Hagar ... broken & alone ... or was she? Lesson 3

By Patsy Norwood © 2025  All Rights Reserved!  Any and all commercial use of this study is strictly prohibited.

Genesis 12: 4-20; 16:1-15; 21:8-21 (NKJV)

Welcome back to our study on Hagar!  Last week we had a ring side seat watching Abram and Sarai as they went through a time of spiritual testing.  It seems that their faith was at an all-time low and they were ready to implement Sarai’s plan. We’re going to pick back up with verse 4 in chapter 16 to see where Sarai’s plan leads them …

Genesis 16:4

Verse 4:  So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes.

The result of Abram’s time with Hagar was that she conceived.  Hagar was with child and when she realized she was going to have Abram’s firstborn child her demeanor towards Sarai changed.  Possibly even thinking that her child would be Abram’s heir, she seemed to have forgotten that she was still Sarai’s handmaiden and slave.  She stopped treating Sarai with the proper respect due to her.  Even though Hagar couldn’t consider herself an equal to Sarai, she obviously felt her status had been elevated above what she had been and that she was no longer merely a handmaiden or slave.  She was now going to be the mother of Abram’s first-born child, and she obviously thought that granted her certain privileges and status that she had not had up to this point.

Sarai has really done it now …

She gave her handmaiden, Hagar, to her husband to bear a child for her.   (The code of Hammurbi reveals this as a common practice in the ancient Near East.)

As things stood, it was impossible for Hagar to be sent away, for the laws of that period granted certain rights to slave wives.  Sarai was stuck with the situation she had created.  Hence, the jealousies and hatreds between the two continued to grow and escalate. 

Oh but beware Hagar!  That same code of Hammurbi also said that if the handmaid later ‘ranks herself with her mistress,’ she could be sold into slavery.  ‘The concubine could be fettered and counted among the slaves.’

Hagar, now pregnant, is being forced to bear a child for Abram. She was not given a choice in the matter, but now that she is with child, things are different in her mind, and she is seemingly pushing the envelope with Sarai!  In fact, you might say that Hagar seemed to be quite pleased with herself … maybe, even a bit haughty!

Verse 5:  Then Sarai said to Abram, “My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between you and me.”

Poor Abram, he has done everything that Sarai has asked him to do and now Sarai is giving him an ultimatum!

Sarai seems to actually be blaming Abram and telling him that ‘the wrong done her was his fault!’   “The wrong done her”… was Sarai referring to Hagar’s attitude and actions?  Likely!   But wait a minute!  Wasn’t this all Sarai’s idea from the start?  Sarai is not being rational or reasonable, she is full of anger and her pride is wounded.  Hagar is going to be the mother of Abram’s child, not her and that is causing all kinds of hurt.  That coupled with Hagar’s behavior towards Sarai has made a very bad idea an even worse situation!

In Sarai’s mind, the situation is unbearable, and as before, instead of taking the matter to God, she decides to take matters into her own hands … again!

Verse 6:  So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.” And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence.

Abram, likely sick and tired of all the bickering, hatred and jealousies going on between the two women and feeling caught between them not knowing what to do, basically washed his hands of the situation and told Sarai, ‘She’s your maid, do what you please with her.’

According to customs of that time, it was indeed Sarai’s right to punish Hagar; Abram, likely recognizing that, turned the situation over to Sarai to handle as she saw fit.  Do you think he might have been glad to not have to mediate between Sarai and Hagar?

Sarai dealt harshly with Hagar.  We don’t know what that entailed, but the law was on Sarai’s side as Hagar, with her attitude had given Sarai the right to dismiss her, sell her into slavery or have her fettered and counted among the slaves.

We don’t know what Hagars punishment was, but she wasn’t happy about it and takes matters into her own hands and runs away.

STOP!  Have you noticed that not one of these people have talked to God about any of this?  Not Abram, not Sarai, not Hagar, not before, during or after, and now a deplorable situation has developed that no one knows what to do about and so they just react out of their emotions!

Abram walks away from the problem!

Sarai full of anger, hurt and jealousy, attempts to punish Hagar!

Hagar lets her feelings rule her heart and runs!

Can’t you just feel the tension swirling around Abram, Sarai and Hagar!!!  Whew, there’s a lot going on right now and we’re going to hit the pause button, catch our breath and catch back up with them next week.

Next week, Hagar has an encounter that changes her life, but really doesn’t make the situation any better … I’ll meet you back here next Thursday and we’ll find out what happens next.

patsy @ From This Heart of Mine

~ a place for women to gather and study God's Word ~

Sources used for this study:

Various translations of the Holy Bible

Various commentaries

Several trusted and biblically sound online sources

Dictionary of New Testament Background, Editors: Craig A Evans & Stanley E. Porter

Archaeological Study Bible

All the Women of the Bible by Edith Deen

Daughters of Eve by Lottie Beth Hobbs

Halley’s Bible Handbook by H. H. Halley 

Hagar ... broken & alone ... or was she? Lesson 2

By Patsy Norwood © 2025  All Rights Reserved!  Any and all commercial use of this study is strictly prohibited.

Genesis 12: 4-20; 16:1-15; 21:8-21 (NKJV)

Welcome back to our study on Hagar!  Last week we looked at the context and background and discovered how Hagar came to be with ‘the father of the faithful’/Abram and his wife Sarai.  Then we ended the lesson summing up what we had learned about Hagar.

This week, we not only learn more about Hagar, but we see Abram and Sarai go through a spiritual testing … did they stay true to God’s will and what has Hagar got to do with their spiritual testing?  Let’s find out ...

Genesis 16:1-3

Genesis 16:1-3

Verse 1:  Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar.

Here we see biblical confirmation of the role Hagar played in Sarai’s life … she was her maidservant.

Hagar’s role as Sarai’s handmaiden would have been of a personal nature such as being her confidante and close companion, entrusted with intimate tasks and secrets.  The role of a handmaiden encompassed a range of duties from personal care and companionship to domestic responsibilities.

It’s entirely possible that Sarai and Hagar enjoyed a close relationship up to this point in time.

Sarai, was around 76 years old and past the age of bearing children.  She had spent her married life barren and unable to have children.

In Genesis 15:5, God had promised Abram that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and in Genesis 22:17, God again promised Abram that He would multiply his descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which was on the seashore.  However, it had not happened and Abram, at the age of 86, had no children.

In fact, in Genesis 15: 2—3, Abram states, in a visionary conversation with God, that since he had no children, his faithful servant, Eliezer of Damascus, would be his heir.

It seems that both Abram and Sarai are struggling with God’s plan and promise that Abram’s heir would come from his body and not be one of his faithful servants or maybe their faith had grown weak with their longing for a child or had their patience simply run out!

Waiting on God’s timing can be hard!

 Verse 2:  So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai.

Sarai!  Sarai!  Sarai!  What are you doing?

Obviously, Sarai has decided to help God out by suggesting to Abram that he have a child with Hagar … her long time trusted handmaiden.  If our ‘helping’ God out is in direct contrast to His Word, as Sarai’s idea was, we can rest assured the idea didn’t come from God.

Let’s pause and see where we’re at now:  Sarai, Abraham’s wife was barren and unable to have children. This was a problem since God had promised Abram that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and sand on the seashore.

Note:  this was a problem for Abram and Sarai, not God!

To ‘help’ God fulfill His promise to Abram, that his ‘descendants would be as numerous as the stars,’ Sarai, in a practice common in that era, suggested that Abram take her Egyptian slave, Hagar as a wife so that Hagar could bear him a child, which would then be considered Sarai’s.  (Note:  at this time, God had not yet specifically revealed that Sarai would bear the promised child by Abram.)

(The custom was that a child born to a slave woman by her master would be considered the child of the master’s wife.)

Sarai has a plan to help God fulfill his promise to Abram … only it’s not God’s plan!

Did Sarai discuss this with Hagar before going to Abram with her plan?  I don’t think so, Hagar, as a slave, had no rights and Sarai could do whatever she wanted with her.  Hagar had to obey Sarai or run the risk of being put to death, sold or dismissed.  If dismissed, where would she go and what would she do?  Hagar really had no choice. 

What might be some thoughts going through Hagar’s mind when she hears Sarai’s plan and intentions?  Does she feel hopeless?  Does she feel helpless?  Does she feel victimized?  Does she feel betrayed?  Is she afraid?

Verse 3:  Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan.

After 10 years of living in Canaan, and having no children, Sarai is ready to take matters into her own hands and gives her husband Abram, Hagar to be his second wife and bear him children in her stead.

It is estimated that Hagar was likely between the ages of 15 and 20 when she was given to Abram and or possibly to Sarai in Egypt.  Now, she is thought to be between the ages of 25 and 30.

Time out!  Hagar has been with Abram and Sarai for 10 years and has undoubtedly learned about their God.  Did this debacle of Abram and Sarai’s actions diminish God in her eyes?  Did she now put their God in the same ‘group’ as the Egyptian gods she had grown up worshiping?   Do our actions ever diminish God in other’s eyes?  Just something to think about!

Abram heeded the request of Sarai and went into Hagar and slept with her.

Do you notice what Abram didn’t do … he didn’t talk to God about it, nor did he refuse to do Sarai’s unwise bidding!  (Do we ever jump into a situation without talking to God about it beforehand?)

Could Abram’s acquisition be an indicator that his faith in God’s promise was also weakened by time and impatience?  (Has there ever been a time when our faith has grown weak by time and impatience?)

I would love for you to share your thoughts on the situation these three find themselves in now.

Next week, Sarai gets what she wants … or does she?  I’ll meet you back here on Thursday.

patsy @ From This Heart of Mine

~ a place for women to gather and study God's Word ~

Sources used for this study:

Various translations of the Holy Bible

Various commentaries

Several trusted and biblically sound online sources

Dictionary of New Testament Background, Editors: Craig A Evans & Stanley E. Porter

Archaeological Study Bible

All the Women of the Bible by Edith Deen

Daughters of Eve by Lottie Beth Hobbs

Halley’s Bible Handbook by H. H. Halley 

 

Hagar ... broken & alone ... or was she? ... Lesson 1

By Patsy Norwood © 2025  All Rights Reserved!  Any and all commercial use of this study is strictly prohibited.

Genesis 12: 4-20; 16:1-15; 21:8-21

Welcome to our study on Hagar!  

To fully understand who Hagar was and the events that unfolded in her life, we have to look at some background and context.  That background and context starts with a godly childless couple who desperately wanted children but were unable to have them.  The couple was none other than Abram/Abraham and his wife Sarai/Sarah.  They had made their way to the land of Canaan from Haran, per God’s instructions and that's where we'll pick up with them in Genesis 12:4-20 and lay the foundation for this study.

4 So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

5 Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.

 6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land.

7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

8 And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.

9 So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.

10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land. 

(We don’t know how long Abram was in the land of Canaan before he decided to go down to Egypt because of the famine.)

11 And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance.

12 Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. 

13 Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you.”

14 So it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful. 

15 The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house. 

16 He treated Abram well for her sake. He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.  (I consulted several different versions of the Bible for a clearer meaning of this verse, and they all agreed that Abram received from Pharoah sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys and camels because of Sarai.)

17 But the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 

18 And Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 

19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take her and go your way.” 

20 So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had.

Whew!  That’s pretty action packed isn’t it!  Famine, half-truths, plotting, deception, beauty, prestige, wealth, gift-giving, plagues, confrontation … and this is just the beginning.  Although not blatantly obvious at this point, Abram, Sarai and Hagar’s lives are at the beginning of being intertwined forever and as we will see, there will be plenty of action-packed drama to come!  But for now, let’s look at what we can glean about Hagar from the Scriptures we just read.

What we know so far:

Hagar was likely one of the female slaves given to Abram as part of the gifts/dowry Pharaoh gave to him for Sarai.  Or, Hagar could have also been a gift from Pharoah to Sarai during her brief stay in his harem.  Scripture doesn’t tell us, but research indicates it was likely one of these two options.

Hagar was Egyptian.

Through no choice of her own, she was taken from Egypt and all that she had ever known including the gods she grew up worshiping, by Abram and Sarai.

What are your thoughts about Hagar at this point?

Hagar was about to become the center of a controversy that would last throughout time, even until today.  I hope you’ll meet me back here next Thursday when we see that controversy start to unfold.

patsy @ From This Heart of Mine

~ a place for women to gather and study God's Word ~

Sources used for this study:

Various translations of the Holy Bible

Various commentaries

Several trusted and biblically sound online sources

Dictionary of New Testament Background, Editors: Craig A Evans & Stanley E. Porter

Archaeological Study Bible

All the Women of the Bible by Edith Deen

Daughters of Eve by Lottie Beth Hobbs

Halley’s Bible Handbook by H. H. Halley 

New Ladies Bible Study Beginning: Hagar: Broken and Alone ... or was she?

Ladies, it's time for our next Bible study and this time we're going to delve into the life of Hagar, a young Egyptian woman who became a handmaiden to none other than Sarai/ Sarah, the wife of Abram/Abraham.

When Hagar took on the role of Sarai/Sarah's handmaiden, could she have imagined in her wildest dreams how it would turn out?  

God's Word is just so rich, and I can't wait to start the journey of gleaning from Hagar in this study with you.

I'll post the first lesson here on From This Heart of Mine on Thursday.   Our God is an amazing God and we're going to see yet another instance of Him showing up at just the right time ... this time in the life of Hagar!

Meet you back here on Thursday!

patsy @ From This Heart of Mine

~ a place for women to gather and study God's Word ~

Sources used for this study:

Various translations of the Holy Bible

Various commentaries

Several trusted and biblical sound online sources

Dictionary of New Testament Background, Editors: Craig A Evans & Stanley E. Porter

Archaeological Study Bible

All the Women of the Bible by Edith Deen

Daughters of Eve by Lottie Beth Hobbs

Halley’s Bible Handbook by H. H. Halley