Seeking an Heir

Receiving God's Promise

After defeating the enemies and rescuing Lot Abram must have become fearful. So the Lord came to reassure him saying, "Fear not, Abram, I am your shield and your very great reward."

But Abram said, "O Lord God, what will you give me? I am still childless, and the heir of my house is my servant Eliezer?" Then the Lord said, "This man shall not be your heir; your own son shall be your heir." And He brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and count the stars, if you are able to count them. You will have that many descendants." And Abram believed the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

The Promise Becomes a Covenant

Abram still had a hard time believing that his descendants would inherit the land because he did not even have one descendant yet. So the Lord told him to bring a heifer, a female goat, a ram, a turtledove and a pigeon. Abram killed them all, cut the carcasses in two, and laid them out on the ground. That night he saw a vision of a flaming torch and a smoking pot passing between the pieces of the carcasses. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.

Sarai's Suggestion

Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bore him no children but she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, "The Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my maid; it may be that I shall obtain children by her." And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife.

Hagar Conceives

And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. When she saw that she had conceived, she her mistress was despised in her eyes. And Sarai said to Abram, "May the wrong done to me be upon you! I gave my maid into your bosom, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!" But Abram said to Sarai, "Your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please." Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.

The Lord Comes to Hagar

The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, "Hagar, maid of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She said, "I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai." The angel of the Lord said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her."

The Lord's Promise to Hagar

The angel of the Lord also said to her, "I will so greatly multiply your descendants that they cannot be counted for multitude." And the angel of the Lord said to her, "You have now conceived, and shall bear a son; you shall call his name Ishmael; because the Lord has given heed to your affliction. He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone's hand against him; and he shall dwell opposite all his kinsmen." So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, "You are a God who reveals Himself"; for she said, "Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him?"

And Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael.