Genesis 16:1-21:20 -- Close Encounters
Hagar is definitely not considered a heroine among
the women of the Bible, nor is she revered as a biblical example for
young women. In fact, I have never heard of another woman or young
girl whose namesake was Hagar. The name just doesn’t conjure up
warm, fuzzy feelings, so it’s likely Hagar will never make it on a
list of the most popular female names. Yet, her experiences with God
place her in a very unique and elite club for which few other Old
Testament characters qualify.
We actually don’t know a lot about Hagar. The two
primary pieces of information available to us from scripture is
about her heritage. She was a maidservant, and she was an Egyptian.
When Abraham and Sarah ventured down into Egypt, it seems logical to
assume that Hagar was acquired during their stay there. Genesis
12:16 mentions that Abram acquired menservants and maidservants
while in Egypt. Perhaps Hagar was one of those.
There’s also the possibility Hagar was assigned to
serve Sarah as the soon-to-be-wife of Pharaoh. In the book of
Esther, we’re given insight into a Gentile culture that pampered and
prepared a woman before she was presented to the king. In Esther’s
case, she was assigned seven maids who attended to her every need.
Perhaps that was similar to Hagar’s role. By the time Pharaoh became
wise as to Sarah’s true relationship to Abram, Hagar may have been
considered Sarah’s property. Of course, this is only speculation,
but it would provide the opportunity for Hagar and Sarah to spend a
lot of time together and know each other intimately, while the line
of who was boss and who was servant was clearly drawn.
This may be one reason why Hagar became so uppity once she became
pregnant with Abraham’s child. Her role not only went from that of
maidservant to surrogate mother, but it says in Genesis 16:3 that
Sarah gave Hagar to her husband to be his wife. That now elevated
Hagar to an equal status as Sarah. The respect and honor Hagar was
supposed to exhibit toward her owner diminished when Hagar was able
to accomplish what Sarah couldn’t.
Of course, let’s not forget that Sarah brought this
situation on herself. She didn’t trust God’s promises, or at least
she didn’t take them literally. As we do so often, she twisted God’s
words and manipulated the circumstances to bring about God’s
promises in her timetable and in the way she thought she heard them,
not as God spoke them. She wasn’t patient and took circumstances
into her own hands. Little did she know the havoc her decision would
bring to the world. We, too, tend to make decisions we think will
only affect ourselves. We get wrapped up into our own little world
and have no clue (and do we even care?) of the eternal affects our
actions cause.
Interesting, too, is Sarah’s lack of taking
responsibility for the situation in which she found herself. First of all,
in Genesis 16:2, Sarah blames God for withholding children from her,
so she decides to fix that little matter through Hagar. Then, after
Abraham goes along with Sarah’s plan, she turns the tables on her
husband by telling him, “You are responsible for the wrong I am
suffering” (16:5).
Needless to say, Sarah detested Hagar’s change of
attitude towards her, and she began mistreating Hagar. Having her
fill of Sarah’s abuse, Hagar decided she couldn’t take it anymore
and fled. It’s at this point that Hagar had her first encounter with
the angel of the Lord, who was the pre-incarnate Son of God (Scofield
note). He exhorts her to go back to Sarah and return to her
subservient role. Next, the angel of the Lord informs Hagar that her
son will become the father of descendents “too numerous to count.”
This encounter with the Lord is so profound that Hagar gives Him a
personal name: “You are the God who sees me, I have now seen the One
who sees me” (16:13).
Surely Hagar had heard references of the Lord in
conversations between Abraham and Sarah. After all, their journey
from their homeland, the place in which they settled, and the promise of
a child was all connected to their God. But now instead of hearsay,
she converses with their God directly. Perhaps for the first time in
her entire life someone expresses personal interest in Hagar, and
expresses understanding of her circumstances. And, not just anyone.
The personal God of Abraham showed Himself as the personal God of
Hagar. “He really sees me,” she may have thought to herself, thus
her desire to personalize Him by giving Him a name representing her
special encounter with Him.
More than thirteen years passed before Isaac was
born, and there is no mention of further conflict between the two
women. This shows that Hagar must have been obedient to God’s
directive to be submissive to Sarah. Yet after Isaac was weaned, we
are told that Ishmael began to mock Isaac (21:9). Sarah told Abraham
to get rid of both “that slave woman and that slave woman’s son”
because she didn’t want Isaac to have to share his inheritance with
Ishmael. After being forced from their home, Hagar’s supplies of
food and water were soon depleted and she became depressed. She gave
up on life, placed her son under a shaded bush and sat off away from
him so that she couldn’t watch him die. As she wept, the Lord came
to her again, and He provided her and Ishmael drink and repeated the
promise of Ishmael being made into a great nation.
The Lord appeared to Hagar twice, which is more than
most Old Testament men can claim, let alone a woman. She was given a
great opportunity to not just claim the God of Abraham and Sarah,
but to claim Him as her own personal God. But there’s no mention
that she ever did. Verse 20 of chapter 21 of Genesis says that she
eventually sought a wife for Ishmael out of Egypt. After two
significant and personal encounters with Abraham’s God, for some
reason, this idol worshipper decided to return to her roots. Given
the opportunity to serve a living God who sought her out and
demonstrated how much He cared about her and her son, Hagar chose,
instead, the dead gods of Egypt. After being saved and provided for
by the Lord, she still elected not to embrace belief in the Lord of
lords. How sad for her and what a tragedy it is when anyone comes
face to face with the Son of God and walks away.
As a side note here, I can’t help but question
whether or not Hagar would have been more inclined to worship the
God of Abraham if, indeed, she had really seen that worshipping the
living God made a difference. Somehow the lives of Abraham and Sarah
must not have had much impact on her in that regard. On two
occasions, Sarah’s vindictive spirit drove Hagar away from her home.
How was God’s love demonstrated in that? It wasn’t. There must not
have been enough about these two God worshipers at that time in their
lives to draw Hagar toward their God. So in the end, she walked away.
In summary, Hagar represents two types of people.
The first is the unbeliever who is not drawn to Christ (or maybe
even turned off to Christianity) because of the testimony, or lack
thereof, in Christians he/she observes or has as friends. Dear
friend, is your life drawing people toward your God, or away from
Him? This is certainly a worthy question and challenge on which to
meditate.
Hagar had two unique encounters with the Lord which
gives her membership in a very special club, yet her life remained
virtually unaffected by those encounters. So, the second type of
person she represents is the unbeliever who has been impacted by the
love of Christ, and who has had ample opportunities to embrace and
believe in Christ, yet for some reason he/she walks away. It is my
heart’s desire that if someone is reading this commentary and has
not embraced the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, I pray you don’t
walk away from His life-changing love as Hagar did. You’ll forever
regret it if you do.
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