Hagar and the Birth of a Nation
Genesis 16:1-16, 21:1-21

Reading time about six and a half minutes.

Reader one: Last week, in the grand saga of Sarah and Abraham, we heard two stories of how Sarah learned that she was going to give birth to a child. Sarah and Abraham laughed at the very idea, because he was already 100 years old and Sarah herself was 90. Because they laughed, the baby was named Isaac, which means “Laughter.”

Reader two: But there was an ominous note at the end of our story last week. What was wonderful news for Sarah turned out to be terrible news for Hagar, (HAY-gar) Sarah’s slave girl.

Reader one: We need just a bit of background to understand today’s story. Slavery was the accepted practice in that culture, several thousand years ago. Nobody questioned it.

Reader two: And nobody would have thought that Sarah was a terrible person for what she did to Hagar, nor would they have thought that Abraham was a wimp for letting her do it. Hagar was Sarah’s property. Sarah was doing what the number one wife should do.
We don’t like that. Nowadays, Sarah and Abraham’s actions would be considered criminal. But in those days, that’s just the way things were.

Reader one: Last week, we ended with Sarah finding out she was going to have a baby. This week, we need to back-peddle just a bit. Back to the time when Sarah had given up all hope of ever becoming pregnant.

Reader two: Here’s the story in the book of Genesis, in the Bible.

(SLIGHT PAUSE)

Reader one: Now Sarah, Abraham's wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian slave-girl whose name was Hagar. Sarah spoke to Abraham:

Reader two: "You see that the Lord has prevented me from bearing children; go in to my slave-girl; it may be that I shall obtain children by her."

Reader one: So Sarah took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave-girl, and gave her to her husband Abraham as a wife. He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. Then Sarah said to Abraham:

Reader two: "May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my slave-girl to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!"

Reader one: "Sarah, your slave-girl is in your power. Do to her as you please."

Reader two: Then Sarah dealt harshly with Hagar, and she ran away from her. The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness. And the angel spoke to Hagar.

Reader one: "Hagar, slave-girl of Sarah, where have you come from and where are you going?"

Reader two: "I am running away from my mistress, Sarah."

Reader one: "Return to your mistress, and submit to her. And Hagar, I will so greatly multiply your offspring that they cannot be counted for multitude. Now you have conceived and shall bear a son; you shall call him Ishmael, for the Lord has given heed to your affliction. He shall be a wild ass of a man, with his hand against everyone, and everyone's hand against him; and he shall live at odds with all his kin."

Reader two: So Hagar bore Abraham a son; and Abraham named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. Abraham was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

(SLIGHT PAUSE)

Reader one: As they say in the old melodramas, “the plot thickens.” Hagar has given birth to a boy named Ishmael, so that he can father a nation for Abraham, and this because Sarah is barren.
But then Sarah gets pregnant, and now Abraham as two sons. Let’s pick up the story in the Bible.

(SLIGHT PAUSE)

Reader two: The Lord did for Sarah as promised. Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

Reader one: This is what Sarah said:

Reader two: "God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me. Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."

Reader one: The child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. So she said to Abraham:

Reader two: "Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac."

Reader one: The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. But God said to Abraham:

Reader two: "Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you. As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring."

Reader one: So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.

Reader two: When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot

Reader one: "Do not let me look on the death of the child."

Reader two: And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her;

Reader one: "What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him."

Reader two: Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink. God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

(SLIGHT PAUSE)

Reader one: And that is the legend of the founding of two great peoples: The people of the Arab world see themselves as descendants of Abraham through Ishmael. Jewish people see themselves as descendants of Abraham through Isaac.

NOTE: The above is written in the style of “Reader’s Theatre,” a very simple but effective way of presenting the biblical story that can be done in any church, large or small. For more information about how to do Reader’s Theatre, click on this link.

Note: You have permission to use this in any worship service. No credit line is required, though it would be nice if you put in something like, “A Readers’ Theatre presentation of the Story-Lectionary.com project.”

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