Welcome back to our series of studies on the five failures of Abraham. I hope you are enjoying this study and learning that Abraham, a man of faith failed God more than once. Abraham was a human being, and as a human being, he failed to trust in God. Abraham was a man of faith, but we must learn that even people of faith at times fail God. Since God is a gracious and merciful God, God did not give up on Abraham when he failed, and God will never give up on us when we fail him.

Today, we are dealing with Abraham’s third failure. This failure centers on the birth of Abraham’s firstborn, his son by Sarah’s servant, Hagar. To understand Abraham’s third failure, we must review God’s promises to Abraham and how the first and second failures occurred.

A Review

All the failures of Abraham are related to the birth of a son who would become the heir of the promise God gave to Abraham. When God called Abraham, God made several promises to Abraham. Among the many promises God made to Abraham, one of them has a direct bearing on Abraham’s third failure. God promised to Abraham: “I will make you a great nation.” For the promise to be fulfilled, Abraham needed a son, and it is here that the birth of Abraham’s firstborn becomes relevant to the promise God made.

Abraham’s first failure occurred when Abraham went to Egypt. Before they entered Egypt, Abraham said to Sarah, “Say you are my sister.” Although the biblical text does not say what Sarah’s response was to Abraham’s request, Sarah was probably reluctant to this idea because she knew the consequences of Abraham’s request. As a result of saying that she was Abraham’s sister, Pharaoh took Sarah to his house, and Sarah became the wife of Pharaoh.

This action by Abraham was a threat to the promise God had made to him because Sarah could have given birth to a son through Pharaoh. The reason Sarah did not become pregnant was that Sarah was barren. Israel was a patriarchal society, and for a woman to be unable to give her husband a son brought great distress and shame to the woman.

Abraham’s second failure occurred when Abraham adopted one of his slaves as his son. Since Abraham was old and childless, he followed a custom from his country of birth and adopted Eliezer, a trusted slave, as his heir. The adoption of this slave was a threat to God’s promise because an adopted son of Abraham was not a real son of Abraham. By adopting Eliezer, Abraham made him the heir of his house. This action threatened the promise because Eliezer could not inherit the promise God gave to Abraham.

Abraham’s third failure occurred when Abraham married Hagar, Sarah’s servant. This is what the Bible says, Genesis 16:1–3

“Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian slave-girl whose name was Hagar, and Sarai said to Abram, ‘You see that the LORD has prevented me from bearing children; go into my slave-girl; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.’ And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave-girl, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife.”

Hagar’s marriage to Abraham posed a real threat to the promise God made to Abraham. Hagar was a foreigner, an Egyptian, and a slave. The story of the conflict between Sarah and Hagar shows that Abraham’s family was dysfunctional, and to a certain extent, he was to blame for his family’s problems. Abraham’s problem begins because Sarah is childless, and she wants a child, even if she has to adopt one.

Today, Abraham’s marriage to Hagar would be considered bigamy. However, to understand the legality of Abraham’s marriage, one must look at the Mesopotamian background for Sarah’s decision. When Sarah gave of Hagar to Abraham to be his wife, Sarah was following the customs of family laws prevalent in Nuzi and in the society in which she had lived. Nuzi was an ancient Mesopotamian city located near the Tigris River in modern Iraq.

Documents found at Nuzi specify that a childless woman could give her slave girl to her husband so that the mistress could obtain children by her. Sarah said to Abraham, “perhaps I shall have a son through her” (Gen 16:2 TNK). The Hebrew expression is “perhaps I will be built through her.” Sarah’s desire was to give her servant to Abraham so that she could build a family through Hagar.

The implications of Abraham’s decision to marry Hagar and have a son with her are many. In Genesis 15:4, God promised Abraham: “[Eliezer] shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” Ten years had now passed since Abraham came to Canaan. He was now 85 years old. It is possible that Abraham’s age motivated him to have a child with Hagar. Abraham believed that God’s promise could be fulfilled through a son born of a secondary wife, a concubine.

Sarah blamed God for preventing her from conceiving. She said to Abraham, “The LORD has prevented me from having children.” So, Sarah, eager to have a son, remembered the laws of her old country and adopted a practice that was common in Mesopotamia. She gives her slave-girl as a wife to Abraham. Hagar was Sarah’s personal maid, and as such, Sarah had the power to give her to Abraham as a secondary wife. By making Hagar a surrogate mother to Abraham’s son, Sarah believed that her action would be acceptable to God because Abraham would have a son who would become the heir of the promise that God had given to Abraham.

The English translations translate verse 2 as a command, “go into my slave-girl” (Gen 16:2). The Hebrew text has a word that is left untranslated in most versions. Sarah says to Abraham, “please, go into my slave-girl” (Gen 16:2). She is not commanding Abraham; she is pleading with him. It seems that Abraham was reluctant to take Hagar as his wife.

In giving Hagar to Abraham, Sarah is forcing Abraham into bigamy. Sarah does not see her action as morally wrong. Sarah told Abraham, “Have intercourse with my maid; perhaps I shall have sons through her” (Gen 16:2 NAB). By giving Hagar to Abraham, Sarah is about to derail the plan God had for Abraham. Sarah is sure that Hagar would conceive because Hagar was probably a young, fertile woman, while she, Sarah, was old and barren.

The Bible does not say what Abraham’s response was, but by taking Hagar as his wife, Abraham consented to Sarah’s request. With Sarah’s consent, Abraham took Hagar as his wife. In time, Hagar conceived and gave Abraham a son, whom he named Ishmael. Abraham was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael. One interesting point about the birth of Ishmael is that, when God promised Abraham a son, God did not specify who would be the child’s mother. It is only later that God specified who the mother of the son of the promise would be; it would be Sarah

The Conflict Between Sarah and Hagar

The conflict between Sarah and Hagar is described in Genesis 16:4–6, 16

“He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, ‘May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my slave-girl to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!’ But Abram said to Sarai, ‘Your slave-girl is in your power; do to her as you please.’ Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she ran away from her. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.”

One of the fundamental problems with the birth of Ishmael is that Ishmael is the firstborn of Abraham. According to the custom in Israel, the firstborn received his father’s inheritance. But Ishmael was not the heir of the promise; Isaac was. This is what God told Abraham, “my covenant I will establish with Isaac” (Gen 17:21). Since Ishmael would not become the heir to the promise, God promised to bless Ishmael, “As for Ishmael, I have heard you; I will bless him and make him fruitful and exceedingly numerous; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation” (Gen 17:20).

Once Hagar become pregnant, she tries to diminish Sarah before Abraham, when Hagar “saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress” (Gen 16:4). The English Bibles uses the word “contempt” for the actions of Hagar, “she looked with contempt at her mistress.” But the Hebrew word literally means “to curse.” This seems to indicate that Hagar used harsh words to mock and offend Sarah. Hagar’s attitude stems from the fact that she was pregnant, while Sarah was not. The conflict between Sarah and Hagar was inevitable. The book of Proverbs says that four things make the earth tremble, among them is the servant-girl when she succeeds her mistress” (Pro 30:23).

Sarah was highly offended by what Hagar said to her, so she demanded that Abraham fix the problem, for he, as Hagar’s husband, had the power to solve this problem. — “Then Sarai said to Abram, ‘You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she no longer had any respect for me’” (Gen 16:5 BBE)

Sarah accuses Abraham of being responsible for her suffering. Since Hagar was his wife, Abraham had the power to stop Hagar from mistreating Sarah. Sarah appeals to God to judge whether she is right. Sarah said to Abraham, “May the LORD decide who is right, you or me.” (Gen 16:5 GWN).

Abraham does not want to be involved in the dispute between his two wives. So, because Hagar was Sarah’s servant, he gave Sarah the authority to deal with the problem. Abraham told Sarah, “She is your slave-girl, do with her whatever seems good to you.” Mesopotamian law said that if a slave girl tried to be equal to her mistress because of the birth of the child, the mistress could demote her to her former status of slave; however, she could not sell her as a slave.

Now that Abraham had given her the power to treat her slave as she saw fit, Sarah mistreated Hagar so much that she ran away. The oppression Hagar endured was more than she could tolerate. The only solution to her predicament was to flee from the house of Abraham, putting her life and her son’s in jeopardy.

Hagar fled Abraham’s house, but in fleeing, Hagar met God, a God who made promises to her.

God’s Promise to Hagar

Hagar’s encounter with the messenger of God is found in Genesis 16: 7–10:

“The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, ‘Hagar, slave-girl of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?’ She said, ‘I am running away from my mistress Sarai.’ The angel of the LORD said to her, ‘Return to your mistress, and submit to her.’ The angel of the LORD also said to her, ‘I will so greatly multiply your offspring that they cannot be counted for multitude.’”

When Hagar fled from Sarah, her desire was to return to Egypt. On her way to Egypt, she comes to the wilderness of Shur, near the borders of Egypt, where the Angel of the LORD found her near a spring of water. Hagar believed that life in her native country would be better than the bitter life she lived in Abraham’s house. There in the wilderness, Hagar meets God. Hagar was rejected by Sarah but accepted by God.

The Angel of the LORD is a human manifestation of God himself. Although in some places the Bible says that no one can see God, the biblical writer says that when God appeared to Hagar, Hagar responded, “I have now seen the One who sees me” (Gen 16:13 NIV). God called Hagar by her name, something that neither Abraham nor Sarah had done before. Before God, Hagar is not a nameless person; she is a woman with a name and a future.

Before God made promises to Hagar, God told her to return to your mistress, to Sarah. God told Hagar, “You must go back to your mistress and submit to her mistreatment” (Gen 16:9 HCSB). At first, God’s command seems to be heartless; God is asking Hagar to return to the oppressive situation in which she lived under Sarah. One writer writes that God’s two commands to Hagar to return and submit to Sarah, “bring a divine word of terror to an abused, yet courageous, woman.” The God who later identified himself with the people who were oppressed in Egypt, “here identifies with the oppressor and orders a servant to return not only to bondage but also to affliction” (Trible 1984:16).

However, as a fugitive slave, Hagar had no freedom, and her legal situation as a runaway slave placed her and her yet-to-be-born son in a legal predicament. Hagar needed to return to Abraham’s house and solve her problem with Sarah before she could attain freedom for herself and her son.

In her encounter with God, Hagar discovered that God knew her situation and her suffering, “for the LORD has heard your cry of affliction.” The angel of the LORD said to Hagar, “Now you have conceived and shall bear a son; you shall call him Ishmael” (Gen 16:11). Ishmael was Abraham’s firstborn. As such, he had the right to receive the rights of the firstborn.

When God made a covenant with Abraham, God promised Abraham: “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be” (Genesis 15:5). Now God promises Hagar: “I will so greatly multiply your offspring that they cannot be counted for multitude.” Because Ishmael is Abraham’s firstborn, he receives the promise that he will become a great nation, the same promise God made to Abraham.

In response to God’s promise, Hagar gave God a new name; she called him “El-Roi.” The name “El Roi” means “The God Who Sees me.” Hagar said, “You are the God who sees me, for I have now seen the One who sees me and remained alive after seeing him” (Gen 16:13 NRS). The runaway slave saw God and remained alive after seeing him. Hagar is the only woman in the Bible to give God a name. Hagar’s naming God arises from her painful situation. God saw her oppressive situation and manifested himself to her to give her hope for a better future.

In response to God’s command, Hagar returns to Abraham and gives birth to a son whom Abraham named Ishmael. The birth of Ishmael is the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham that Abraham would become the father of a son in his old age. Although Ishmael was Abraham’s firstborn, Ishmael would not become the son who would inherit the promise.

The Danger to the Promise

The birth of Ishmael posed a great danger to the promise God made to Abraham that his descendants would inherit the land of Canaan. Since the promise was made to both Abraham and Sarah, Sarah was aware of the danger Ishmael posed to the divine promise and she made it known to Abraham.

Sarah’s words to Abraham are found in Genesis 21:10–13

“So she [Sarah] said to Abraham, ‘Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.’ The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. But God said to Abraham, ‘Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you. As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.”

The fact that Abraham now has two sons poses another threat to the promise that God made to Abraham because both sons are sons of the promise. God promised that Ishmael would become a great nation. God promised that Isaac would become a great nation. But there is a difference between the two sons. Ishmael will become a great nation because he is Abraham’s firstborn son. Isaac will become a great nation because of the covenant God will make with him.

In Genesis 17:19, God told Abraham, “Your wife Sarah shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.” God had promised that the covenant would be made with Isaac and not Ishmael. And Sarah surely knew that her son would be the heir of the promise, and she also knew the threat Ishmael posed to Isaac.

About three years after Isaac was born, when Isaac was old enough to be taken from his mother’s breast, Sarah told Abraham, “Get rid of this slave and her son, because this slave’s son must never share the inheritance with my son Isaac” (Gen 21:10 ).

Sarah’s demand displeased Abraham greatly because Ishmael was his son. God spoke to Abraham once again. He told Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you” (Gen 21:12). God’s words to Abraham indicate that Abraham was concerned for both Hagar and Ishmael. Abraham was concerned for Ishmael because he was Abraham’s firstborn; however, God reminded Abraham that the true heir of the promise is Isaac. God told Abraham, “it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you. (Gen 21:12).

Since Ishmael was Abraham’s firstborn, he was to receive the rights of the firstborn son. God told Abraham, “As for the son of Hagar, I will also make the son of the slave wife into a great nation, for he is your son.” Ishmael will become a great nation because he is Abraham’s firstborn son.

Conclusion

When God called Abraham, it was because God had a plan and a purpose for the nations. The apostle Paul explains God’s purpose for the nations. Paul wrote, “Scripture saw ahead of time that God would give his approval to non-Jewish people who have faith. So Scripture announced the Good News to Abraham ahead of time when it said, ‘Through you all the people of the world will be blessed’” (Gal 3:8 GWN).

The gospel that God proclaimed to Abraham was that “all nations will be blessed through you.” But by marrying Hagar, Abraham put the promise in danger because he loved Ishmael and wanted a future for him. Abraham said to God, “Why not let Ishmael be my heir?” (Gen 17:18 GWN)

Abraham put the promise in danger because, although Ishmael was Abraham’s firstborn and he loved him, Ishmael was not the son of Sarah, to whom God’s promise was also given.

Abraham put the promise in danger by having Ishmael and Isaac living in the same household. Sarah believed that Abraham’s love for Ishmael was a threat to her and to the future of her son. Sarah was afraid that Ishmael would inherit Abraham’s blessing after Abraham’s death.

As a result of Abraham’s failure, God blessed Ishmael by making him into a great nation because he was Abraham’s firstborn, and he had the right of inheritance. The descendants of Ishmael were divided into twelve tribes, and so were the descendants of Isaac. Ishmael became a great nation, and so did Isaac.

Referring to the descendants of Ishmael, the writer of Genesis says, “And they lived in hostility toward all their brothers” (Gen 25:18 NIV). The struggle between the descendants of Isaac and the descendants of Ishmael continues to this very day because Abraham failed to trust and wait on God.

Completed Studies on Abraham’s Failures

The Five Failures of Abraham (June 14, 2022)
Ur and Haran: Abraham’s Background (February 16, 2023)
The Failures of Faith in Abraham’s Journey
Abraham and Terah: Family Dynamics and Divine Calling
Abraham Before His Call: The Mesopotamian Context
The Call of Abraham: Divine Initiative and Human Response
Abraham and Lot: Separation and Its Implications
God’s Promises to Abraham
Abraham’s First Failure: Egypt and the Wife-Sister Deception
Abraham’s Second Failure: The Eliezer Solution
Abraham’s Third Failure: The Hagar Alternative
Abraham’s Fourth Failure: Laughter at Divine Promise – Part 1
Abraham’s Fourth Failure: Laughter at Divine Promise – Part 2
Abraham’s Fifth Failure: Gerar and Repeated Deception – Part 1
Abraham’s Fifth Failure: Gerar and Repeated Deception – Part 2
The Testing of Abraham: From Failure to Faith

NOTE: For several other studies on Abraham, read my post Studies on Abraham.

Bibliography

Trible, Phyllis. Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984.

Claude Mariottini
Emeritus Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

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