I found the discussion of Hagar to be a lot less uncomfortable than I expected. Of course, the idea of being enslaved, raped, and cast out into the wilderness is scarring, to say the least, but the other parts of this story give Hagar’s life a more positive meaning than those who mistreated her. Even though her baby’s conception was likely traumatic for her, she did mother a central figure of three religions. She is credited with being a powerful mother, one who finally got to form an identity besides being Sarah’s slave. Her life wasn’t perfect or even bearable at times, but she is a very important part of the rest of history, and in a spiritual sense, faith in the way we see it today. Without her role in the Bible, whether a fable or extension of true fact, the Ishmaelites and the subsequent commentary about them wouldn’t exist in the same way.
Some other interesting ideas presented in the discussion made me think about gender in the early days of the Bible. Hagar was obviously treated with disrespect, including abuse and rape that men would have been protected from in the Hebrew texts, but the fact that Sarah owned her made me think. It is Sarah, not Abraham, that owns her. This is different from the patriarchal perspective I expected the early families to have. Women still faced many obstacles in Genesis and subsequent books, but this was an intriguing anomaly to me.
Overall, the Hagar, Abraham, and Sarah story raises important dichotomies between religions, societal expectations, and how God uses his Chosen People.