Ružica Ljubičić
The story of Sarah and Hagar bears the weight of today’s global conflicts. Their relationship and conflict reflect similarities and differences in racial tensions across the world, as well as the oppression of internalized misogyny. As Renita Weems points out, this story has a multifaceted dimension of strife, serving as an example of how one woman betrays another—a conspiracy of one mother against another—underscored by ethnic prejudice supported by class and economic exploitation (Weems, 1988). Sarah and Hagar are highly significant female figures in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Their life stories, as conveyed in sacred texts, inspire both men and women engaged in interpreting these texts and those exploring the visibility of women in religious, spiritual, and family life. One prominent work addressing these issues is Women Who Wrestled with God: Biblical Stories of Israel’s Beginning (2005) by Irmtraud Fischer. In this book, Fischer seeks to correct a history of misreading and misinterpretation by emphasizing the lens of women’s experience. Using what she calls a „gender-just“ approach to biblical texts, Fischer traces the origins of ancient Israel through the stories of Sarah and Hagar, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah, Dinah and Tamar, and Naomi and Ruth[1]. Reading sacred texts such as Genesis (16–21) can prompt us to pose questions about women’s experiences and, through an intersectional analysis, examine the quality of family and marital relationships, issues of harmony and conflict, infertility and motherhood, oppression and freedom, as well as the trajectory from being desired to being rejected[2]. In this sense, we can question any sacred text in ways that are relevant to women’s freedom. How significant are Sarah’s and Hagar’s experiences in the text? How free are they in their actions? Are they valued for their roles as mothers or for something else? What does the text expect from men and women? What can we learn from Sarah’s and Hagar’s lives? How much of women’s experiences are omitted or silenced? How did Sarah cope with infertility, and to what extent can women who cannot have children identify with her?
Patriarchs and Matriarchs
Frances Klopper emphasizes that biblical stories about women are exceptionally powerful because they profoundly impact women’s self-understanding. These stories describe how women were perceived in society, and this narrative is predominantly directed against women due to the prevailing patriarchal ethos within the discourse. In religious societies, as Klopper points out, a social system in which women internalized their inferiority and submissiveness was upheld for generations (Klopper, 2009). When reading and interpreting sacred texts and the messages of their protagonists, it is essential to consider the circumstances, conditions, and social relations of the time. Danijel Berković observes that the Book of Genesis is written in the style of parrhesia, meaning the Old Testament presents real-life stories. He emphasizes that the texts speak openly, without euphemisms or embellishments (Berković, 2018).
In the Book of Genesis, we encounter complex life challenges such as marriage and marital disputes, infertility, monogamy, and polygamy. These issues are faced by Sarah and Hagar, as well as many other women. However, there is little information about their internal struggles, perspectives, dilemmas, and choices (if they had any). In the lives of these women, the boundaries between biology and lifestyle intersect, becoming crucial for constructing the most socially significant role for women—the role of motherhood. The patriarchs of Israel—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—and the matriarchs of Israel—Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel—are the most renowned figures in the Book of Genesis. As Deborah and John Sawyer write in their book, Women and Religion in the Early Centuries of Christianity (2022), these figures have shaped the expectations and experiences associated with the behaviors of men and women. In this context, the authors identify Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as patriarchs[3] and Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel as matriarchs[4] (Sawyer & Sawyer, 2022).
The Infertile Sarah
Sarah is the wife of Abraham and the mother of Isaac. As the spouse of the most significant figure for the Jewish people[5], she was expected to bear many children to fulfill Yahweh’s promise of abundant descendants for Abraham. „Now Sarai was barren; she had no child. Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, the wife of Abram his son, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there“ (Genesis 11:30–31). The status of a barren woman was exceptionally difficult, carrying a negative connotation. Motherhood was considered the most important aspect of a woman’s fulfillment as a human being, and the inability to bear children represented a failure in the most critical dimension of a woman’s life. In other words, a woman without offspring was deemed incomplete, inadequate, and labeled as barren or sterile.[6]
Rachel Adelman explains that during the time of Abraham and Sarah, childbirth and child-rearing were fraught with challenges due to high maternal mortality rates during childbirth and infant mortality; only half of all children born survived to their fifth year. In biblical narratives about barren women, as Adelman notes, motherhood is further complicated to heighten the dramatic arrival of the promised son, emphasizing the divine role in conception and birth. In the patriarchal narratives of Genesis, God is portrayed as the one who disrupts the generational continuity and then selects the rightful heir to the covenant (Adelman, 2021). This was the case with Sarah, who later gave birth to Isaac. „You shall no longer call your wife Sarai by the name Sarai; her name shall be Sarah. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her“ (Genesis 17:15–16). Sarah celebrated Isaac’s birth with the words, „God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me“ (Genesis 21:6). She added, „Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age“ (Genesis 21:7).
Before the Birth of Isaac, Sarah’s Doubts
Before the birth of Isaac, Sarah doubted her ability to conceive, which became evident when she and her husband were visited by three angels (Genesis 18:2). In Genesis (18:12), Sarah suggests that both her age and Abraham’s age are obstacles to conceiving a child, as he was 99 and she was 89 years old at the time. „So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?’“ (Genesis 18:12).From a feminist critical perspective, Esther Fuchs observes that Sarah remains a silent and obedient wife to Abraham throughout the narrative. She critiques this status, arguing that Sarah was utilized as an instrument to fulfill Yahweh’s promise of abundant descendants for Abraham (Fuchs, 1989). Contrasting Fuchs’s critique of patriarchy in the Bible, Rachel Adler advocates for the positive role of matriarchs. Adler argues that the roles of Sarah, as well as Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel, were those of nurturers, especially when they could not decide on their fertility, as the decision of whether they would conceive was entrusted to divine providence (Adler, 1977).
Despite her limitations, Sarah, as Abraham’s wife and a matriarch, wielded influence. Adler points out that women like Sarah and Rebekah, the wife of Sarah’s son Isaac, leveraged their positions to influence the lives of their sons. A study by Danna Fewell and David Gunn, Gender, Power, and Promise: The Subject of the Bible’s First Story (1992), confirms this observation and highlights it as a central theme recurring in the biblical narrative when portraying key female figures. For the case of biblical matriarchs, the issue is not how much they were neglected or excluded from the text; instead, it becomes significant how they were depicted (Fewell & Gunn, 1992).
Does Motherhood Grant Power?
Sarah’s position, as well as her sense of self-worth, changes after she gives birth to Isaac. Having endured the stigma of being a barren woman, she now regains her status as Abraham’s wife, who, with the blessing of divine intervention, bore the long-desired heir. According to Adler, it was precisely this maternal role within the family that enabled Sarah to exert political influence. Adler argues that Sarah, as a mother, served the higher purpose of giving birth to Isaac, who would grow into a patriarchal figure modeled after his father Abraham. The text of Genesis presents the production of male offspring through divine intervention as the ultimate goal and achievement of women. Adler critiques this notion, arguing that it diminishes women’s contributions by framing their fertility solely as a biological predisposition, with God credited for enabling it. She further critiques the Jewish tradition for stripping mothers of any creative agency and attributing it entirely to God (Adler, 1977). The most significant aspect of Sarah’s role remains the belief that she is the biological mother of the Jewish people and the female ancestor of God’s Chosen People. But what if she had not given birth to Isaac or fulfilled the most critical role in the patriarchal narrative? Would her name have been remembered? Or would she have remained marked with the „scarlet letters“ of the stigma of infertility? How many women today, in the 21st century, suffer under the immense pressure to become mothers? How many push their bodies and minds to the limits, undergoing countless attempts at artificial insemination? How much do they suffer when these attempts fail? How many resort to surrogate mothers, using another woman’s body just as Sarah used Hagar? On the other hand, how much do we judge women if they are not fully dedicated to the desire to bear children or to increase birth rates? In the end, we often blame women for the social failure of declining demographics, sending them messages to „talk less and give birth more.“
Hagar – From Disdain to Liberation
It is Sarah’s longing for a child that brings us to the Egyptian Hagar. „And Sarah said to Abram, ‘Behold, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go to my maidservant; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.’ And Abram heeded the voice of Sarah“ (Genesis 16:2). After fulfilling her duty by becoming Abraham’s concubine and bearing Ishmael, Hagar experienced disdain from Sarah, who complained to Abraham: „The wrong done to me is your fault! I gave my maidservant into your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between you and me!“ (Genesis 16:5). Hagar fled into the wilderness, but salvation came in the form of an angel who spoke with her and directed her to a well. „The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, ‘Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?’ She said, ‘I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.’ The angel of the Lord said to her, ‘Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand. I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.’ And the angel of the Lord said to her, ‘Behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard your affliction.’“(Genesis 16:7–11).
Hagar is highlighted because God appeared to her and called her by name. Moreover, she gave God a name: „And she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, ‘You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees’; for she said, ‘Have I also here seen Him who sees me?’ Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered“ (Genesis 16:13–14). Charles Rix offers an interesting and useful observation about Hagar. Despite the somewhat harsh ending to the story, as the author points out, there remains a testimony that highlights Hagar’s value and her suffering. The author emphasizes that the biblical writer acts as an advocate for the oppressed Hagar, giving her a voice in the moment of despair when Abraham and Sarah cast her out (Rix, 2015). Her words show enduring courage, as she becomes the one who gave God the name „El Roi,“ meaning „the One who sees.“
When we read the story of Hagar, we must keep in mind her subordinate position as a servant, which meant she was existentially dependent on Abraham and Sarah. Therefore, she had to follow instructions and obey orders to survive. This interpretative path was followed by the 19th-century English feminist Josephine Butler, who analyzed the Bible with the intention of expressing her concern for those who experienced multiple forms of oppression and discrimination. For example, Butler analyzes the biblical discourse about Hagar and Sarah as a tale of two classes of women, comparing it to the class system in Victorian Britain. The author recognizes Hagar as an abused slave, typical of all oppressed women. Butler described Hagar as an inferior woman of lower status, not chosen out of love, but simply used for a specific time and purpose (Butler, 1870). Savina Teubal (1990) and John Walton (1997) state that slave women were considered property and legal extensions of their mistresses. As a result, there is a possibility that Sarah ordered Hagar to perform household chores and also used her as a surrogate mother for her own infertile womb.
Charles Rix highlights Hagar’s story from the perspective of the abused outsider cast into the wilderness, raising troubling questions about the depiction of violent behavior from the chosen people (Abraham and Sarah) toward the marginalized Hagar. Through his reading of the story, the author restores the dignity that belongs to Hagar as a human being and emphasizes that we must interrogate the strategies of dehumanization within family relationships (Rix, 2015). His interpretation of Hagar through the lens of the discarded “other” offers support and encouragement for the oppressed to speak out against all forms of discrimination and violence.
In the Bondage of Emotions
Was there a possibility for Sarah and Hagar to reconcile and support each other? What caused Sarah’s intolerance and jealousy toward Hagar? Where is the justice in the fact that Hagar’s body was used to bear a son and then discarded once Sarah had fulfilled her task of bearing the much-desired heir? How aware was Sarah of the danger Hagar was exposed to when she was exiled into the wilderness? How did the role of social order affect the circumstances, considering that Sarah was Abraham’s wife, while Hagar was a slave and concubine? Answers can be found in the interpretation of Juliane Claassens, who writes that both Sarah and Hagar were prevented from reaching their full potential. The author believes that the patriarchal order was the force that caused much pain for both Sarah and Hagar (Claassens, 2012). Philip Drey interprets Sarah and Hagar’s relationship as a subject-object dynamic. Sarah represents authority, domination, and power as she orders Hagar to have relations with Abraham, while Hagar is the one who is subordinated and powerless to resist, as Sarah and Abraham were her masters. The author warns that the focus is on Sarah’s infertility, while Abraham’s reproductive ability remains unchallenged (Drey, 2002). In this context, it was much harder for Sarah than for Abraham, who sought a solution in Hagar’s womb. For Sarah, infertility was a significant threat to her social status as the wife of the most important man for the people of Israel, while Hagar was forced to risk her life and her child’s life due to the injustice imposed by the same order. Patriarchy determines the place of the wife and the concubine, the first and the second. In reality, neither is the first because it is the man who holds the privilege in both relationships. Society condemns women, while men are supported.
How does a traditional family function? Who makes the decisions, who takes better care of the children, what is the role of the mother, and what of the father, who is more dedicated, who sacrifices more? Deborah and John Sawyer conducted an analysis of the family roles of Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, and their sons Isaac and Ishmael. If we consider the roles of patriarch and matriarch, we can observe that Jewish tradition insists on the passive role of women, who were there only as those who give birth. The mothers of Israel are not equal to the fathers of Israel. Deborah and John Sawyer criticize Abraham and his obedience to God’s command, which led him to attempt to sacrifice his young son (Genesis 22:1-14), as they believe this example cannot be considered a paradigm of perfect family life (Sawyer, Sawyer, 2022). Therefore, the behaviors and values of the aforementioned Old Testament figures were guided by norms assigned to women and men based on biological functions. These authors observe that men are not required to contribute much more than a brief involvement in the process of reproduction. Due to their biological constitution, the act of fatherhood is just a small part of the patriarch’s identity, which, as the authors note, means that „patriarch“ is a category that encompasses more than fatherhood, and among its most important characteristics, perhaps leadership and decision-making stand out. Patriarchs are „blessed“ with special communication with God because He chose Abraham and his descendants to make a holy covenant. On the other hand, matriarchs like Sarah and Rebecca do not cross the boundaries of the family, and their influence always remains indirect, as they ensure their security by making sure their sons become heirs to their father’s power (Sawyer, Sawyer, 2022). How much space is left today for women to influence the family, considering that society constantly reminds them of their biological function?
David Zucker addresses the issue of Abraham’s primary family (Sarah and Isaac) and secondary family (Hagar and Ishmael), stating that the secondary family is unjustly ostracized. Specifically, Sarah expels Hagar and her son, and their status changes – from being desired, they become despised and discarded. The author emphasizes that Hagar and Ishmael were frightened, alone, and left exposed to life-threatening danger (Zucker, 2008). He questions the status of a blended family where a couple has children from previous relationships, using Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Hagar, and Ishmael as an example of an ancient mixed family. He notes that their story provides lessons on what could be done – or avoided – in a blended family situation. When analyzing this ancient mixed family, he does so through the lens of contemporary norms and the understanding of relationships between spouses (partners) and children within family life in the twenty-first century. He warns that what was accepted and tolerated in the ancient world is not the standard or model of our time (Zucker, 2003). We must not forget that the environment constantly gives warnings about the biological clock, reproduction, and norms regarding how many children are desirable. All the responsibility for child-rearing falls on the mother, and in the most rigorous way, mothers are blamed for the mistakes and shortcomings of their children. It is assumed that a woman tolerates all forms of her husband’s behavior, even those that cross the line and trample mutual respect, one of which is infidelity.
A Lesson for Future Generations of Women
Any woman who has experienced the desire to become a mother and who has faced trials, obstacles, suffering, and societal pressure during that process can identify with Sarah. We can agree that we are very similar to her. The feeling of insecurity and insufficient worth haunts many women if they do not fulfill this, the most important task of life assigned to them. Women feel discouraged, anxious, and crises, anxiety, and depression emerge. Sarah’s emotions are suppressed in the Bible, but we need to change the narrative and speak about how we feel, how we resist pressure, and how stereotypes about the role of a good and obedient wife and mother affect us. Do we want something more in life, and how much do we lose our own identity in the desire to please our husbands, partners, mothers, mothers-in-law, neighbors, priests, imams, and the community? It is important to emphasize that Muslim, Christian, and Jewish women equally receive criticism within their communities. Patriarchal pressure equally affects the covered woman, the one in business suits, or the one in an apron. It strikes both the one with olive skin and the one with porcelain white skin. We are all Sarah’s daughters, and in this problem, we must stand united.
On the other hand, we have accusations directed at mistresses, those who “steal” husbands and supposedly destroy families. Although infidelity is a moral transgression and a sin in the eyes of all religions, both the man and the woman are responsible for it. Hagar was in the role of a concubine and surrogate mother who was rejected and despised. How deeply can we immerse ourselves in the emotions of pain and fear that Hagar must have felt, fearing for her own life and the life of her child? Do all women who break traditional commandments feel this pain and fear? They are not forgiven; they are lynched. Hagar’s story calls us to look at our lives and ask: What hurts more, being pushed into shame and hiding from others or from God? Why are we paralyzed by the fear of rejection? What experiences lead us to question, Am I important in this world? Do we shy away from the idea of forgiving certain people? as God abandoned us in trouble, when things go wrong? Does God even see us?
When she felt invisible and insignificant, Hagar experienced God communicating with her[7]. This is proof that God communicates with women and does not make distinctions based on class, race, religion, ideology, or gender that patriarchy has created. Hagar was a slave, a servant, a foreigner, an Egyptian, a concubine, marginalized in every context, yet an angel brought her a message of hope. She received a message from God that gave her strength to rise from her troubles. Hagar’s example is a lesson to all women to step out of the victim role, to seek answers and solutions to their problems, to persevere in faith and struggle, and to never give up on their aspirations and dreams despite obstacles.
Female Solidarity
As mentioned at the beginning of the text, the story of Sarah and Hagar has the potential to serve as a space for examining complex ethical issues arising from interactions that continue to happen due to barriers imposed by differences in race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, and class. The story of Sarah and Hagar does not have a happy ending – the relationship between the two women completely breaks down and ends with Hagar’s expulsion. Martha Nussbaum (2001) writes that painful literary experiences confirm that we are necessary and limited creatures. These experiences, as testimonies of the past, are valuable in that they help us better understand both ourselves and others. A woman can be solidary and an ally to another woman. The relationship between Sarah and Hagar teaches us about the toxic patterns of hostility between women. Women must respect each other, and Sarah’s example shows us that it is a mistake to marginalize another woman simply to confirm one’s own status. Patriarchy is a great trap for the application of internalized misogyny. Sarah is every woman who struggles for her position and place in society and who, pressured by societal norms, is forced to exploit another woman in order to achieve her goal. Although we must have understanding for the many traumas, pressures, and oppressions that women face, this cannot be an excuse for invalidating another person’s autonomy. Unlike the Old Testament past and the ruthless circumstances, today we have many more possibilities. Therefore, it would be beneficial to use the development of emancipation for the good of society and mutual solidarity. Sarah and Hagar can challenge us to respect religious, cultural, and class differences.
Literature
Adelman, R. (2021), „Barren women in the Bible“, The Shalvi Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women. Jewish Women’s Archive. https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/barren-women-in-the-bible
Adler, R. (1977), „ A mother in Israel: Aspects of the mother role in Jewish myth“ In R. M. Gross (Ed.), Beyond androcentrism: New essays on women and religion (pp. 237–255). Scholars Press.
Bachofen, J. (1861), Matrilineal Law, Krais und Hoffmann.
Benckhuysen, A. (2005), Irmtraud Fischer, Women Who Wrestled with God: Biblical Stories of Israel’s Beginnings, Collegeville: The Liturgical Press.
Berković, D. (2018), Marriage and Marital Disputes in the Old Testament, Kairos: Evangelical Theological Journal, 12(2), 181–200.
Bible (1973), Zagreb:Kršćanska sadašnjost.
Butler, J. (1870), „The lovers of the lost“, Contemporary Review, 13, 16–40. https://www.attackingthedevil.co.uk/related-texts/the-lovers-of-the-lost/.
Claassens, J. (2020), „Just emotions: Reading the Sarah and Hagar narrative (Genesis 16, 21) through the lens of human dignity“, Verbum et Ecclesia, 34(2), 1–6.
Drey, P. (2008), „ The role of Hagar in Genesis 16“, Andrews University Seminary Studies, 40(2), 179–195.
Fischer, I. (2005), Women Who Wrestled with God: Biblical Stories of Israel’s Beginning. The Liturgical Press.
Fretheim, T. (1994), „Genesis“, In L. Keck et al. (Eds.), The New Interpreter’s Bible ( pp. 254–301). Abingdon.
Fuchs, E. (1989), „The literary characterization of mothers and sexual politics in the Hebrew Bible“, Semeia, 46, 151–166.
Gruenfelder, A. M. (1988), „Feminist Theology or the Death of the Patriarchal God?“, Theological Review,58(1), 29–60.
Gunn, D., & Fewell, D. (1992), Gender, power and promise: The subject of the Bible’s first story, Abingdon Press.
Klopper, F. (2009), „Interpretation is all we have: A feminist perspective on the objective fallacy“ ,Old Testament Essays, 22(1). http://www.scielo.org.za/pdf/ote/v22n1/05.pdf
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Nussbaum, M. (2001), Upheavals of thought: The intelligence of emotions, Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511840715.
Morgan, H. (1981), Ancient Society: Researches in the Development of Mankind from Savagery and Barbarism to Civilization, Beograd: Prosveta.
Rix, C. (2015), „Trauma and narrative wreckage in the biblical story of Hagar“, Cultural and Religious Studies, 3(3), 167–176.
Rebić, A. (2006), „Abraham, Our Father in Faith: History, Faith, and Theology“, Theological Review, 76(3), 513–529.
Rebić, A. (2006), Little Religious Dictionary, Zagreb: Kršćanska sadašnjost.
Sawyer, D., & Sawyer, J. (2022), Women and Religion in the First Centuries of Christianity (L. Efendić, Trans.), Sarajevo: TPO Foundation.
Teubal, S. (1990), Ancient Sisterhood: The Lost Tradition of Hagar and Sarah, Ohio: University Press of Ohio.
Walton, J. (1997), The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Genesis-Deuteronomy, InterVarsity Press.
Weems, R. (1988), Just a Sister Away: A Womanist Vision of Women’s Relationships in the Bible, Publishing/Editing Network.
Zucker, D. (2008), „What Sarah saw: Envisioning Genesis 21:9–10“, Jewish Bible Quarterly, 36(1), Jewish Bible Association. https://jbqnew.jewishbible.org/assets/Uploads/361/361_sarahsaw.pdf
Encyclopedia.hr. (2022). Matriarchy. https://www.enciklopedija.hr/clanak/matrijarhat
Jezikoslovac, (2022). Word: barren. https://jezikoslovac.com/word/7hhs
[1]The first edition of the book Women Who Wrestled with God: Biblical Stories of Israel’s Beginning by Irmtraud Fischer was published in German in 1995, and the second edition in 2000. The book was translated into English by Linda M. Maloney in 2005. It provides a critical analysis based on source and editorial criticism, along with extensive historical and anthropological knowledge of the ancient Near East. As confirmed by numerous notes, Fischer critically incorporates an increasing number of feminist scholars into biblical stories. Her competence in critically engaging with both traditional and feminist knowledge makes this book a valuable scholarly contribution to the discussion on the origins of ancient Israel and women’s stories (cf. Benckhuysen, 2005).
[2]Anna Maria Gruenfelder states that feminist theology has uncovered the root cause of the certain one-sidedness of biblical interpretations and their exclusively male perspective. The perspective of feminist theology highlights the absence of the female experiential world in interpretation and tradition (cf. Gruenfelder, 1988). An intersectional feminist approach involves analyzing discrimination based on race, ethnicity, nationality, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, and studying discrimination between classes and estates, as well as the relationships between the privileged and the oppressed.
[3]The term patriarch (Greek: πατριάρχης from Ancient Greek πατήρ – father and ἀρχή – dominion). In the Bible, it is interpreted as ancestor, progenitor, family or tribal head, or leader of a people. In the Small Religious Dictionary by Adalbert Rebić (2006), the term patriarch is defined as follows: „1. the title for the forefathers of the Jewish people, for the twelve tribes of Israel; 2. a church leader to whom metropolitans and other bishops are subject; 3. in antiquity, bishops of Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, and Jerusalem, with some other places added later; 4. in Eastern churches, the head of an autocephalous or autonomous ecclesiastical province; 5. in the Catholic Church, a title and honor, taking precedence over other bishops“ (Rebić, 2006).
[4] Matriarchy (Latin: mater, genitive matris – mother + -arh), a form of governance or tradition in which social power rests in the hands of the oldest women in a community. The term is sometimes used to mean „rule of women,“ though the term gynocracy is more closely related to this meaning. Johan Bachofen in Mother Right (1861) hypothesizes that in the beginning, people lived in sexual relationships without restrictions, that parenthood could only be counted through the mother (matrilineality), and that she, as the only certain parent, was given special respect and honor. L. Henry Morgan in Ancient Society (1877) writes about the existence of an original matriarchal clan as a precursor to the patriarchal clan. More on matriarchy can be found at: https://www.enciklopedija.hr/clanak/matrijarhat
[5]Biblical scholar Adalbert Rebić analyzes Abraham as a witness to the original religion. In biblical texts, Abraham is presented as a precursor to all those who believe, becoming „the father of faith“ for those who are not his „father by blood.“ Abraham is a man of salvation, a man who sets out without return, a man of faithful deeds, the father of possible and impossible endeavors. For these qualities, he is today a model in interreligious understanding (cf. Rebić, 2006).
[6]In agrarian societies during the biblical period (1200–600 BCE), having children was highly valued, and the primary role of women was that of motherhood. Rachel Adelman notes that in the Bible, and even until recently, infertility was physiologically attributed to women, although it was ultimately believed that God held the keys to opening and closing the womb (Mishnah Taanit 3:8). Only female figures were identified with the term “barren” [aqarah] (Genesis 11:30, 25:21, 29:31; Judges 13:2, 3; 1 Samuel 2:5; Psalms 113:9; Job 24:21), derived from the Hebrew root qr, meaning „to tear out or pull out,“ the opposite of „plant“ [nt’] (Ecclesiastes 3:2). A woman’s infertility could also be referred to as „having no offspring“ (as in Genesis 11:30, Judges 13:2, 2 Kings 4:14). As Adelman notes, biblical women often suffered deep shame as a consequence, with their infertility being attributed to some hidden fault, sin, or flaw (cf. Adelman, 2021). According to linguist, the word barren refers to infertility but also expands to negative connotations such as empty and futile. For more on this, see: https://jezikoslovac.com/word/7hhs.
[7]According to Terence Fretheim (1994), the biblical narrator portrays Hagar as a person of faith. In Genesis 16:13, Hagar recognized the angel’s voice as God’s voice, even though it did not offer any word of self-identification. The narrator presents Hagar as one who listened, understood, and believed the promise—unlike Sarah, who sought alternative means to hasten the promise and could not wait.
