Was Hagar Abraham's wife or his concubine?

The first part of the chapter, comprehended in these verses, gives us the closing scenes of Abraham's eventful and instructive history. The Jewish tradition which identifies Keturah with Hagar is not only without proof but set aside by verse 6, which speaks of "the sons of the concubines which Abraham had;" and as Hagar was one, so Keturah was the other, not (as I think) to imply that she filled this relation during any part of Sarah's life, but rather to affirm her inferiority of place. Keturah is expressly called Abraham's "concubine" in 1 Chronicles 1:32; as Hagar, on the other hand, is styled his "wife" in Genesis 16:3. Nor need we revert to the Gentile difficulty, that sons were begotten of Abraham after Sarah's death, which has induced not a few of old as now* to believe that Abraham took Keturah during Sarah's life-time, and that the whole paragraph, if not chapter, is placed out of its chronological sequence in order not to break the main narrative. Proof of this is wanting, as the whole paragraph flows naturally, after Rebekah's marriage with Isaac, up to the several portions of the sons, as distinguished from the heir, and the death of the patriarch which was severed from Sarah's by at least thirty-seven years.

Though Abram was a man of faith, Sarai his wife had not borne children, and she weakened his faith by making a mere fleshly suggestion that he should use Sarai's bondmaid, Hagar, by whom to bear a child for Sarai (v. 2). Abram's experience with the Lord in Genesis 15 ought to have strengthened him to realize that God's promise was sure even though they had had to wait so long for its fulfillment. As to the fulfilling of the promise, Abram did not have to resort to a means, not only merely human, but morally wrong. But he listened to the voice of Sarai rather than undividedly listening to the voice of God.

Sarai should surely have realized that a child born in this way would not be hers at all. Sarai could never be attached to the child in the same way that his mother would be. In fact, her giving her maid to Abram is expressed in verse 3 as giving her to Abram “as his wife.” Therefore the child could not possibly belong to Sarai. Hagar knew this, and when she had conceived she despised Sarai because Hagar had achieved what Sarai could not. What could Sarai do now? She becomes so distressed that she blames Abram for her dilemma: “My wrong be upon you” (v. 15). How much better it would have been if she had accepted the blame for her own mistake and humbled herself before the Lord to ask His forgiveness.

In blaming Abram for the situation that arose after Hagar's conception, Sarai asks that the Lord should judge between her and Abram, no doubt because she felt that Hagar was virtually robbing her of her husband. Abram did not remind her that the whole matter was her suggestion, but he made it clear to her that he had no intention of considering Hagar his wife. He tells Sarai that Hagar is her maid and she may do with her as she pleases. Sarai took advantage of this permission from Abram, and made life hard for Hagar, as countless numbers of employers have kept their employees in virtual misery by their cruel oppression. Understandably, Hagar became a runaway, not knowing where she was going, but going anyway.

Though Abram was a man of faith, Sarai his wife had not borne children, and she weakened his faith by making a mere fleshly suggestion that he should use Sarai's bondmaid, Hagar, by whom to bear a child for Sarai (v.2). Abram's experience with the Lord in chapter 15 ought to have strengthened him to realize that God's promise was sure even though they had to wait so long for its fulfilment. As to the fulfilling of the promise, Abram did not have to resort to a means, not only merely human, but morally wrong. But he listened to the voice of Sarai rather than undividedly listening to the voice of God.

Sarai should surely have realized that a child born in this way would not be hers at all. Sarai could never be attached to the child in the same way that his mother would be. In fact, her giving her maid to Abram is expressed in verse 3 as giving her to Abram "as his wife." Therefore the child could not possibly belong to Sarai. Hagar knew this, and when she had conceived she despised Sarai because Hagar had achieved what Sarai could not. What could Sarai do now? She becomes so distressed that she blames Abram for her dilemma: "My wrong be upon you" (v.15). How much better it would have been if she had accepted the blame for her own mistake and humbled herself before the Lord to ask His forgiveness.

In blaming Abram for the situation that arose after Hagar's conception, Sarai asks that the Lord should judge between her and Abram, no doubt because she felt that Hagar was virtually robbing her of her husband. Abram did not remind her that the whole matter was her suggestion, but he made it clear to her that he had no intention of considering Hagar his wife. He tells Sarai that Hagar is her maid and she may do with her as she pleases. Sarai took advantage of this permission from Abram, and made life hard for Hagar, as countless numbers of employers have kept their employees in virtual misery by their cruel oppression. Understandably, Hagar became a runaway, not knowing where she was going, but going anyway.

The Galatians wished to go to the Old Testament; they wished to be under law; so Paul says, as it were, I will meet you on your own ground. You wish to be under law; will you listen, then to the law? Then he tells them the story of Abraham and his two wives. One, Sarah, was his own wife, a freewoman, on an equality with himself. The other, Hagar, was a slave whom he had taken as a concubine. God had promised to give him children from Sarah, but Abraham got weary of waiting and at Sarah's suggestion took his slave so that she might give him a son. She did give him a son, but what bitter sorrow came with that son! Sorrow in Abraham's own house, sorrow to Abraham's descendants, sorrow that lasts to the present day; for the Arabs that have caused so much trouble and sorrow in Palestine are the children of Hagar. Abraham had used his own methods to help God fulfill His promise. Abraham's faith had begun to give way; for faith and our methods cannot go on together. How often we fail in just this way! How often we grow weary of waiting for God, and think to help Him answer our prayers by our own methods! But it always ends in sorrow. This is not the lesson that Paul has for the Galatians in this story; but it is the one we may learn as we read it.

Note: Gen. 25: 6 speaks of concubines that Abraham had, and 1 Chron.1:32 calls Keturah, “Abraham's concubine.” It may be that her sons were born before Abraham lost procreative power, and that upon the death of Sarah (who only had the station of wife during her lifetime) Abraham elevated Keturah, his concubine, to this place of higher standing.

All this shows that God's institution of marriage was the union of one man and one woman, the two and only two, becoming one. What is more than this is not of God, but is of human lust. This order was first broken through by Lamech, the sixth from Adam, who had two wives. Long after this instances are recorded of wives, on account of their great desire for children, giving their maid servants to their husbands: an act that would now be judged as most unnatural in a wife. Sarai gave her Egyptian handmaid to Abram 'to be his wife' (the same word for 'wife' being used for both Sarai and Hagar), and God said He would make of Ishmael a great nation. Jacob's two wives gave their handmaids to their husband, and thus he had four wives. God reckoned the twelve sons of these four women equally as sons of Jacob, and they became the heads of the twelve tribes. It might have been thought that God would not have blessed the issue of these unions, but He did: there is no record of any law having been given on this subject.

Sarah's Egyptian handmaid, given to Abraham, and the mother of Ishmael. When she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes, and on being harshly dealt with, she absconded; but the angel of the Lord bade her return. He would multiply her seed exceedingly. She called His name "Thou God seest me." Fifteen years later, at the feast made by Abraham on the occasion of the weaning of Isaac, Ishmael was seen to mock, and Sarah besought Abraham to cast out Hagar and her son; being instructed by God he did so. Still God protected her and her son, and saved him when she thought he was about to die. Gen. 16:1-16; Gen. 21:9-20; Gen. 25:12.

Wife of Abraham and mother of Isaac. Abraham said she was the daughter of his father but not of his mother, therefore he called her 'sister'; but God preserved her in His mercy to Abraham, who had, through fear, denied his true relationship to her in the land of Egypt and before Abimelech. Sarah, being barren, gave to Abraham her Egyptian handmaid Hagar, who, when she had conceived, despised her mistress. Sarah then dealt harshly with her and she ran away; but the angel of the Lord sent her back, and Ishmael was born.

These were a class of inferior wives: they were at times personal servants given by wives to their husbands from their great desire for children, who then accounted the children of the servant as their own, as it was with Rachel and Leah. Such cases may have been comparatively rare, and would in no way account for the prevalence of men having concubines. Deut. 21:11 gives the root of it: a man saw a beautiful woman and lusted after her. God seems to have simply allowed it: as the Lord said about their easy way of writing a bill of divorcement: Moses permitted it 'because of the hardness of your hearts.' When God spoke of Israel having a king, one of the things forbidden to him was that of multiplying wives, lest his heart be turned away. Deut. 17:17. This alas, was the very fall of Solomon, who had 700 wives and 300 concubines, and they did turn away his heart. 1 Kings 11:3. In the Canticles we read of 60 queens and 80 concubines and virgins without number; but there was one, a choice one, the only one of her mother, that excelled them all — the bride of the song. Cant. 6:8-9. Est. 2:14 and Dan. 5:2 show that concubinage was a custom also among the heathen. Christianity disallows such evil, and recognises the relationship as established of God, and hence the sanctity of the marriage tie in those whom God joins together.

The custom among the Israelites of sometimes taking a second wife was not always based on motives of the lower nature; in many cases it was the desire for children, denied to the first wife. This was the probable reason for Elkanah's double marriage. But "from the beginning it was not so" (Matt. 19:5-8). The institution of marriage originally contemplated but a single companion for man; and plural marriages. appear never to have worked well in practice, as witness the humiliating discord in Abraham's family over the inferior Hagar; in Jacob's, the bitter jealousies between the two' sisters, Rachel and Leah. Here, too, it breeds strife and vexation of spirit shameful to behold. What otherwise might have presented an ideal Hebrew home is marred by the bitter provokings of the elated Peninnah, and the consequent sorrow of her barren rival.