Reflect on the emotions that fill the hearts of Abram, Sarai, and Hagar in this scene. What are the feelings that seem to predominate in the heart of each of them?6
Hagar Gives Birth to Ishmael
Lectio
Prepare to read the Scripture by asking God’s Spirit to open your mind, your lips, and your heart. As you read, consider the emotions in the scene: the frustrated distress of barrenness, nagging contempt and jealousy, the anguish of rejection, and the gloom of desolation.
GENESIS 16:1–16
1Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian slave-girl whose name was Hagar, 2and Sarai said to Abram, “You see that the LORD has prevented me from bearing children; go in to my slave-girl; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave-girl, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. 4He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 5Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my slave-girl to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!” 6But Abram said to Sarai, “Your slave-girl is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she ran away from her.
7The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8And he said, “Hagar, slave-girl of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.” 9The angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her.”
10The angel of the LORD also said to her, “I will so greatly multiply your offspring that they cannot be counted for multitude.” 11And the angel of the LORD said to her,
“Now you have conceived and shall bear a son;
you shall call him Ishmael,
for the LORD has given heed to your affliction.
12He shall be a wild ass of a man,
with his hand against everyone,
and everyone’s hand against him;
and he shall live at odds with all his kin.”
13So she named the LORD who spoke to her, “You are El-roi”; for she said, “Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him?” 14Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered.
15Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
Continuing with an open mind and heart, search for the meaning of this text through the understanding of the community of faith.
Ten years had elapsed since Abram left Haran with the promise that he would become a great nation (v. 3). The hopes of Abram and Sarai to bear a child reached a critical level of frustration. In desperation, Sarai took the initiative to give Abram an heir and to build their family. She suggested to Abram that he father a child by her Egyptian servant, Hagar (v. 2). The practice of an infertile wife offering a surrogate to her husband was common practice in the ancient Middle East.
Yet, Sarai’s well-intended act created a triangle of trouble. The difference between the two women was striking. Sarai was from Abram’s tribe, a beautiful but aging woman, free but barren. Hagar was a foreigner, young with the exotic look of an Egyptian, a slave-girl and fertile. Sarai had underestimated her vulnerability to that most unbearable of human emotions: jealousy.
Abram agreed to his wife’s plan, and when Abram slept with Hagar, she immediately conceived (v. 4). When Sarai’s plan came to fruition, her selflessness deteriorated into angry accusations against her husband and cruelty toward Hagar. We do not know the details of Sarai’s harsh treatment of Hagar, but we know it was ruthless enough to cause the pregnant Hagar to flee into the wilderness (v. 6).
Hagar was fleeing in the direction of her homeland when she was met by an angel of God, the first angelic visitation in the biblical literature (v. 7). God’s messenger told her to return and submit to her mistress, but he also gave her a series of incredible divine promises. She would have a son, whom she was to name Ishmael. His name means “God hears,” for indeed God heard her cry for help and hears the needs of the outcasts. Ishmael’s nature was compared to that of the wild ass, a sturdy desert animal whose fierce, fleet-footed love of freedom makes it impossible to domesticate (vv. 11–12). Most amazingly, God said to Hagar, “I will so greatly multiply your offspring that they cannot be counted for multitude” (v. 10). Ishmael himself was destined to become the father of twelve tribes and of a great nation (25:12–18).
Hagar’s relationship with God is unique. She is the only person in the Bible to give a name to God: El-roi, the God whom I have seen, the God who sees me (v. 13). Only God, through his messenger, calls Hagar by name—Abram and Sarai had called her only slave-girl. Although Hagar is powerless as female, slave, and foreigner, God hears her, calls her by name, and makes her the mother of a great nation.
Returning to Abram’s household, she bore Abram a son. Abram named him Ishmael, designating the boy as his own with all the attendant privileges. For the time being, Abram accepted his son as the fulfillment of God’s promise.
Meditatio
Envision this scene in your imagination and consider the feelings that arise within you as you meditate on this encounter.
Reflect on the emotions that fill the hearts of Abram, Sarai, and Hagar in this scene. What are the feelings that seem to predominate in the heart of each of them?
In what ways did Sarai’s plan for surrogate motherhood create a triangle of trouble? What allows triangles of trouble to form in relationships and families?
How does the text demonstrate that Hagar is uniquely blessed by God? What did God’s messenger promise her? What is surprising about these blessings?
Oratio
None of your emotions can be hidden from God, and in fact, emotions can be most useful in promoting a spirit of honest prayer.
Lord, you are the God who truly sees me. You know the emotional conflicts that rage within me: generosity, jealousy, anger, and hope. Help me to trust in your plan for my life and my family.
Continue to pray to God through the emotions that fill your heart . . .
Contemplatio
Seek to experience the unconditional love that God demonstrated for Hagar, the foreign slave. Know that God has the same unrestricted love for you. Spend some moments seeking to feel that kind of love from God.
After your time of contemplation, write a few words about your experience.
Operatio
How is God’s Word in this text transforming my heart? How can I better use my emotions to be more honest with God in prayer and more genuine in my daily actions?