ABRAM AND HAGAR Abram entered into a friendship with God himself, who confirmed to him His promise that his descendants will inherit the land to which he took him. But as years went by with no change, Sarai assumed that she would enjoy children through her maidservant Hagar. So she gave her to her man. Abram heeded the voice of his wife, assuming that God would realize his promise through his descendants from Hagar. But, because Sarai followed her own human counsel, out of the circle of faith, she got only loss and bitterness. 1- Sarai gives her maidservant Hagar to her man 1-5. 2- Hagar flees from her mistress Sarai 6-7. 3- Hagar returns to Sarai 8-14. 4- Birth of Ishmael 15-16. 1- SARAI GIVES HER MAIDSERVANT TO HER MAN Sarai, remaining ten years in the land of Canaan bearing no children from Abram, as she was barren, used her own human thinking to realize God’s promise. She asked her man to go to her Egyptian maidservant Hagar. Yet once Hagar conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes. When Sarai blamed Abram, he put Hagar in his wife’s hand to do to her as she pleases, and when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence. This situation represents how man sometimes lean on his own judgment, and plans for himself, without seeking God’s counsel. St. John Chrysostom believes that Sarai, assuming that her husband is responsible for her deprivation of children, gave him her maidservant to make sure. But as the latter conceived, Sarai was greatly distressed, because she realized that barrenness is the result of her infertility. In any case, because Abram and Sarai were acting in faith, even their weakness, was used by God, for the glory of his name. Sarai came to represent the Church of the nations (the New Testament), that was previously barren, giving God no children; while Hagar referred to the Jews who gave birth to slaves, through their rejection of sonship to God in Christ. At the fulfillment of time, Sarai gave birth to Isaac, providing God with many children. Sarai gave birth to her son, not according to nature, as she was barren, but according to God’s promise. So her son came blessed. Hagar, on the other hand, gave birth to her son according to nature, so he became a slave. This line of thought was clearly proclaimed by the apostle Paul, saying to Christians who intended to go back to Judaism: “Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondwoman, the other by a free woman. But he who was of a bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the free woman through promise; which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai, which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagarfor this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children-but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written: ‘Rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear! Break forth and shout, you who do not travail! For, the desolate has many more children, than she who has a husband.’ Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him, who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what does the 4 Scripture say? ‘Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free’ “ (Galatians 21-31). Sarai had been barren, referring to the nations who could not provide children to God. But she gave birth to Isaac, not according to the law of nature, nor according to legal marriage, having been in her barrenness as though under the verdict of death. But she gave birth to a son according to a promise by God to her and to her husband Abram. She gave birth to a son in the Lord. St. John Chrysostom says: [Isaac was born, not according to the law of nature, nor through legal marriage or body strength; and yet, he is truly his son. He came from two bodies that were dead, came from a dead womb. His birth was not according to flesh, nor was he naturally conceived, as the womb was dead because of old age and barrenness, but the Word of God (the divine promise) formed him (through union of Abram and Sarai as a fruit of the promise, so he is their son and of their seed). It was not the same with the son of the bondwoman, as he came according to the law of nature. However, the one, not according to the flesh, was more dignified than him, who was born according to the flesh1.] He also said: [The Church was not only barren like Sarai, but also became like her a mother of many children, she conceived them in the same way, not according to nature, but according to a promise from God.] [Who is she, who was previously barren and desolate? She is the Church of the Gentiles that was deprived of the knowledge of God. And who is she, who has a husband? She is the Synagogue of the Jews. But the barren one got more children, gathering together the Greeks and the Barbarians, from sea and land and the whole world.] [As we are the children of the barren, we are free. Yet what kind of freedom is this, if the Jews chase and persecute the believers? We should not get disturbed by this situation as from the beginning the son of the bondwoman used to persecute the son of the free2.] St. Clement of Alexandria believes that Hagar represents the wisdom of the world, while Sarai represents the divine wisdom or God’s knowledge. When Sarai gave Hagar to her man, this refers to God’s knowledge that gives world wisdom or culture, as a maidservant to serve man, while we dignify God’s wisdom as a spouse and companion. Sarai sent Hagar away for some time, to chasten her for submission, in reference to the rejection by man of the world wisdom, if it is not in the Lord. Finally, St. Augustine presents us with a justification of Abram’s behavior with Hagar, saying: [Abram was not guilty concerning the maidservant; as He used her, not to fulfill a lust, but in order to get a child; not to spite his wife, but to heed her voice; she who assumed that, by using the fruitful womb of her maidservant, in place of her barren one, she would legally root out her disgrace; the apostle says: “The husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does” (1 Corinthians 7:4). So, as a wife, she used her man to get a child, through another woman, when she found herself incapable of doing that herself. Here, there is no place for lust or low defilement; as the maidservant was actually given to the husband by his wife for getting a child; both of them were not committing a sin, but were seeking a good cause. That is why, when the maidservant despised her barren mistress, Sarai targeted her husband with her feminine jealousy. Although Abram, when he, unselfishly went to Hagar, he did that, not at the expense of Sarai, but heeding her voice... So he said to 1 In Gal. hom 4:23. . 2 كنيسة العذراء بالفجالة: رسالة غلاطية، أصحاح ٤ 5 her: “Your maid is in your hand, do to her as you please” (Gen. 16:6)1.] St. Augustine, justifying the behavior of Abram, believes that he proved his love for his wife, by delivering the maid in her hand, to do with her as she pleases. Yet, we cannot accept such behavior in the light of the divine grace. Abram and Sarai behaved that way for the sake of getting children, anticipating that the Savior would come as their descendant, but now, we are not seeking children or descendants according to the flesh. From another aspect, if the husband does not have authority over his own body, but his wife does, she has no right to deliver her husband’s body to another woman, for whatever excuse. She was given her man by the Lord, for both to live as one body in the Lord, nobody should come in between! 2- HAGAR FLEES FROM HER MISTRESS SARAI St. Augustine2 believes that ‘Hagar’ or ‘alien,’ refers to the alien soul (not a citizen) among God’s people, and represents every thought, alien of faith. Hagar conceived, then despised her mistress, thus was worthy of being driven away for chastisement, to get back after hearty submission. How numerous are ‘Hagars’ in our inner life, namely, how often do we have thoughts, alien to faith, that despise their mistress, thoughts of faith or God’s knowledge... Let us drive away Hagar, namely, every alien thought, humiliate and chastise it, in order to bring it back to the pious life of faith. Hagar fled, to be “found by the Angel of the Lord, by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur” (Gen. 16:7). She was probably on her way to Egypt, her original home through the wilderness of Paran, probably near the ‘Springs of Moses’ not far from Suez, along the way of ‘Shur’ or ‘wall,’ which is a route of caravans. It was not possible for Hagar to return to Sarai and Abram, and give birth to a son, unless she encounters the angel of the Lord by a spring of water, on the way to Shur. The angel of the Lord refers to the Lord Christ Who came to us in our barren wilderness, to encounter us by the spring of water of baptism, and to be a ‘wall’ or ‘Shur’ on our way, that that keeps us from heading to Egypt, namely to love of the world, and sends us back to the heavenly Canaan. We were driven out of Canaan, namely of Paradise, because of our sins, and came to be in isolation and bitterness in the wilderness of this world. But the Lord would never forsake us. He would bring us back through renewing us in the water of baptism. And as St. Jacob of Serug says about Baptism: [Baptism is a gate through which we get back to Paradise; through which man enters to be with God. Baptism is a new boat a carrier of the dead, by which they are risen and cross over to the land of eternity; Through baptism, in the new world, man crosses over from the dead to the land of the living3.] 3- HAGAR RETURNS TO SARAI The angel of the Lord commanded Hagar to return to her mistress, as though referring to the worldly wisdom, that, if sanctified, would serve faith through submitting to it. It represents the worldly philosophies, that, if received by a believer, with the spirit of piety and thought of faith, they would be at his service in the Lord, and would not be a destroyer of his faith, through the spirit of arrogance and pride. Hagar, probably also refers to the carnal man, if he despises the Spirit ‘Sarai,’ 1 City of God 16:25. 2 On Ps. 83. 3 مخطوط بدير الأبنا أنطونيوس، نُسخت عام ١٤٨٨ ش. 6 he would be destroying himself. But if sanctified in the water of baptism, and accepted the work of the Holy Spirit in him, he would be a servant to the Lord. Concerning this, St. Augustine says: [Return to your mistress, O carnal soul, the arrogant maidservant; If you had endured some pain, it is for the sake of chastisement; So why rebelling? Return to your mistress, and enjoy the peace of the Church1.] The angel of the Lord commanded her to submit and to obey her mistress (Gen. 16:7), who possibly did not afflict her, but it was Hagar who had aggressively despised her mistress. And as a reward for her submission, He promised her, that her descendants would be exceedingly multiplied, yet her son would be a wild man, “His hand shall be against every man, and every man’s hand against him” (Gen. 16:12) Hagar saw (the angel of the Lord). And as many scholars believe, that was one of the apparitions of the Son of God. Hagar called Him, “You- Are- the- God- Who- Sees;” (Gen. 16:13) for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me;” and she called the well, at which she encountered Him, “Beer La-hai Roi,” namely, the well where the Living God was seen. 4- BIRTH OF ISHMAEL Hagar bore Abram a son, and named him “Ishmael,” according to what the Angel of the Lord had told her, meaning ‘God listened.’ Abram confirmed that name, on the assumption that God listened to him and gave him a son to inherit him (Gen. 17:18, as he did not expect Sarai to give him a son. Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael, and 100 years old when Isaac was born; So Ishmael was 14 years senior to his half-brother Isaac. 1 On Ep. of St. John, hom 10:10.
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