The expulsion — How cruel was it?
It is disheartening to say the least to read in this weekly Torah Va-Yera portion how Abraham acceded to Sara’s demand to “expel this handmaid and her son” [Hagar and Ishmael] lest Abraham’s first-born son inherit his father together with Sara’s son (and Abraham’s second-born), Yitzhak. Sara was prompted to demand that radical and heartless action after she ‘’saw the son of the Egyptian Hagar” playing, or laughing [metsachek – Gen 21:9].
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A personal reflection:
Sara, wasn’t it your very idea to adopt and raise Abram and Hagar’s son so you could ‘’be built up through her” (the child’s surrogate biological mother – 16:2)? That Hagar was a mere Egyptian slave girl mattered not to you when you politely ordered (‘’bo-nah”) your husband to impregnate Hagar who would thus become “his wife.” How could you then — now that you have your biological son, Yitzhak — note these factors as a reason to deride her, even being unable to bring yourself to utter the name “Hagar” or her son’s “Ishmael”, whose name was ordained by God’s divine messenger, conferred on the boy — whose offspring divinely destined to be numerous (vs. 12, 15) — by Abram himself? And besides, didn’t you raise Ishmael as your son? Didn’t you develop any emotions for him, let alone maternal, even as he must have had such for you?
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What was so detrimental about Yishmael’s playfulness or laughter? Other biblical references to this word mention the party at whom such a jest, playfulness, reveling, or making “sport” (whether offensively or affably) was directed. Namely, Lot at his sons-in-law (19:14), Isaac at Rebecca (26:8), Joseph at Madam Potiphar (39:14, 17), the golden calf worshippers with each other (Exod 32:6), Samson for the Philistines (Jud 16:25), and the young troops-turned-gladiatorial for Avner and Yoav (2 Sam 2:14).
Above all, our weekly Torah text does not mention anyone at whom Ishmael directed his playfulness or laughter, or whether it meant well or ill. It stands to reason that had Ishmael been playful or jesting with his toddler paternal brother, Isaac, the Torah would have told us so (as we might infer from those other examples where the essentially same word is used). Even if Ishmael was playing roughshod with Isaac, or laughing at him, and even if Sara had only imagined it, that is not why she demanded that Hagar and Ishmael be gone from her life. (Rebecca did not have Esau expunged from the household because he “hated” Jacob, nor did Jacob himself disown his sons because they “hated” their paternal brother, his beloved Joseph.)
Rather, Sara was distraught by the thought that Ishmael was a legitimate and bona fide future co-heir of his father’s wealth. For Sara, this very concern was the raison d’être to order Abraham to banish ‘’this bondwoman and her son.” Hence, the midrashic apologetical attempts to concoct an array of wrongdoings and pile them up on Ishmael – whether homosexual advances on little Isaac, serving idolatry (where exactly did Ishmael practice it in Abraham’s tent-fold?), or attempting to kill Isaac, should be dismissed as made-up and coerced, if not ludicrous.
Was it an eviction or (an intended but failed) relocation?
Despite grieving Sara’s command to oust Hagar and Ishmael from their domicile in Beersheba, Abraham heeded God’s conciliatory voice that called upon him to do so, and he complied; so much for “and he shall rule over you” … (Gen 3:16). Nonetheless, rather than “cast out” his second wife and their son, Abraham ‘’sent off” the two which connotes a specific destination for the departing party (as when God “sent forth” Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden of Adam ‘’to till the ground from where he was taken. So, he cast out the man” … (3:23-4). Similarly, Rebecca’s “brother and mother … sent Rebecca away” (24:55,59). Or when Abraham, late in his long life, sent forth the children of his concubines “eastward, unto the east country” (25:6), yet to a specific destination.
That could be why the wealthy Abraham provisioned Hagar and Ishmael only with ‘’bread and a bottle of water.” Given that Abraham obviously loved Ishmael, one may ask why the scanty supplies, unless the intended destination for the two was not very far off. Right before this episode, we read about the kingdom of Grar; Most likely, Grar was near the Mediterranean Sea, or Gaza today. It was not a far distance, even when covered on foot, from Beersheba. Abraham had sojourned there not long before, and all members of his household must have become familiar with the area. Later, Isaac and Rebecca will also travel to the city of Grar; no, they did not need a ‘’visa’’ because Abimelech, the King of Grar, had told Abraham: ‘’Behold, my land is before you! Dwell where it pleases you (20:15).
In the absence of a better option, we may consider the possibility – as suggested by Aron Pinker in “The Expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael” (2009) – that Abraham sent off Ishmael his son and his mother to Grar, and the parsimonious provisions should have been sufficient for a quick walk to the town via a trail that the desert savvy Hagar should have been familiar with.
Why she lost her bearing is a different question; speculatively, not for the lack of a GPS… But we should avoid the thought that even Sara, let alone Abraham, expelled or sent off Hagar and Ishmael while wanting them to perish in the desert. They did not have a very far destination, on what must have been a beaten track with available lodging and supply stops along it, till they could reach their terminus, not too far for Abraham for an occasional visit, but far enough from Sara… (as Pinker notes).
Ultimately, though, Hagar and Ishmael settled in the Paran desert (where sustenance must have been available), living close enough to Abraham. When the first Patriarch traveled to Mt. Moriah for Isaac’s would-be sacrifice, Ishmael journeyed with them (per Rashi). And when Abraham died, Ishmael “received the SMS text”, and was able to make it in time to Hebron to bury his father in the Cave of Machpela joined by his brother Isaac (Gen. 25:9).
