Hagar and the God Who Sees

by: Verlyn Verbrugge

I don’t envy Hagar. Because her mistress had never become pregnant, Sarah added a new feature to Hagar’s job description: sleep with Abraham and provide her with a son. While such sexual relations were culturally permissible, there certainly was no romance and love between Abraham and Hagar.

Hagar did become pregnant, but things got worse rather than better. Hagar looked on her mistress with contempt, and Sarah’s jealousy got the best of her. Abraham finally threw his hands up and said to Sarah, “Do whatever!”

Sarah made Hagar’s life miserable, and eventually Hagar ran away. She was alone, penniless, and frightened, but at an oasis the Lord God of Abraham revealed himself to Hagar. He spoke words of comfort and promise to her, and then told her to return to Sarah.

And Hagar “named the Lord . . . El-roi” (“the God who sees”). This is the only time in the Bible where a human being gives God a new name. And it comes from the lips of a woman, and a slave at that! In a patriarchal society this would not go unnoticed. Hagar teaches us a vital truth: that in our struggles, pain, and suffering, God sees us. And we are not alone.