Hagar was the Egyptian maidservant of Sarai, Abram's wife. She became Abram's concubine and the mother of Ishmael. In the wilderness she personally encountered the Angel of the LORD, and is one of the few women in Scripture to give God a name.
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Hagar was an Egyptian woman who first appears in Scripture as a maidservant in the household of Sarai, Abram's wife. Because Sarai was unable to bear children, she followed the customs of her time and gave Hagar to Abram so that she might obtain an heir through her. The change in Hagar's status after she conceived brought tension between her and Sarai, and she fled into the wilderness. There the Angel of the LORD appeared to her, promised that her offspring would be exceedingly multiplied, and instructed her to return. She gave a name to the One who spoke to her—"the God who sees" (El Roi)—because she had experienced firsthand that even in her lowly and forsaken state, God's eyes had looked upon her. Years later, when Abraham celebrated the birth of Isaac, the long-awaited son of promise, tension in the household rose again. Sarah insisted that Hagar and Ishmael be sent away, and although it grieved Abraham, he obeyed God's direction. Hagar and the boy Ishmael wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba, her water gone, and she expected death for herself and her child. Yet God heard the voice of the lad; the Angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, renewed the promise concerning her offspring, and led her to a well of water. In that moment she learned once more that the God who sees does not abandon those in the desert. Hagar's life highlights a theme often overlooked in patriarchal narratives: God's care is not confined within the household of promise. Though she stood on the margins of society, was of low status, and was cast out, her name appears in Paul's argument in the New Testament as a symbol of two covenants and two identities. Her story reminds readers that the grace and attention of God reach the most unexpected places, and that the God who reveals Himself in the wilderness is the same God who personally sees and answers the cry of the afflicted.