About this episode

BYU professor Amy Easton discusses the story of Hagar and how it reveals God's loving-kindness and awareness of those on the margins.

What if one of the most powerful testimonies of God's love in the scriptures comes from a woman whose story we often skip over? In this episode, BYU professor of ancient scripture Amy Easton discusses a compelling study of Hagar–the enslaved Egyptian woman who becomes the only person in the Old Testament to name God–by discussing her article "'You Are the God Who Sees Me': God's Loving-Kindness to Hagar." Professor Easton guides listeners into the heart of Hagar's story, showing how her experiences of trauma, exploitation, and exile reveal a God who is intimately aware of those on the margins. She highlights Hagar's transformative encounters in the wilderness, where God sees her, hears her, makes promises directly to her, and ultimately liberates her and her son. Through these moments, we come to understand a God who works both within hardship and beyond it. Further, Professor Easton explains how Hagar's story affirms a universal truth that God sees all His children and invites us to see and care for one another with that same loving‑kindness. Publications: "'You Are the God Who Sees Me': God's Loving-Kindness to Hagar," in Tender Mercies and Loving-Kindness: The Goodness of God…

People in this episode

Guest: Amy Easton

Topics covered

• God's love
• Hagar's story
• trauma and exploitation
• divine encounters
• marginalization
• loving-kindness

Keywords

• Hagar
• God
• Old Testament
• testimony
• margins
• trauma
• exile
• loving-kindness

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: 'You Are the God Who Sees Me': God's Loving-Kindness to Hagar, Tender Mercies and Loving-Kindness: The Goodness of God in the Old Testament, A Hundredth Part: Exploring the History and Teachings of the Book of Mormon

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