Whatever her motives may have been, it is clear that the LORD was on her side. She no doubt feared that A'bra-ham's fondness for his first-born son might lead him to seek some way of not depriving I'saac of the heritage which had been Divinely announced as his.
The request of Sa'rah presented A'bra-ham with a very difficult problem. He therefore sought guidance from the LORD, and was told to do as Sa'rah had asked. The LORD advised him that it would be better for both I'saac and Ish'ma-el, for Ha'gar and her son to be sent away, and promised that He would bless Ish'ma-el, making a great people of his descendants.
The next morning A'bra-ham provided food and a bottle of water for Ha'gar and Ish'ma-el and sent them away, thinking, no doubt, that they would go to Ha'gar's native land of Egypt. Ha'gar became lost, however, and wandered in the desert south of Ge'rar until the water given her for the journey was all gone. The sufferings of Ha'gar and Ish'ma-el were severe, for Divine Providence sought to cure them for their willfulness, and to prepare Ish'ma-el for a great future. Though punished, they were not forsaken by the LORD; though exiled from A'bra-ham's home, they were destined to make a way for themselves in the world, and though deprived of their membership in the family of Is'ra-el they were Divinely chosen to be head of another great branch of the human race.
Lost in the desert, both she and her boy perishing from thirst, Ha'gar despaired. With only the hot, burning sands for a bed, and with no canopy over them except the open skies from which there blazed down upon them a consuming heat, Ha'gar placed her son under a little bush and turned away to let him die. Her act was not cruel or heartless, she simply could not bear to see her son die.
It was in that hour of despair that the Angel of the LORD appeared to her. The Angel comforted her with the assurance that her cries had been heard by the LORD, who would deliver them from danger, and who would make a great nation of Ish'ma-el's descendants. Then her eyes were opened by the LORD, and she saw a refreshing spring of water gushing forth in the midst of the desert.
Ha'gar remained in the desert country, where she reared her son to full manhood. Ish'ma-el learned to shoot the bow and arrow with great skill, a talent that was useful in his wild, nomadic life in the desert. He was known as a wild man, and his children resembled him in their love of roaming the desert and being their own masters. Twelve sons were born to him, and each of them the head of a roving tribe of people later known as A-ra'bi-ans.
