The Birth of Ishmael: In this account Sarai gives Hagar to Abram (vv. 1–6); the angel of Yahweh instructs and blesses Hagar (vv. 7–12); and Hagar responds and gives birth to Ishmael (vv. 13–16). The setting alternates in the pattern of A:B:A′: Abram’s house (first and third scenes) and the desert (second scene).

16:1–2 Sarai, Abram’s principal wife, remained without children despite God’s reiterated promise of seed to Abram (ch. 15). Like most wives of prominent persons in ancient times, Sarai had a maidservant, Hagar, an Egyptian. The contrast between the two women is striking. Sarai was from the consummate lineage, free, brittle, aging, and barren. Hagar was a foreigner, a slave, resilient, young, and fertile (P. Trible, “The Other Woman: A Literary and Theological Study of the Hagar Narr…