Introduction
“I am making my agreement with you: I will make you the father of many nations.” Genesis 17:4
Abram decided to stay in Canaan after a short stay in Egypt, where they stayed to escape a famine. Sarai, wife of Abram, brought with her an Egyptian girl to be her maid when she returned. The maid was called Hagar.
Time passed and Abram and Sarai had no children. Sarai suggested that Abram have a child by Hagar and this would be the child God had promised. It would be the owner of the land God had promised and he would receive God’s blessings. Hagar did something to make Sarai very angry, and she was sorry of wanting Hagar to be the mother of the special child. She punished Hagar, who ran away toward her home in Egypt.
She was so weary she stopped by a fountain to rest. Here an angel asked her where she was going. Hagar replied she was running away from her mistress, but the angel said,
“Go back to Sarai and obey her and God will be with you and help you. You will bear a son who will be a strong man.” Hagar returned to her mistress and did have a son. They called him Ishmael. This means “God hears”.
Abram loved Ishmael, but one day Abram and Sarai had a baby boy of. their own, the one God had promised to bless. They called him Isaac. Isaac and Ishmael played together. Sarai did not like for the older boy to be playing with her son, and she requested Abram to send him and his mother away.
Abram was sorry about this, but God had told him not to worry about them, because He was going to make a nation with Ishmael, too. So, Abram sent them away with food and water, but it was soon used up and they could go no further. Hagar laid Ishmael under a bush because she could not bear to see her son suffer any more.
Again, an angel appeared to Hagar telling her God would take care of her. A spring of water immediately bubbled out of the dry ground near her. She gave Ishmael a drink and filled the empty water bottle.
They never returned to Egypt, but lived in the wilderness away from others. Ishmael grew up there a strong outdoorsman, skilled with his bow and arrow. His children also grew up in the desert and became a strong nation, called the Ishmaelite’s.
Quiz
1. When did Hagar first live with Abram and Sarai?
2. What did Hagar serve as for Sarai?
3. Why did Sarai want Hagar to have a child?
4. Why did Hagar run away the first time?
5. Was Hagar’s child by Abram the one God had promised?
6. Who was the promised son?
7. What promise did God make about Hagar’s son?
8. Why did Ishmael grow sick in the desert?
9. How was he saved and who appeared to Hagar to tell them they would be saved?
