HA'GAR. According to the Book of Genesis, handmaid of Sarah, concubine of Abraham, and mother of Ishmael. The narrative (Gen. chs. xvi. and xxi.), when critically analyzed, is shown to be composed of two sources which have been combined, and now runs as follows: Sarah, having remained barren up to an advanced age, gave Hagar to Abraham fol. a concubine after he had been in Canaan ten years, in the hope of estab lishing a family of her own ( Gen. xvi. 1-3; cf. Gen. xxx. 3-9). Afterwards she repented of her action and treated Hagar cruelly, so that Hagar fled into the desert, but returned on being comforted by an angel of the Lord, and bore Abraham a son who was called Ishmael (q.v.). After the birth of Isaac Sarah urged Abraham to drive Hagar and Ishmael away, and, though reluctant to do so. the patriarch at God's command com plied. The bondwoman and her son went again into the desert. where they were almost spent with famine when an angel of God appeared and prophesied greatness for Ishmael, and God showed Hagar a well of water (Gen. xxi. 1-21). This story of the relationship of Hagar to Sarah, of the birth of Ishmael, of Sarah's treatment of Hagar and her son, and of the final dismissal of the pair, is an admirable illustration of the man ner .in which tribal conditions -are portrayed under the guise of history. Hagar personifies a tribe that at one time stood in close relationship to some of the Hebrew clans. Rivalry ensued, and the result was a separation, which is pictured as a dismissal on the part of the clan regarding itself as the superior. Interpreted in this way, the various features of it become clear. The opposition between Israelites and Ishmaelites leads the Hebrew writers to so construct genealog ical traditions as to make Ishmael the son of the `handmaid,' whereas Isaac is the offspring of the real wife, Sarai. As a justification for the
separation of two nations having so much in com mon as Israel and Ishmael, it is represented (1) that Hagar, though the inferior, attempted to gain the supremacy, and (2) that Ishmael, the 'inferior' offspring, failed to recognize the superiority of Isaac. The separation, which no doubt was voluntary on the part of the Ishmael ites, is, therefore, portrayed as a deliberate act of dismissal on the part of Abraham, in whom the genealogical traditions of Hebrews and Arabs are thus made to unite.
The story of Hagar and Ishmael was well adapted for homiletical and allegorical elabora tion, and hence both in the New Testament and in Rabbinical literature the subject is frequently in troduced. Hagar is contrasted with Sarah al legorically by Saint Paul (Gal. iv. 22 sqq.), who makes Hagar, the bondwoman, represent the earthly Jerusalem, Sarah, who is free, the heaven ly, and contrasts Ishmael and Isaac in a similar way. A Jewish tradition identifies Hagar with Abraham's second wife, Keturah (Gen. xxv. 1), and another makes her the daughter of Pharaoh. The Mohammedans look upon Hagar as Abra ham's true wife and upon Ishmael as the favorite son. Consult: The commentaries on Genesis by Dillmann, Gunkel, Holzinger, and Delitzsch, and for further amplification of the Hagar-Ishmael tradition in Jewish and Mohammedan writings, GrOnbaum, Neue Beitriige zur semitischen Sagen kunde (Berlin, 1901) ; Beer, Das Leben Abra hams nach Auffassung der jildischen Sage (Leip zig, 1859) ; Weil, Biblical Legends of the Mussel mans (trans., London, 1846).