The Messy Story of Sarah and Hagar

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The story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar is tied to one of the most foundational covenants in the Bible. Which might explain why there is so much conflict attached to it. That is after all what Sarah and Hagar in the Bible are know for. Mention their names in any church setting and you’ll quickly see what I mean.

What I’ve noticed about conflict in the Bible is that if we focus too much on it, we miss the lessons that surround it.

Did you know that Sarah is mentioned in Hebrews in the “Hall of Faith”?

And Hagar is the first woman in the Bible we see having a conversation with God?

There’s a depth to these women that we don’t often get to explore because of the drama they’re connected to. Today, I’d like to explore and see what lessons from Sarah and Hagar we’ve missed that we can actually learn from.

In this article, we’re going to challenge our preconceived ideas about the story of Hagar and Sarah in the Bible. We’re going to ask the questions that no one is asking and lean into Scripture for the answers.

Click here to jump to free Hagar Bible study questions.

Who Was Sarah In the Bible?

Sarah and Abraham’s story started long before Hagar was even in the picture.

Here are 5 facts about Sarah in the Bible that  help us understand her role in God’s story.

1. Before her name was Sarah, it was Sarai. We don’t know her as Sarah until Genesis 17:15-16 where God prophecies over her saying, “you shall not call her Sarai but Sarah shall be her name and I will bless her and give her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her and she shall be the mother of nations; kings and peoples shall be from her.” Do you know the meaning of Sarah and Sarai in Hebrew?The meaning of Sarai in the Bible is Princess. It can be interpreted as literal royalty but also (and more commonly so) a term of endearment.The biblical meaning of Sarah is mother of nations, noblewoman, or ruler.
2. Abraham and Sarah met in Haran. Abraham and Sarah’s father’s name is Terah.For those of you wondering, wait, so was Abraham’s wife Sarah his half sister?! The answer is yes. Abraham explains this connection for himself in Genesis 12:10-20 Sarah was Abraham’s half sister and Abraham married Sarah in Haran before He left to inherit Canaan.
3. Sarah was the first woman mentioned in Scripture to struggle with infertility. It’s this fact that shapes a lot of the story of Abraham and Sarah and Hagar in the Bible.
4. Sarah is one of only two women whose faith is celebrated in the “hall of faith” (Hebrews 11). Which tells me that she is not the faithless woman most people make her out to be…
5. In his letters to the Galatians Paul refers to Sarah as the mother of promise (Galatians 4).

Characteristics of Sarah in the Bible

There are a lot of assumptions made about the strengths and weaknesses of Sarah in the Bible. I personally think we misunderstand her character (which tends to happen when you only know someone from a distance).

We talk about her impatience… the truth is Sarah waited ninety for the Lord to deliver on His promise. We only see doubt surface twice in that time frame (Genesis 16 and Genesis 18). I’m hesitant to even call it doubt. I think Sarah was a realist.

Realistically, who would expect a barren woman in old age to miraculously conceive? Yet even with this realistic view point, Sarah believed God would give her a child. She believed that God would perform what He promised through His covenant with Abraham.

By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed when she was passed age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.
Hebrews 11:11

BY FAITH she tried to align her circumstances to God’s promise. Though misguided, she was not faithless. Though eager, she was not impatient. Sarah was devoted to vision God and had given her and her husband. If there are any lessons we can learn from the life of Sarah in the Bible; these are among the most important.

As for her weaknesses – Sarah was human just like you and I. Devoted, faithful, eager for the promises of God; yet because of her humanity; imperfect. And imperfect people makes messes. Which brings us to the story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar.

The Messy Story of Abraham and Sarah and Hagar

We meet Hagar for the first time in Genesis 16. Hagar was Sarah’s handmaid (some translations use the word maid servant).

Sarah is barren and had been for several years by this point.

At this time in history handmaids were often the solution for barren wives wanting to provide heir for their husbands. Similar to surrogacy (but there were other intricacies that made it a bit more complicated). I say this to help convey the fact that offering your handmaid to your husband at this time in history was a common gesture; very different from the harsh and oppressive view it has today.

In that time and culture it makes sense that after years of infertility, with knowledge that a nation is supposed to be born of her family, “descendants as numerous as the stars,” Sarah would start to think about surrogacy.

It would have been the last logical or even imaginable solution available to Sarah.

So what does Sarah do to Hagar?

She gives Hagar as a concubine to her husband.

So Sarah said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please go into my maid. Perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarah.
Genesis 16:2

The Bible doesn’t say exactly how this conversation went about between the three of them, but we can assume that eventually Hagar and Abraham agreed.

The good news: a beautiful bouncing baby boy was born.

The hard news: the solution fell short of its expectation.

And the worst news: with this bouncing baby boy came a season of tension, hurt, and conflict in the Sarah and Hagar relationship.

Hagar Meets the God of Abraham

Why is Hagar important in the Bible? We’ve talked a little about Sarah’s faith and character. Now it’s time to see what lessons can we learn from the characteristics of Hagar.

Hagar was from Egypt, a polytheist nation that recognized and worshiped many gods. Because Hagar was in the house hold of Abraham she at the very least had knowledge of who God was. What I find most beautiful though, is how Hagar submitted herself to the God of Abraham even when obedience to Him meant suffering for her. To me that is the sum of the Hagar Bible Story.

Eventually the Sarah and Hagar relationship conflict got so bad that Hagar left the family of Abraham twice. The first time God humbled her, requiring her to go back to Sarah and submit to her leadership. In addition to humbling her, He blessed her.

The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand… I will multiply your descendants exceedingly so that they shall not be counted for multitude… Behold you are with child, and you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael because the Lord has heard your affliction. He shall be a wild man; his hand shall be against every man and every mand’s hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of his brethren.”
Genesis 16:9-12

Even before Sarah stripped Ishmael of the option of receiving a portion of the family’s inheritance, God had made provision for a greater blessing.

Hagar had met, “the God who sees” (Genesis 16:13). She meets him again years later in “part 2” of the story of Hagar and Ishmael in the dessert (Genesis 21:8-21).

What happened to Hagar and Ishmael?

Like most messy stories, this one didn’t exactly end happily ever after.

Sarah and Abraham did eventually conceive, but again, with this birth came even more conflict. Eventually Sarah put her foot down and decided that he and Hagar needed to leave.

And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, who had been born to Abraham, scoffing. Therefore she said to Abraham, “cast out out this bond woman and her son; the for son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.
Genesis 21:9-10

As unfair as it sounds, this is a decision that Abraham and Sarah had the legal right to make. Children born of a maidservants or concubines were not guaranteed any portion of the family inheritance. That was something that traditionally was saved for the children born of the wife.

So although Sarah and Abraham didn’t legally blunder, they weren’t necessarily in the right either.

Thankfully, “The God Who Sees” had already made provisions for them.

But God said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because f the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called. Yet I will also make a nation of of the son of the bondwoman because she is your seed.
Genesis 21:12-13

So Abraham sent Ishmael and Hagar away. And God, true to His word, met them in the dessert at their most desperate moment and guided them on their way.

When I think about it, what happened to Ishmael in the Bible seems unfair. What happened to Hagar in the Bible is heart-breaking. Yet even in the unfair, heart-breaking trials of our lives, God sees, He is present, and He is good.

Who Are the 12 Tribes of Ishmael Today?

Genesis 25 gives us a look at the 12 tribes of Ishmael in those days.

Ishmael had twelve sons.

And these were the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: The firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadar, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These were the sons of Ishmael and these were their names, by their towns and their settlements, twelve princes according to their nations.
Genesis 25:13-16

Many believe these are the Arab nations of today.

Is the Story of Hagar and Ishmael an Allegory?

Genesis isn’t the only place where we see the story of Sarah and Hagar in the Bible. Paul brings up this story in his letter to the Galatians and he presents it as an allegory; a story with deeper meaning than meets the eye.

So what is the allegory of Sarah and Hagar? What does the story of Hagar and Ishmael teach us in that context?

Let’ turn to Galatians 4 and find out.

Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar—for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children—but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.
Galatians 4:21-26

In this Passage Paul is teaching the believers in Galatia about what it means to be “free from the law” but know and embrace the “law of liberty”.

Breaking Down the Allegory….

First, Paul explains that Sarah, Hagar, and their sons represent two covenants; One for a people bound by sin and the other for people free from sin.

In the allegory of Sarah and Hagar, Hagar represents people in bondage to sin and in need of the law (which was given at Mt. Sinai) to keep them from sin.

Mt. Sinai is a representation of Jerusalem where the people of God were still in bondage to sin and in need of the law to guard them from sin and temptation.

We learn in the next verse (v. 26) that the Jerusalem above is where those free from sin dwell; those born of the promise (the Holy Spirit). Just as Abraham is considered the father of the faith; in this allegory Sarah is represents those born of the promise. She is the mother of those who find freedom in Christ. She corresponds to the New Jerusalem.

Notice how in these verses Paul distinguishes between the two Jerusalem; the one that is here and the one from above (spoken of in Revelation 21).

This allegory of Hagar and Sarah illustrate how being “born again” (John 3) takes us from being slaves to sin to children of promise. It’s a reminder that as long as we are on earth humanity will have to deal with the consequences of sin in the world. Even in a place as spectacular as Jerusalem. But those born again, receive the gift of adoption into God’s family. They earn the right to become “sons of God” (John 1:12) and if sons; then also heir (Romans 8:7 and Galatians 3:29). We become children of promise.

This is why the story of Hagar is important. In it lies the hope of the gospel; told as early as the book of Genesis.

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Sarah and Hagar Bible Study Questions!

I hope you enjoyed our brief Sarah and Hagar Bible Study!

Click here to print and keep these questions for your own personal study!

1. Where did Hagar come from?
2. What need was Hagar expected to meet in the story of Hagar, Sarah, and Abraham?
3. Do you think Sarah’s choice to involve Hagar in mothering a child represented a lack of faith? Or a misguided faith? Explain the difference?
4. How do the verses about Sarah in the hall of faith (Hebrews 11) challenge your understanding of faith?
5. What is the conflict between Hagar and Sarah? Describe it.
6. At the height of the Sarah and Hagar conflict, God revealed Himself to Hagar in a unique way. Describe that encounter.
7. What name did Hagar call God by after He met her in the desert?
8. What stands out to you about Hagars character?
9. List three interesting facts about Hagar.
10. How does Hagar demonstrate humility towards God and Sarah?
11. What positive character traits do you see in Sarah?
12. What promise did God give Hagar regarding Ishmael?
13. How old was Hagar when she gave birth?
14. Why did Hagar and Ishmael get banished?
15. What happened to Hagar and Ishmael in the wilderness?
16. Who are the descendants of Ishmael today?
17. What lessons can we learn from the story of Hagar?
18. Why is Hagar in the Bible? Why is her story important?
19. What hidden lessons can you find in the story of Hagar and Sarah? What about Hagar and Ishmael?
20. In the allegory of Sarah and Hagar what does Sarah represent? What does Hagar represent?
21. Describe how the story of Hagar and Sarah foreshadows the gospel.