Hagar

This chapter focuses on Hagar and her mourning in the wilderness of Beersheba (Gen. 21). Although Gen. 21:14–21 does not contain a case of child death proper, a few lexemes utilized in it represent Ishmael’s endangerment as an instance of dishonourable ejection from the family and a subsequent demise in the wilderness. This chapter explores how the redactor of Genesis portrays Hagar in the fashion of ancient Near Eastern weeping (mother) goddesses and creates a ritual drama with a clear ‘death–resurrection’ pattern. Given the foundational nature of patriarchal cycles and Hagar’s ancestral status within them (Gen. 16:10, 21:13, 18, 25:13–18), the editor uses Hagar’s actions to solicit God’s attention and to secure his patronage not only for Ishmael, but for the entire line of his descendants.