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Genesis

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Hagar and the Birth of Ishmael

Chapter 16

1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not given birth to any children, but she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Since the Lord has prevented me from having children, please sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have a family by her.”⁠ Abram did what Sarai told him.⁠ 3 So after Abram had lived in Canaan for ten years, Sarai, Abram’s wife, gave Hagar, her Egyptian servant, to her husband⁠ to be his wife.⁠ 4 He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant. Once Hagar realized she was pregnant, she despised Sarai. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You have brought this wrong on me! I gave my servant into your embrace, but when she realized that she was pregnant, she despised me. May the Lord judge between you and me!” 6 Abram said to Sarai, “Since your servant is under your authority, do to her what is right in your eyes22.”⁠ Then Sarai treated Hagar harshly, so she ran away from Sarai.⁠ 7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring of water in the wilderness—the spring that is along the road to Shur.⁠ 8 He said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”⁠ She replied, “I’m running away from my mistress, Sarai.” 9 Then the angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her authority. 10 I will greatly multiply your descendants,” the angel of the Lord added, “so that they will be too numerous to count.”⁠ 11 Then the angel of the Lord said to her, “You are now pregnant and are about to give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard your painful groans.⁠ 12 He will be a wild donkey of a man. He will be hostile to everyone, and everyone will be hostile to him. He will live away from his brothers.” 13 So Hagar named the Lord who spoke to her, “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “Here I have seen one who sees me!”⁠ 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi. (It is located between Kadesh and Bered.) 15 So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son, whom Abram named Ishmael.⁠ 16 (Now Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.)

Texts in conversation

Sarai and Hagar in Genesis Echo the Surrogate Law in the Code of Hammurabi

Ancient Near East, Babylonian · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Genesis 16 describes Sarai giving her slave Hagar to Abram to bear children on her behalf. The Code of Hammurabi contains a parallel law governing what happens when a wife provides her husband a maid-servant as a surrogate.

Passages

Code of Hammurabi §146

Ancient Near East, Babylonian · Babylonian Legal Text
144 If a man takes a wife, and she gives her husband a slave woman who bears him children, and the man then decides to take a second wife, this shall not be permitted to him; he shall not take a second wife. 145 If a man takes a wife and she bears him no children, and he decides to take a second wife: if he takes the second wife and brings her into the house, the second wife shall not be allowed equality with his wife. 146 If a man takes a wife, and she gives this man a slave woman as a wife who bears him children, and the slave woman then claims equality with the wife: because she has borne him children, her mistress shall not sell her for money, but she may keep her as a slave and count her among the slave women. 147 If she has not borne him children, her mistress may sell her for money. 148 If a man takes a wife and she is seized by disease: if he then decides to take a second wife, he shall not put away the wife the disease has struck; she shall live in the house he has built, and he shall support her as long as she lives.
1750 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Code of Hammurabi

Genesis 16:2

Hebrew Bible
1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not given birth to any children, but she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Since the Lord has prevented me from having children, please sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have a family by her.” Abram did what Sarai told him. 3 So after Abram had lived in Canaan for ten years, Sarai, Abram’s wife, gave Hagar, her Egyptian servant, to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant. Once Hagar realized she was pregnant, she despised Sarai.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

References

“… The idea of this ancient form of surrogate motherhood seems to be attested in the Code of Hammurabi § 146, although there it applies to the marriage of a nadītu, a woman who was attached to a temple and not permitted to bear children. Such a woman’s husband could take a second wife to be the mother of his children, but this situation could be forestalled if she gave him a slave who would be regarded as an ‘incubator’ in place of the real wife. Any children would be deemed to belong to the wife. The idea that the Genesis account is linked to the Hammurabi material is supported by Sarai’s treatment of Hagar as an ordinary slave, which accords with the expectations of law Code of Hammurabi § 146. The occurrence of this form of surrogacy in ancient Israel is also attested in Genesis 30:1-12 in relation to Rachel and Leah, and Bilhah and Zilpah, where the children of the latter pair are regarded as belonging to the ‘real’ wives of Jacob. …”
Janet E. Tollington, “Abraham and His Wives,” in The Old Testament in Its World, ed. Robert P. Gordon and Johannes C. de Moor (Leiden: Brill, 2005), 187–188.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Code of Hammurabi §146 and Genesis 16:2

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