(1) Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. (2) And Sarai said to Abram, “Look, Adonai has kept me from bearing. Consort with my maid; perhaps I shall have a son through her.” And Abram heeded Sarai’s request. (3) So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took her maid, Hagar the Egyptian—after Abram had dwelt in the land of Canaan ten years—and gave her to her husband Abram as concubine. (4) He cohabited with Hagar and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was lowered in her esteem.
(5) And Sarai said to Abram, “The wrong done me is your fault! I myself put my maid in your bosom; now that she sees that she is pregnant, I am lowered in her esteem. May Adonai decide between you and me!” (6) Abram said to Sarai, “Your maid is in your hands. Deal with her as you think right.” Then Sarai treated her harshly, and she ran away from her.
(7) An angel of Adonai found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the road to Shur, (8) and said, “Hagar, maidservant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” And she said, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.” (9) And the angel of Adonai said to her, “Go back to your mistress, and submit to her harsh treatment.” (10) And the angel of Adonai said to her, “I will greatly increase your offspring, and they shall be too many to count.” (11) The angel of Adonai said to her further, “Behold, you are with child and shall bear a son; You shall call him Ishmael (יִשְׁמָעֵאל), For Adonai has paid heed to your suffering. (12) He shall be a wild donkey of a man; His hand against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him; He shall dwell alongside of all his kinsmen.”
(13) And she called Adonai who spoke to her, “You are El-Roi,” by which she meant, “Have I not gone on seeing after God saw me!” (14) Therefore the well was called Be'er-lahai-roi; it is between Kadesh and Bered. (15) Hagar bore a son to Abram, and Abram gave the son that Hagar bore him the name Ishmael. (16) Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.
Questions
For each human character in this episode - Sarai, Hagar, and Abram - consider the following questions:
- What does the text tell us about how s/he feels at the outset of this story?
- Reading between the lines [outside of the text], how do you think s/he feels?
- What are her/his goals?
- Is s/he happy with the outcome of the plan? Is s/he happier at the end of the story than s/he was at the beginning?
Also consider:
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Who, if anyone, is "right" and who is "wrong" in the story? Is there a hero/heroine and/or a villain?
- What advice would you give each person at the end of the story?
- How do you think this will affect the relationships between the characters - Sarai and Hagar, Sarai and Abram, and Abram and Hagar?
Study Commentaries
GoRabbi David Kimhi (France, 1160–1235)
Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children - [It was] mentioned already in Genesis 11:30 that "Sarai was barren." Now when Sarai realized that her husband was already 85 years old, and she still had not been able to bear a child for him, while she herself had already reached the age of 75, she thought that she had no longer any hope of conceiving herself. She therefore reasoned to herself, that seeing God had promised Avram that he would have children of his own who would inherit the land of Canaan, God must have referred to his having children with another woman. She reasoned further that it would be in her own best interest that any children born to her husband should be born by a woman under her control so that she would experience the joy of motherhood at least vicariously.
Ovadia ben Jacob Sforno (Italy, 1475-1550)
Look, Adonai has kept me from bearing - "even though God has promised to grant you offspring to whom I will give this land, God has not said that the mother of Avram's offspring would be I."
Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (France 1040-1105)
Her mistress was lowered in her esteem — She said, “As regards this woman Sarai, her conduct in private can certainly not be like that in public: she pretends to be a righteous woman, but she cannot really be righteous since all these years she has not been privileged to have children, whilst I have had that blessing from the first union” (Genesis Rabbah 45:4).
The wrong done me is your fault!— The wrong done to me (חמסי) — the punishment for it I call down on you (עליך). “When you prayed to the Holy One, blessed be God, (in Genesis 15:2) ‘what will You give me, seeing that I go childless’, you prayed only on behalf of yourself whereas you should have prayed on behalf of both of us — then would I have been in God's mind together with you” (i.e. when you had the gift of a child it would have been my child also — not that of another woman). Besides this, you deprive me (חומס) of your protecting words since you hear how I am despised and yet you keep silent (Genesis Rabbah 45:5).
Hezekiah ben Manoah (France, 1250-1310)
May Adonai decide between you and me! - I am concerned with your dignity, whereas you have not respected my dignity.
Moses ben Nahman (Italy/Israel, 1194-1270)
Then Sarai treated her harshly, and she ran away from her - Our mother sinned in this oppression, and also Abraham in permitting her to do so. And God heard her [Hagar's] oppression and gave her a son who would be a wild donkey of a man to oppress the descendants of Abraham and Sarah in all kinds of oppression.