Hagar Character Analysis in Genesis

Hagar is Sarai’s Egyptian slave-girl and Ishmael’s mother. When Sarai remains barren, she tells Abram to take Hagar as a wife. When Hagar conceives, she looks contemptuously on Sarai, who lashes out at both her and Abram. Then Hagar flees into the wilderness, where God hears her affliction and promises to grant her countless offspring. Then she returns to Sarai and bears a son, Ishmael, to Abram. After Isaac is born, Sarah again banishes Hagar and her son, but God provides for their survival and again promises to make a great nation of Ishmael.

Hagar Character Timeline in Genesis

The timeline below shows where the character Hagar appears in Genesis. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...kept her from having children, perhaps she is meant to have children by means of Hagar, her Egyptian slave-girl. Abram listens to Sarai and takes Hagar as a wife; Hagar soon... (full context)

The angel of the LORD finds Hagar by a spring in the wilderness and tells her to return to Sarai. He also... (full context)

After Isaac is weaned, Sarah sees Hagar’s son Ishmael playing with Isaac, and she gets angry. She demands that Abraham cast out... (full context)

After they run out of water, Hagar settles Ishmael under a bush and walks away, unwilling to watch him die. When she... (full context)

...in the cave of Machpelah. Afterward, Isaac settles at Beer-lahai-roi. Ishmael, son of Abraham and Hagar, has 12 sons, all of them princes and leaders of tribes, and dies at age... (full context)