I wonder if Hagar had been a gift from Pharaoh when Sarai married him under false pretences.

Sarai offers up her maid to Abram for the purpose of bearing him children. Does Hagar have any choice in this?

So, after ten years of living in Canaan, I'm guessing this is ten years after being kicked out of Egypt, Sarai gifts Hagar to Abram for a wife. Again, does Hagar have a choice in this?

It seems not, after Abram 'went in unto her' she got very upset with the woman who had handed her over. Reading this, I'm not certain that Hagar wanted to have sex with Abram, in modern times one might call this rape.

Sarai blames herself, but instead of apologising to Hagar, she becomes jealous of that fact that she has been able to conceive.

Being the good man that he is, Abram placates his jealous wife by handing over the slave he had raped and made pregnant to her so that she can deal 'harshly with her' and thence kick her out. Now it may be far from my place to comment on morality but Abram is supposed to be the most blessed by The LORD, one would hope his actions reflected that. So, is it moral to accept a gift from your wife of an unwilling slave-girl, rape her and make her pregnant and then when your wife becomes jealous, let her beat her and kick her out? I don't think these are very nice people.

Ooh, an angel. The LORD hasn't come down but an angel has come to speak to Hagar. One point; *the* angel of the lord? is there only one?

it asks her where she's been and where she's going. Hagar says she's fleeing from her mistress, it doesn't say but she might have added that she had been raped and beaten...

...and rather than protecting her the angel tells her to go back to her abusive mistress and submit to her hand, effectively telling her to go back and accept her fate as a raped and beaten slave.

But as a reward, her seed will multiply.

He kindly names her unborn child for her...

...and condemns him to being a hated, embattled wild-man

Now, either Hagar isn't able to tell the difference between The LORD and and his Angel or they are actually the same thing. Thinking about it though, Hagar might just be concussed from her beating.

Why does this line give me the impression I'm on a guided tour of biblical sites, "and that's why this well is called Beerlahairoi and still stands here between Kadesh and Bered to this very day." Was this written significantly later than the story is set? Was it written as an attempt to explain landmarks that no-one actually knows anything about?

OK, not from Abram's bowels then?

Ishmael is born in 2034AE.

Genesis 16.Well, it's definitely worth noting that Ishmael wasn't issued forth from Abram's bowels so there is at least that, however he was the product of Abram raping his wife's slave girl and is cursed to be some sort of wild-man.It's pretty clear that the LORD is pro-slavery, or at least his angel is. After Hagar has been raped and beaten and has fled from her mistress, the angel of The LORD comes and tells her to go back and to submit to whatever she gets. So not only is The LORD in favour of slavery but The LORD is fully supportive of beating your slave, even when pregnant.