Abraham had accepted without question the promise of a son, but he did not wait for God to fulfill His word in His own time and way. A delay was permitted, to test his faith in the power of God; but he failed to endure the trial. Thinking it impossible that a child should be given her in her old age, Sarah suggested, as a plan by which the divine purpose might be fulfilled, that one of her handmaidens should be taken by Abraham as a secondary wife. Polygamy had become so widespread that it had ceased to be regarded as a sin, but it was no less a violation of the law of God, and was fatal to the sacredness and peace of the family relation. Abraham’s marriage with Hagar resulted in evil, not only to his own household, but to future generations.
(PP 145.1)
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Flattered with the honor of her new position as Abraham’s wife, and hoping to be the mother of the great nation to descend from him, Hagar became proud and boastful, and treated her mistress with contempt. Mutual jealousies disturbed the peace of the once happy home. Forced to listen to the complaints of both, Abraham vainly endeavored to restore harmony. Though it was at Sarah’s earnest entreaty that he had married Hagar, she now reproached him as the one at fault. She desired to banish her rival; but Abraham refused to permit this; for Hagar was to be the mother of his child, as he fondly hoped, the son of promise. She was Sarah’s servant, however, and he still left her to the control of her mistress. Hagar’s haughty spirit would not brook the harshness which her insolence had provoked. “When Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.”Genesis 16:6-13.
(PP 145.2)
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She made her way to the desert, and as she rested beside a fountain, lonely and friendless, an angel of the Lord, in human form, appeared to her. Addressing her as “Hagar, Sarai’s maid,”(Genesis 16:8) to remind her of her position and her duty, he bade her, “Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.”Genesis 16:9. Yet with the reproof there were mingled words of comfort. “The Lord hath heard thy affliction.”(Genesis 16:11) “I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.”Genesis 16:10. And as a perpetual reminder of His mercy, she was bidden to call her child Ishmael, “God shall hear.”
(PP 145.3)
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