HAGAR

Seen by God in the Wilderness

A Daughter of the Covenant Who Named God

Hagar’s story stands at the crossroads of promise, pain, and divine encounter. She enters Scripture not as a matriarch by choice, but as a woman pressed into history by the decisions of others. An Egyptian servant in the household of Abram and Sarai, Hagar’s life was shaped by power structures she did not create—yet her destiny was shaped by a God who refused to overlook her.

Hagar represents millions: the unseen, the displaced, the exploited, and the silenced. Yet Scripture reveals that God not only saw her—He met her, spoke to her, and entrusted her with a promise that would echo through generations.

Hagar’s Entrance Into the Covenant Story

Hagar appears in Genesis 16, during a moment of impatience and fear within Abram and Sarai’s household. God had promised Abram descendants as numerous as the stars, yet years passed with no child.

In their attempt to “help” God fulfill His promise, Sarai offered Hagar to Abram:

“Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid…”
— Genesis 16:2

This decision permanently altered Hagar’s life.

She conceived, and with conception came tension, jealousy, and abuse. Scripture tells us plainly:

“And Sarai dealt hardly with her, and she fled from her face.”
— Genesis 16:6

Hagar did not leave out of rebellion.
She fled for survival.

The God Who Finds the Forgotten

Hagar’s flight carried her into the wilderness—a place of danger, isolation, and uncertainty. It is here, at a spring of water, that one of the most astonishing encounters in Scripture occurs:

“And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness…”
— Genesis 16:7

This moment reshapes biblical theology.

Hagar is:

a foreign woman
a servant
pregnant
alone

Yet God finds her.

This is the first recorded instance in Scripture of the Angel of the LORD seeking out a woman in distress. God initiates the encounter. God speaks first. God acknowledges her pain.

“Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go?”
— Genesis 16:8

God does not ignore her suffering, nor does He erase it. Instead, He gives her instruction, promise, and hope.

The First Wilderness Annunciation

Hagar receives what no woman before her had received: a direct divine announcement regarding her unborn child.

“Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.”
— Genesis 16:11

Ishmael means “God hears.”

Before Isaac.
Before Sinai.
Before the Law.

God declares that He hears the cries of the oppressed.

God promises Hagar that her son will become a great nation:

“I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.”
— Genesis 16:10

This is covenant language.

Hagar is not excluded from God’s redemptive plan. She is included by divine declaration.

The Woman Who Named God

Hagar responds in a way unmatched anywhere else in Scripture:

“And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me.”
— Genesis 16:13

This is revolutionary.

Hagar becomes the only person in the Bible who gives God a name.

El Roi — The God Who Sees Me.

Not the God of armies.
Not the God of thrones.
Not the God of covenant law.

But the God who sees a pregnant, fleeing, abused woman in the wilderness.

She names the place Beer-lahai-roi—“the well of the Living One who sees me.”

Her theology is born from experience, not privilege.

Exile Does Not Mean Abandonment

Hagar’s story does not end with restoration to comfort. Years later, after Isaac’s birth, tension rises again. Sarah demands that Hagar and Ishmael be sent away.

“Cast out this bondwoman and her son…”
— Genesis 21:10

Hagar is exiled a second time—this time with a child.

When the water runs out, she places Ishmael under a shrub and turns away, unable to watch him die:

“Let me not see the death of the child.”
— Genesis 21:16

But God hears again.

“And God heard the voice of the lad…”
— Genesis 21:17

God opens her eyes to a well that is already there.

Provision was there all along—waiting to be seen.

Hagar as a Mother of Nations

Scripture affirms that God was with Ishmael:

“And God was with the lad; and he grew…”
— Genesis 21:20

Hagar’s son becomes the father of twelve princes (Genesis 25:12–16). Nations rise from her lineage. History moves forward because God keeps promises—even to those cast aside by others.

Hagar stands as a matriarch of endurance, survival, and divine faithfulness.

Why Hagar Matters Today

Hagar speaks directly to the modern world:

To women navigating systems that use them
To those displaced by power and politics
To immigrants, survivors, and the unseen
To anyone who told their pain is collateral damage

Hagar declares:
God sees you.
God hears you.
God meets you in the wilderness.

She is not a mistake in the story.
She is a revelation of God’s character.

A Daughter of the Covenant

Hagar did not inherit the covenant by marriage or status.
She encountered covenant through divine compassion.

Her life teaches us that God’s covenant reaches beyond boundaries, ethnicity, and human hierarchies.

Hagar is a Daughter of the Covenant because God chose to see her.

And because of her, the world learned a new name for God.