So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” - Genesis 16:13
Sarai's female servant, Abram's wife, and mother of Ishmael.
Her barren mistress gave her to her husband as a wife so that she might obtain children by her. When Hagar conceived, she had conflict with her mistress that escalated into her fleeing into the wilderness. There, the angel of the Lord met her and blessed her, and Hagar calls him a God of seeing. He prophesies her son Ishmael will be a wild donkey of a man who shall dwell over against all his kinsmen, and that her offspring will be multiplied beyond count.
- Name Meaning: "Flight" (Literal Word app)
- People Group: Egyptian (Genesis 16:1)
- Husband: Abram (Genesis 16:3)
- Son: Ishmael (Genesis 16:15)
- Mistress: Sarai (Genesis 16:1)
Marriage to Abram
Sarai said the Lord prevented her from bearing children, so she gave Hagar to Abram to obtain children. Abram listened to Sarai and took Hagar the Egyptian as a wife 10 years after he moved to Canaan. He went into Hagar, and she conceived. When she conceived, she looked with contempt upon her mistress. Sarai began dealing harshly with her, so she fled into the wilderness.
The Lord sees her
The angel of the Lord found her by a spring on the way to Shur and said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She answered, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” He said, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.”
He also said, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude. ... Behold, you are pregnant / and shall bear a son. / You shall call his name Ishmael, / because the Lord has listened to your affliction. / He shall be a wild donkey of a man, / his hand against everyone / and everyone's hand against him, / and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”
Hagar called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, "You are a God of seeing," for "Truly here I have seen him who looks after me."
The well was called Beer-lahai-roi, and it lies between Kadesh and Bered.
Birth of Ishmael
Hagar bore Ishmael when Abram was 86 years old. (Genesis 16:15)
Hagar is cast out
When Isaac was born and grew and was weaned, Abraham made a great feast on the day he was weaned. Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian laughing, so she told Abraham, "Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac." God told Abraham, "Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named. And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring."
So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
When they ran out of water, Hagar set the child under a bush, went about a bowshot's distance away, and wept, saying, "Let me not look on the death of the child." God heard Ishmael's voice, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, saying, "What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation." God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She refilled her skin and gave the boy a drink.
God was with Ishmael, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from Egypt.
(Genesis 21)