Hagar

Have you ever thought much about Hagar? Do you even know who she is? Hagar was Sarai's maid from Egypt whom she sent to sleep with Abram in order to have a child.

Now, the first interesting thing about Hagar is that she was most likely obtained through a half lie. In Genesis 12:10-20, Abram and Sarai travel down to Egypt to avoid a famine and Abram has Sarai tell everyone she is his sister so that they won't kill him because of her beauty. Now, she was his half-sister, but more importantly, his wife. Pharaoh took Sarai to be one of his wives because she was so beautiful – around the age of 65, I might add – and treated Abram well, giving him many possessions, including slaves (v. 16). When Pharaoh found out the truth because of the plagues God was placing on his house, he sent Abram away with all he had been given (v. 20). Most likely that included what Sarai had been given too: Hagar. Pharaoh just wanted them gone; no matter what they took.

Fast forward around ten years to Sarai's desperation to have children. She was past child-bearing age and took God's matters into her own hands. Hagar is told to go sleep with Abram in order to give a possible child to Sarai. So now Hagar, foreign born slave, obtained through a false word from Abram, becomes pregnant in order to falsely fulfill a Word from God for Sarai. Not exactly fair, is it?

Unfortunately, when Hagar sees that she is pregnant with Abram's child, she begins to look down on her mistress (Gen. 16:4). This further infuriates Sarai, who goes and complains to Abram that this is all his fault. He, not wanting to get in the middle of an even worse situation, tells Sarai to take Hagar and do whatever she wants with her. Verse 6 tells us that “...Sarai mistreated her so much that she ran away.”

By a spring of water in the desert the Angel of the Lord found Hagar and spoke to her. (Verse 8) “...'Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?' She replied, 'I'm running away from my mistress Sarai.'”

Every ounce of our “We have rights!” bodies tell us that God should then have comforted Hagar and taken her to live somewhere she was appreciated and loved. However, that was not God's plan.

“Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, 'You must go back to your mistress and submit to her mistreatment.' The Angel of the Lord also said to her, 'I will greatly multiply your offspring, and they will be too many to count.'” (Gen. 16:9-10) In modern terms, “You need to submit to the mistreatment for this lifetime, but I promise you will be blessed after you die.”

I ask you the same question I ask of myself today: Do you love God enough to follow Him, even if He asks that of you?