References (12)
Abram and his wife Sarai were childless.
[In this culture, this was considered shameful. However, God had promised them a child of their own who would be their heir, see . Ten years earlier, Abram had tried to adopt his servant Eliezer to have an heir, but God then clarified His promise that it would indeed be his own son, see . Abram is now 85 years old and Sarai is 75, see ; .]
Sarai had an Egyptian servant named Hagar [whom they probably received from Pharaoh when they were in Egypt, see ].
After ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, gave her Egyptian servant Hag to her husband as a second wife.
Abram slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When Hagar found out she was pregnant, she began to look down on (despise) her mistress (ruler, superior).
The angel asked, "Hagar, Sarai's servant, where have you come from, and where are you going?" She replied, "I am fleeing from my mistress, Sarai."
[The water source is on the road to Egypt. Hagar was perhaps trying to make her way home to her country, a distance of about 250 miles. Attempting this journey alone and pregnant in the harsh desert is doomed to failure, which she understands because she does not answer the question of where she is going. She flees aimlessly from her problems. The question "where are you coming from?" in Hebrew does not mean so much from which place, but rather from what circumstances are you coming, what situation are you leaving?]
Hagar bore a son to Abram, and Abram named his son, whom Hagar had borne, Ishmael.
Abram lived 86 years before Hag bore Ishmael to Abram.
And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing (having fun, "fooling around" – Hebr. tsachaq).
And Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hag, placing it on her shoulder and the child's, and sent her away, and she went and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
And God (Elohim) heard the voice of the lad, and the angel (messenger) of God (Elohim) called to Hag from heaven and said to her, "What troubles you, Hag? Do not be afraid, for God (Elohim) has heard the voice of the lad where he is.
[Here comes a new "toledot unit" that begins the eighth literary unit of twelve in Gen. 2:4; 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10, 27; 25:12, 19; 36:1, 9; 37:2.]
This is the continued story of Ishmael (Hebr. Yishmael) (his genealogy/family tree – ) [in the order in which they were born]. Abraham's son, whom Hag the Egyptian, Sarah's servant, bore to Abraham.
Now, let us take an image
(analogy) from this. A covenant
(testament) has its origin from
Mount Sinai [where the law was given] and gives birth to children in slavery; this is
Hagar.
The word
Hagar represents
Mount Sinai in
Arabia [the desert; Arava], it is also an image of present-day
Jerusalem, for she serves as a slave together with her children.
[Jerusalem was occupied and enslaved partly under the Roman Empire and partly under religious slavery as the capital of Judaism with all its laws and regulations.]
