Collection: Hagar and Angel

Artist: Pieter Lastman – c. 1614

Hagar was an Egyptian girl and the servant of Sarah, Abraham’s wife. The childless Sarah gave Hagar to the 85-year-old Abraham as a concubine, so that she could have her husband’s child through her maid. Hagar treated Sarah with insolence when she became pregnant. Sarah complained to Abraham, who told her that Hagar was her slave. Therefore, she could do with her whatever she wanted. Sarah treated Hagar so harshly that the maid ran away to the desert.

An angel met Hagar at a spring and told her to return to Sarah, prophesying that Hagar would have a son whom she would name Ishmael and that her descendants would be without number. Hagar returned and, in due course, gave birth to Ishmael. Fourteen years later, when Abraham was 100 years old, Sarah gave birth to a son, who was named Isaac.