HAGAR hā’ gär (הָגָֽר, flight). The concubine of Abraham and the mother of Ishmael. To understand the story of Hagar, it is necessary to begin ten years before she appears upon the scene, to the time when God called Abraham to leave his own country for a new land that He would show him. God then promised that even though Abraham was old (seventy-five years) and childless, He would make of him a great nation (Gen 12:1-3). After ten years of fruitless waiting for the promised son, Sarah offered to Abraham her personal Egyp. maid, Hagar (prob. acquired during their brief stay in Egypt, Gen 12:10ff.), as a concubine in the hope of producing a son by her. The code of Hammurabi and the Nuzi tablets (which come from the region of the patriarchs although from a slightly later period) show it was customary for a childless wife to provide her husband with a concubine. If a son was born of the union, he was regarded as the child of the wife. Apparently both Abraham and Sarah were convinced that God would not give them children by Sarah, but that God’s promise could be fulfilled by a son through Hagar.
Abraham followed Sarah’s suggestion. Hagar conceived and then began to show contempt and disdain for her mistress in various ways, causing distress to Sarah. Bitter feelings and wounded pride caused Sarah to blame Abraham for doing what she herself had suggested (Gen 16:5). He replied that Sarah could do anything she wanted with Hagar, her maid. Sarah decided to humble Hagar, prob. by having her do menial work and live with her servants. Hagar refused to accept correction and fled from her mistress.
It may be that Hagar decided to go back to her own country, Egypt, for the angel of the Lord appeared to her not far from its border and told her to return to her mistress and submit to her. He also comforted her by adding that she would bear a son, whom she was to call Ishmael (meaning “God hears”); and he told her what kind of man he would be—a wild and lawless one, quarrelsome even with his own kindred, and that she would have innumerable descendants. Hagar’s son was born when Abraham was eighty-six years old.
Fourteen years later, when Abraham was one hundred years old, and Sarah ninety, God gave them a son whom they named Isaac. The day the child was weaned (among the Jews this was about three years after it was born), at a great feast made to celebrate the occasion, Sarah became incensed when she saw Ishmael, now a lad about seventeen years old, mocking Isaac. (The RSV has “playing with,” but the KJV and ASV, more correctly, have “mocking,” which the context and Gal 4:29 demand; indeed, the RSV renders the same Heb. word “jesting” [Gen 19:14] and “insult” [39:14, 17].) Sarah told Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away. Abraham loved Ishmael and was therefore very unwilling to do this, but God told him to do what Sarah asked, and Abraham obeyed.
Hagar and Ishmael left the home of Abraham and went into the wilderness of Beersheba. When the water they had with them gave out, Hagar placed her exhausted son in the shade of some bushes and waited for him to die. The angel of the Lord spoke to her that God had heard his cry and showed her where there was a spring of water. He also assured her that God would make of him a great nation. Ishmael lived in the wilderness of Paran and became an expert hunter, and his mother got for him a wife from the land of Egypt.
In Galatians 4:22-31 Paul applies the story of Hagar allegorically, indicating that Hagar the bondwoman and her son represent the old covenant, while Sarah and Isaac typify the grace and freedom of the new covenant.
Bibliography H. C. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis (1942), 493-510, 594-609; G. Von Rad, Genesis. A Commentary (1956), 185-230; J. A. Thompson, Archaeology and the OT (1959), 24-31; D. W. Thomas (ed.), Documents from OT Times (1962), 27-37.