Hagar

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Perhaps related to the Arabic Hegira , "flight." Genesis 16; Genesis 21;  Genesis 25:12. Abram's bond-woman; an Egyptian received into his household during his sojourn in Egypt,. Taken as legal concubine at Sarai's suggestion to raise a seed, in hope of his being the promised heir, when Sarai's age seemingly forbade hope of issue by her. The marriage law was then less definitely recognized than at the beginning, and than subsequently. Lack of faith moved Sarai to suggest, and moved Abram to adopt, a fleshly device instead of waiting the Lord's time and way. It was punished by consequent family disquiet, and the bad example copied by the Ishmaelites has proved morally and physically a curse to the race. Abraham gave up Hagar, in violation of eastern custom, to Sarai's ill usage; so Hagar fled toward her native land Egypt, by the way through the wilderness toward Shur, probably Suez.

The wilderness is identified with the N.E. part of that of Paran, now Al-jifar. The angel of Jehovah reminded her that as "Sarai's maid" she owed her submission, and promised that her son Ishmael should be father of a numerous nation. So she called Jehovah that spoke unto her "Thou God seest me" (Hebrew: "Thou art a God of seeing," a God who allows Himself to be seen), for she said, "Have I also seen (i.e. am I yet living and seeing) here, after seeing (God)?" ( Genesis 32:30;  Judges 13:22;  Exodus 20:19;  Exodus 33:20). The adjoining well was named Beer-lahai-roi, "the well of the seeing alive," i.e. at which one saw God and lived.

This explanation involves a change of accents; but the KJV explanation involves a grammatical difficulty; Chald. supports KJV, "Thou art a God of seeing," i.e. the all seeing, from whose eye the helpless is not hidden in the lonely desert, and Beer-lahairoi, "the well of the living One who sees me," i.e. of the ever living omnipresent Providence. In either view the words show Hagar was now no pagan, but had become in some degree a believer in the God of Abraham. Ishmael's mocking at the feast which celebrated Isaac's weaning was the occasion of Sarah's saying, "Cast out this bond-woman and her son, for the son of this bond-woman shall not be heir with my son ... Isaac."

As Abram had laughed for joy at the promise of Isaac ( Genesis 17:17), and Sarai for incredulity ( Genesis 18:12-15), but afterward, at Isaac's birth, for joyful gratitude, so Ishmael in derision and in the spirit of a persecutor, mocking (which contains the germ of persecuting) Isaac's faith in God's promises. Being the elder he prided himself above "him that was born after the Spirit," i.e. by the Spirit-energized promise of God, which made Sarah fruitful out of the course of nature. The history typifies the truth that the spiritual seed of Abraham by promise, Gentile as well as Jewish believers, take the place of the Jews the natural seed, who imagined that to them exclusively belonged the kingdom of God.

Paul expounds Hagar to answer to Sinai and the law, which generates a spirit of "bondage," as Hagar was a bond-woman, and that this must give place to the gospel dispensation and the church of grace, the "Jerusalem which is above." The carnal and legalists shall not be heirs with the free New Testament believers ( Galatians 4:22-31). Abraham, at God's command, did what Sarah said, though grievous to him. H. wandered with her child (15 years was childhood when human life was so long, he was old enough to "mock") in the wilderness of Beersheba; the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast him, soon worn out as a growing lad, under a shrub, having previously led him by the hand (for  Genesis 21:14 means that Abraham put the bread and bottle, but not also the child, "on her shoulder"; so  Genesis 21:18, "hold him in thine hand".)

The lad's own cry, still more than the mother's, brought "the angel of God" (here only in Gen., usually "angel of JEHOVAH"), i.e. GOD, the second Person ( Genesis 21:17;  Genesis 21:19-20), to his and her help. The child's cry is the more potent with the Omnipotent, just because of its helplessness ( Isaiah 40:29;  Isaiah 41:17-18). God opened her eyes to see water where she had supposed there was only a dry wilderness. In our greatest extremity God has only to open our eyes and we see abundant help near. Real prayer will bring Him to our side ( 2 Kings 6:17-20;  Luke 24:16;  Luke 24:31). Hagar "took him a wife out of Egypt," the land of idols and worldliness; untaught by the piety of Abraham and by God's mercy to herself.

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

(Ἄγαρ)

After the manner of the later Jewish interpreters of OT history, of whom Philo is the best representative, St. Paul treats the story of Hagar ( Genesis 16:1-14;  Genesis 21:8-21) as an allegory (ἅτινά ἐστιν ἀλληγορούμενα,  Galatians 4:24).

‘Allegory (ἅλλος, other, and ἀγορεύειν, to speak), a figurative representation convening a meaning other than and in addition to the literal.… An allegory is distinguished from … an analogy by the fact that the one appeals to the imagination and the other to the reason’ ( Encyclopaedia Britannica 11 i. 689b).

St. Paul neither affirms nor denies the historicity of the Hagar narrative, but his imagination reads into it esoteric meanings, which make it singularly effective as an illustration. Ishmael the elder brother, the son of Hagar the bondwoman, the seed of Abraham by nature, persecuted Isaac the younger brother, the son of the freewoman, the child of promise and heir of the birthright, and was therefore east out and excluded from the inheritance of the blessing. This is interpreted as meaning that the Christian Church, the true Israel of God, endued with the freedom of the Spirit, is persecuted by the older Israel, which is under the bondage of the Law. Hagar, the mother of bondmen, answers to the present Jerusalem (τῇ νῦν Ἰερουσαλήμ), but the Jerusalem which is above (ἡ ἄνω Ἰερουσαλήμ) is the mother of Christian freemen.

Luther wisely says that ‘if Paul had not proved the righteousness of faith against the righteousness of works by strong and pithy arguments, he should have little prevalled by this allegory.… It is a seemly thing sometimes to add an allegory when the foundation is well laid and the matter thoroughly proved. For as painting is an ornament to set forth and garnish a house already builded, so is an allegory the light of a matter which is already otherwise proved and confirmed’ ( Galatians, in loc .). So Baur: ‘Nothing can be more preposterous than the endeavours of interpreters to vindicate the argument of the Apostle as one objectively true’ ( Paulus 2, 1866, ii. 312, Eng. translation, 1875, ii. 284).

If the words ‘Now this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia’ are retained, they allude to the historical connexion of the Hagarenes ( Psalms 83:6) or Hagarites ( 1 Chronicles 5:10), the Ἀγραῖοι of Eratosthenes ( ap . Strabo, XVI. iv. 2)-of whom Hagar was no doubt a personification-with Arabia. (In  Baruch 3:23 the Arabians are called the ‘sons of Hagar.’) But the Greek is extremely uncertain, and Bentley’s conjecture, that we have here a gloss transferred to the text, has (as Lightfoot says [ Gal. 5, 1876, p. 193]), much to recommend it. The theory that ‘Hagar’ (Arab. ḥajar , ‘a stone’) was a name sometimes given to Mt. Sinai, and that St. Paul, becoming acquainted with this usage during his sojourn in Arabia, recalls it here (A. P. Stanley, Sinai and Palestine , new ed., 1877, p. 50, following Chrysostom, Luther, and others), is unsupported by real evidence. Such an etymological allusion would certainly have been thrown away upon St. Paul’s Galatian readers.

To affirm that the Jews, who were went to say that ‘all Israel are the children of kings,’ were the sons of Hagar the bondwoman, was to use language which could not but be regarded as insulting and offensive. But in fighting the battle of freedom St. Paul required to use plain speech and forcible illustrations. If he was convinced that men might be sons of Abraham and yet spiritual slaves, he was bound to say so (cf. the still stronger terms used on the same point in  John 8:44). St. Paul was far too good a patriot to jibe at his own race, and too good a Christian to wound any one wantonly. But he saw the unhappy condition of his countrymen in the light of his own experience. He had lived long under the shadow of Sinai in Arabia, the land of bondmen, before he became a free citizen of the ideal commonwealth- Hierusalem quœ sursum est -the mother of all Christians. Only an emancipated spirit could write the Epistle to the Galatians, or (as its sequel) Luther’s Freedom of a Christian Man .

James Strahan.

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

Sarah's handmaid: she was an Egyptian. Her name Hagar signifies a stranger. We have her history at large, in the sixteenth and twenty-first chapters of Genesis; and a very interesting history it is. But we never should have known the spiritual import of it, had not God the Holy Ghost graciously taught the church, by the ministry of his servant the apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians. From thence we learn, that the whole of those transactions respecting Sarah and Hagar was an allegory, or figure, of the covenants; the one of bondage in nature, the other of freedom by grace. Without this divine illustration the mind of man never could have conceived such an idea, neither have entered into a proper apprehension of the subject. Indeed, from the tendency of every man's mind by nature, to take part with flesh and blood rather than spiritual objects, we should have felt disposed to consider Hagar hardly dealt with, and Sarah unkind and cruel. But taught by divine instruction, from this beautiful allegory we learn the vast importance of being found belonging to a covenant of grace, and not with the bond-woman under the law of works. As the subject is so very highly interesting, I venture to persuade myself, that it will not be tedious to the reader, neither, under grace, will it be unprofitable to consider it yet a little more particularly.

The apostle was commissioned to tell the church, that this allegory represented the two covenants. Hagar and her son Ishmael, the law-covenant, gendering to bondage; Sarah and her son Isaac, the gospel-covenant, leading to freedom. And agreeably to this statement of the apostle, all the features of both correspond.

Ishmael, Hagar's son, was born in the ordinary course of nature; Isaac, Sarah's son, was born out of it, and contrary to the general laws of nature. Ishmael was the natural result of things; Isaac the child of promise. The one born without an eye to the covenant; the other wholly on account of the covenant. Had Ishmael never been born, no interruption would have taken place in respect of the promised seed; but had Isaac never been born, the promise itself could not have been fulfilled; for so the terms of the charter ran, "in Isaac shall thy seed be called." ( Genesis 21:12) And though a period of somewhat more than twenty years had elapsed between the promise given to Abraham and the fulfilment of it, yet the thing itself was as sure and certain as the promise concerning the coming of Christ himself. "To Abraham and his seed was the promise made. He saith not unto seeds, as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ." ( Galatians 3:16) And how striking was the difference in the gift of these two sorts to Abraham! Ishmael was the product of lust; Isaac a child of prayer. "Lord God, said Abraham, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless? Look now (said God,) towards heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them. And he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness." ( Genesis 15:2-6) It may not be improper to add, that as in the two covenants the one is in direct opposition to the other, so in the allegory the same is manifested. "He that was born after the flesh, persecuted him that was born after the Spirit; even so it is now." The everlasting hatred of nature to grace was then strikingly set forth, by the mocking of the bond-woman's son. And as Ishmael, as well as Isaac, was circumcised, the allegory hereby manifested, (what hath not been so much noticed as it deserves,) that the persecution of the true seed doth not arise only from the world, but from those who profess the same faith. A faith, like Ishmael's, of nature, but not, like Isaac's, of grace. But what a blessed thing it is, when by a true saving grace we are led to know our birthright, and as sweetly to enjoy it. When we can say with the apostle, "Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise." And surely, the bond-woman and her son cannot be heir with the son of the free-woman; for all of the Hagar, the mount Sinai covenant, are in bondage. They are under the precept of a broken law; they are subject to the condemning power of that law; and they are exposed to the penalty due to the breaches of that law. Oh! the blessedness of being for ever freed both from the guilt and condemnation of it in Christ. Well might the apostle comfort the church with that sweet assurance, "so then, brethren, we are not children of the bond-woman, but of the free." ( Galatians 4:31)

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

HAGAR (prob. ‘emigrant’ or ‘fugitive’) was Sarah’s Egyptian maid (  Genesis 16:1;   Genesis 21:9 ). Her story shows that Sarah renounced the hope of bearing children to Abraham, and gave him Hagar as concubine. Her exultation so irritated Sarah that the maid had to flee from the encampment, and took refuge in the wilderness of Shur (  Genesis 16:7 ,   Genesis 25:18 ), between Philistia and Egypt. Thence she was sent back by ‘the angel of the Lord’; and soon after her return she gave birth to Ishmael. After the weaning of Isaac, the sight of Ishmael aroused Sarah’s jealousy and fear (  Genesis 21:9 ); and Abraham was reluctantly persuaded to send away Hagar and her son. Again ‘the angel of God’ cheered her; and she found her way southwards to the wilderness of Paran (  Genesis 21:21 ), where her son settled.

This story is compacted of traditions gathered from the three great documents. J [Note: Jahwist.] yields the greater part of  Genesis 16:1-14 and E [Note: Elohist.] of   Genesis 21:9-21 , while traces of P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] have been found in   Genesis 16:3;   Genesis 16:15 f. The presence of the story in sources where such different interests are represented is in favour of its historicity; and instead of the assumption that Hagar is but the conjectural mother of the personified founder of a tribe, the more obvious explanation is that she was the actual ancestress of the people of Ishmael. Whatever anthropological interest attaches to the passages (see Ishmael), their presence may be defended on other grounds, the force of which a Hebrew would be more likely to feel. They serve to show the purity and pride of Jewish descent, other tribes in the neighbourhood being kindred to them, but only offshoots from the parent stock. The Divine guidance in Jewish history is emphasized by the double action of the angel in the unfolding of Hagar’s career.

The story is an important part of the biography of Abraham, illustrating both the variety of trials by which his faith was perfected and the active concern of God in even the distracted conditions of a chosen household. Further interest attaches to the narrative as containing the earliest reference in Scripture to ‘the angel of Jehovah’ ( Genesis 16:7 ), and as being the first of a series (Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Naaman) in which the regard of God is represented as singling out for blessing persons outside Israel, and thus as preparing for the universal mission of Christ. There is but one other important allusion to Hagar in the OT. She is mentioned in   Genesis 25:12 in a sketch of the family of Ishmael (so in Bar 3:23 the Arabians are said to be her sons); and she has been assumed with much improbability to have been the ancestress of the Hagrites or Hagarenes of   1 Chronicles 5:10 and   Psalms 83:6 (see Hagrites). In   Galatians 4:22 ff. Paul applies her story allegorically, with a view to show the superiority of the new covenant. He contrasts Hagar the bondwoman with Sarah, and Ishmael ‘born after the flesh’ with Isaac ‘born through promise’; thence freedom and grace appear as the characteristic qualities of Christianity. There is good MS authority for the omission of ‘Hagar’ in   Genesis 25:25 , as in RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.]; in which case the meaning is that Sinai is a mountain in Arabia, the land of bondmen and the country of Hagar’s descendants. Even if the reading of the text stands, the meaning of the phrase will not be very different. ‘This Hagar of the allegory is or represents Sinai, because Sinai is in Arabia, where Hagar and her descendants dwelt.’

R. W. Moss.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

After ten years' residence in the land of Canaan, Abram, by the persuasion of his wife, who had been barren heretofore, and now despaired of bearing children herself when she was seventy-five years old, took, as a second wife, or concubine, her handmaid, Hagar, an Egyptian. When Hagar conceived, she despised her mistress, who dealt hardly with her, Abram giving her up to his wife's discretion; so that she fled toward Egypt from the face of her mistress, but was stopped in her flight by the angel of the Lord, who foretold that she should bear a son called Ishmael, because the Lord heard her affliction, and that his race should be numerous, warlike, and unconquered; a prediction, as seen under the article Arabia, remarkably fulfilled to the present day. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bare Ishmael. When Isaac was weaned, Ishmael, the son of Hagar, who was now about fifteen years of age, offended Sarah by some mockery or ill treatment of Isaac; the original word signifies elsewhere, "to skirmish," or "fight,"   2 Samuel 2:14; and St. Paul represents Ishmael as "persecuting" him,  Galatians 4:29 . Sarah therefore complained to Abraham, and said, "Cast out this bond-woman and her son, for the son of this bond-woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac. And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight, because of his son Ishmael;" but God approved of Sarah's advice, and again excluded Ishmael from the special covenant of grace: "For in Isaac shall thy seed be called: nevertheless, the son of the bond-woman will I make a nation also, because he is thy seed." God renewed this promise also to Hagar, during her wanderings in the wilderness of Beersheba, when she despaired of support: "Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hands, for I will make him a great nation. And God was with the lad, and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness of Paran, and became an archer. And his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt." See ABRAHAM and See Ishmael .

We do not know when Hagar died. The rabbins say she was Pharaoh's daughter; but Chrysostom asserts that she was one of those slaves which Pharaoh gave to Abraham,  Genesis 12:16 . The Chaldee paraphrasts, and many of the Jews, believe Hagar and Keturah to be the same person; but this is not credible. Philo thinks that Hagar embraced Abraham's religion, which is very probable. The Mussulmans and Arabians, who are descended from Ishmael, the son of Hagar, speak mightily in her commendation. They call her in eminency, Mother Hagar, and maintain that she was Abraham's lawful wife; the mother of Ishmael, his eldest son; who, as such, possessed Arabia, which very much exceeds, say they, both in extent and riches, the land of Canaan, which was given to his younger son Isaac.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Ha'gar. (Flight). An Egyptian woman, the handmaid or slave of Sarah,  Genesis 16:1, whom the latter gave as a concubine to Abraham, after he had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan and had no children by Sarah.  Genesis 16:2-3. (B.C. 1912).

When Hagar saw that she had conceived, "her mistress was despised in her eyes,"  Genesis 16:4, and Sarah, with the anger, we may suppose, of a free woman rather than of a wife, reproached Abraham for the results of her own act. Hagar fled, turning her steps toward her native land through the great wilderness traversed by the Egyptian road. By the fountain in the way to Shur, the angel of the Lord found her, charged her to return and submit herself under the hands of her mistress, and delivered the remarkable prophecy respecting her unborn child recorded in  Genesis 16:10-12.

On her return, she gave birth to Ishmael, and Abraham was then eighty-six years old. When Ishmael was about sixteen years old, he was caught by Sarah making sport of her young son Isaac at the festival of his weaning, and Sarah demanded the expulsion of Hagar and her son. She again fled toward Egypt, and when in despair at the want of water, an angel again appeared to her, pointed out a fountain close by, and renewed the former promises to her.  Genesis 21:9-21.

St. Paul,  Galatians 4:25, refers to her as the type of the old covenant of the law.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Sarah's Egyptian handmaid, given to Abraham, and the mother of Ishmael. When she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes, and on being harshly dealt with, she absconded; but the angel of the Lord bade her return. He would multiply her seed exceedingly. She called His name "Thou God seest me." Fifteen years later, at the feast made by Abraham on the occasion of the weaning of Isaac, Ishmael was seen to mock, and Sarah besought Abraham to cast out Hagar and her son; being instructed by God he did so. Still God protected her and her son, and saved him when she thought he was about to die.  Genesis 16:1-16;  Genesis 21:9-20;  Genesis 25:12 .

An allegory is drawn from the above history in  Galatians 4:24-31 . Hagar (AGAR) answers to the covenant of law and to Jerusalem then in bondage; and Sarah to the covenant of promise and to Jerusalem above, which is free. The conclusion as to the believer is, "so then, brethren, we are not the children of the bondwoman, but of the free." The Christian is not under the law nor in the flesh; but is free, under grace. Being the seed of Abraham according to promise, that is, being 'of Christ,' or 'Christ's,' the gospel and new covenant blessings have come to believers through Him, and they are reckoned as of God's city, Jerusalem above, that is free. The church is of God's eternal counsel, heavenly, and is never in scripture called a mother.

Bridgeway Bible Dictionary

God promised Abraham and Sarah they would have a son through whom God would build a nation that would be his people. When Sarah was unable to bear children for Abraham, she suggested he try to produce a son through their Egyptian slave-girl, Hagar. Any child so born would legally belong to Abraham and Sarah ( Genesis 16:1-3).

Abraham followed Sarah’s suggestion, with the result that Hagar bore him a son, Ishmael. God made it clear, however, that this was not the child he had promised ( Genesis 17:15-19). Ishmael would have a notable line of descendants, but God’s covenant people would come through the child of Sarah yet to be born, Isaac ( Genesis 17:20-21).

Years later, after the birth of Isaac, trouble arose between Sarah and Hagar. This resulted in the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael from Abraham’s household ( Genesis 21:8-14).

In the New Testament Paul uses the story of Sarah and Hagar to illustrate the conflict that exists between those who are God’s children through faith in his promises and those who are slaves to the law of Moses. The two cannot live together. Just as Abraham’s household had no place for the slave Hagar, so God’s family has no place for those who are slaves to the law ( Galatians 4:21-31).

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Hagar ( Hâ'Gar ), Flight. An Egyptian woman, the bond-servant of Sarah, whom the latter gave as a concubine to Abraham, and Hagar despised her mistress.  Genesis 16:1-4. Hagar fled. On her return she gave birth to Ishmael, and Abraham was then 86 years old. When Ishmael was about 16 years old, he was caught by Sarah making sport of her young son Isaac, and Sarah demanded the expulsion of Hagar and her son. Hagar again fled toward Egypt, and when in despair at the want of water, an angel again appeared to her, pointed out a fountain close by, and renewed the former promises to her.  Genesis 21:9-21. Paul,  Galatians 4:25, refers to her as the type of the old covenant.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

Stranger, an Egyptian bondmaid in the household of Sarah,  Genesis 12:16 , who, being barren, gave her to Abraham for a secondary wife, that by her, as a substitute, she might have children in accordance with the customs of the East in that age. The history of Hagar is given in  Genesis 16:1-16;  17:1-27;  21:1-34 . In an allegory, Paul makes Hagar represent the Jewish church, which was in bondage to the ceremonial law; as Sarah represents the true church of Christ, which is free from this bondage,  Galatians 4:24 . Her name is much honored among the Arabs claiming to be her descendants.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Genesis 16:1 21:9,10 Genesis 21:14 Genesis 21:18,19

Ishmael afterwards established himself in the wilderness of Paran, where he married an Egyptian ( Genesis 21:20,21 ).

"Hagar" allegorically represents the Jewish church ( Galatians 4:24 ), in bondage to the ceremonial law; while "Sarah" represents the Christian church, which is free.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Genesis 16:1-16 Genesis 21:8-21 Genesis 25:12 Galatians 4:24-25 Genesis 16:1-7  Genesis 16:8-16  Genesis 29-30 Genesis 21:8-21  Galatians 4:1

David M. Fleming

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

hā´gar ( הגר , hāghār , "emigration," "flight"; Ἁγάρ , Hagár , Ἄγαρ , Ágar ): An Egyptian woman, the handmaid or slave of Sarai; a present, perhaps, from Pharaoh when Abram dissembled to him in Egypt (  Genesis 12:16 ). Mention is made of her in two passages (Gen 16;  Genesis 21:8-21 ).

1. The Scornful Handmaid and Her Flight

In the first narrative ( Genesis 16 ) it is related that Sarai, despairing at her age of having children, gave Hagar to Abram as a concubine. As Hagar was not an ordinary household slave but the peculiar property of her mistress (compare  Genesis 29:24 ,  Genesis 29:29 ), any offspring which she might bear to Abram would be reckoned as Sarai's (compare  Genesis 30:3-9 ). In the prospect of becoming a mother, Hagar, forgetting her position, seems to have assumed an insolent bearing toward her childless mistress. Sarai felt keenly the contempt shown her by her handmaid, and in angry tones brought her conduct before Abram. Now that her plan was not working out smoothly, she unfairly blamed her husband for what originated with herself, and appealed to Heaven to redress her grievance. Abram refused to interfere in the domestic quarrel, and renouncing his rights over his concubine, and her claims on him, put her entirely at Sarai's disposal. Under the harsh treatment of her mistress Hagar's life became intolerable, and she fled into the wilderness, turning her steps naturally toward Egypt, her native land.

2. Her Vision and Return

But the angel of Yahweh (who is here introduced for the first time as the medium of theophany) appeared to her as she was resting by a spring and commanded her to return and submit herself to her mistress, promising her an innumerable seed through her unborn son, concerning whom he uttered a striking prediction (see Ishmael ). To the angel (who is now said to be Yahweh Himself) Hagar gave the name "Thou art a God of seeing" (the Revised Version (British and American) "that seeth"), for she said, "Have I even here (in the desert where God, whose manifestations were supposed to be confined to particular places, might not be expected to reveal Himself) looked after him that seeth me?" - the meaning being that while God saw her, it was only while the all-seeing God in the person of His angel was departing that she became conscious of His presence. The spring where the angel met with her was called in Hebrew tradition Be'ēr - laḥay - rō'ı̄ , "the well of the living one who seeth me" (Revised Version, margin).

Obedient to the heavenly vision Hagar returned, as the narrative implies, to her mistress and gave birth to Ishmael, Abram being then eighty-six years old.

The idea in  Genesis 30:13 is not very clearly expressed. The word translated "here" generally means "hither," and there is no explanation of the "living one" in the name of the well. It has therefore been proposed to emend the Hebrew text and read "Have I even seen God, and lived after my seeing?" - an allusion to the belief that no one could "see God and live" (compare   Genesis 32:30;  Exodus 33:20 ). But there are difficulties in the way of accepting this emendation. The name of God, "a God of seeing," would require to be interpreted in an objective sense as "a God who is seen," and the consequent name of the well, "He that seeth me liveth," would make God, not Hagar, as in  Genesis 30:13 , the speaker.

3. Her Harsh Expulsion and Divine Help

The other narrative ( Genesis 21:8-21 ) relates what occurred in connection with the weaning of Isaac. The presence and conduct of Ishmael during the family feast held on the occasion roused the anger and jealousy of Sarah who, fearing that Ishmael would share the inheritance with Isaac, peremptorily demanded the expulsion of the slave-mother and her son. But the instincts of Abraham's fatherly heart recoiled from such a cruel course, and it was only after the revelation was made to him that the ejection of Hagar and her son would be in the line of the Divine purpose - for Isaac was his real seed, while Ishmael would be made a nation too - that he was led to forego his natural feelings and accede to Sarah's demand. So next morning the bondwoman and her son were sent forth with the bare provision of bread and a skin of water into the wilderness of Beersheba. When the water was spent, Hagar, unable to bear the sight of her boy dying from thirst, laid him under a shrub and withdrew the distance of a bowshot to weep out her sorrow. But the angel of God, calling to her out of heaven, comforted her with the assurance that God had heard the voice of the lad and that there was a great future before him. Then her eyes were opened to discover a well of water from which she filled the skin and gave her son to drink. With God's blessing the lad grew up amid the desert's hardships, distinguished for his skill with the bow. He made his home in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him out of her own country.

4. Practical Lessons from the History

The life and experience of Hagar teach, among other truths, the temptations incident to a new position; the foolishness of hasty action in times of trial and difficulty; the care exercised over the lonely by the all-seeing God; the Divine purpose in the life of everyone, however obscure and friendless; how God works out His gracious purposes by seemingly harsh methods; and the strength, comfort and encouragement that ever accompany the hardest experiences of His children.

5. Critical Points in the Documents

 Genesis 16 belongs to the Jahwist, J, (except   Genesis 16:1 ,  Genesis 16:3 ,  Genesis 16:15 f which are from P), and   Genesis 21:8-21 to East. From the nature of the variations in the narratives many critics hold that we have here two different accounts of the same incident. But the narratives as they stand seem to be quite distinct, the one referring to Hagar's flight before the birth of Ishmael, and the other to her expulsion at the weaning of Isaac. It is said, however, that Elohist (E) represents Ishmael as a child "playing" (The Revised Version, margin, Septuagint παίζοντα , paı́zonta ) with Isaac at the weaning festival, and young enough to be carried by his mother and "cast" under a shrub; while according to the Priestly Code, the Priestly Code (P), ( Genesis 16:16;  Genesis 21:5 ), as a child was weaned at the age of two or three years, he would be a lad of sixteen at that time. The argument for the double narrative here does not seem conclusive. The word mecaḥēḳ ( Genesis 16:9 ) does not necessarily mean "playing" when used absolutely; it is so used in  Genesis 19:14 , evidently in the sense of "mocking" or "jesting," and Delitzsch gives it that meaning there. Then as to  Genesis 19:14 , the Massoretic Text does not state that the child was put on her shoulder, although the Septuagint does; nor does "cast" ( Genesis 19:15 ) so "clearly imply" that Ishmael was an infant carried by his mother (compare  Matthew 15:30 ). It may be added that the words yeledh and na'ar , translated "child" and "lad" respectively, determine nothing as to age, as they are each used elsewhere in both senses.

6. Allegorical Use of the Story by Paul

In  Galatians 4:21 Paul makes an allegorical use of this episode in the history of Ishmael and Isaac to support his argument for the transitory character of the Jewish ritual and the final triumph of Christian freedom over all Judaizing tendencies. In elaborating his reference, the apostle institutes a series of contrasts. Hagar, the bondwoman, represents the old covenant which was given from Mt. Sinai; and as Ishmael was Abraham's son after the flesh, so the Judaizing Christians, who wish to remain in bondage to the law, are Hagar's children. On the other hand, Sarah, the freewoman, represents the new covenant instituted by Christ; and as Isaac was born to Abraham in virtue of the promise, so the Christians who have freed themselves entirely from the law of carnal ordinances and live by faith are Sarah's children. Thus Hagar corresponds to "the Jerusalem that now is," that is, the Jewish state which is in spiritual bondage with her children; while Sarah represents "the Jerusalem that is above," "our mother" (Revised Version (British and American)), the mother of us Christians, that free spiritual city to which Christians even now belong (  Philippians 3:20 ). By this allegory the apostle would warn the Galatian Christians of the danger which beset them from their Judaizing brethren, of their subjection to the covenant of works and their ultimate expulsion from the household of faith.

To us Paul's reference does not appeal with the same force as it would do to those to whom he was writing. The incident taken by itself, indeed, does not contain any suggestion of such a hidden meaning. Yet the history of the Hebrew nation is but typical of the history of the church in all ages, and the apostle's familiarity with rabbinical modes of interpretation may have led him to adopt this method of confirming the truth which he had already proved from the law itself.

For a discussion of the text and interpretation of  Galatians 4:25 , "Now this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia," and an account of Philo's allegory of Hagar and Sarah, see Lightfoot's notes at the end of chapter iv in his Commentary on Gal .

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Hagar' הָגָי , Flight, apparently from her abandonment of her mistress; but according to others, a Stranger, from her foreign birth, (See Hagarene) Sept. and N.T. Σαγαρ ), a native of Egypt, and servant of Abraham ( Genesis 21:9-10), perhaps one of the female slaves presented to Abraham by Pharaoh during his visit to Egypt ( Genesis 12:16), although she properly belonged to Sarah ( Genesis 16:1). The long continued sterility of Sarah suggested to her the idea (not uncommon in the East) of becoming a mother by proxy through her handmaid, whom, with that view, she gave to Abraham as a secondary wife (Genesis 15). B.C. 2078. (See Abraham); (See Adoption); (See Concubine). This honor was too great and unexpected for the weak and ill-regulated mind of Hagar; and no sooner did she find herself likely to become the mother of her master's heir than she openly indulged in triumph over her less favored mistress. The feelings of Sarah were severely wounded, and she broke out to her husband in loud complaints of the servant's petulance. Abraham, whose meek and prudent behavior is strikingly contrasted with the violence of his wife, left her with unfettered power, as mistress of his household, to take what steps she pleased to obtain the required redress. (See Kitto's Daily Bible Illust. ad loc.) In all Oriental states where concubinage is legalized, the principal wife has authority over the rest; the secondary one, if a slave, retains her former condition unchanged, and society thus presents the strange anomaly of a woman being at once the menial of her master and the partner of his bed. This permission, however, was necessary in an Eastern household, but it is worthy of remark that it is now very rarely given; nor can we think, from the unchangeableness of Eastern customs, and the strongly-marked national character of those peoples, that it was usual anciently to allow a wife to deal hardly with a slave in Hagar's position. Left with this authority over her dotal maid-servant, Sarah was neither reluctant nor sparing in making the minion reap the fruits of her insolence; but whether she actually inflicted blows (Augustine, Epist. 48), or merely threw out menaces to that effect, cannot be determined from the verb עִָגָה (to " Afflict") there employed.

Sensible, at length, of the hopelessness of getting the better of her mistress, Hagar determined on flight; and having seemingly formed the purpose of returning to her relations in Egypt, she took the direction of that country, which led her to what was afterwards called Shur, through a long tract of sandy uninhabited country, lying on the west of Arabia Petrsea, to the extent of 150 miles between Palestine and Egypt. Here she was sitting by a fountain to replenish her skin-bottle or recruit her wearied limbs, when the angel of the Lord appeared, and in the kindliest manner remonstrated with her on the course she was pursuing, and encouraged her to return by the promise that she would ere long have a son, whom Providence destined to become a great man, and whose wild and irregular features of character would be indelibly impressed on the mighty nation that should spring from him. — Obedient to the heavenly visitor, and having distinguished the place by the name of Beer-lahai-roi (q.v.), "the well of the visible God," Hagar retraced her steps to the tent of Abraham, where in due time she had a son; and, having probably narrated this remarkable interview to Abraham, that patriarch, as directed by the angel, called the name of the child Ishmael "God hath heard" (Genesis 16). B.C. 2078. Fourteen years after the birth of Ishmael the appearance of the long-promised heir entirely changed the relations of the family, though nothing materially affecting Ishmael took place till the weaning of Isaac, which, as is generally thought, was at the end of his third year. B.C. 2061. Ishmael was then fully capable of understanding his altered relations to the inheritance; and when the newly- weaned child, clad, according to custom, with the sacred symbolic robe, which was the badge of the birthright, was formally installed heir of the tribe (see Biblioth. Bibl. vol. 1; Vicasi, Annot. p. 32; Bush on  Genesis 27:15), he inconsiderately gave vent to his disappointed feelings by an act of mockery ( Genesis 21:9 the Hebrew word צָחִק , though properly signifying "to laugh," is frequently used to express strong derision, as in  Genesis 19:14;  Nehemiah 2:19;  Nehemiah 4:1;  Ezekiel 23:32; accompanied, as is probable on some of the occasions referred to in these passages, with violent gestures, which might very justly be interpreted as persecution,  Galatians 4:29). The procedure of Abraham in awarding the inheritance to Isaac was guided by the special command of God, and, moreover, was in harmony with the immemorial practice of the East, where the son of a slave or secondary wife is always supplanted by that of a free woman, even if born long after. This insulting conduct of Ishmael gave offence to Sarah, such that she insisted upon his expulsion from the family, together with his mother as conniving at it. So harsh a measure was extremely painful to Abraham; but his scruples were removed by the divine direction to follow Sarah's advice (see Kitto's Daily Bible Illust. ad loc.), "for," adds the Targum of Jonathan, "she is a prophetess" (compare  Galatians 4:30). Accordingly, "Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water (and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder), and the child, and sent her away" ( Genesis 21:14). B.C. 2061. In spite of instructions, the two exiles missed their way. Overcome by fatigue and thirst, the strength of the young Ishmael first gave way, and his mother laid him down in complete exhaustion under one of the stunted shrubs of this arid region, in the hope of his obtaining some momentary relief from smelling the damp in the shade, while she withdrew to a little distance, unable to witness his lingering sufferings, and there "she lifted up her voice and wept." In this distress, the angel of the Lord appeared with a comforting promise of her son's future greatness, and directed her to a fountain, which, concealed by the brushwood, had escaped her notice, and from which she now revived the almost lifeless Ishmael. This well, according to the tradition of the Arabs (who pay great honor to the memory of Hagar, and maintain that she was Abraham's lawful wife), is Zemzem, near Mecca. (See Weil's Bibl. Legends, p. 82.) Of the subsequent history of Hagar we have no account beyond what is involved in that of Ishmael, who established himself in the wilderness of Paran, in the neighborhood of Sinai, was married by his mother to a countrywoman of her own, and maintained both himself and his family by the produce of his bow ( Genesis 21:20-21). (See Ishmael). In  Galatians 4:24, the apostle Paul, in an. allegory, makes Hagar ( Τό Σαγαρ ) represent the Jewish Church, which was in bondage to the ceremonial law, as Sarah represents the true Church of Christ which is free from this bondage. (See Bloomfield's Note, ad loc.) Some commentators, however, have discovered an alliteration in. the name here with the Arab word for stone (hajar). According to Mohammedan tradition, Hagar (Hfajir) was buried at Mecca! (D'Herbelot, Bib. Or. s.v. Hagiar). Mr. Rowlands, in traveling through the desert of Beersheba, discovered some wells and a stone mansion, which he declares the Arabs still designate as those of Hagar! (Williams, Holy City, 1, 465 sq.). (See Abraham).

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Ha´gar (a stranger), a native of Egypt, and servant of Abraham; but how or when she became an inmate of his family we are not informed. Whatever were her origin and previous history, her servile condition in the family of Abraham must have prevented her from being ever known beyond the limits of her humble sphere, had not her name, by a spontaneous act of her mistress, become indissolubly linked with the patriarch's history. The long continued sterility of Sarah suggested to her the idea (not uncommon in the East) of becoming a mother by proxy through her handmaid, whom, with that view, she gave to Abraham as a secondary wife [[[Abraham; Adoption; Concubinage]]]

The honor of such an alliance and elevation was too great and unexpected for the weak and ill-regulated mind of Hagar: and no sooner did she find herself in a delicate situation, which made her, in the prospect of becoming a mother, an object of increasing interest and importance to Abraham, than she openly indulged in triumph over her less favored mistress, and showed by her altered behavior a growing habit of disrespect and insolence. The feelings of Sarah were severely wounded, and she broke out to her husband in loud complaints of the servant's petulance; and Abraham, whose meek and prudent behavior is strikingly contrasted with the violence of his wife, leaves her with unfettered power, as mistress of his household, to take what steps she pleases to obtain the required redress.

Hagar, though taken into the relation of concubine to Abraham, continued still, being a dotal maid-servant, under the absolute power of her mistress, who was neither reluctant nor sparing in making the minion reap the fruits of her insolence. Sarah, indeed, not content with the simple exertion of her authority, seems to have resorted even to corporal chastisement. Sensible, at length, of the hopelessness of getting the better of her mistress, Hagar determined on flight; and having seemingly formed the purpose of returning to her relations in Egypt, she took the direction of that country; which led her to what was afterwards called Shur, through a long tract of sandy uninhabited country, lying on the west of Arabia Petræa, to the extent of 150 miles between Palestine and Egypt. In that lonely region she was sitting by a fountain to replenish her skin-bottle or recruit her wearied limbs, when the angel of the Lord, whose language on this occasion bespeaks him to have been more than a created being, appeared, and in the kindliest manner remonstrated with her on the course she was pursuing, and encouraged her to return by the promise that she would ere long have a son, whom Providence destined to become a great man, and whose wild and irregular features of character would be indelibly impressed on the mighty nation that should spring from him. Obedient to the heavenly visitor, and having distinguished the place by the name of Beer-lahai-roi, 'the well of the visible God,' Hagar retraced her steps to the tent of Abraham, where in due time she had a son; and having probably narrated this remarkable interview to Abraham, that patriarch, as directed by the angel, called the name of the child Ishmael, 'God hath heard.'

Fourteen years had elapsed after the birth of Ishmael when an event occurred in the family of Abraham, by the appearance of the long-promised heir, which entirely changed the prospects of that young man, though nothing materially affecting him took place till the weaning of Isaac, which, as is generally thought, was at the end of his third year. Ishmael was then a lad of seventeen years of age; and being fully capable of understanding his altered relations to the inheritance, as well as having felt perhaps a sensible diminution of Sarah's affection towards him, it is not wonderful that a disappointed youth should inconsiderately give vent to his feelings on a festive occasion, when the newly-weaned child, clad according to custom with the sacred symbolic robe, which was the badge of the birthright, was formally installed heir of the tribe. The harmony of the weaning feast was disturbed by Ishmael being discovered mocking. This conduct gave mortal offence to Sarah, who from that moment would be satisfied with nothing short of his irrevocable expulsion from the family; and as his mother also was included in the same condemnation, there is ground to believe that she had been repeating her former insolence, as well as instigating her son to his improprieties of behavior. So harsh a measure was extremely painful to the affectionate heart of Abraham; but his scruples were removed by the timely appearance of his divine counselor, who said, 'Let it not be grievous in thy sight, because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman: in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice.' The incident affords a very remarkable instance of an overruling Providence in making this family feud in the tent of a pastoral chief 4000 years ago the occasion of separating two mighty nations, who, according to the prophecy, have ever since occupied an important chapter in the history of man. Hagar and Ishmael departed early on the day fixed for their removal, Abraham furnishing them with the necessary supply of traveling provisions.

In spite of their instructions for threading the desert, the two exiles missed their way. Overcome by fatigue and thirst, increasing at every step under the unmitigated rays of a vertical sun, the strength of the young Ishmael, as was natural, first gave way, and his mother laid him down in complete exhaustion under one of the stunted shrubs of this arid region, in the hope of his obtaining some momentary relief from smelling the damp in the shade. The burning fever, however, continued unabated, and the poor woman, forgetting her own sorrow, destitute and alone in the midst of a wilderness, and absorbed in the fate of her son, withdrew to a little distance, unable to witness his lingering sufferings; and there 'she lifted up her voice and wept.' In this distressing situation the angel of the Lord appeared for the purpose of comforting her, and directed her to a fountain, which, concealed by the brushwood, had escaped her notice, and from which she drew a refreshing draught, that had the effect of reviving the almost lifeless Ishmael.

Of the subsequent history of Ishmael we have no account, further than that he established him self in the wilderness of Paran, in the neighborhood of Sinai, was married by his mother to a countrywoman of her own, and maintained both himself and family by the produce of his bow.

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

Sarah's maid, of Egyptian birth, who became by Abraham the mother of Ishmael and of the Ishmaelites.