Hagar – Sarah’s Maid

Sep 24, 202120 min read

Hagar – Sarah’s Maid Character Study

Hagar was an obscure Egyptian woman; we would never hear of Hagar if Providence had not brought her into the family of Abram. Probably, she was one of the maidservants which the king of Egypt bestowed upon Abraham along with many other gifts. Gen 12:16

In Genesis chapter 16 we see four things about Hagar:

1. Her marriage to her master Abraham v1..3

2. Her misbehavior towards her mistress Sarai V4..6

3. Her discourse with an angel during her flight v7-14

4.Hagar delivered. V15

Marriage:

What was God’s design of marriage institution? We see here the marriage of Abraham to Hagar. God designed the marriage relationship between one man and one woman. Only

For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. Gen 2:24, Therefore, what God has joined together, no person is to separate.” Mark 10:9 (NASB)

Sarah herself is the matchmaker and Abraham heeded to her. Abraham should have consulted God and kept God’s laws for Sarah’s good.

What made Sarah to give Hagar in marriage to Abram? Her barrenness. This providence of barrenness too is of the Lord. Affliction is of the Lord here. He withheld it from Sarah. The time and people to whom children should be given are decided by the Lord

Sarah used it as an excuse to tell Abram to marry Hagar. He that believes does not make haste. Firm dependence upon God’s promise and waiting for God’s time is necessary. Abraham was eagerly desiring the seed from God, because God promised him.

Important Lessons

1. Wisdom according to the flesh, puts us out of God’s way.

2. God did not persuade Abram to do this act,

3. He/They did not ask counsel from God

The Results/Consequences that followed:

1. Sarah is despised by Hagar

2. Insults her and makes her fret as Peninnah did with Hannah in 1 Sam 1:6”Her rival, moreover, would provoke her bitterly to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb."

3. Now Hagar thinks she is better than Sarai

4. servile spirits when either favored by God or man grow haughty and arrogant and forget their place and origin. Prov 30:21-23

5. It is a hard thing to bear honor aright

6. Whatever we made as objects of our sin we eventually Suffer by them.

7.Sarai unjustly charges Abraham

8.We are not certain whether Hagar is saved.

9. Abraham got Hagar when his faith failed him.

Cultural Background:

According to the custom of the times and oriental nations this act was right enough. But it was not really right in itself for it showed littleness in Abraham’s faith. The wrong element would work in Canaanites’ family but not in Abraham’s family. Suddenly, Hagar became famous. She had an Egyptian spirit(pride).

All this act did not work for peace and holiness. Hagar flees from her mistress Sarai. We don’t see that both Abram and Sarai are really concerned about this. She is now sitting alone But Abram said to Sarai, “Look, your slave woman is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence. Now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. Gen 16:6-7.

Even when Hagar did not pray, her cries were heard by God and God came down for a slave when no eyes pitied her.

She does not appear at that time to have lifted up her heart in prayer to God. She had lived in a godly household; but possibly, as she thought herself ill-treated, she had conceived a dislike towards the God of her mistress; such harsh treatment as she had received was not likely to incline her towards the religion of those from whom she had fled: she was godless and hopeless. Do you not see her crouching at the fountain, half mad with pride and vexation, and at the same time stricken with a sullen despair? She knows not what she is to do, neither does any way of hope open before her. Alas, poor Hagar!(excerpts from C.H.Spurgeon)

“The Lord hath heard thy affliction.” That is a very beautiful sentence. Thou hast not prayed: thou hast been willful, reckless, and at last despairing, and therefore thou hast not cried unto the Lord. But thy deep sorrow has cried to him. Thou art oppressed, and the Lord has undertaken for thee. Thou art suffering heavily, and God, the All-pitiful, has heard thy affliction. Grief has an eloquent voice when mercy is the listener. Woe has a plea which goodness cannot resist. Though sorrow and woe ought to be attended with prayer, yet even when supplication is not offered, the heart of God is moved by misery itself. In Hagar’s case, the Lord heard her affliction: he looked forth from his glory upon that lone Egyptian woman who was in the deepest distress in which a woman could well be placed, and he came speedily to her help.

The Angel of the Lord was that great messenger of the covenant who was afterwards to appear in actual flesh and blood, but who many a time before he was born at Bethlehem anticipated his descent to earth, and visited it in human form. No doubt she had much to put up with; but she had been insolent and provoking to her mistress, and at last she had in her impatience deliberately quitted the house of Abraham, and left the abode of the chosen family. Whatever that house may have been, it was the best place then upon the earth; it was almost the only spot under heaven where the Lord God was known. She, an Egyptian, once benighted by the superstitious worship of her country, had enjoyed the light of the knowledge of the true God for a while; and now she had turned her back on it. She could not but have marked Abraham’s high character and sincere devotion.

She must have seen his true and real faith in God, and the way in which he endeavored to order his household aright. Whatever faults she may have perceived there, whatever errors she may have suffered from, she could not but have noticed that there was a great difference between Abraham’s tent and the abodes of Egypt. Now she quits her place of privilege, she renounces the high hopes which surrounded her, and in her fierce passion she rushes she cares not whither. The untamable spirit which afterwards showed itself in her son Ishmael raged in her bosom. So, too, have we met with those who have deliberately left the ways of God and the people of God, and all semblance of goodness, because they have thought themselves badly used. They have happened to suffer somewhat, and in the bitterness of their spirit they have resolved to stand no more of it. They vow that they will have nothing to do with God, or with his people; they will turn their backs upon everything that is religious, and they will mix with the world in its most ungodly form. They do not, indeed, care what becomes of them: they would flee from the presence of God himself if they could. Friends, relatives, good men, and the circle of blessing they would quit, and roam in a wilderness, hoping to be forgotten. Now their hand is against every man, and every man’s hand is against them, and in their high spirit they are prepared to defy the universe to subdue them.

What was there about her that Jehovah should come out of his place to seek her? Yet he came in unexpected grace, as he is wont to do. He remembered the low estate of his handmaiden, and because his mercy endured forever, he found her by the fountain in the wilderness.(excerpt from C.H. Spurgeon)

When the angel of the Lord found Hagar, he dealt graciously with her. Indeed this was the object of his finding her; he came in pity, not in wrath. His first act was to awaken conviction within her. He said to her, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence earnest thou? and whither wilt thou whence camest thou?” What hast thou left behind thee? What hast thou given up? All thy hopes lie in Abraham’s tent, and thou hast left the place. For thee there is a high destiny, and thou art flying from it. Thou art, after all, a favored woman, and thou knows it not; thou art flying away from that which will be thy blessedness! This is the question of the Holy Spirit to every runaway rebel.

Return to thy mistress.” Mark, not to thy master only, but “to thy mistress.” He says also, “Submit thyself under her hands,” to show that the submission must be entire and absolute. Put thyself back into thy right place, and then grace can deal with thee. Onesimus proper place is with Philemon

Grace follows her:

I think I see clearly that she was amazed that God should care for her. “Thou God seest me. Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?” Does he see me? Do I see him? One of the most difficult things in the world is to discriminate properly between law and grace. Law and grace are diametrically opposed to each other.

Allegories of Sarah and Hagar :

Allegory meaning : a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.

The two women and the two sons :

Hagar stands for the covenant of works

What do we mean by covenant of works?

"There is my law, O man; if thou on thy side wilt engage to keep it, I on my side will engage that thou shalt live by keeping it. If thou wilt promise to obey my commands perfectly, wholly, fully, without a single flaw, I will carry thee to heaven. But mark me, if thou violate one command, if thou dost rebel against a single ordinance, I will destroy thee forever." That is the Hagar covenant—the covenant propounded on Sinai, amidst tempests, fire and smoke—or rather, propounded, first of all, in the garden of Eden, where God said to Adam, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." As long as he did not eat of the tree, but remained spotless and sinless, he was most assuredly to live. That is the covenant of the law, the Hagar covenant.

The Sarah covenant is the covenant of grace, not made with God and man, but made with God and Christ Jesus, which covenant is this: "Christ Jesus on his part engages to bear the penalty of all his people's sins, to die, to pay their debts, to take their iniquities upon his shoulders; and the Father promises on his part that all for whom the Son doth die shall most assuredly be saved; that seeing they have evil hearts, he will put his law in their hearts, that they shall not depart from it, and that seeing they have sins, he will pass them by and not remember them any more for ever."

The covenant of works was, "Do this and live, O man!" but the covenant of grace is, "Do this, O Christ, and thou shalt live, O man!" The difference of covenants rests here. The one was made with man, the other with Christ; the one was a conditional covenant, conditional on Adam's standing, the other is a conditional covenant with Christ, but as perfectly unconditional with us. There are no conditions whatever in the covenant of grace, or if there be conditions, the covenant gives them. The covenant gives faith, gives repentance, gives good works, gives salvation, as a purely gratuitous unconditional act; nor does our continuance in that covenant depend in the least degree on ourselves. The covenant was made by God with Christ, signed, sealed, and ratified, in all things ordered well.

Before he knew anything about Hagar, Sarah was his wife. The covenant of grace was the original covenant after all. There be some bad theologians who teach that God made man upright, and made a covenant with him; that man sinned, and that as a kind of afterthought God made a new covenant with Christ for the salvation of his people. Now, that is a complete mistake. The covenant of grace was made before the covenant of works; for Christ Jesus, before the foundation of the world, did stand as its head and representative; and we are said to be elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus. We, long ere we fell, were loved of God; he did not love us out of pity to us, but he loved his people, considered purely as creatures. He loved them when they became sinners; but when he started with them he considered them as creatures. He did not love them and choose them from among the rest, after their fall, but he loved them beyond their sin, and before their sin. He made the covenant of grace before we fell by the covenant of works. If you could go back to eternity, and ask which is the oldest born, you would hear that grace was born before law—that it came into the world long before the law was promulgated. Older even than the fundamental principles which guide our morals is that great fundamental rock of grace, in covenant made of old, long ere seers preached the law, and long ere Sinai smoked. Long before Adam stood in the garden God had ordained his people to eternal life, that they might be saved through Jesus.

Ephesians 1:3-6

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, with which He favored us in the Beloved

But notice again, Hagar was not intended to be a wife; she never ought to have been anything but a hand-maid to Sarah. The law was never intended to save men: it was only designed to be a hand-maid to the covenant of grace. When God delivered the law on Sinai, it was apart from his ideas that any man would ever be saved by it; he never conceived that man would attain perfection thereby. But you know that the law is a wondrous handmaid to grace. Who brought us to the Savior? Was it not the law thundering in our ears? We should never have come to Christ if the law had not driven us there; we should never have known sin if the law had not revealed it.

Hagar never was a free woman, and Sarah never was a slave.

While the two women were types of the two covenants, the two sons were types of those who live under each covenant. Isaac is a type of the man who walks by faith, and not by sight, and who hopes to be saved by grace; Ishmael of the man who lives by works, and hopes to be saved by his own good deeds. Let us look at these two

The legalist is a great deal older than the Christian.

But where was the difference between the two lads in their outward appearance? There was no difference between them as to ordinances, for both of them were circumcised. There was no distinction with regard to outward and visible signs. So, my dearly beloved, there is often no difference between Ishmael and Isaac, between the legalist and the Christian, in matters of outward ceremonies. The legalist takes the sacrament and is baptized; he would be afraid to die if he did not. And I do not believe there was much difference as to character. Ishmael was nearly as good and honorable a man as Isaac; there is nothing said against him in Scripture; indeed, I am led to believe that he was an especially good lad, from the fact that when God gave a blessing, he said, "With Isaac shall the blessing be." Abraham, said, "O that Ishmael might live before thee." He cried to God for Ishmael, because he loved the lad, doubtless, for his disposition. God said, yes, I will give Ishmael such-and-such a blessing; he shall be the father of princes, he shall have temporal blessings; but God would not turn aside, even for Abraham's prayer. And when Sarah was rather fierce, as she must have been that day when she turned Hagar out of the house, it is said, "It grieved Abraham because of his son;" and I do not suspect that Abraham's attachment was a foolish one. There is one trait in Ishmael's character that you love very much. When Abraham died, he did not leave Ishmael a single stick or stone, for he had previously given him his portion and sent him away; yet he came to his father's funeral, for it is said that his sons Ishmael and Isaac buried him in Machpelah. There seems then to have been but little difference in the characters of the two. So, dearly beloved, there is little difference between the legalist and the Christian as to the outward walk. They are both the visible sons of Abraham. It is not a distinction of life; for God allowed Ishmael to be as good as Isaac, in order to show that it was not the goodness of man that made any distinction, but that he "will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will be hardeneth." (Excerpts from Spurgeon)

Then what was the distinction? Paul has told us that the first was born after the flesh, and the second after the Spirit. The first was a natural son, the other a spiritual one. Ask the legalist, "You do good works; you have repented, you say: you are keeping the law, and you have no need to repent. Now, where did you get your strength from?" Perhaps he says, "Grace;" but if you ask him what he means, he says that he used it; he had grace, but he used it. Then the difference is, you used your grace, and others did not. Yes. Well, then, it is your own doing. You may call it grace, or you may call it mustard; it was no grace after all, for it was your using, you say, that made the difference. But ask poor Isaac how he has kept the law, and what does he say? Very badly, indeed. Are you a sinner, Isaac? "Oh! yes, an exceedingly great one; I have rebelled against my father times without number; I have often gone astray from him." Then you do not think yourself quite as good as Ishmael, do you? "No." But yet there is a difference between you and him after all. What has made the difference? "Why, grace has made me to differ." Why is not Ishmael an Isaac? Could Ishmael have been an Isaac? "No," says Isaac, "it was God who made me to differ, from the first to the last; he made me a child of promise before I was born, and he must keep me so."

The difference between Pharisees and Jesus’ disciples

The Bible Mentions The History Of Hagar's Situation

Ray Stedman said...

There is much in this action of Sarai's which seems deserving of praise. It was, first of all, an act of genuine and costly sacrifice. She evidently had said something like this to herself: "God has promised my husband a son, through whom he means to fulfill all his promises. Yet he has never said that the son must come through me, and perhaps he means to fulfill this promise another way." So she resolves, through what struggles we can only imagine, to give up her own rights in an act of courageous renunciation. She gives up what is a wife's most precious possession, the right to have her husband's sole affection, and she offers her maid to her husband that he might have a child by her and thus fulfill the will of God.

Abram was, as we know, a monogamist. That is not the same as monotonous! He had only one wife, and he was quite content with that arrangement. But to give him the son of his heart's desire, Sarai was willing to sacrifice that relationship. It was not only an act of real sacrifice, but also one of deep sincerity. She was not hoping that he would talk her out of this. She was quite prepared to go through with it, cost her what it may. She took the initiative in proposing it.

Furthermore, it was an acceptable act, strange as that may appear to us. There was nothing immoral about it in the eyes of the community. This was common in the life of these nomadic people. Many of the Canaanite leaders would have had more than one wife and neither Abram nor Sarai would be less highly regarded because of this act. No one would laugh at her, nor point the finger of scorn. It was a perfectly proper and seemly act in the eyes of the community.

Yet, as we see the end of this action, we are aware that it was an act of appalling folly and stupidity, resulting in endless sorrow and heartache to all concerned. The results are evident yet, 4,000 years later! The Arabian nations originated in this act, and the enmity, which sprang up between Israel and the Arabs, descendants of Ishmael, troubles the world to this day. If ever we have a picture of the longevity of sin, it is here. Despite the seeming rightness of this to Sarai, it was the worst thing she could possibly have done.

Sarah compromised God's Word, sent Abraham to Hagar who bore Ishmael and lost peace in the Middle East.

(John MacArthur)

1. There Must Have Been A Lot Of Problems And Awkwardness In This Situation

"Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. {2} And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. {3} And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife (woman)." Genesis 16:1-3

2. There Was Pride And Arrogance In This Situation

"And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. {5} And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the Lord judge between me and thee." Genesis 16:4-5

I. LET'S NOTICE HAGAR'S HEARTACHE

A. She Was Experiencing Heartache In Her Current Situation

1. Hagar's Circumstances Involved Her Disgrace - The Unkind Circumstances

"But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face." Genesis 16:6

"dealt hardly with" - Hebrew 6031. 'anah, a primary root word that has the idea of looking down or browbeating; to depress - to abase, to afflict, to chasten, to weaken.

Hagar had a bad case of pre-partum depression and it was Sarai's fault.

2. Hagar's Circumstances Involved Her Direction - The Unethical Circumstances

"And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai." Genesis 16:8

God doesn't ask questions in order to learn, but in order to teach. And the things that He wants to teach Hagar here is that she has gone in a wrong direction away from the place of service.

"And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?" 1 Kings 19:9

3. Hagar's Circumstances Involved Her Destination - The Uncertain Circumstances

Genesis 16:8 - "Where have you come from, and where are you going?" (NKJV)

"Under the harsh treatment of her mistress Hagar's life became intolerable, and she fled into the wilderness, turning her steps naturally toward Egypt, her native land." (From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)

B. She Was Expecting Heartache In Her Coming Son

(Genesis 16:11) "And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction."

(Genesis 16:12) "And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren"

1. Hagar Was Told To Expect The Fleshly Ways Of Her Child

"he will be a wild man"

"Wild Baby" - Ishmael consistently speaks of the flesh.

(Genesis 17:18) "And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!" (Galatians 4:23) "But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise."

2. Hagar Was Told To Expect The Fighting Ways Of Her Child

"his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him' (Isaiah 48:22) "There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked." (Isaiah 57:21) "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked."

3. Hagar Was Told To Expect The Fervent Ways Of Her Child

"he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren"

Dwell in the presence of all his brethren - though the wild and lawless character of Ishmael's posterity would provoke a host of enemies against them on every side, they would successfully withstand all assaults, and remain established in their land. (From Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary)

III. LET'S NOTICE HAGAR'S HELPER

A. The Bible Reveals The Setting Of Her Affliction