Women of the Bible Hagar Part 1

In this study we will take a look at the women within the Bible. We will look at each one of them and see how their story influences our lives today.

As we continue our study in this fantastic insight of the Women of the Bible, this morning we will take a look at Hagar. If you remember Hagar was the ‘slave woman’ to Sarah. As we read earlier in the Legends of the Old Testament Characters it stated that Hagar’s father was Pharaoh of Egypt, there in Gen. 12.

In Smith’s Bible Dictionary, he states, Ha'gar. (flight). An Egyptian woman, the handmaid or slave of Sarah, 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

Hagar was an Egyptian slave girl in the tribe of Abraham. Despite the jealousy of Sarah, she became mother to Abraham's son Ishmael. Twice Yahweh sent an angel to protect her from Sarah, and in the end Hagar became a free woman, no longer a slave

Names in the Bible often say something about the person: 

Hagar means 'flight or stranger'. She was from Egypt, and was never fully accepted into the tribe.
 Sarah may have been a shortened version of Ummu-sarra, 'the great mother is queen'
 Abraham means 'father of many people'
 Ishmael means ‘El hears’. Twice when Hagar was abandoned, Yahweh heard her and helped her

The story of Hagar is closely bound up with Sarah' story, but is important in its own right because it tells of a woman's courage and endurance
 
It is also significant because it explains the ancestral background of the Arab peoples, who are called Ishmaelites in the Bible

The story contains two central episodes:
 1 The conception and birth of Hagar's son Ishmael (Genesis 16:1-16). Hagar, the Egyptian slave of Sarah, was made pregnant by Abraham, the husband of Sarah. While she was pregnant, Yahweh promised that her child would be the ancestor of a great nation
 2 The expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael (Genesis 21:1-21). Hagar and Sarah quarreled, and eventually Hagar and her son Ishmael left the Hebrews 

Hagar represents women in the Bible who are excluded or despised by the people around them. This might happen because they are childless, in a society that valued mothers (like Sarah) a slave in a hierarchical society (like Hagar) 

 It was an accepted practice at the time to give servants and slaves as part of the dowry of a wealthy young woman. If Hagar was a gift from Pharaoh, she was probably an accomplished servant with valuable skills. Becoming the servant of a nomadic tribeswoman may have been a step down socially for her  

Hagar enters the biblical story when Abram and Sarai grow impatient with Yahweh. Yahweh had promised Abram a son, but 10 years later, Sarai is still without child. So she devises a plan to “help” Yahweh fulfill his promise by ordering the enslaved Hagar to bear Abram’s child as a surrogate, a common ancient practice for overcoming infertility

 Slave woman” already suggests low standard, but the narrator doubly emphasizes Hagar’s outsider status by repeatedly identifying her as an Egyptian. Later in the biblical story, Egyptians brutally enslave the Israelites for 400 years, and Egypt becomes a symbol in Scripture for evil and oppression, other words “Bondage”. So when the biblical authors, writing after Israel’s enslavement, highlight Hagar’s Egyptian origin, they cast her not only as foreign but also despised

When Sarai’s plan succeeds and Hagar gets pregnant, it says that Sarai was “despised (light in the Hebrew: qalal) in her eyes”. That means Hagar treats Sarai “lightly,” as though she's unimportant 

Join me as we go Chapter by Chapter, Verse by Verse, Unraveling the Words of Yahweh!

Have any questions? Feel free to email me; keitner2024@outlook.com