He Hears

"Hagar......HAGAR.....you must take Ishmael and leave"

She wakes trembling at the sound of his voice.
What has happened now?
As she sits upright she sees her master Abraham in the early morning light.  He motions for her to hurry and she gathers her things.  Meeting him outside the tent he explains that Sarah has erupted once again but this time she has demanded that she and her son leave.
"Leave?" she asks. "Where am I going?"
Still groggy from sleep she begins to realize what he is saying.

She is being cast out!

He quickly prompts her to gather her son and their few things as  he almost pushes her to the edge of the camp.

Once away from the others he seems to move in slow motion.
Silently he shoves a loaf of bread wrapped in cloth and he slings a skin of water around her neck.

His face is grey and drawn.  He looks so sad.

"Master, what has happened?"

"Isaac is the Promised Seed."
"Yahweh has promised to multiply through him".
"It is only going to get more difficult if you stay here....Sarah will make sure of it"

As if in a thick fog Hagar  stumbles and pulls Ishmael with her.  A million thoughts run through her head.
"Lord why?"
"You told me to return when I left as a pregnant woman". Gen 16:9
"You promised to make a nation out of Ishmael".
"Are you a man that you can lie?!"

"She wandered on aimlessly and lost her way in the wilderness of Beersheba" Gen 21:14

 "Beersheba" the dreaded wilderness, known for its wind and dry land,
 she recalls it being called "the land of the dead end"

Hours turn into days as she tries to find a way.  The bread is gone and the water skin dried up days ago. Ishmael  is having trouble walking and weariness has settled heavily upon the two.

The end is near.

She practically carries Ishmael to a near by bush and tells him to sleep.  She knows they are both near the end. Her tirade has reduced to a dry sob and she herself walks away and leans her bent body against a rock.
"Lord I cannot bear to see my child die.  Take him quickly".

She realizes there are sobs mixed with the rise of the winds.  They puncture her heart and her own cries join the boys  in a final discord.


And the end becomes THE BEGINNING