Hagar
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Meaning: flight, or, according to others, stranger
An Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid (Gen 16:1; 21:9, 10), whom she gave to Abraham as a secondary wife (16:2). When she was about to become a mother she fled from the cruelty of her mistress, intending apparently to return to her relatives in Egypt, through the desert of Shur, which lay between. Wearied and worn she had reached the place she distinguished by the name of Beer-lahai-roi ("the well of the visible God"), where the angel of the Lord appeared to her. In obedience to the heavenly visitor she returned to the tent of Abraham, where her son Ishmael was born, and where she remained (16) till after the birth of Isaac, the space of fourteen years. Sarah after this began to vent her dissatisfaction both on Hagar and her child. Ishmael's conduct was insulting to Sarah, and she insisted that he and his mother should be dismissed. This was accordingly done, although with reluctance on the part of Abraham (Gen 21:14). They wandered out into the wilderness, where Ishmael, exhausted with his journey and faint from thirst, seemed about to die. Hagar "lifted up her voice and wept," and the angel of the Lord, as before, appeared unto her, and she was comforted and delivered out of her distresses (Gen 21:18, 19).
Ishmael afterwards established himself in the wilderness of Paran, where he married an Egyptian (Gen 21:20,21).
"Hagar" allegorically represents the Jewish church (Gal 4:24), in bondage to the ceremonial law; while "Sarah" represents the Christian church, which is free.
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—Biblical Data:
Egyptian handmaid of Sarah, and mother of Ishmael. According to one narrative, Sarah, having no children, requested Abraham to take Hagar as concubine, so that she might adopt her children (comp. Gen 30:3, where Rachel makes a similar request). When Hagar had conceived she became domineering, and Sarah, with the consent of Abraham, drove her into the wilderness. There, as she sat by a fountain, an angel of the Lord appeared and commanded her to return to her mistress and submit to her. He promised that she should bear a son who would be called "Ishmael" (= "he whom the Lord will hear"), and that he would be a strong fighter ("a wild ass among men"), and would be respected by his brethren (Gen. xvi.). Another narrative tells that when Isaac had been weaned Ishmael "played" with him or "mocked" him ( (missing hebrew text) is ambiguous), and that Sarah demanded of Abraham that he cast out Hagar and her son, that the latter might not inherit with Isaac. Abraham was unwilling to do so, but upon God's command he yielded. Hagar fled again into the wilderness, where Ishmael came near dying of thirst. In the moment of her greatest despair an angel of God appeared to her and showed her a well, promising her that Ishmael would found a great nation. She dwelt with her son in the wilderness of Paran, where he became an archer, and she took a wife for him from Egypt (Gen 21:9-21).
Only one other mention of Hagar is found in the Bible (Gen 25:12), where she is merely referred to as the mother of Ishmael. There are in various passages in Chronicles, however, references to the tribe of Hagarites, who were neighbors of the transJordanic tribes of Israel and were driven from their homes by them (1Chr 5:10, 18-22; xi. 38; xxvii. 31). The Hagarites have been identified with the Agraioi mentioned by Strabo (xvi. 4, 2), and though Arabians, they do not belong to the Ishmaelites.
Bibliography: Dillmann, Die Genesis, 6th ed., p. 315, Leipsic, 1892; Herzog-Hauck, Real-Encyc. s.v.
—In Rabbinical Literature:
According to the Midrash (Gen. R. xlv.), Hagar was the daughter of Pharaoh, who, seeing what great miracles God had done for Sarah's sake (Gen 12:17), said: "It is better for Hagar to be a slave in Sarah's house than mistress in her own." In this sense Hagar's name is interpreted as "reward" ("Ha-Agar" = "this is reward"). She was at first reluctant when Sarah desired her to marry Abraham, and although Sarah had full authority over her as her handmaid, she persuaded her, saying. "Consider thyself happy to be united with this saint." Hagar is held up as an example of the high degree of godliness prevalent in Abraham's time, for while Manoah was afraid that he would die because he had seen an angel of God (Jdg 13:22), Hagar was not frightened by the sight of the divine messenger (Gen. R. l.c.). Her fidelity is praised, for even after Abraham sent her away she kept her marriage vow, and therefore she was identified with Keturah (Gen 25:1), with allusion to (missing hebrew text) (Aramaic, "to tie"; Gen. R. lxi.). Another explanation of the same name is "to adorn," because she was adorned with piety and good deeds (l.c.). It was Isaac who, after the death of Sarah, went to bring back Hagar to the house of his father; the Rabbis infer this from the report that Isaac came from Beer-lahai-roi, the place which Hagar had named (Gen 16:14, xxiv. 62; Gen. R. lx.; see commentaries ad loc.).
Other homilies, however, take an unfavorable view of Hagar's character. Referring to the report that when she had conceived she began to despise her mistress, the Rabbis say that she gossiped about Sarah, saying: "She is certainly not as godly as she pretends to be, for in all the years of her married life she has had no children, while I conceived at once" (Gen. R. xlv.; Sefer ha-Yashar, Lek Leka). Sarah took revenge (Gen. xvi.) by preventing her intercourse with Abraham, by whipping her with her slipper, and by exacting humiliating services, such as carrying her bathing-materials to the bath (l.c.);she further caused Hagar by an evil eye to miscarry, and Ishmael, therefore, was her second child, as is inferred from the fact that the angel prophesied that she would bear a child (Gen 16:11), while it had been narrated before that she was pregnant (Gen 16:4). It is further inferred, from the words "she went astray" (Gen 21:14, Hebr.), that as soon as she had reached the wilderness she relapsed into idolatry, and that she murmured against God's providence, saying: "Yesterday thou saidest: 'I will multiply thy seed exceedingly' [[[Book of Genesis|Gen]] 16:10]; and now my son is dying of thirst." The fact that she selected an Egyptian woman as her son's wife is also counted against her as a proof that her conversion to Judaism was not sincere, for "throw the stick into the air, it will return to its root" (Gen. R. liii., end). This Egyptian wife is explained in the Targum of pseudo-Jonathan to refer to Khadijaand Fatima, the widow and the daughter of Mohammed (see Zunz, "G. V." 2d ed., p. 288, note a).
Bibliography: Yalḳuṭ, Genesis, 79, 80, 95.
—Critical View:
While the two narratives, Gen. xvi. and xxi. 9-21, are not directly contradictory, the critical school, pointing to the fact that in both instances Hagar is expelled upon Sarah's request and with the reluctant assent of Abraham, and that in both instances she receives, while sitting by a fountain, a divine message foretelling the great destiny of her son, finds in these narratives two parallel accounts of the origin of the Bedouins, whose racial affinity with the Israelites the latter had to admit, while degrading them by tracing their origin to a concubine of their common ancestor. Accordingly the name "Hagar" is explained as "the fugitive," from the Arabic "hajar" (to flee). Her native country was not Egypt, but Muṣri in northern Arabia, according to Winckler ("Altorientalische Forschungen," pp. 29 et seq., as cited by Holzinger, "Genesis," in "Kurzer Hand-Commentar zum Alten Testament," p. 151). As regards sources, the account in Gen. xvi. is assumed to be Jahvistic, with the exception of verse three, which, apparently repeating verse two, is ascribed to the Priestly Code; the account in Gen. xxi. is put down as Elohistic.
Bibliography: The commentaries on Genesis by Dillmann, Delitzsch, and Holzinger: Herzog-Hauck, Real-Encyc.
—In Arabic Literature:
According to the Midrash (Gen. R. xlv.), Hagar was the daughter of Pharaoh, who presented her to Abraham. The same story is told in Mohammedan tradition. When she bore Ishmael, from whose countenance the light of Mohammed shone forth, Sarah demanded her expulsion. Abraham desired to spare her, but Sarah swore to bathe her hands in her rival's blood. Abraham thereupon pierced Hagar's car and caused the blood to run over Sarah's hand, that her vow might be fulfilled without sacrificing Hagar's life. When Isaac was born Sarah's jealousy awoke afresh, and she insisted that Hagar should go. Conducted by the archangel Gabriel, Abraham took Hagar and Ishmael into the Arabian desert, and left them at the place where the Kaaba of Mecca was built later on. As soon as Hagar's scant provisions were exhausted she sought water, running and praying, between the hills Safa and Marwah. This she repeated seven times. At last the archangel Gabriel reappeared, and, stamping his foot on the ground, brought forth a spring. This is the holy fountain of Zamzam, near the Kaaba. In commemoration of Hagar's example, running seven times between the two hills mentioned above has been made an important ceremony in the pilgrimage to Mecca. As the spring provided Hagar and Ishmael with water, they remained there, and Abraham visited them every month. When Ishmael was thirteen years old Abraham was told in a dream to sacrifice him. Satan, however, appeared to Hagar and asked her: "Dost thou know whither Abraham went with thy son?" "Yes," she replied; "he went into the forest to cut wood." "No," said Satan; "he went to slaughter thy son." "How can that be," asked Hagar, "since he loves him as much as I do?" "He believes," Satan answered, "that God has commanded him to do so." "If this be so," said Hagar, "let him do the will of God."
