Hagar's Journeys

Alice C. Linsley


Hagar was one of Abraham's two concubines and Sarah's handmaid. Abraham's son by Hagar was Yishmael (Ishmael) an Egyptian chief, as is evident by the initial Vav, a solar symbol designating a ruler. The Y indicates that he was a clan chief, as were these men: Yaqtan, Yisbak, Yitzak, Yacob, Yisra-el and Yeshua.

Yishmael's ethnicity was traced through his Egyptian mother, just as Jewish ethnicity is traced through the mothers. The idea that the Arabs come from Abraham by Ishmael is simply wrong. The Ar clans existed before the time of Abraham, and Abraham's Arabian descendants are traced through his first born son Yaqtan (Joktan). This is Yaqtan the Younger. He is named for his maternal grandfather in whose territory he would serve as a sort of Prime Minister.


Hagar's status

Hagar was a strong and sophisticated woman whose status actually increased once she left Sarah's service. She contracted marriage for her son with an Egyptian. This means that Yishmael's children were also Egyptian. 

After leaving Sarah, Hagar had other offspring known as the Hagarites. They are mentioned in Psalm 83:6. It is evident from this psalm that the Hagarites and the Ishmaelites were regarded as distinct clans and Hagar, like Anah and Oholibamah, was a clan chief.

This information provides an answer to the question raised by the angel: And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. And he said, "Hagar, Sarai's maid, from where came you? and where will you go?" (Gen. 16:7-8)

Upon leaving Sarah's service, Hagar was at a pivotal point in her life. She needed to review her past and consider her future. She appears to have made the most of all the opportunities God presented her.


Hagar's route

Hagar fled from Hebron to Beersheba. Abraham had made this journey many times as he journeyed between the settlements of his two wives. Sarah resided in Hebron and Keturah resided in Beersheba. Abraham spent his old age in Beersheba.

The well at Sheba was very ancient. It was a water shrine under the control of Sheba, a Horite ancestor of both Abraham and Keturah. (Gen. 10:7) Sheba was the son of Ramah whose anceint priestly line was living in Ramah, the hometown of Elkanah and his two wives: Hannah and Penninah. Hannah was the mother of Samuel the Prophet. Penninah was the mother of Am-asi (I Chron. 2:25, 35). Am-asi is a Kushite name.

Beersheba and Kadesh were major water stations on the way to Egypt, so it appears that Hagar was returning to Egypt. The angel found her on "the way to Shur" (Darb el-Shur) which led from Beersheba to Kadesh-Barnea. From prehistoric times this route took travelers by year round water supplies. Flintstone tools dating between 80,000 and 16,000 BC have been found scattered around the area of Beerotayim (two wells). This is likely where the angel spoke to Hagar.

Archaeological surveys of the region have identified remains of structures on the eastern and western hills dating from the early and Middle Bronze Age. Hagar's route is indicated on the map as a dashed line.

Hagar's dismissal

Hagar apparently heeded the angel's advice and returned to serve Sarah. There she remained until Abraham agreed to send her and his son away. She second journey away from Hebron took her in a different direction. She headed to the desert of Paran where she lived with Ishmael who became a master archer. As with all sent-away sons, Ishmael receives his own territory.

It is likely that Abraham made provision for Hagar and Ishmael to join his kinsmen in the area of Timna, shown on the map at the bottom.

Timna or Tema plays an important role in early Biblical history. Known by Arabs as Taima, this water source lies about 70 miles north-east of Dedan. During the Chalcolithic Period, Kushite artisans settled in Paran where they lived in subterranean dwellings carved out of the limestone with metal tools. The Bible refers to these cave-dwellers as Dedanites. Dedan, Tema and Buz comprized a Horite confederation.

The oldest Arabic texts have been found around the North Arabian oases of Tema and Dedan. An ivory workshop was discovered in one of these dwellings at Bir es-Safadi.

Tema, Dedan and Dumah were caravan stops along the trade route from southern Arabia to Babylon. To this day, Joktanite clans reside in southern Arabia and Yemen.

Joktan is a variant of the name Jonathan, meaning "God gives." Joktan lived about 1987-1912 B.C. That he was a ruler is evident by the solar symbol Y at the beginning of this name. In early Arabian scripts, such as Thamudic, symbols represented complex ideas and experiences including names, attributes and worldview. A solar symbol such as Y or T or O represented a deified or divinely appointed ruler, his territory, his people, and his resources such as water and gold. This is why the Horite ruler-priests names begin with the solar symbol: Yaqtan, Yishmael, Yitzak, Yisbak, Yacob, Yosef, Yeshua, etc.


Related reading: Hagar's Conversion; The Pattern of Two Wives; The Afro-Arabian Dedanites; Abraham's Complaint; The Status of Women in Ancient Egypt and Arabia; Hagar in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan by Florentino Garcia Martinez