, greeted and praised, clothed and fed.” 

The king was worshiped as part of the pantheon of gods, as Britannica explains,

The king was the centre of human society, the guarantor of order for the gods, the recipient of god-given benefits including life itself, and the benevolent ruler of the world for humanity. He was ultimately responsible for the cults of the dead, both for his predecessors in office and for the dead in general. His dominance in religion corresponded to his central political role: from the late predynastic times (c. 3100 B.C.) state organization was based on kingship and on the service of officials for the king. For humanity, the king had a superhuman role, being a manifestation of a god or of various deities on earth.

The gods were involved in Egyptian afterlife. Egyptians believed that the soul lived on after death and that death was merely a transition to “an opportunity for rebirth and happiness.” Gods were involved in the transition to the afterlife, as guides through the underworld and as those who approved the soul to rebirth or condemned the soul to oblivion. But a moral life, mummification, coffins, tombs, daily religious rituals, casting spells from The Book of the Dead, bringing offerings to and writing letters to deceased family members asking for help, and heaping up provisions for eternity were necessary for the soul to navigate the underworld to the afterlife. Almost everyone in Egypt was deeply concerned about achieving eternal life and their culture was built around that goal.

C. Egypt was a slave owning nation.

Evidence exists that slavery existed in Egypt as early as 4000 B.C. In the early history of Egypt slave ownership was probably limited to a small percentage of the population and slaves were only used for labor purposes. Later slaves may have made up twenty percent of Egypt’s population and played important roles in every part of society. Slaves were owned by the state, the temples and the upper-class, and their occupations were dependent upon the needs of their owners. Slaves were used in the military as soldiers or guards, in domestic service as household labor such as cooking, cleaning, and childcare, in manual labor such as farming, building and artisan crafts, and in the home as personal attendants. While slaves had certain rights, such as being able to own property, purchasing their freedom and having protection from cruel or unusual punishments or injury, they could be sold, traded or bequeathed to others; and the slave trade was an important source of revenue for the country.

People could become slaves in three ways:

	1. They were taken prisoner in a war or were lawbreakers under judgment.

	2. They were sold into slavery by kidnappers or sold themselves, or were sold by others, to settle a 	debt.

	3. They were born into servitude.

D. Hagar was a"shiphchah,"a female servant or slave.

1. “Hagar” means, "flight" or "fugitive" or "immigrant;” it comes from an unused Egyptian word which means, “a wheel.” In light of her later behavior it is appropriate nomenclature.

2. Hagar’s job as Sarai’s attendant was to serve Sarai in domestic chores such as cleaning, washing, cooking, and in attending to Sarai’s personal needs.

3. Hagar would have slept in or near Sarai’s tent as was common for personal servants.

WHAT DID SHE LOOK LIKE?

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. 

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.) 

She would have probably stood about five feet two inches tall since that was the average height of ancient Egyptian women.

WHERE DID SHE COME FROM?

Scripture mentions two occasions when Abram may have acquired her: the first is in Genesis chapter twelve, where we read, “Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for Canaan” (Gen. 12:5). These persons, “a soul, living being, life, person,” were acquired, “had made,” i.e., they were either paid servants who had become converts to Abram’s faith or slaves that he purchased. If Hagar was bought in Haran, then she must have been sent there as part of the Egyptian slave trade business.

The second occasion is more likely; Genesis chapter twelve, verses 10-20, tells of Abram’s sojourn in Egypt to avoid the famine conditions in Canaan. Because Abraham’s wife Sarah was very beautiful, she caught the Pharoah’s eye, and he took her into his household as his wife. Verse eighteen reads, “Therefore he [Pharoah] treated Abram well for her [Sarah’s] sake; and gave him sheep, and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels.” Here the text explicitly states that Abram was given female slaves in Egypt, of which Hagar would probably have been one. If so, she would have been one of the more attractive and cultured slaves (cf. Dan. 1:4).

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. 

“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.
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?

She bore a son to Abram.

“He went in to Hagar, and she conceived” (Gen. 16:4).

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; 1 Sa. 1:6; Luke 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 (1 Sa. 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 from Hagar.

"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, “to go through, flee,” from Sarai.
		a. Abram gave Hagar back to Sarai as was the custom: in your power or in your 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.

c. Hagar ran away from Sarai, something she was forbidden by law to do, and something punishable by death.

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 caravan road that ran from Hebron past Beersheba to Shur (the present Jifar, the north-western portion of the desert of Arabia) and on her way 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 (Psa. 139; Jon. 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. 

		John MacArthur wrote of Him, 

		This special individual spoke as though He were distinct from Yahweh, yet also spoke in the first 		
		person as though He were indeed to be identified as Yahweh Himself, with Hagar recognizing that in 	
		seeing this Angel she had seen God (vs. 13). Others had the same experience and came to the same 		
		conclusion (cf. 22:1-18; 31:11-13; Ex 3:2-5; Nu 22:22-35; Jug 6:11-23; 13:2-5; 1Ki 19:5-7). The Angel of 	
		the Lord, who does not appear after the birth of Christ, is often identified as the preincarnate Christ.

		WHERE ELSE DO WE FIND REFERENCES TO APPEARANCES OF 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.

*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 had been part of a society that believed in multiple gods who could appear in human form. Perhaps she believed that she had encountered one of those many gods. (Note that she does not call this person by the names that Abram used for God, Yahweh, and God Most High, Gen. 14:22, but she does acknowledge that this person had sovereignly provided deliverance for she and for her child.) 

		On the other hand, 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 may have convinced Hagar that this was truly the Living God Himself.

                        	b. She marveled that she had seen God and lived (because there was a belief was that no    
		one could see the true God and live: cf. 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 obediently returned to Sarai 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.
	
But 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’s cries; and Hagar expects Ishmael to die, forgetting God’s promises in Genesis 16:10 and 21:13 that Ishmael would be the father of a nation. Also, Ishmael’s mocking (Gen. 21) was like his mother’s earlier rebellious behavior. And later, when Ishmael needs a wife, Hagar takes one for him from pagan Egypt. However, we do not have enough data about Hagar to definitively say one way or another whether she had a saving faith. The lives of the false prophet Balaam (Num. 22-24), King Saul (1 Sa. 19:23-24), and Judas (the Gospels) show that one can encounter God and yet not have saving, transforming faith. Only God knows whether Hagar was saved.

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 since he was “Sarah’s son.”

	2.  Abram named him, Ishmael, “God Hears,” 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.

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. Sarah and Abraham 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.

		b. Weaning was a time when a child became independent of his mother, passed into 
		childhood and left infancy (as demonstrated by Hannah who brought her son Samuel to the 	
		Tabernacle after he was weaned, 1 Sa. 1:24). 	
	
		c. Abraham threw a “great feast,” an “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.
		
B. Sarah 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,” identifying him as a would-be-usurper like Hagar.

	2. Sarah saw Ishmael mocking Isaac (literally, “scorned, 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 B.C. or 2062 B.C.). Why would he do this? Resentment. Jealousy. Anger. Grief. 
	As Isaac matured it became clear to Ishmael that Isaac would indeed be Abraham’s heir and not him, 
	even though he had been Abraham’s heir for sixteen or seventeen years and was culturally expected to 
	receive an inheritance. 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” (Gen. 16:12).

	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. Or unresolved resentment about Hagar may have moved Sarah to use this incident as an 
		opportunity to rid herself of her rival.

             		c. Or more likely, a prompting by the Holy Spirit may have moved Sarah to remove Hagar 
		and Ishmael from Abraham and Isaac. As the first-born son Ishmael was a rival to 		
		Abraham’s son Isaac and to his right of inheritance. But God had ordained that Isaac was the 		child of promise, not Ishmael (Gen. 17:16-20). As John the Baptist said of himself and Christ, 	
		"He must become greater; I must become less" (Jn. 3:30). 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 (Gen. 17:20).

                 		c. Abraham may have been concerned about violating the legal custom which forbade a 
		man from arbitrarily sending away a concubine and her son. 

	 2. Abraham was reassured (Gen. 21:12,13).
		a. God said to Abraham, "listen to whatever Sarah tells you" (Gen. 21:12).

		b. God assured Abraham that He would indeed bless Ishmael, because Ishmael was 
		Abraham's son.

 	3. Abraham complied with Sarah's request (Gen. 21:14).

	“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 must have consoled himself by thinking that seventeen was the age when young 		men normally established their own homes, and that Hagar knew the area because 
		Beersheba was the place to which Hagar had previously fled.

                   		b. Abraham sent them off early in the morning, which means that he promptly obeyed 		
                                        God's command, and also means that he compassionately arranged for them to 
		travel in the cool of the day.

		c. Abraham loaded them with all the provisions they could carry (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.” 
	“These are the years of the life of Ishmael, one hundred and thirty-seven years; and he breathed his last 	
	and died and was gathered to his people. They settled from Havilah to Shur which is east of Egypt as 	one goes toward Assyria; he settled in defiance of all his relatives” (Gen. 25:17-18).

	                    a. Ishmael lived in the wilderness, “desert,” 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, 	
		in the NE section of the Sinai Peninsula along the border of Egypt, now called Arabia. He 		
		and Hagar had migrated south from Beersheba (the northern edge of wilderness) to this 		
		area near the mountains of Horeb.

                          	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.

		e. He settled in defiance, “upon, above, over” and “face,” of his relatives “a brother” (Gen. 	
		25:18). 

		One commentary noted, 

		The descendants of Ishmael became known as Arabs, which basically means, “nomads.” From the 		
		beginning, the descendants of Ishmael were a warlike people, as “they lived in hostility toward all the 	
		tribes related to them” (Gen. 25:18). This fulfilled God’s earlier word that Ishmael would 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 (Gen. 16:12).

 She serves as an allegory. 

“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” (Gal. 4:22-31).

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,” and, “he was a slave, struggling for freedom he could not obtain by his own efforts.” 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?

A. Abraham and Sarah 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 Sarah bore the promised son, Isaac, just as God had promised. How often are we like Abraham and Sarah, knowing God’s word but doubting that it means exactly what it says? But God never lies (Tit. 1:2), His promises never fail (2 Pe. 3:9), and He is faithful and true (2 Th. 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 Abraham and Sarah used Hagar to get a child, they tried to accomplish a spiritual task by fleshly or natural means. Sarah and Abraham 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 (2 Co. 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 sin.

C. 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; Abraham 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, 2 Co. 11:3) and keep her from going astray (Eph. 5:22-33).

D. 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 (1 Sa. 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 (2 Ki. 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).

E. 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; 2 Pe. 2:15); King Saul prophesied for God but was later tormented by an unclean spirit and died apart from God (1 Sa. 10:11; 18:10-11; 31:6); and Judas walked with the Lord Jesus Christ for three years and even performed miracles and yet “was a devil’ and died unrepentant (Jn. 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 (Jn. 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, repent from them, 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; 1 Jn. 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; 2 Co. 5:17; Jn. 3:16). The Psalmist reminds us that, “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise” (Psa. 51:17).

F. Though Hagar had no choice in becoming the mother of Ishmael it is through her that the traditional enemies of Israel, the Arabs, have come. And just as Ishmael’s hand was against his brother so the Arab nations have fought against Israel, and at times, each other. Just as Ishmael then claimed the birthright as first-born son to Abraham’s inheritance so today the modern descendants of Ishmael, the Arab nations, claim their right to the land promised to Abraham—to modern Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. However, the promise of the covenant was made to Isaac and his descendants and not to Ishmael and his descendants (Gen. 17:18-21). Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac but only gave gifts to the offspring of his concubines, before his death, and then he sent them east, while Isaac remained in the land (Gen. 25:6). And though God has sometimes allowed Israel to be removed from the land of Palestine, His promise stands: God brought the Jews back in 1948 to establish the modern nation of Israel, despite opposition from the Arabs. Someday in the future the Scriptures say that a descendent of Abraham, through Isaac, the Lord Jesus Christ, will gloriously rule Israel and the whole earth from Jerusalem (Zec. 4:4, 9; 8:2-3; 14:1-9; Isa. 2:1-4; 9:6-7; 24:21-23; Rev. 11:15; Psa. 2:6; 22:27-31; 47; 110; 132: 13-18; Eze. 37:24-28; Joe. 3:14-17, 21; Mic. 4:1-7; Luk. 1:26-38) and will put His enemies under His feet (1 Co. 15:25; Eph. 1:22-23; Psa. 110:1; Act. 2:34-35; Heb. 10:13).

© Copyright Kathryn Capoccia 2025.  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.