Hagar Gives Her Son Water, Richard Roland Holst (attributed), 1878–1938. Rijksmuseum
Hagar, the Mirror of Israel
Reflecting those who stand before her, Sarah, Abraham, Moses, and Israel itself, Hagar becomes a mirror through which the biblical narrative retells Israel’s story. Her experiences of enslavement, flight, divine encounter, and survival in the wilderness echo the nation’s own. Hagar’s story also becomes a mirror for later readers, reflecting their own experiences of oppression, loss, and liberation.
Published: November 12, 2026
Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Reading the Women of the Bible: A New Interpretation of Their Stories (Schocken Books, 2002).
Frymer-Kensky, Reading the Women of the Bible, 225, sees the sequence in Gen 12–22 as a series of concentric rings: “…from the lekh lekha (“Go!”) of the call to Abraham to leave home (Gen. 12) to the lekh lekha (“Go!”) of the call to Abraham to sacrifice Isaac (Gen. 22). The beginning of Genesis, chapter 12, is about letting go of the past by cutting ties to Abram’s father; chapters 22 and 21 are about letting the future go, cutting ties to the sons, and their near death.” The innermost ring, in Frymer-Kensky’s analysis, is about covenants: “chapter 15, the covenant among the carcasses, and chapter 17, the covenant of circumcision. And in the middle, between the two covenants, is the story of Sarai and Hagar.” This essay builds from, and is in conversation with, this chapter of Frymer-Kensky’s book.
In this piece, I am taking a synchronic approach to the received text (as Frymer-Kensky does in her analysis). For an example of using a source critical approach to analyze Hagar’s story, see Philip Yoo and Grace Leake, “‘Take Your Only Son Isaac’—What Happened to Ishmael?” TheTorah (2019).
Abraham receives such a promise in Gen 15:5 and again in Gen 22:17, Isaac in Gen 26:4, and Jacob in Gen 28:3. Hagar is also one of few women in the Bible who receive a divine annunciation of a coming birth. Others include Manoah’s wife, the mother of Samson (Judg 13:3–5), Hannah, the mother of Samuel (1 Sam 1:17–20), and, in the New Testament, Mary, the mother of Jesus (Luke 1:28–37).
See Phyllis Trible, Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives (Fortress Press, 1984), 17–18. Usually, after a life-altering encounter with the divine, God gives the person a new name to signify their experience (see, e.g., the name changes of Abram to Abraham in Gen 17:5 and Sarai to Sarah in Gen 17:15 to mark the covenant). This is the only case in the Bible where after such an experience with the divine, the person gives God a new name.
See Delores Williams, Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist God-Talk (Orbis Books, 1993), 32.
Bible translations follow NRSV (updated edition) with modifications.
Hebrew אִבָּנֶה מִמֶּנָּה, ibaneh mimenah, literally, “I will be built up from her,” from the stem ב.נ.ה/י, b.n.h/y, to build. The use of this stem here is also a play on בֶּן, ben, son.
Hebrew אִשָּׁה, ishah, means both woman and wife. There are various kinds of wives in the Bible, including primary wives, secondary wives, and concubines, all denoted by the same term. Sarah refers to Hagar in Gen 21:10 as an אמה, slave woman, highlighting her inferior status as a slave wife/concubine.
Translations of Genesis Rabbah are based on the Sefaria Midrash Rabbah (2022) with adjustments. It is noteworthy that this midrash also blames Sarah:
בראשית רבה מה:ה כְּתִיב (בראשית טז, ד): וַיָּבֹא אֶל הָגָר וַתַּהַר, וּמַה תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר (בראשית טז, יא): הִנָּךְ הָרָה וְיֹלַדְתְּ בֵּן, אֶלָּא מְלַמֵּד שֶׁהִכְנִיסָה בָּהּ שָׂרָה עַיִן רָעָה וְהִפִּילָה עֻבָּרָהּ.
Gen Rab 45:5 It is written (Gen 16:4): “He consorted with Hagar, and she conceived.” Why, then, does the verse [later] state [to Hagar]: “Behold, you will conceive and bear a son”? (Gen 16:11). It teaches that Sarah directed an evil eye against her and caused her to miscarry her fetus.
Similarly, Rashi on Genesis 16:5.
The opposition between the two women is taken up in early Christian tradition. Here, Hagar and Sarah as well as their children, Ishmael and Isaac, are often portrayed as opposites. This interpretation is influenced by Paul’s letter to the Galatians in the New Testament:
Gal 4:22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by an enslaved woman and the other by a free woman. 4:23 One, the child of the enslaved woman, was born according to the flesh; the other, the child of the free woman, was born through the promise.
Early Christians saw Ishmael as a mere shadow of Sarah’s child Isaac who bears the promise of God; his existence as the actual firstborn is interpreted as an all-too-human attempt by Sarah and Abraham to have a child, an attempt that in the end is not part of God’s plan. See Debbie Hunn, “The Hagar-Sarah-Allegory: Two Covenants, Two Destinies,” Biblica 100 (2019): 117–134, and Ryan Heinsch, The Figure of Hagar in Ancient Judaism and Galatians (Mohr Siebeck, 2022).
Frymer-Kensky, Reading the Women of the Bible, 226. Similarly, Trible, Texts of Terror, 10.
As Frymer-Kensky, Reading the Women of the Bible, 229, notes, Abram’s use of the phrase עֲשִׂי לָהּ הַטּוֹב בְּעֵינָיִךְ, asi lah hatov be’enayikh, “do what is best in your eyes,” is the equivalent of Abram washing his hands of the matter. He is giving Sarai the freedom to handle the matter however she sees fit and will not interfere.
The verb used here, ע.נ.ה/י, ’.n.h/y, in the pi’el (inah) means to humble, abuse, debase, or afflict. Editor’s note: For a discussion of the range of inah, see Shawna Dolansky, “The Debasement of Dinah,” TheTorah (2015).
The text doesn’t tell us what Sarah did to “humble” Hagar. Genesis Rabbah provides some suggestions:
בראשית רבה מה:ו וַתְּעַנֶּהָ שָׂרַי וַתִּבְרַח מִפָּנֶיהָ, רַבִּי אַבָּא בַּר כַּהֲנָא אָמַר מְנָעַתָּהּ מִתַּשְׁמִישׁ הַמִּטָּה. רַבִּי בֶּרֶכְיָה אָמַר טְפָחַתָּהּ בְּקוֹרְדִּקַיָסוֹן עַל פָּנֶיהָ. רַבִּי בֶּרֶכְיָה בְּשֵׁם רַבִּי אַבָּא בַּר כַּהֲנָא דְּלָיִים וּפַנְדִּיּוֹת הוֹלִיכָה לָהּ לַמֶּרְחָץ.
Gen Rab 45:6 “Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her”—Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: She prevented her from engaging in conjugal relations. Rabbi Berekhya said: She hit her in the face with a slipper. Rabbi Berekhya in the name of Rabbi Abba bar Kahana: She made her take buckets and towels to the bathhouse for her.
Edward L. Greenstein, “Hagar: The Only Female Fugitive Hero,” TheTorah (2025), has shown that the story of Hagar’s flight into the wilderness (Gen 16) corresponds to several other ancient Near Eastern stories that depict male heroes fleeing from oppression because of a political or personal crisis. Jacob, Joseph, Moses and David are some of the prominent biblical examples. Greenstein observes that these stories follow a certain pattern consisting of fourteen steps. All points of the pattern apply to the flight of Hagar with the exception that she does not encounter humans who help her and does not end up marrying the host’s daughter, a feature that does not work with a female hero.
See Frymer-Kensky, Reading the Women of the Bible, 228–229.
Readers know that the fate of the Levite’s concubine, when she is later handed over to the mob, is sealed. Hagar’s fate could have been sealed as well, since she could not depend on Sarai’s mercy or Abram’s taking control of his wife. Hagar’s story, however, ends on a much more positive note. God’s Abraham-like promise to her and God’s control of Israel’s destiny ensure her survival while the story of the women in the book of Judges is intended to show how things deteriorate when there is no king in Israel.
Editor’s note: For more on this episode between Hagar and the angel and its significance, see Shai Held, “Hagar: An Egyptian Maidservant’s Suffering Is Seen by YHWH,” TheTorah (2021).
Editor’s note: For more on this episode and how interpreters have dealt with it, see Rachel Adelman, “The Expulsion of Ishmael: Who Is Being Tried?” TheTorah (2016).
Sarah is taken into sexual slavery twice. She becomes Pharaoh’s concubine in Genesis 12, and she is taken into Abimelech’s harem in Genesis 20. See Frymer-Kensky, Reading the Women of the Bible, 232. The two may also have shared the experience of feeling agonizing grief and powerlessness when they believed their beloved son’s death was imminent. The narrative in Genesis 22 does not tell us how Sarah felt about Abraham’s plan to sacrifice Isaac at God’s command, but many commentators have noted that her death immediately follows the incident. Editor’s note: See Jason Kalman, “Sarah’s Response to the Binding of Isaac in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam,” TheTorah (2025).
Jessica Grimes, “Reinterpreting Hagar’s Story,” lectio difficilior 1 (2004): 6.
Hagar is ancestress to twelve tribes through Ishmael (Gen 25:12–16), and Abraham through his grandson Jacob.
Abraham casts Hagar and Ishmael out into the wilderness with nothing more than some bread and a skin of water (Gen 21:14). Sarah is not even mentioned in the Akedah narrative (Gen 22:1–19).
The name Hagar gives God can be rendered various ways. Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis, JPS Torah Commentary (Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 121, comments: “The vocalization…occasions a marvelous ambiguity that permits the following translations of the name: ‘God of seeing,’ that is, the all-seeing God; ‘God of my seeing,’ that is, whom I have seen; ‘God who sees me.’ Most likely, the several meanings are intended to be apprehended simultaneously. When God ‘sees,’ it is, of course, that He shows His concern and extends His protection; when Hagar ‘sees,’ she experiences God’s self-manifestation.”
Hagar makes this exclamation after her encounter with the angel by a spring after her flight into the wilderness (Gen 16:6). The angel instructs her to return and submit to Sarah’s abuse (Gen 16:7–9), while assuring her that her line will thrive, and that God has heeded her suffering, and her son, who will be called Ishmael (יִשְׁמָעֵאל, “God hears” or “God heeds”) will be free (vv. 11–12).
See, among others, Ulrike Bechmann, “Nicht ohne Hagar!” [Not Without Hagar!], Blätter Abrahams 25 (2023): 79–96. Bechmann, 81, summarizes: “Hagar ist das weibliche Pendant zu Abrahams Verheißungen, mit eigener Würde und Wertung (Hagar is the female counterpart to Abraham’s promises, possessing her own dignity and standing).”
Hagar in Gen 16:7 and again in Gen 21:17–19; Moses by Mt. Horeb in Exod 3–4.
Moses is told the name that God chose, “YHWH” (Exod 3:13–15). Hagar gives God a new name, “El Roi” (Gen 16:13), and is thus the only person in the Bible who “calls the name of God,” rather than “calling upon the name of God.” See Trible, Texts of Terror, 17–18.
Hagar is instructed to return to Sarah in Gen 16:9; Moses is instructed to return to Egypt and confront Pharaoh in Exod 3:10.
Thomas B. Dozeman, “The Wilderness and Salvation History in the Hagar Story,” Journal of Biblical Literature 117.1 (1998): 23–43 [p. 33].
Exod 12:39 and Exod 14:5.
The same verb, inah, is later used to describe the affliction under slavery experienced under Pharaoh by the Israelites in Exod 1:11–12 and Deut 26; see Frymer-Kensky, Reading the Women of the Bible, 233. Editor’s note: See also the discussion in Held, “Hagar: An Egyptian Maidservant’s Suffering Is Seen by YHWH.”
Hagar in Gen 21:17–20, and Israel in Exod 15–18.
Frymer-Kensky, Reading the Women of the Bible, 233 and 236. See also Trible, Texts of Terror, 13, who refers to Hagar as “the precursor of Israel’s plight under Pharaoh.” Yet while Hagar, like Israel, flees (barach) from those who afflict (inah) her, “no deity comes to deliver her from bondage and oppression; nor does she beseech one. Instead, this tortured female claims her own exodus.”
In fact, any biblical story that might be labeled “etiological” utilizes this literary technique, using stories about individuals to explain something too vast to narrate directly. These personal stories, then, function as a window through which larger issues can be explored and understood.
Bechmann, “Nicht ohne Hagar!” 81.
Frymer-Kensky, Reading the Women of the Bible, 237.
Hagar’s story has been discussed in many African, African American, and womanist interpretations of the Bible. As just one of many examples, see the recent book by Nyasha Junior, Reimagining Hagar: Blackness and Bible (Oxford University Press, 2019). Oppressed peoples from all walks of life see her story as one that gives them hope. Throughout time, she has also inspired composers, visual artists and writers. These interpretive traditions are too many to recount within the scope of this article, which is why only a few examples from Jewish tradition are mentioned here.
See Carol Bakhos, The Family of Abraham: Jewish, Christian and Muslim Interpretations (Harvard University Press, 2014).
Given to Abram by Pharaoh:
בראשית רבה מה:א רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן יוֹחָאי הָגָר בִּתּוֹ שֶׁל פַּרְעֹה הָיְתָה, וְכֵיוָן שֶׁרָאָה פַּרְעֹה מַעֲשִׂים שֶׁנַּעֲשׂוּ לְשָׂרָה בְּבֵיתוֹ, נָטַל בִּתּוֹ וּנְתָנָהּ לוֹ, אָמַר מוּטָב שֶׁתְּהֵא בִּתִּי שִׁפְחָה בְּבַיִת זֶה וְלֹא גְבִירָה בְּבַיִת אַחֵר.
Gen Rab 45:1 Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai said: Hagar was Pharaoh’s daughter. When Pharaoh saw the [miraculous] acts that were done on Sarah’s behalf in his palace, he took his daughter and gave her to him [Abraham]. He said: “It is preferable that my daughter be a maidservant in that household than be the mistress in another household.”
Similarly, the ca. 8th–9th century C.E. midrash compilation, Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, 26.
Genesis Rabbah 61:4 implies that Hagar converted to Abraham’s religion when she became part of his household.
Genesis Rabbah 45:7.
The identification of Keturah with Hagar is the subject of some debate in this midrash. In Midrash Tanchuma, Chayei Sarah 9, Buber edition, Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi also suggests that the two are the same. For more on the identification of Keturah with Hagar, see Tamar Kadari, “Hagar: Midrash and Aggadah,” Jewish Women’s Archive. Editor’s note: See also Zev Farber and David D. Steinberg, “Our Stepmother Keturah,” TheTorah (2013).
Editor’s note: For more on this, see Noam Zion, “Reconciling Hagar and Sarah: Feminist Midrash and National Conflict,” TheTorah (2019).
Those Hagar has inspired include early Jewish, Christian, and Islamic thinkers, liturgists, poets, and visual artists. For references, see, among others, Phyllis Trible and Letty M. Russell, eds., Hagar, Sarah, and Their Children: Jewish, Christian and Muslim Perspectives (Westminster John Knox Press, 2006).
See Zion, “Reconciling Hagar and Sarah: Feminist Midrash and National Conflict.”
The poem “Kin” by Mohja Kahf and the painting Beloved (Sarah and Hagar) by Siona Benjamin can both be accessed in Victoria Emily Jones, “Sarah and Hagar as Kin,” Art and Theology (blog), June 5, 2021.
Frymer-Kensky, Reading the Women of the Bible, 354.
