Hagar and Ishmael

Biblical Account

Hagar was the Egyptian maidservant of Sarah (then called Sarai). According to Genesis 16, the childless Sarai gave Hagar to Abraham (then called Abram) as a wife. After Hagar conceived, she despised her mistress, and when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled into the wilderness. Beside a spring in the wilderness, the angel of the LORD told Hagar to return and instructed her to name her son Ishmael, meaning "God hears." Hagar gave a name to the God who watched over her, and the well came to be called Beer-lahai-roi (Genesis 16:13–14). Ishmael was born when Abram was eighty-six years old.

In Genesis 17, God promised to bless Ishmael and make him the father of twelve princes, yet declared that He would establish His covenant with Isaac. Ishmael was circumcised at the age of thirteen. In Genesis 21, on the day of the feast held when Isaac was weaned, Sarah saw Ishmael "mocking" and demanded that mother and son be cast out. When their water ran out in the wilderness of Beersheba, God heard the voice of the boy and showed Hagar a well. Ishmael grew up in the wilderness of Paran and became an archer. Genesis 25 records that Ishmael and Isaac buried Abraham together, lists Ishmael's twelve sons, and notes that he died at the age of 137. Esau married a daughter of Ishmael (Genesis 28:9).

Significance Within Scripture

Genesis records that the covenant line continues through Isaac. At the same time, it shows that God hears the cry of a maidservant and a child who stand outside the covenant. In the New Testament, Paul uses the two women as an allegory in Galatians 4:21–31. He likens Hagar to Mount Sinai and to bondage, and Sarah to the Jerusalem which is above and to freedom. Paul contrasts Ishmael, "born after the flesh," with Isaac, one of "the children of promise."

Interpretations and Points of Debate

• Childbearing through a maidservant: Similar customs are known to have existed in the ancient Near East. Many interpreters read the episode as a human expedient adopted by those who would not wait for the promise. Interpreters differ on how to evaluate Sarah's treatment of Hagar.
• The meaning of "mocking": The Hebrew verb in Genesis 21:9 can also be rendered "laugh" or "play," so opinions are divided over whether it denotes ridicule or simply play. Paul interpreted the scene as persecution (Galatians 4:29).
• Reassessment of Hagar: Hagar is notable as one who herself gave God a name. On this basis, some interpreters read her as a figure revealing a God who cares for marginalized foreign women.
• Traditions outside the text: The view that Ishmael is the ancestor of the Arabs has been widely held in Jewish and Islamic tradition, but the Bible does not say so directly. The story that Abraham and Ishmael built the Kaaba in Mecca is an Islamic tradition and does not appear in the Bible. Explanations of modern Middle Eastern conflicts as a rivalry between Isaac and Ishmael are also common, but they have been criticized as an oversimplification.