ii. Sources of the Narratives. — The story of Hagar is to be found in two passages in Genesis, the one ch. 16, the other ch. 21*'-'. The former
Sassa^e is almost entirely derived from J (the ahwist narrative), the only exceptions being vv.'*- '• "• ", which are from P (the Priestly Narra- tive, so also 25'^), and w.'- '», which are probably from the Redactor. The latter passage is entirely from E (the Elohist narrative). The two passages furnish material for instructive comparison. In both cases we have a tradition respecting Hagar, a concubine of Abraham. In the earlier chapter she flies from her mistress ; in the later she is expelled by Abraham at Sarah's demand. In botli traditions a di^'ine manifestation is granted to her in the wilderness. In ch. 16 (J) it is ' the Angel of JHVH' who appears to her 'in the wilderness, by the fountain (pv) in the way to Shur ' ( 16'). In ch. 21 (E) it is God (Elokim) who hears her chUd weeping, and 'the Angel of God' (Elohiin) who speaKs to her, and she sees ' a well of water ' (d:5 -nij). In ch. 16 (J) Hagar is the 'handmaid' (nnrp) of Sarai ; in ch. 21 (E) she is the ' bond- woman ' (i"N). In ch. 16" (J) Hagar's sou is to be called Ishmael because J" had heard her 'afflic- tion'; in ch. 21" (E) 'God heard the voice of the lad.'
It is possible, if 16'- "• be an addition by R, that the J tradition regarded Ishmael ' as bom and bred in the desert,' and did not record the return of Hagar to the tent of Abraham (Kittel). It was, however, necessary to introduce the mention of her return in order to account for the E tradition of ch. 21.
It will he observed that, according to P, Ishmael was fourteen years old when Isaac was bom (Gn mi. 3. 18. 16 2U-2-»); but in E the language used of Hagar (21'-=') would imply that Ishmael was still a child.
iii. References to Hagar by St. Paul and Philo.— St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Galatians (4^), makes an allegorical use of the story of Hagar. ' Hagar, the bondwoman,' is set over- against 'Sarah, the freewoman'; 'Ishmael, the child after the flesh,' against ' Isaac, the cliild of the promise.' St. Paul is presenting the antithesis of 'the old covenant' and 'the new,' 'the earthly Jerusalem' and 'the heavenly.' Sinai, the moun- tain of the law, which was in Arabia, the dwelling- place of ' the son of Hagar ' (Bar 3-- '), is set over- against Mount Sion, the mountain of gracious promise, the home of the true Israel (see Lightfoot on Gal 4»).
This allegorical treatment of the story of Hagar corresponded to the rabbinic methud of teaching in the apostle's time. St. Paul's expansion of tha story (iSiiiiKep rbv Kari rveO^ua) reproduced the tradi- tional .Jewish feeling (cf. BereMth Rabba, 53. 15) of hostility towards tiie Arab tribes, whose constant inroads upon the southern frontier of Judaea seemed to repeal the conduct of Ishmael towards I.saac. The Hagarenes mentioned in Ps 83", 1 Ch 510. 19. »_ w'ere regarded as typical members of this group of hostile clans. (These tribes were possibly the same as the 'kypaUi, who are mentioned by ICratosthenes in Strabo, XVI. iv. 2, p. 737, aa dwelling in the northern part of Arabia). St. P.aul, in his reference to the Hapar narrative, frankly uses it as an allegory (Gal 4'^) ; and, as in at least one other instance (1 Co 10^), he does not slirink from em|>loving for his purpose the ' Hagi'adic ' expansion of the original version.
Pliiio allegorizes the narrative in various passages, notably in De Cherubim, I. i. 139 ; Dc Conr/r. Kruil. grat. II. i. 500. Abraham represents the human soul searching after true wisdom and divine know- ledge. He is united first to Sarai, the sovereign virtue (^ dpxovca aper/i), but from her he has no ofl'spring ; he has not progressed sufficiently to win spiritual advantage. At her bidding he next unites himself to Hagar the Egyptian — who repre- sents secular learning, the necessary training of the intellect (to iTrunim t^s 'kyap wpoTriiiSfvtiaTa). This union is at once fruitful ; and its issue is Ishmael, who represents sophistry — Hagar (^ fiiffo! Kai iyKVKXios 7rai5c/a) and Isnmael (6 (To^itrrTjs) must both be driven forth to make way for the reunion with the true virtue which abides forever in the home of the human soul. The name Hngar he interprets by jrapokijo-ij ( = ' sojourning'), as if it were connected with gcr {De Congr. Erud. grat. i. 520), ' a sojourner ' ; ci. irapotKel <ro(piq. ov KaroiKil {De sacrijic. Abeli.? et Caini, § 10. i. 170).
iv. Later Traditions.— Jewish tradition ex- panded and embellished the story in a variety of ways. In ch. 16 'the desert of Shur' appears a& 'the desert of Pagra' in the Targum of Onkelos and Jerusalem. In ch. 21 the Targum of .Jerusalem adds that Abraham dismissed Hagar ' with a letter of divorce.' The Targums of Jonathan and Jerus. in 25' identify Keturah with Hagar, ' who had been bound (rt. ktr, .Tiiop) to him from the begin- ning'; so also liashi. Rashi, in his commentary on 6', records the belief that Hagar was a daughter of Pharaoh, who, after seeing the wonders th.at had been done for Sarah, declared that it was better for his daughter to be a bondservant in the house of Abraham than a mistress in the palace of another. Commenting on 21', he records the Jewish interpretation mentioned by Jerome in his QucBst. ad Genesim, according to which IshnLael's 'playing' was a form of 'idolatry' (cf. Ex 32"). Again, on v.", he says, 'Abraham put Ishmael on Hagar's shoulder ; for Sarah had overlooked him with an evil eye, and he had been seized >vith fever so that he could not walk.'