Notable Women of Olden Time | Page 9

hailed as the heir,
while all rejoiced, Hagar and Ishmael mocked both the infant and the
aged parents.
Forbearance was no longer safe, and the decision of Sarah was wise,
though harsh--yet it was sad to Abraham. Ishmael was still his son--his
first-born. He had been ever dear to him; and when the angel of the
Lord had again confirmed the promise of a seed in whom all the
nations of the earth were to be blessed, he had almost seemed to
overlook it as he pleaded for the son of the bond-woman, "Oh that
Ishmael might live before thee!" while to Abraham was then confirmed
the promise given before the birth of her child to Hagar. There was
sorrow and perplexity in the heart of Abraham, but a message from
heaven confirmed the decree of Sarah.
The patriarch arose, after a night of conflict and prayer, while the stars
were still shining in the heavens, while the flocks lay in stillness around
the tents, and before those who had revelled and rejoiced were awake,
and called Hagar and her child. Can we not see them in the gray of the
morning? The father, the mother, the child,--the patriarch, aged, but not
bowed by age, still retaining the vigour of manhood--the boy shy, yet
half-defying--the mother! In such an hour, all distinctions of rank and
station would be forgotten, and all the feelings of the woman be roused.
Then and there Hagar might well forget that she was Sarah's bondmaid,
and only remember that she had been Abraham's wife--that she was
still Ishmael's mother.
In that hour must have risen the memory of her wrongs, of her
saddened youth, her darkened womanhood--of the selfishness with
which he had wedded her; of the heartlessness with which he had

deserted her; of her long years of trial and contempt. And her eye might
speak reproach, although the lips were closed and there was no voice.
Should we not rejoice to believe that the patriarch whispered some
regret for the past, and spoke of sorrow and repentance to her whose
happiness he had so selfishly sacrificed, even as he consummated his
work by casting her out, a homeless exile. Such is the enslaving power
of custom, so easily do we blind ourselves to our own delinquencies,
that Abraham probably aggravated Hagar's faults while he overlooked
her injuries. He saw in her but the despiteful, revengeful handmaid; he
forgot that she was an injured wife--a neglected mother.
Yet no words of reproach, of entreaty, or explanation of the past, or
promise for the future, are recorded as having passed between them. He
pronounced the decree, and laid upon the bondmaid, and not upon his
noble boy, the provision for the journey. She turned from the tents, and
thus they parted!
But the connection of Abraham and Hagar had woven a thread into the
destiny of nations, still to be traced. She left the patriarch in sorrow, in
bitterness of soul; but she went out to found nations, to punish rulers, to
establish a long line who should transmit the name of her son and the
influence of her character to remotest ages--even to the end of time.
Accustomed to the wandering life of the desert, and provided for the
journey, Abraham probably deemed Hagar competent to guide her
steps to a place of safety. But sorrow may have blinded her eyes, or
despair made her reckless, and she was lost in the desert. The water was
spent in the bottle--tons of gold could not open a fountain in the
desert--and she saw her child parched with thirst, "faint and ready to
die; and she cast him under one of the shrubs, and went and sat a good
way off, as it were a bow-shot, for she said, Let me not see the death of
the child; and as she sat over against him, she lifted up her voice and
wept. And God heard the voice of the lad, and the angel of God called
to her out of heaven and said unto her, What aileth thee Hagar? Fear
not! For God hath heard the voice of the child where he is. Arise, lift up
the lad, and hold him in thy hand, for I will make of him a great nation.
And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water, and she went

and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad to drink." What an
inimitable description of a mother's love! What a display of the
watchful benevolence of Jehovah!
In this hour of desolation, when no human aid was near, there was
again the Divine interposition, while there was no reproach, no allusion
even to that sinful temper which had led to the banishment of both
mother and child, and