Hagar’s Lament and Petition
(Gen 21.16)

And as she sat opposite him, she lifted her voice and wept.

Genesis 21.16

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Have you ever cried while praying? I don’t know of many who have (or admit it), but many people in scripture do. Maybe it is a difference in cultures. People of the Ancient Near East tend to be more demonstrative than Westerners. Today’s reading is the first instance of someone crying while praying, and it is also the first lament.

Background

The story of Hagar is a central story in the history of the Jews, and some of its results still echo today in tensions in the Middle East. The background to this prayer is that God promised Abraham and Sarah that they would have a child. Yet, a lot of time had passed, and there was still no child. Sarah suggested that Abraham take her maidservant, Hagar, as a “surrogate mother.” This was not a surprising suggestion at that time in history. A slave was property and could be required to do perform such a service. More important to understanding the story, a child did not “officially” become part of a family until a covenant ceremony took place (for the Jews this later became circumcision). Blood relation was less important than a covenant. So, the child of Hagar would be the child of Abraham and Sarah in law and society.

Hagar complied and gave birth to a son, who called “Ishmael,” which means “God hears” in Hebrew (an interesting choice considering that Abraham and Sarah made it happen on their own initiative). According to what we know of birth practices in the ancient world, Hagar sat on Sarah’s lap as she reclined back and gave birth, emphasizing the symbolism that the child was Sarah’s. This story is another example of Abraham’s lack of faith in God’s promises. He (and Sarah) seemed to believe that “God helps those who help themselves” (a phrase that appears nowhere in the Bible).

Not too long after the birth of Ishmael, Sarah becomes pregnant, just as God had promised. Ishmael became a useless and unwelcome appendage to the family: no long an heir, just a mere slave. But he was still the son of Abraham. Sarah did not care for this, and perhaps saw him as a threat to her natural son’s inheritance as the firstborn. We can imagine poor Hagar, who had only done as asked. Abraham succumbs to Sarah’s complaints and sends Hagar and Ishmael away into the desert. They had used Hagar for their own purposes, being impatient with God. When God delivered on his promise, Hagar became more than useless: she was an irritant. It is unfair. It is unjust. Could we blame Hagar for being upset with Abraham and Sarah? Or even for being upset with God?

Instead, she sets her small son down, then walked a few hundred yards away. She did not want to see her son die. She cried to God. We do not know her words, but it is not hard to guess. She was a faithful slave, did as she asked, and when circumstances changed she was sent to die with her child to make the situation easier on her masters. A situation of their own making. And God heard her.

This story has striking parallels to the story in Genesis 32 about Abraham’s near-sacrifice of his natural son, Isaac. There, an angel tells Abraham that he must sacrifice his son to God. He and Isaac leave for the desert in the early morning (22.3), just as Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael out into the desert in the early morning. In Genesis 32, an angel came to Abraham to stop him from sacrificing Isaac (32.11-12); Hagar cries to God, and an angel comes to her. In Genesis 32, an angel directs Abraham to a ram caught in a bush to take the place of Isaac as a sacrifice (22.13); the angel directs Hagar to some water, so she and her son will not die. Finally, the Hagar narrative is an example of Abraham’s lack of faith; the Isaac story is an example of how he finally came to trust God completely, even to the point of sacrificing the promised son.

Meaning

This is yet another Genesis story depicting humans who rely on their own wants and desires instead of trusting God. And, as usual, things become a mess. Instead of waiting for God in His time, Abraham and Sarah took matters into their own hands, and the result was an unwanted mother and child in exile and near death. Once again, God comes to the rescue. Not only does He save Hagar and Ishmael, but he promises that Ishmael will also be blessed by God and have many descendants, just like Isaac. It was not God’s original plan, but human sin required him to clean up the mess. He does so by granting great blessings.

Sometimes, while praying, we may feel like we don’t have the right to cry out to God because we caused the problem. Or maybe someone else has caused the problem, but they have such power over us and the situation that we see no way out, like Hagar. This story shows that God still cares. He hears when we cry out in pain, and he comes along to do triage, to give first aid, and then to perform healing surgery.

Application

Write in your journal today about something you are suffering now, small or large, which came about because of human weakness and self-centeredness. Maybe, like Hagar, you tried to do the right thing, but other people and circumstances have resulted in your pain. Or maybe, like Abraham or Sarah, you are the cause of the suffering. Think about these things, then cry out to God about them, knowing that He hears and heals.

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Photo by Juli Kosolapova on Unsplash