Torah Mosheh 1:
Beresheet / בראשית
Genesis Chapter 16
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16:1
Now Sarai (שׂרי) Avram (אברם)'s wife had
bore him no children: and she had an
handmaid, an Mitzrites, whose name [was] Hagar (הגר).
16:2
And Sarai (שׂרי) said unto Avram (אברם):
"Hinnei now, YHWH (יהוה) hath
restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it
may be that I may obtain children by her. And Avram (אברם) hearkened
to the voice of Sarai (שׂרי).
16:3
And Sarai (שׂרי) Avram (אברם)'s wife took Hagar (הגר) her maid the Mitzrites,
after Avram (אברם) had dwelt ten years in eretz Kenaan, and gave
her to her husband Avram (אברם) to be his wife.
16:4
And he went in unto Hagar (הגר), and she conceived: and when she
saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her
eyes.
16:5
And Sarai (שׂרי) said unto Avram (אברם):
"My wrong [be] upon thee: I have
given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had
conceived, I was despised in her eyes: YHWH (יהוה) judge between
me and thee."
16:6
But Avram (אברם) said unto Sarai (שׂרי), Hinnei, thy maid [is] in thy
hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai (שׂרי) dealt
hardly with her, she fled from her face.
16:7
And the malak (מלאך) YHWH (יהוה) found her by a fountain of mayim
in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.
16:8
And he said, Hagar (הגר), Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? and
whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my
mistress Sarai (שׂרי).
16:9
And the malak (מלאך) YHWH (יהוה) said unto her, Return to thy
mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.
16:10
And the malak (מלאך) YHWH (יהוה) said unto her, I will multiply
thy zera (descendants) exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for
multitude.
16:11
And the malak (מלאך) YHWH (יהוה) said unto her, Hinnei, thou
[art] with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name
Yishma'el (ישׁמעאל); because YHWH (יהוה) hath heard thy affliction.
16:12
And he will be a wild man; his hand [will be] against
every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell
in the presence of all his brethren.
16:13
And she called the Name of YHWH (יהוה) that spake unto her,
Thou Elohim (אלהים) seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after
him that seeth me?
16:14
Wherefore the well was called Be'er LaChai Roi (בּאר לחי ראי) ; Hinnei, [it
is] between Kadesh and Bered.
16:15
And Hagar (הגר) bare Avram (אברם) a son: and Avram (אברם) called his son's
name, which Hagar (הגר) bore, Yishma'el (ישׁמעאל).
16:16
And Avram (אברם) [was] eighty and six years old, when Hagar (הגר)
bore Yishma'el (ישׁמעאל) to Avram (אברם).
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בּאר לחי ראי Beer Lachai Roi “well of the living One
that sees me,” a place in the desert: - Beer-lahai-roi (3).
There were three accounts of this place
being mention:
Beresheet 16:14; Hagar ran
away from Sarah Beresheet 24:62
(Yitzchak came from the way of Beerlahairoi after the Akidah) and Beresheet
25:11 after death of Avraham Yitzchak dwelt by Beerlahairoi
Hagar was the daughter of Pharoah
bar Nimrod (Targum). When
Avraham and Sarah went to Egypt, their teachings about G-d and His Laws
made such an impact on the people that Pharoah said, “It is better for
Hagar that she be a servant in this house than a mistress of her own!”
Hagar was taken in by Sarah, which is a testimony to her great piety
and holiness, as another princess, Timnah, who said the same thing, was
turned away because of her character deficiencies. Sarah loved Hagar
very much and treated her as her own daughter.
Avraham and Sarah had no children. Avraham, because he loved Sarah,
refused to take another wife even after Sarah went through menopause.
Sarah convinced Avraham to marry Hagar so that the family of Avraham
could be built up through Hagar.
Hagar bore Avraham a son, Yishmael, whom Avraham loved very much.
Avraham prayed for Yishmael and G-d blessed him. However, Yishmael was
wild as a youth. Therefore he and his mother were exiled for several
years while Avraham lived in the land of the Pelistim. YYishmael and
Hagar were tended by angels (another testimont of their great
holiness). Yishmael repented and came back to his father sometime before
the Binding of Yitzchak (akiedah). After the akiedah, Sarah died. Then
Yitzchak went and sought out Hagar, who had never remarried, and brought
her back to his father. She was renamed Keturah (Incense: because her
deeds had become as pleasing as keturot) and lived the rest of her life
piously. She bore Avraham six more sons. Both Keturah and Yishmael died
righteous.
And Hagar praised and prayed in the name of the Word [Memra] Of YHWH who had revealed Himself to her…
(Jerusalem Targum Gen. 16:3)
Of this very incident Philo writes:
But Hagar flees out of shame. And a proof of this is, that the angel,
that is the WORD of God, met her, with the intent to recommend her what
she ought to do, and to guide her in her return to her mistress's
house. For he encouraged her, and said unto her: "The Lord has heard
the cry of thy humiliation," which you uttered, not out of fear, nor
yet out of hatred. For the one is the feeling of an ignoble soul, and
the other of one which loves contention, but under the influence of
that copy of temperance and modesty, shame.
(On Flight and Finding (5))