Ha'gar (Heb. flagar', ^'^1^. flight, apparently from lier abandonment of her mistress ; but accortling to oth-
ers, a stranger, from her foreign birth [conip. llArjAu- knk]; Se]it. and N. T. "Ayo()), a native of Egypt, and servant of Abraham (Gen. xxi, 9, 10), perhaps one of the female slaves presented to Abraham by Pharaoh during his visit to Egj-jit ((Jen. xii, 10), although she properly belonged to Sarah (Gen. xvi, 1). The lonj^- continued sterility of Sarah suggested to her the idea (not uncommon in the East) of becoming a mother by proxy through her handmaid, whom, with that view, she gave to Abraham as a secondary' wife (Gen. xv). B.C. 2078. See Abraiiaji; Adoption; Concluink. This honor was too great and unexpected for the weak and ill-regulated mind of Hagar; and no sooner did she find herself likely to become the mother of her master's heir than she openly indulged in triumph over her less favored mistress. The feelings of Sarah were severely wounded, and she broke out to her husband in loud complaints of the servant's petiUance. Abraham, whose meek and prudent behavior is strikingly contrasted with the violence of his wife,left her with unfettered power, as mistress of his household, to take what steps she i)leased to obtain the required redress. (See Kitto's Daily Bi- ble Illust. ad loc.) Ill all Oriental states where con- cubinage is legalized, the principal wife has authority over the rest ; the secondary one, if a slave, retains her former condition unchanged, and society thus jiresents the strange anomaly of a woman being at once the me- nial of her master and the partner of his bed. This per- mission, however, was necessary in an Eastern house- hold, but it is worthy of remark that it is now very rarely given ; nor can we think, from the unchangeable- ness of Eastern customs, and the strongly-marked na- tional character of those peoples, that it was usual an- ciently to allow a wife to deal hardly with a slave in Hagar's position. Left with this authority over her dotal maid -servant, Sarah was neither reluctant nor sparing in making the minion reap the fruits of her in- solence; but whether she actually infiicted blows (Au- gustine, Epist. xlviii), or merely threw out menaces to that effect, cannot be determined from the verb Hrr (to "({fflict"). there employed. Sensible, at length, of the hopelessness of getting the better of her mistress, Hagar determined on flight ; and having seemingly formed the purjwse of retimiing to her relations in Egypt, she took the direction of that coimtry, which led her to what was afterwards called Shur, through a long tract of sandy uninhabited country, lying on the west of Arabia Petnea, to the extent of 150 miles between Palestine and Egypt. Here she was sitting by a fountain to re- plenish her skin-bottle or recruit her wearied limbs, when the angel of the Lord appeared, and in the kind- liest manner remonstrated with her on the course she was pursidng, and encoiu'aged her to return by the promise that she would ere long ha\e a son, whom Prov- idence destined to become a great man, and Avhose wild and irregular features of character would be indelibly impressed on the mighty nation that shoidd spring from him. Obedient to the heavenly visitor, and having distinguished the place by the name of Beer-lahai-roi (q. v.), '• the well of the visible God," Hagar retraced her steps to the tent of Abraham, av here in due time she had a son ; and, having probalily narrated this remark- able interview to Abraham, that patriarch, as directed bv the angel, called the name oi fiie child Ishmael, "God hath heard" (Gen. xvi). B.C. 2078. Fourteen years after the birth of Ishmael the appearance of the long-promised heir entirely changed the relations of the family, though nothing materially affecting Ishmael took place till the weaning of Isaac, which, as is gener- ally thought, was at the end of his third year. B.C. 2061. Isiimael was then fully capable of understanding his altered relations to the inheritance ; and when the newly-weaned child, clad, according to custom, with the sacred svmbohc robe, which was the badge of the birthright, was formally installed heir of the tribe (see Biblioik. Bibl. vol. i ; Yicasi, A mwt. p. 32 ; Bush on (Jen. xxvii, 15), he mconsiderately gave vent to his tlisap-
HAGARENE 1
/wiiitpil feelings by an act of mockery (Gen. xxi, 9— I lie Hebrew word pn^, though properly signifying " to l.-iii:;h," is frequently used to express strong derision, as in (ion. xix, 14; Xeh. ii, 10; iv, 1 ; Ezok. xxiii, 32 ; ac- conipauied, as is probable on some of the occasions re- ferred to in these passages, with violent gestures, which might verv justly be interpreted as persecution, t;al. iv,'2;t)- The procedure of Abraham in awarding the inheritance to Isaac was guided liy the special com- mand of (iod, and, moreover, was in harmony with the immemorial practice of the East, where the son of a slave or secondary wife is always sujiplanted by that of a free woman, even if born long after. This insulting conduct of Ishmael gave offence to Sarah, such that she insisted upon his expulsion from the family, together with his mother as conniving at it. So harsh a meas- ure was extremely painfid to Abraham ; but his scruples were removed by tlie divine direction to follow Sarah's advice (see Kitto's Daily Bible Illust. ad loc), "for," adds the Targum of Jonathan, " she is a prophetess" (compare Gal. iv. 30). Accordingly, "Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of ■water (and ga\-c it unto Ilagar, putting it on her shoul- der), and the child, and sent her away" (Gen. xxi, 14). 15.C. "iOdl. In spite of instructions, the two exiles miss- ed their way. Overcome by fatigue and thirst, the strenglh of the young Ishmael first gave way. and his mother laid him down in complete exhaustion under one of the stunted shrubs of this arid region, in the hope of his obtaining some momentary relief from smelling the damp in the shade, while she withch-ew to a little distance, unable to witness his lingering sufferings, and there "she lifted up her voice and wept." In this dis- tress, the angel of the Lord ai^peared with a comforting promise of her sons future greatness, and directed her to a fountain, which, concealed by the brushwood, had cscapeil her notice, and from which she now revived the almost lifeless Ishmael. This well, according to the tra- dition of the Arabs (who pay grert honor to the memo- ry of Ilagar, and maintain that she was Abraham's lawful wife), is Zemzem, near Jlecca. (See Weil's EiU. Li-ijcntb, p. Hi.) Of the subsequent historj' of Hagar we 'lave no accoiuit beyond what is involved in that of Ishmael, who estaiilished himseh in the Avilderncss of I'aran. in the neighborhood of Sinai, was married by his mother to a countrywoman of her own, and maintained both himself and his family by the produce of his bow (Gen. xxi, 20, 21).— Kitto, s. v. See Isiimai:i.. In Gal. iv, 24. the aposlle Paul, in an allegory, makes Hagar (ro "A yfffi) represent the .Jewish Church, which was in bondage to tlic ceremonial law, a.s Sarah represents the true Cimrch of Christ, which is free from this bondage. (See IJloonilield's Xote, ad loc.) Some commentators, liowever. have discovered an alliteration in the name here with the Arab, word fur .ttiim' (fiajrir). According to Ariihammcilan tradition. Hagar (f/(ij!r) was buried al Mecca! (I)llerbelot, Jiih. Or. s. v. Hagiar). Mr. Rowlands, in travelling through the desert of Beershe- bn, discovered some wells and a stone mansion, which he declares tlie Arabs still designate as those of Hagar! (Williams. //„/>/ CI/,,, i, 4(\r, sij.). Sec Abraha.m.