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257 wouldst thou give me? But [ am childless!" Without an heir, Abram said, what use is any reward? Then the word of Yahweh came to him, thus: "None shall inherit thee except he who shall come out of thy own innards." And he brought him out, and said: "Look now up to the heavens, and count the stars, if thou be able to number them; that many shall be thy seed." "It was on that day that Yahweh had made a Covenant with Abram, saying: Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the Brook of Egypt until the great river, the River Euphrates." But, the biblical tale continues, in spite of that promise of countless descendants, Sarah still did not bear a child to Abra- ham. So Sarah said to Abraham that perhaps it was the Lord's intention that Abraham's offspring should not depend on her ability to bear children, and suggested that he "come unto" Hagar, her Egyptian handmaiden. And "Hagar became preg- nant," and began to belittle her mistress. Although it was her own suggestion, Sarah was now furi- ous, "and dealt harshly with Hagar," and Hagar ran away. And an angel of Yahweh found her by a spring in the desert, the spring which is on the Way of Shur. Aw AL. 2atd en THe ae On. La An. And he said to Hagar, Sarah's handmaiden, "Whence comest thou and whither goest thou?" Explaining that she was running away from her mistress Sarah, the angel told her to go back, for she would have a son and by him numerous offspring. "And thou shalt call his name Ishma-El"—'God Has Heard'—for Yahweh hath heard thy plight." So Hagar went back and gave birth to Ishmael; "and Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ish- mael to Abram." It was not before another thirteen years had passed that Yahweh once again "appeared unto Abram" and, reaffirming the Covenant with Abraham and his offspring, Angels and Other Emissaries