I have been thinking a lot lately about Hagar. I am not referring to the great singer/songwriter/guitar player and former lead singer of Van Halen, also known as the Red Rocker. Though, Sammy Hagar is really cool.

I am talking about Hagar in the Bible and her relationship to Abram and Sarai. I think that there are few women in the Bible who have risen to her level of faith.

According to the Midrash:

Hagar was the daughter of King Pharaoh of Egypt. When she saw the miracle which God performed for the sake of Sarah, to save her from the hands of the Egyptian king during Abraham’s visit there, she said: “It is better to be a slave in Sarah’s house than a princess in my own.”Her name “Hagar,” according to the Midrash, stems from this beginning of her association with Abraham’s house. It comes from “Ha-Agar,” meaning, “this is the reward”.
(http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/112053/jewish/Hagar.htm).

Actually I see the whole complex relationship between Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar as very interesting. I see it as interesting emotionally and sexually and spiritually. I would like to examine each character in this mess, individually.

First of all, there is Abram, soon to be Abraham. The name Abram means, “exalted father”. Yet, for most of his life he was not the father of anyone. Can you imagine this? Abram walks around and someone says, “Hey there goes the, ‘exalted father’ …..of no one! Ha!” No wonder he was obsessed with having children!

And then the Lord comes to him and tells him to go to a new land (at 75) and that he will be the, “father of many nations”. Abram also meets with angels prior to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. He is blessed with many supernatural occurrences. Despite all this Abram has a problem with faith and telling the truth in situations. This includes a situation where he was about to stand by while another man had sex with his wife. He had told the pharaoh that Sarai was his sister, when in fact she was his wife. But he had said that she was his sister because he was afraid. However, the Lord supernaturally appeared to the pharaoh and told him not to do it.

Have you ever been in a similar situation? I know I have. I have also been in situations where, if I did not lie, I would be in big trouble at a job or with an authority figure. Those situations are scary. Watching characters on TV or hearing about another’s situation, I often tell myself that I would not lie or tell a half-truth. However, I have sometimes failed in those situations, especially when confronted aggressively. Thankfully, I have never been tempted to call the woman who was my wife, my sister to save my life though. Abraham famously (?) lied again with King Abimelech. Lying is an expression of a lack of faith and unbelief. Lord, help thou my unbelief!

Abraham’s mistake which caused the most pain to Hagar was not to wait for the Lord’s promise, though. I know that our physical world can make spiritual promises seem so far away. But the Lord had promised that Abraham would be real father and the Lord communicated it in a real verbal (or some other form of communication) way. Abraham expressed a lack of faith in this when he agreed to his wife’s suggestion that he make a baby with Hagar. However, Hagar was not the only other woman who Abraham canoodled with. According to Genesis 26:6, Abraham had sons from other concubines as well. Then, the Bible is silent on Abraham’s reaction to Hagar being sent away by his wife, Sarah, or when Sarah persecuted Hagar. Though it did say that he gave Ishmael and his other sons “gifts”.

I am not sharing all of this to demonize Abraham and I realize that some of the fault was his wife’s too. We will discuss Sarah and the pain she caused Hagar next week. Abraham was just a human being like you or I with an obsession, to have a son. We can but hope to do better.

What I am trying to share is the kind of people that Hagar was in association with. I am also trying to say that if Abraham had been able to have some faith in the midst of what appeared to be an impossible situation for man but not for God, and kept it in his pants (or in his robe, whatever he wore) he would have saved a lot of people a lot of grief, especially Hagar.

Hebrews 11:8-10 It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. 9 And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise. 10 Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.

——————————————————————————W.