Hagar

Hagar is introduced as Sarah's Egyptian servant who becomes the unwilling instrument of Sarah's plan — she has no recorded voice or choice in this arrangement, yet she will soon become a central figure in the story.

Hagar is referenced again as Abraham mentally proposes Ishmael — the child he had through her — as a workable alternative to God's seemingly impossible plan for a son through Sarah.

Hagar is here at the center of the family conflict — her son's behavior at the feast becoming the catalyst for Sarah's ultimatum and their expulsion from Abraham's household.

Hagar is referenced here because Isaac settles at Beer-lahai-roi after Abraham's death — the same place where God had previously appeared to Hagar in her distress, connecting Isaac's new home to his family's complicated history.

Hagar represents the Sinai Covenant in Paul's allegory — her slave status and the manner of Ishmael's birth (human effort, not divine promise) symbolize the Law's inability to produce true freedom.