Hagar Flees - The Plight Of Hagar part-1 Discussion

Our Scripture Of The Week Is:

Psalm 25:4 KJVS 
[4] Shew me thy ways, O Lord ; teach me thy paths.

Life is a journey, not a single step. This is something David's words recognize with clarity. In this psalm he uses the word "way" four times and "path" twice. Wisely, David does not lean on his own wisdom for direction in life. Rather, he asks the Lord for guidance. His prayer honors the counsel given in Proverbs 3:5–6. 

These verses state: "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." 
Making our own plans rather than seeking and following God's plans can lead to disaster. Proverbs 14:12 insists, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death."

Similarly, the apostle James writes: "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit'—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring…Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that'" (James 4:13–15).

Our topic today is:

Hagar Flees - The Plight Of Hagar part-1

Hagar, elevated from slave to wife and now birth mother, begins to treat her mistress Sarai with contempt. Perhaps Hagar wondered what she and Abram need Sarai for. Perhaps she resented the idea that her child would belong to Sarai. In any case, the dynamic changes. Sarai's feelings about her plan change, as well. She makes it clear to Abram that she holds him responsible for this conflict! 

And, she demands that he make clear that Sarai remains in authority over Hagar. Again, Abram agrees. With that approval, Sarai deals harshly with Hagar, so harshly that Hagar runs off into the wilderness alone, maybe fearful for her life. The text suggests Sarai was requesting Abram settle the question of whether Hagar was still bound under Sarai by a servant-master authority. 

Sarai was the one who had given Hagar to be Abram's wife in hopes of getting a child for herself. Sarai did not, apparently, anticipate that Abram's new wife would come to look on her mistress with contempt. When Sarai came to Abram to hold him responsible for this imbalance in power, Abram gave Sarai exactly what she wanted. 

He tells Sarai to do to Hagar as she pleases and makes it clear that the woman is still under Sarai's full authority. Abram might not have anticipated how harsh Sarai's response to Hagar would be. 
Scripture doesn't specifically reveal all the emotions in play. Perhaps Abram was feeling guilty for agreeing to the plan in the first place. 

Sarai certainly seems to be holding over his head that he "embraced" this woman, even though it was at her urging. In addition, Sarai was likely stung with grief and jealousy that another woman had so easily become the bearer of Abram's child, something she had always hoped to be. Even worse, this woman had become smug and contemptuous of her.

Whatever the feelings, Sarai seems to have unleashed them on Hagar by dealing harshly with her. Hagar ran, possibly even fearing for her life. Now pregnant and alone, Hagar escapes into the wilderness, to a spring on the road to Shur. Hagar may have been heading back to her homeland of Egypt. The "angel of the Lord" found her by that spring along a road leading back to her homeland of Egypt.  

This "angel of Yahweh" may have been a theophany: God taking on a human form on earth to accomplish a specific purpose. Alternatively, this might have been some other angel or angelic being. The context and phrasing of this chapter seem to suggest this was, in fact, the Lord Himself (Genesis 16:10, 13). God, however, will not allow Hagar and her child to be discarded so easily. 

He immediately identifies that he knows her, addressing her as Hagar, the servant of Sarai. He ask