It may be that Hagar was acquired as a handmaiden for Sarah during Abram’s digression into Egypt, Gen. 12. In any case, the sad chapter of Sarah pressing Abram to father an heir by Hagar is better left to the discreet account of Scripture. The long-term results of Abram’s lapse of faith are only too well known with the ongoing Middle East unrest.
It was natural for Hagar to feel superior to her mistress when she conceived a child for Abram. But the ache in Sarah’s heart increased when she saw the look in her maid’s eyes. She could not bear it. Abram gave her leave to ‘do to her as it pleaseth thee’, Gen. 16. 6. Sarah’s harsh dealings forced the maid to flee into the wilderness of Shur, later her son’s home territory, Gen. 25. 18.
There, by an artesian well, ‘the angel of the Lord found her’, Gen. 16. 7. When she had unburdened her heart to Him, the Angel instructed her to return and submit to Sarah. She was informed that the child she was carrying was a son, that he would come to term, and that heaven had named him. Ishmael means God hears. It was to be a reminder to the distraught woman that ‘the Lord hath heard thy affliction’.
Her son was described in colourful terms: ‘… a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him …’, Gen. 16. 12. Then the Angel disappeared.
The Lord had named her son, God hears. She now names the Lord that spoke to her, Thou God seest me. May the Lord help us, in times of adversity, to find our way to Beer-la-hai-roi, the well of the God who lives and sees me. Hagar then returned to Sarah.
Fourteen years later, it was not Hagar despising Sarah but Ishmael mocking Isaac, Gen. 21. 9. This led to the permanent eviction of ‘the bondwoman and her son’. Wandering south of Beersheba, they came to the end of their resources, and Hagar removed herself from her son so she might not see her boy die. She began to weep (the first mention of weeping in Scripture). But suddenly the Angel of God calls out to her, ‘Fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is’, v. 17. Then He opened her eyes to see a well of water. Thus Hagar reminds us again that our God sees and hears.
