Hagar

The story

In the Hebrew Bible, Hagar is an Egyptian slave and handmaid who lives with Abraham and Sarah. She is considered one of the Abrahamic traditions’ primary women. She is the mother of Abraham’s oldest son, Ishmael, and, through him, the matriarch of multiple Arab tribes, revered by Islam and acknowledged by Hebrew and Christian traditions (Gen 25:13-15).

More strikingly, she is portrayed as a woman who knows God personally. (Gen 16:7-14 )

Abraham and Sarah are desperate to have a child but Sarah is unable to conceive.

Hagar is Abraham’s concubine. Although this is common family arrangement in the ancient Near East, they never call her by name and never recognize her as a whole person.

Hagar is used as a surrogate mother. Sarah treats her “harshly” (Gen 16:6).

Hagar flees from this abuse to the wilderness.

An angel of God calls Hagar and demands: “Where have you come from and where are you going?” Hagar states where she has come from but does not say where she is going, thereby confessing that she envisions no future.

The angel commands her to “return and submit” (Gen 16:9) and informs her that she is pregnant with a son, Ishmael, which means (“God hears”) who will become a “wild ass of a man”.

With the knowledge that God has heard of her situation and acknowledges the cruelty of her situation, Hagar returns. Through this experience Hagar’s sense of personal identity develops. She may be socially marginalized, but in claiming to have been seen by God, Hagar asserts her personhood and a direct relationship with God beyond even that of Sarah.