Hagar

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”

   Abram agreed to what Sarai said.  So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.  He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.

   When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.

~Genesis 16:1-4

Sarah's proposition was a customary one of that day.  Hagar had little say in the matter, but she must have had some reation to it.  What do you think Hagar's reactio nmight have been? 

·         I think she may have been a little suprised by the matter and she must have also been hoping that she would not be the one to bear a child that would come from Abram's seed.

What sort of reaction do you have when you find yourself in a possition over which you have no control?  How can God help you when you are in such a possition?

·         I guess it kind of depends on the situation.  One recent account could possibly be where I was going to my local library to find something new to read, but it ended out happening that someone else was picking out something for me to read and I didn't really get a say in the issue.  Needles to say, I wasn't all that happy.

·         I think a way God could have helped me in that situation was if I told that person that they should be showing me these books so I can see for myself what they are like, and then I probably would have been a little more calm about the whole thing.

He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.

   When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.  Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me.”

~Genesis 16:4-5

Why do you think the pregnant Hagar  began to despise Sarah?

·         The only thing I can think of is that she may have felt used.

 “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.

The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.  And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.

~Genesis 16:6-8

The area to which Hagar ran away was probably pretty barren and sparsely populated.  Describe how desperate she must have been to run away from a difficult but safe situation to the "desert".

• She had to have been pretty fed up with her current lifestyle to do such a thing and be all of a sudden completely on her own.  I mean, who would enjoy being a slave?  However, there could have been some major consequences had she stayed in the desert.

Have you ever been that desperate?  What were the circumstances?

• I think a lot of times I can feel pretty desperate.  For example, I like to have a lot of time to myself.  It's not that I don't like being around people, I do!  A lot of us need some space to ourselves.  There are definitely some days that I just feel like everyone around my immediate vicinity wants me one minute after the other and I just want a moment of peace and to do what I want to do

Then the angel of the LORD told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.”  The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”

 The angel of the LORD also said to her:

“You are now pregnant
   and you will give birth to a son.
You shall name him Ishmael,
   for the LORD has heard of your misery.
He will be a wild donkey of a man;
   his hand will be against everyone
   and everyone’s hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
   toward all his brothers.”

~Genesis 16:9-12 

  God's words to Hagar here are words of assurance but also of prophecy.  Her descendants would be "too numerous to count," but the son through whom those descendants would come would "be a wild donkey of a man."  What picture of Ishmael does that put into your mind?  What kind of man do you think he was? 

• It would seem to me that Ishmael could be considered the "black sheep" of the family
• If you read a little further, perhaps we could see him being ruthless and going against his parents, or even God's, wishes?

Do you have family members who, like Ishmael, "live in hostility"?  How do you respond to them?  What can you do to improve your relationship with them? 

• There really isn't anyone in my imediate family that I can say is like that, however, when it comes to my extended family, I beg to differ.  I have a cousin who, I have realized over the past several years, has been sort of neglected by his family.  So when he feels like he isn't being paid attention to, he would act out at times.  Even his language can be pretty filthy. 
• Sometimes when you see him talk about something online, the language can be so crude, that hardley any response, even with words do it justice! 
• When I was very young, I did have a great relationship with him.  Everytime I went to his house, we'd hang out and play video games.  But as he got older, he became more distant and now we have completely different interests in totaly opposite things.  We don't get to see eachother much anymore, I'm probably lucky if I see him once a year so getting to improve our relationship is going to be pretty tough.

The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast.  But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking,  and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”

  The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son.  But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.  I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.”

  Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.

  When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes.  Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she began to sob.

  God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.  Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”

  Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

  God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer.  While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.

~Genesis 21:8-21

Even though Hagar and Ishmael were outcasts and alone, God lovingly cared for them.  Describe how you think Hagar felt when she laid Ishmael down and went away because she  "could not watch the boy die."  How did God meet her needs?

• clearly she loved her son so much, but could not bear to see the child suffer.  She had to have bed pretty distressed about her tremendous decision. 
• God told her "Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.  Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”  Then he provided her with water.

In what ways has God met your needs when you were despairing and alone? 

• I definitely believe that God meets all our needs in his own time when we pray to him.

Are you in a desperate situation right now?  Read Genesis 21:19 again.  Might there be a "well" to which you can go to fo rsustenance, if only you could see it?  Ask God to open your eyes to the way out of your situation just as he opened Hagar's eyes and aided her in her desperation.

• I do at times feel like I am in a desperate situation rght now.  I have been graduated from college for a little over two years now and the search for a job is a ver tideous one!  To make matters worse, some of my student loans, I can no longer defer on so I have to start paying them up, even without a job! 
• There is no other "well" to go to but God and we recieve our sustenance  from him through prayer.
• Oh God, our Heavenly Father, I ask that you guide me through this tough time of mine.  I know there are times that I do fall short and don't always tend to listen, but I ask that you give methe strength to keep my trust in you and that you will lead me out of this valley of darkness that I am wandering in.  Help me to open my eyes to see the truth that I must face.  In your name, I pray, Aman.