Story 37: Hagar’s Tears
Years of joy went by for Abraham and Sarah. Isaac learned to crawl and toddle around on his little feet. When he was two or three, they weaned him from his mother. To celebrate, Abraham threw a great feast.At the banquet, Sarah watched on as Ishmael made fun of her beloved son with contempt. This was no innocent play. Sarah could hear malice in Ishmael’s voice, and she was overcome with fear. It seemed to reveal his desire to dominate and demean her boy...he was a real threat to her child.
This was not just about the normal conflicts that arise between brothers. This was about the status of these boys and their future. Ismael was showing contempt for the true heir of Abraham.She was filled with anger. How dare he treat her child this way? The same disrespect that Hagar had shown Sarah was now showing up in her son.
Did Sarah consider the pain of Hagar...to be the unwed mother of Abraham's first born? Did the vulnerability of Ishmael occur to her...now that this new son had come along? Did she see what this situation...a situation of her own making...was doing to others who had so little power?
Sarah went to Abraham and said, “‘Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.’”Sarah wasn't merely asking for Hagar and her son to be sent away. In order to do so, they would have to relinquish their service. As long as they stayed with Abraham’s household, the boy would have the right to claim an inheritance from his father. Abraham had raised Ishmael and made it clear that this was his son. But if Hagar and Ishmael were freed, they would never be able to claim Abraham’s wealth against Isaac. Sarah was asking Abraham to grant them their freedom, but it was for her own selfish gain.Rather than trust the Lord to bring about his promise...to raise up her son as the heir to God's covenant with Abraham...Sarah panicked and acted out of fear and spite.Imagine the despair of Abraham. He loved his first born son. They had spent thirteen years living among their tents together. How could he thrust them out into the desert alone? Years ago Abraham and Sarah lacked the faith to believe that God would provide a child through Sarah. Now Hagar and Ishmael would have to go through a terrible trial for their mistake. Abraham took his deep grief to the LORD.God came to his faithful servant as he agonized into the night. He said, “‘Do not be so distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’”These words reveal something interesting about the thoughts of God. When God called Abraham, the call was not on Abraham alone. The call was on his wife as well. As husband and wife, they were one. Sarah was an important part of God’s plan, and no other woman could stand in her place. It was her child that would become the nation of God’s great promise to the world. Her role as mother had tremendous value in the eyes of God...she was as irreplaceable as Abraham to God's plan. God told Abraham to honor her words in spite of the fact that they were marked by her brokenness and sin.
Then God spoke to Abraham about Ishmael and Hagar, “‘I will make the son of the maidservant into a nation also, because he is your offspring.’”Wow. That was a tremendous promise! The Lord reigns in power over all, and he cared for Hagar, too. He had made a promise to Abraham about his descendents, and it would be true for both his sons. Ishmael’s descendents would grow into a mighty nation just as surely as Isaac’s would. Abraham could trust that God would watch over and protect Hagar and Ishmael just as he had watched over Abraham for twenty five years. They had a great hope that was grounded in the character of God...a great future lay before them.
Abraham listened to his LORD and trusted him to keep his promise. He obeyed immediately. Early the very next morning, Abraham brought Hagar and Ishmael out of their tents. He loaded Hagar’s shoulders with food and water and sent them on their way. Imagine the tearing on Abraham’s heart as he watched the two, small figures walking off into the vast wilderness. A woman alone with her teenage son in a wild land of tribal nations who often lived in unspeakable sin. Imagine his faith as he prayed for them and trusted them in the hands of God. Imagine Ishmael’s confusion as his loving father sent him away with such sadness. Why did he have to go? Imagine Hagar’s fear as she stepped out onto the lonely sands.
She had nothing, but she brought with her the responsibility of a child. Had she asked for this?
Hagar wandered out into the desert of Beersheba on her way back to Egypt, the land of her birth. Along the way, she got lost. She spent days moving in the wrong directions, not knowing how to find her way home. She had been given plenty of food and water for the trip, but as the time stretched on, they began to run out.
How thirsty they became, and how her son suffered. The days were long and the nights were cold, and there was no help. Her son became weaker and weaker. They weren't able to go on. Finally she set him under a bush. She walked away and sat down. She was far enough away to so that she would not have to watch him die, but near enough to protect him and come to his body once he was gone. Her heart tore in two with grief and despair. Her body shook with the sobs of her overwhelming loss and sorrow. And Ishmael lay there, near death, crying out to the God of his father.
God heard Ishmael’s cries. The angel of the Lord came from Heaven. The Lord heard, and he came. He came to Hagar in the wilderness and spoke tenderly to her; “‘What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.’ Then the LORD opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave it to her boy to drink” (Genesis 21:17-19).
This wasn't the first time the angel of the Lord had come to Hagar. She had run away once before when Sarah's treatment had grown so cruel she could no longer bear it. She called out to the Lord, then, too. After he came, she declared him to be "the One who sees me..." Utterly alone in the desert, a rejected servant sitting by a stream of water, she was seen by the God of the universe.
Now he had come again, and revealed a well of water that she could not find on her own.
The arrogance of Ishmael and the fearful selfishness of Sarah had caused this dark time for him and his mother, but his cry to God brought their salvation. Once again, God came gently down to Hagar with great promises.
The LORD watched over Ishmael as he grew. And God kept his promise to Abraham. Hagar raised him in the desert and he learned to become a skilled archer. And eventually, she found him a wife from the land of Egypt.