Article
Version 3
Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed
Sarah’s גרש (gāreš) and Abraham’s שלח (šellach) of Hagar: Expulsion or Apostolic Mission?
Version 1
: Received: 19 December 2023 / Approved: 20 December 2023 / Online: 20 December 2023 (06:12:48 CET)
Version 2 : Received: 29 December 2023 / Approved: 29 December 2023 / Online: 29 December 2023 (09:19:12 CET)
Version 3 : Received: 2 March 2024 / Approved: 3 March 2024 / Online: 4 March 2024 (09:37:04 CET)
Version 2 : Received: 29 December 2023 / Approved: 29 December 2023 / Online: 29 December 2023 (09:19:12 CET)
Version 3 : Received: 2 March 2024 / Approved: 3 March 2024 / Online: 4 March 2024 (09:37:04 CET)
How to cite: Teke, M. Sarah’s גרש (gāreš) and Abraham’s שלח (šellach) of Hagar: Expulsion or Apostolic Mission?. Preprints 2023, 2023121505. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202312.1505.v3 Teke, M. Sarah’s גרש (gāreš) and Abraham’s שלח (šellach) of Hagar: Expulsion or Apostolic Mission?. Preprints 2023, 2023121505. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202312.1505.v3
Abstract
Abraham’s sending forth of Hagar and Ishmael in Gen 21:14 has generally been viewed as an expulsion. It is held that the primary, if not sole, purpose behind this act was to prevent Ishmael from interfering with Isaac’s inheritance. Using an intertextual approach, with an emphasis on key words, Sarah’s גרש (gāreš) demand and Abraham’s שלח (šellach) of Hagar is compared with the narratives of the children of Israel, Jesus, and Adam to uncover objectives as the bestowal of freedom and a mission. An examination of how the LXX translates, and Josephus explains, Sarah and Abraham’s “send-off” of Hagar suggests a mission objective behind their intentions. Abraham’s motivations are analyzed to ascertain whether Hagar’s “send-off” was part of a plan to expand the reach of Abraham and Sarah’s faith-based operations. Finally, linguistic analysis is undertaken to discover possible motives for why Sarah chose Hagar to have a son. These approaches to the biblical story bring into focus a portrait that is radically different from the standard interpretation where there are multiple objectives of Hagar and Ishmael’s being sent into the wilderness primary among them being expanding Abraham and Sarah’s faith-based mission.
Keywords
Hagar; Sarah; Abraham; drive; expulsion; Israel; Jesus; Adam
Subject
Arts and Humanities, Religious Studies
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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