Hagar

Now Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar.

So after he had lived in Canaan for ten years, his wife Sarai took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to Abram to be his wife.

And he slept with Hagar, and she conceived. But when Hagar realized that she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.

“Hagar, servant of Sarai,” he said, “where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I am running away from my mistress Sarai,” she replied.

And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne.

Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.

But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking her son,

Early in the morning, Abraham got up, took bread and a skin of water, put them on Hagar’s shoulders, and sent her away with the boy. She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba.

Then God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, “What is wrong, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he lies.

This is the account of Abraham’s son Ishmael, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maidservant, bore to Abraham.

These things serve as illustrations, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children into slavery: This is Hagar.

Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present-day Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children.