Chapter 4: The Wilderness

Hagar ran. Pregnant, alone, with nothing. She headed south toward Shur, the desert road that led back to Egypt. The only home she had ever known.

The road to Shur cut through open wilderness. No towns, no shelter, no water except scattered springs along the way. A pregnant woman walking it alone was not traveling. She was choosing the desert over the life behind her. That is how bad it was.

She stopped at a spring beside the road. Exhausted and afraid, with no plan beyond getting away.

But the angel of the Lord found her at that spring. He went looking for her. And the first thing he did was speak her name.

ANGEL OF THE LORD“Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”— Genesis 16:8

In the entire story up to this point, no one had spoken directly to Hagar by name.

HAGAR“I'm running away from my mistress Sarai.”— Genesis 16:8