The Definition of the word Hagar

Hagar

Flight, or, according to others, stranger, an Egyptian, Sarah's "handmaid (Gen. 16:1; 21:9, 10), whom she gave to Abraham (q.v.)" as a secondary wife (16:2). When she was about to become a "mother she fled from the cruelty of her mistress, intending" "apparently to return to her relatives in Egypt, through the" "desert of Shur, which lay between. Wearied and worn she had" reached the place she distinguished by the name of "Beer-lahai-roi ("the well of the visible God"), where the angel" of the Lord appeared to her. In obedience to the heavenly "visitor she returned to the tent of Abraham, where her son" "Ishmael was born, and where she remained (16) till after the" "birth of Isaac, the space of fourteen years. Sarah after this" began to vent her dissatisfaction both on Hagar and her child. "Ishmael's conduct was insulting to Sarah, and she insisted that" he and his mother should be dismissed. This was accordingly "done, although with reluctance on the part of Abraham (Gen." "21:14). They wandered out into the wilderness, where Ishmael," "exhausted with his journey and faint from thirst, seemed about" "to die. Hagar "lifted up her voice and wept," and the angel of" "the Lord, as before, appeared unto her, and she was comforted" "and delivered out of her distresses (Gen. 21:18, 19)." "Ishmael afterwards established himself in the wilderness of "Paran, where he married an Egyptian (Gen. 21:20, 21)." "Hagar allegorically represents the Jewish church (Gal. 4:24), "in bondage to the ceremonial law; while "Sarah" represents the" "Christian church, which is free."