Horizons magazine is published by Presbyterian Women (PW) the national women’s organization of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Issue link: http://horizons.epubxp.com/i/52581
Hagar's story is a sad one of exploitation and jealousy. In Genesis 16, the Egyptian slave-girl becomes a surrogate for her barren mistress. But when she conceives, things go sour. Finding that Hagar looks upon her "with contempt" of some sort (16:5), an embittered Sarah "[deals] harshly" with her slave-girl (16:6)—so harshly that Hagar runs away, choosing the dangers of life in the wilderness over Sarah and Abraham's home. There she encounters an angel of the Lord who commands her to return to her mistress and submit to her (16:9). It is puzzling, even troubling, that the divine will for Hagar appears to be a return to slavery rather than liberation; but perhaps God acts on behalf of Hagar's survival and that of her child, for the wilderness is no place for a lone pregnant woman.1 The angel also delivers a divine promise of descendants, and Hagar gives birth to Ishmael. When the thread of Hagar's story is picked up again in Genesis 21, this crowded family situation is complicated further when Sarah gives birth to Isaac. This prompts a merciless request—Sarah urges Abraham to evict Hagar and Ishmael permanently (21:10).Though troubled by this request,Abraham does as he is told (with divine encouragement), and Hagar and Ishmael find themselves exiled in the wilderness with woefully inadequate provisions.When the provisions give out, a desolate Hagar prepares for the imminent death of her child, lifting up her voice and weeping (21:16). But God, hearing the voice of the boy, opens his mother's eyes to a well of water, which ensures their survival. The story concludes with a brief description of Ishmael's subsequent flourishing, thanks to divine and maternal guidance (21:20–21). Why should we remember this haunting story? First, Hagar's story is painfully contemporary. Indeed, as Phyllis Trible notes, "all sorts of rejected women find their stories in her": She is the faithful maid exploited, the black woman used by the male and abused by the female of the ruling class, the surrogate mother, the resident alien without legal recourse, the other woman, the runaway youth, the religious fleeing from affliction, the pregnant young woman alone, the expelled wife, the divorced mother with child, the shopping bag lady carrying bread and water, the homeless woman, the indigent relying upon handouts from the power structures, the welfare mother, and the self-effacing female whose own identity shrinks in service to others.2 Hagar's story also is a piercing reminder of the ways in which ethnic and economic power differentials continue to divide and alienate women from one another. Secondly, there is much to honor and celebrate in Hagar's story: namely, her courage and commitment to the survival of her child, against enormous odds. Moreover, biblical scholar Phyllis Trible explains that Hagar represents a remarkable list of "firsts" in the Bible. She is, among other things, the first person in the Bible to flee oppression, the first runaway slave, the first person whom a messenger of God visits, the only woman to receive a divine promise of descendants, the only person to name God, the first woman in the ancestor stories to bear a child, the first surrogate mother, the first slave to be freed, the first divorced wife, the first single parent and the first person to weep. As Trible notes, this host of distinctions underscores Hagar's pivotal role in the biblical narrative.3 Finally, this haunting story demands attention because it is foundational to Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Jews, Christians and Muslims alike lay claim to the promise to Abraham of God's special blessing.And as children of Sarah and Hagar, we have inherited their conflict. Perhaps by reflecting upon it, we may find, by God's grace, "the courage and faith we need to share God's peace and justice together as one human family."4 May the power of God's spirit, present in all our engagement with scripture, inspire us to lay claim to the future God has in mind for us all, and may we celebrate courageous women together! Notes 1. Delores Williams, "Hagar, in African American Biblical Appropriation," in Hagar, Sarah, and Their Children: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives, ed. Phyllis Trible and Letty M. Russell (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2006), 171–184. 2. Phyllis Trible, Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984), 28. 3. Trible, "Ominous Beginnings for a Promise of Blessing," in Hagar, Sarah, and Their Children: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives, 61. 4. Letty M. Russell, "Children of Struggle," in Hagar, Sarah, and Their Children: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives, 196.