Atomic Bible

Sarah's Egyptian maidservant; mother of Ishmael.

Hagar

Named in 12 verses across 2 books, first in Genesis 16:1.

הָגָרHagar

ἌγαρHagar

The name means “a stranger; one that fears.” Hitchcock's Bible Names, 1869

Married to
Abraham
Children
Ishmael

About Hagar Written by AI

Hagar was an Egyptian maidservant of Sarah, Abraham's wife. When Sarah was unable to conceive, she gave Hagar to Abraham as a concubine to bear a child on her behalf, following the custom of the time (Genesis 16:1 to 3). Hagar conceived and gave birth to a son named Ishmael (Genesis 16:15). However, tensions arose between Hagar and Sarah, leading Sarah to mistreat Hagar, who then fled into the wilderness (Genesis 16:4 to 6). An angel of the Lord appeared to Hagar, instructing her to return and submit to Sarah, and promising that her descendants would be greatly multiplied (Genesis 16:7 to 10). Years later, after Isaac was born to Sarah, Hagar and Ishmael were sent away by Abraham at Sarah's insistence (Genesis 21:9 to 14). God heard Ishmael's cry in the wilderness and provided for him and Hagar, promising to make Ishmael into a great nation (Genesis 21:17 to 21). In the New Testament, Paul uses Hagar and Sarah as an allegory, with Hagar representing the old covenant of slavery under the law, and Sarah representing the new covenant of freedom through Christ (Galatians 4:24 to 25). Hagar's story illustrates God's care for the oppressed and His faithfulness to His promises, even to those outside the primary line of Abraham's descendants.

Drafted by an AI model for STEPBible's TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Check it against the verses below.

Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897

Flight, or, according to others, stranger, an Egyptian, Sarah’s handmaid (Gen. 16:1; 21:9, 10), whom she gave to Abraham (q.v.) as a secondary wife (16:2). When she was about to become a mother she fled from the cruelty of her mistress, intending apparently to return to her relatives in Egypt, through the desert of Shur, which lay between. Wearied and worn she had reached the place she distinguished by the name of Beer-lahai-roi (“the well of the visible God”), where the angel of the Lord appeared to her. In obedience to the heavenly visitor she returned to the tent of Abraham, where her son Ishmael was born, and where she remained (16) till after the birth of Isaac, the space of fourteen years. Sarah after this began to vent her dissatisfaction both on Hagar and her child. Ishmael’s conduct was insulting to Sarah, and she insisted that he and his mother should be dismissed. This was accordingly done, although with reluctance on the part of Abraham (Gen. 21:14). They wandered out into the wilderness, where Ishmael, exhausted with his journey and faint from thirst, seemed about to die. Hagar “lifted up her voice and wept,” and the angel of the Lord, as before, appeared unto her, and she was comforted and delivered out of her distresses (Gen. 21:18, 19).

Ishmael afterwards established himself in the wilderness of Paran, where he married an Egyptian (Gen. 21:20,21).

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“Hagar” allegorically represents the Jewish church (Gal. 4:24), in bondage to the ceremonial law; while “Sarah” represents the Christian church, which is free.

M. G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary, third edition (1897), public domain, from CrossWire. Shown as written; its Scripture quotes are from older translations.

GenesisMatthewRevelation

Where the Bible names her

  1. Genesis 16:1

    Now Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar.

  2. Genesis 16:3

    So after he had lived in Canaan for ten years, his wife Sarai took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to Abram to be his wife.

  3. Genesis 16:4

    And he slept with Hagar, and she conceived. But when Hagar realized that she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.

  4. Genesis 16:8

    “Hagar, servant of Sarai,” he said, “where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I am running away from my mistress Sarai,” she replied.

  5. Genesis 16:15

    And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne.

  6. Genesis 16:16

    Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.

  7. Genesis 21:9

    But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking her son,

  8. Genesis 21:14

    Early in the morning, Abraham got up, took bread and a skin of water, put them on Hagar’s shoulders, and sent her away with the boy. She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba.

  9. Genesis 21:17

    Then God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, “What is wrong, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he lies.

  10. Genesis 25:12

    This is the account of Abraham’s son Ishmael, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maidservant, bore to Abraham.

  11. Galatians 4:24

    These things serve as illustrations, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children into slavery: This is Hagar.

  12. Galatians 4:25

    Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present-day Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children.

From STEPBible's TIPNR, Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0): names, family, references and the AI written article. Verse text is the BSB.