Genesis 16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. ² So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal. ³ So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.) ⁴ So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt. ⁵ Then Sarai said to Abram, “This is all your fault! I put my servant into your arms, but now that she’s pregnant she treats me with contempt. The Lord will show who’s wrong—you or me!” ⁶ Abram replied, “Look, she is your servant, so deal with her as you see fit.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away.

⁷ The angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness, along the road to Shur. ⁸ The angel said to her, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I’m running away from my mistress, Sarai,” she replied. ⁹ The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her authority.” ¹⁰ Then he added, “I will give you more descendants than you can count.” ¹¹ And the angel also said, “You are now pregnant and will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael (which means ‘God hears’), for the Lord has heard your cry of distress. ¹² This son of yours will be a wild man, as untamed as a wild donkey! He will raise his fist against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live in open hostility against all his relatives.”

¹³ Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me.” She also said, “Have I truly seen the One who sees me?” ¹⁴ So that well was named Beer-lahai-roi (which means “well of the Living One who sees me”). It can still be found between Kadesh and Bered. ¹⁵ So Hagar gave Abram a son, and Abram named him Ishmael. ¹⁶ Abram was eighty-six years old when Ishmael was born.

 

why do we think God sent hagar back to sarah... who was treating her badly....

this was not hagar's fault.. she was used like a possession to sleep with the husband of her slave master... then the child she carried and delivered was to be given to the master... so sarah.. gets mad at abraham.. because the slave is no longer acting like a slave because she slept with the owner's husband and is now carrying his heir... abraham... doesn't give too much backbone in any of this.. he sleeps with the slave.. then tells the wife to go ahead and treat her bad if that is what she wants to do...

 

hagar runs away.... God finds her and sends her back.. telling her to return and submit to the authority over her.... then He gives her a blessing over her unborn child and tells her what his name is to be...  she goes back... apparently sarah didn't actually raise the child as her own because after she has isaac.. then she wants them sent away... which no backbone abraham does... losing contact with his own son... I also would wonder how long sarah lived after isaacs death (I think it is 40years) because later in the bible ishmael and isaac are together burying their father.. I wonder if he came back to the household after sarah's death...

 

I think God often will keep us in an uncomfortable situation because these are the things that change us and mold us into better people.. if we allow them... I think too that hagar was wrong in treating sarah with contempt...even though it was understandable... it was still wrong.. so God sent her back and told her to submit to her owner... God also let her know that He heard her.. that He cared about her troubles.. even if He was not ready to get her out of it... she gains personal relationship with God through this situation... while we don't like to think of it like that.. all God is really concerned about it saving lives... and hagar's life was saved through sarah and abraham's distrust of Him and His promises... they tried to do things the way of the world... which I am a witness that you cannot do a God thing a worldly way... then you go back to the waiting room... (insert long long sigh...) God's promises still hold true in the end though.. thanking God for that!

 

it is uncomfortable for us to think of God accepting and keeping people in the position of being a slave... yet throughout the bible it is done over and over.. He sent His own people into slavery for 70years so they would come back to knowing who He is...

 

I don't really have answers... just questions and thoughts about the questions...