Hagar's Flight

BY PHILIP H. CALDERON, R.A., AN ENGLISH ARTIST,

DIED 1898.
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"And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face."-Gen., 16, 6.

F Sarai had been generous, we can yet imagine that

I'

the position of Hagar was not without its diffi

culties. She would have had to be very humble indeed to have avoided arousing her mistress's jealous anger. And so, presently, we find Sarai raging before Abram, "My wrong be upon thee!" and declaring that Hagar was insolent to her and presumptuous.

Abram, with his steadfast loyalty, upheld Sarai as his first, his true wife and lifelong comrade. “Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee." Then Sarai "dealt hardly with her," so hardly that Hagar fled in fear into the wilderness. There she too, unhappy little Egyptian stranger, had her vision and her promise from God. An angel came to her as she crouched in weariness beside a well. Our picture shows her listening to his voice of good counsel. She was bidden to return to Sarai and submit to her. She was promised a son who should be also the ancestor of a vast people. So she returned to the tents of Abram, and when her son was born, he was named Ishmael, which means "God hears," because God had heard and comforted her in her distress.

GENESIS XLIX-JACOB PROPHESIES

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Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near unto him.

14 And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the first-born.

15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day,

16 The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

17 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head.

18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the first-born; put thy right hand upon his head.

19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.

20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

21 And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.

22 Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.

Chapter 49

1 Jacob calleth his sons to bless them. 3 Their blessing in particular. 29 He chargeth them about his burial. 33 He dieth.

ND Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.1

2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.

3 Reuben, thou art my first-born, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of

power:

4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.

This chapter from the second to the twenty-eighth verse is given as a poetic chant in the Revised Version. It has thus the effect of prophecy.

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GENESIS XLIX-THE FUTURE OF ISRAEL

5¶ Simeon and Levi are brethren, instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.

6 O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall.

7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

8¶ Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee.

9 Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?

10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

11 Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:

12 His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

13 Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon.

14¶ Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens: 15 And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.

16 ¶ Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. 17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.

18 I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.

19 Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.

20Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.

21 Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.

22 ¶ Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:

23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:

24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)

25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, bless