Genesis 21:14
And she wandered on aimlessly and lost her way in the wilderness of Beersheba
Gen 16
"Hagar......HAGAR.....y
ou must take Ishmael and leave"
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.
Silently he shoves a loaf of bread
wrapped in cloth
and he slings a skin of water
around her neck.
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.
