HE KNOWETH ME

 

My favourite woman in the scriptures is Hagar, the handmaiden of Sarah. You might think this is an odd choice. I have considered Hagar’s life from many points of view. Her life of hardship  rends my heart….from the time she was given to Sarah to the time she was banished with her child. We know nothing of her life after that banishment but to me she is a perfect example of how God sees us and has mercy on us. Let me explain.

The Genesis account of the Old Testament simply states that she was Egyptian and that she was Sarah's maid but one other source gives more insight into her life. It claims that Hagar was one of the daughters of Pharaoh and that she was given to Sarah when she and Abraham left Egypt to continue their journey to Canaan (Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, 1:223). Considering the riches that Pharaoh showered Abraham and Sarah with as they left Egypt (Genesis 12:16), this claim seems very plausible.

Imagine a young girl of royal birth, sent away from her home to be the property of total strangers. But there was more. According to Bible scholars and modern day revelation (D&C 132:34), it was the law for a woman who could not provide children for her husband after ten years of marriage, to give him another wife to ensure continuation of his family line. Sarah decided that Abraham's next wife would be Hagar. I don’t know if Hagar had much choice in the matter, being in the situation she was in. What we do know is that Hagar was very young, being of child bearing age, while Abraham was 86 years old (Genesis 16:16).

The Old Testament records that Hagar became insolent towards Sarah once she knew she was pregnant (Genesis 16:4). Inexcusable I know, but maybe for once she felt she was worth something more than being a maid. She was now a wife of a rich man and she was going to be a mother, but not really....she was only a second wife with no rights and her child would by law belong to Sarah. She was a concubine. Imagine being of such lowly station for one of royal birth.  When she couldn't take Sarah's correction of her behaviour Sarah fled in search of freedom. And understandably so.

Sarah was the wife of the covenant and honoured by God for her righteousness but Jehovah is a protector of women and He knew Hagar and her life. When the angel of the Lord found her in the wilderness he told her, "the Lord hath heard thy affliction" (Genesis 16:11); that she will not be overlooked by Him and that her posterity will not be able to be numbered for multitude (Genesis 16:10). In other words, "I will make it up to you Hagar for the life you are required to live". Hagar was astonished and in response called the Lord, "Thou God seest me" (V 13). What incredible difference that must have made to one woman who felt insignificant and 'unseen'. There was a God who saw her life, who saw her soul and understood it all. No condemnation for her behaviour……just mercy.

When God revealed himself to Moses, He was shown every particle of the earth and every inhabitant thereof individually, and he discerned them all by the Spirit of God (Moses 1:27,28). This power of discernment was the crucial component of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. In that hour of agony in the garden of Gethsemane, He understood each mortal life which expanded the caverns of His heart with infinite mercy. No mass suffering for humanity as a whole, but individual yielding of His heart to all the children of God. He is a God who sees all and makes up for it all to those who love Him and accept Him as their God (1 Nephi 17:40).  He is not just our God but He is my God and your God.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: He Knoweth Me by Greg Sargent)