Hagar Hagar was the Egyptian servant of Sarai, Abram’s wife. When God commanded Abram to leave Mesopotamia, he promised him a multitude of descendants who would be given a new land (Gen 12:2, 7). After ten childless years in Canaan, Sarai followed a customary Mesopotamian practice by giving Hagar to Abram as his concubine; any son born of the union of husband and concubine was considered the wife’s child (cp. 30:1-8). Hagar got pregnant and became disrespectful to Sarai during her pregnancy. Sarai responded by dealing harshly with her, and Hagar fled into the desert (16:4-6). The angel of the Lord appeared to her at a desert well, telling her to return to Abram’s house and submit to Sarai. Hagar bore a son, Ishmael, when Abram was eighty-six years old (16:1-16). Fourteen years later, God gave Abraham and Sarah their promised son, Isaac. When Isaac was weaned (at about three years), a traditional feast was held. At this event, Ishmael mocked Isaac (21:9), so Sarah insisted that Abraham send Hagar and Ishmael away. God affirmed this action (21:12), so Hagar and Ishmael were sent away to wander in the wilderness of Beersheba. When their water was gone, God miraculously res...

Ishmael Ishmael was Abraham’s first son, born of Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian servant. The boy was born near Hebron when Abraham was eighty-six years old (Gen 13:18; 16:16). God had promised to make a great nation of the childless Abraham (12:2) and assured him that he would have a son to be his heir (15:4). Ishmael was born in Abraham’s attempt to fulfill God’s promise by human means (see 16:1-16; Gal 4:23), but God would nevertheless accomplish his purposes through Sarah (see Gen 17:15–18:15; 21:1-7). When God announced that Sarah would have a son to fulfill the promise (17:15-16), Abraham asked God to accept Ishmael (17:17-18). Ishmael was not the promised son—the covenant would be established with Isaac (17:19)—but God did bless Ishmael and make him the father of a great nation (17:20-21). At age thirteen, Ishmael was circumcised in accordance with God’s covenant with Abraham (17:9-14, 23-27). Later, at Isaac’s weaning celebration (when Ishmael was about seventeen), Ishmael made fun of Isaac (21:9), and Abraham sent Ishmael and Hagar away with provisions. The angel of God helped Hagar survive in the wilderness, and Ishmael became a wild game hunter. He settled in the wilder...

Abraham “By faith . . . Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land. . . . He went without knowing where he was going. . . . By faith . . . Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him” (Heb 11:8, 17). These key events in Abraham’s life illustrate the faithful obedience for which he is best known. God called Abram from the city of Ur to become the patriarch of God’s people. Abram’s family relationships are recorded in Genesis 11:26-32. Terah had three sons: Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Terah left Ur with Abram, Abram’s wife Sarai, and Lot, whose father, Haran, had died. On his way to Canaan, Terah settled in the city of Haran (11:31). God had called Abram to a new land while he was still in Ur (Acts 7:2-4). God told Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you” (Gen 12:1). God blessed Abram by making a covenant with him that included promises of great blessing, numerous descendants, and a new land (12:1-3). These promises later saved Israel from destruction when they repeatedly failed to keep their covenant with God (see Lev 26:40-45). Abram left Haran at age se...