Theme: Hagar, the Runaway Slave
Text: Genesis 16:5-16
Introduction: Hagar is both a minor character and an important figure within Genesis. She is an important figure within Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Genesis 16, Hagar is introduced as an Egyptian slave woman who belongs to Abram’s wife Sarai. Hagar, could be called as Hagger, meaning “the alien”. Although the Qur’an does not tell Hagar’s story, a collection of the words of the prophet Muhammed extol Hagar (Hajar). Hajar, means “splendid” or “nourishing.”
She was an Abused Woman
Hagar has long represented the plight of the foreigner, the slave, and the sexually abused woman. She was a Slave. She was abused by Sarah, and Abraham. She has been the focal point for oppressed peoples. Her story resonates with sexual abuse survivors, the poor and vulnerable. Hagar’s identity as an Egyptian woman has led some interpreters to see Hagar as African and dark-skinned woman was enslaved by Sarai as a white female oppressor.
A practice of surrogacy was found in a number of ancient Near Eastern texts. For e.g., the cuneiform texts of the second and first millennia BCE explains that this custom found in ancient Mesopotamia.
The Old Assyrian colony in Anatolia, dates from around 1900 BCE, narrates a marriage contract, it stipulates that if wife does not give birth in two years, she will purchase a slave woman for her husband.
Another reference is found in The Code of Hammurabi (law 146), says that if a wife is not able to bear a child. Her husband has the right to take a second wife, but if she wishes to forestall this, she can give her husband a slave. A slave woman was an incubator.
The Hammurabi laws acknowledge the possibility that a pregnant slave woman can claim equality with her mistress. However, it allows the mistress to treat her as an ordinary slave (law 146). This may be what Sarai is doing. However, Hagar is not passive. (ref: Jewish Women’s Archives).
She was Abraham’s concubine and the mother of his son Ishmael. She was gifted to Sarah by King of Egypt. Sarah gave her to Abraham to conceive an heir.
After pregnancy, Hagar meek manner changed to arrogance. Abraham’s reluctant permission led Sarah to treat her harshly that she fled into the wilderness.
She was an Abandon Woman
Hagar had so many things going against her. She was a slave, a foreigner, and hated by a woman in power. She was an outsider in every way. She was deserted.
And yet, God treats her with so much favor and kindness. Hagar returned to the house of Abraham and bore him Ishmael. Since Ishmael was fourteen years older than Isaac, Abraham was eighty-six years old when he was born (Gen. 16:16) and one hundred years old (Gen. 21:5) at Isaac’s birth. Sarah having borne Isaac told Abraham to cast out Hagar and Ishmael.
Gen. 21:9–10 relates that after the birth of Isaac, Sarah feared Ishmael’s negative influence on her son (21:9).
According to Rabbis, Sarah saw that Ishmael was engaged in idolatry building pagan altars and trapping locusts, which he offered as sacrifices. Ishmael had licentious sexual acts, raping women and mistreating them. Ishmael was man of bloodshed took a bow and arrows and shoot at Isaac.
Ishmael’s conduct was so extreme a fashion as to be totally unacceptable to the spirit of Judaism, the spirit in which Sarah wanted to raise her son. No doubt Environment influences us.
Abraham is distressed, but God tells him to accede to Sarah’s request as Isaac will be Abraham’s heir. Also, God promises that Ishmael will become a great nation as he is Abraham’s offspring. Abraham sends them away and they wander in the wilderness. After the water in the skin is gone, Hagar sits away from Ishmael and prays not to see his death. (Genesis 21:17).
The Midrash explains that Abraham knew that the members of his household were indulgent, fearing lest they give Hagar presents, gold, and silver. Genesis 21:14 states that Abraham “took some bread and a skin of water, and gave them to Hagar. He placed them over her shoulder, together with the child, and sent her away.”
In the Rabbinic exegesis, Abraham put the child on Hagar’s shoulder. According Rabbis, Ishmael was twenty-seven years old at the time, so then why did Abraham place him on Hagar’s shoulder? Because, Sarah had put an evil eye on Ishmael, thus inflicting him with a fever and illness.
This Midrash explains why Ishmael is presented as a small child in the expulsion narrative: he is called “boy” and “child,” and when the water is exhausted his mother leaves him under one of the bushes. Such behaviour is not suitable for a twenty-seven-year-old young man. The Midrash explains Ishmael’s helplessness by the debilitating nature of his illness.
God hears Ishmael and promises Hagar that Ishmael will become a great nation. God opens her eyes and she sees a well. Ishmael grows up and becomes an expert bowman. God frees Hagar and her son from slavery. And God blesses Ishmael innumerably through his many descendants, Genesis 17:20
Hagar obtains a wife for him from Egypt. Although Hagar does not appear by name in the Qur?an, she is known within Islam as the mother of Ishmael. Also, she is traditionally considered to be an ancestor of the Prophet Muhammad.
Ishmael is believed by the Jews to be the father of many Bedouin peoples dwelling in southern Palestine. Muhammad, the founder of Islam, is also believed to be a descendent of Ishmael. This demonstrates God’s faithfulness to his promise to make Ishmael into a great nation.
She was an Applauded woman
Jewish Rabbis portray Hagar as a spiritual and righteous woman. She became a highly commended woman of the religions. the rabbis also emphasise her ability to perceive and interact with divine messengers, demonstrating her spirituality and ability to connect with God. She is the only character in the Bible who gives God a name based on her experience with the Divine.
She names the Lord “El-roi” (God who sees), and well where this encounter took place was called “Beer-lahai-roi” (well of the living one who sees me). Ishmael means “God hears.” Genesis 16:11 tells us that God commanded “You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery.”
According to Midrash, she was an Egyptian princess whom Pharaoh King of Egypt gave to Sarah as a gift. She grew up in the home of Abraham and Sarah, and converted. According to the Midrashic amplification, Pharaoh sees the miracles that were performed for Sarah in his house, he gives her his daughter Hagar as a handmaiden. He said: “It would be better for my daughter to be a handmaiden in this house [i.e., Sarah’s] than a noblewoman in another [in the palace in Egypt].”
The Midrash lists three individuals who were called by their name [before they were formed in their mother’s womb]: Isaac, Solomon, and Josiah. But Bible tells the angel’s annunciation to Hagar (Genesis 16:12), is similar to announcements to Hannah, to the mother of Samuel, and to Mary the mother of Jesus: all would have children with special destinies, and all are addressed personally, not through their husbands. Manoah saw a single angel who told his wife (Judges 13:22).
‘Go back to your mistress and submit to her.’(Genesis 16:9). Although returning to her mistress was probably the last thing that Hagar wanted to do, and the last thing she wanted to hear as a command from the Lord, she does not fight it. She knows that something spectacular has just happened to her, and she has great faith in God. Her faith in God, her encounter with God, her submission to God and to her mistress is a great thing to appreciate. It’s an honourable act of humility but will be treated with a humiliation.
This messenger tells her to return to Sarai and to submit to her. Also, he promises to multiply her offspring. He instructs her to name him Ishmael (God hears). He would grow up to be a “wild ass of a man,” in constant struggle with all other men.
Conclusion: Whatever is your condition. God takes the side of the vulnerable. God blesses the needy.
