It is exceedingly difficult to sanitise the story of Hagar to fit our religious expectations. Like all human relationships, the dynamics between Sarah, Abraham and Hagar are messy.  Hagar is a slave. Sarah gives Hagar to Abraham as a wife to bear Abraham a son. 

According to Tikva Frymer-Kensky the custom of giving a wife to one’s husband was common: 

“...cuneiform texts of the
second and first
millennia B.C.E. attest to this custom in ancient
Mesopotamia. The first such text, from the Old
Assyrian colony in
Anatolia, dates from around 1900 B.C.E. A marriage contract, it
stipulates that if the wife does not give birth in two years, she will purchase a slave woman for the
husband. In the world of the ancient Near East, a slave woman could be seen as an incubator, a kind of womb-with-legs. Sarai and Abram see
Hagar in this role and never call her by name.”

Hagar does not see herself as a slave. She values herself as a person, not as property, and later feels superior to Sarah “she looked with contempt on her mistress” (Gen 16:4). In response Sarah and Abraham degrade and abuse her. Hagar runs away. In the wilderness she meets God’s messenger who asks her to return to the abusive situation for then she will bear a son who will be a “wild ass of a man” (Gen 16:12). A wild ass is undomesticated, likewise Ishmael is undomesticated and will not be oppressed and live “with his hand against everyone” and “in everyone’s face” (Gen 16:12).

In a male centred society what is astonishing is that Hagar is Abram’s counterpart. God speaks directly to her and Abraham. Hagar and Ishmael are freed by Sarah (Gen 21:9–14). Later, Israel will be freed from slavery and like Hagar will end up in the desert and struggle with thirst.

Hagar is a powerful symbol for anyone who has felt that they do not belong, for anyone who is excluded or rejected by “mainstream” religion.
Hagar is a heroine for all who support “Black Lives Matter”.