Hagarens

HAGARENS, the descendants of Ishmael. They are called also Ishmaelites and Saracens; and lastly, by the general name of Arabians, taken from the country, where they dwelt. Their name, Saracens, is not derived, as some have thought, from Sarah, Abraham’s wife, but from the Hebrew סרקFurari, Prædari.Sarak, which signifies to rob or steal; because the Saracens, or Sarakins, for the most part carry on the trade of thieving. Plin. l. 6. c. 28. Strabo, l. 17. p. 528.As to the Hagarens, they dwelt in Arabia the Happy, according to Pliny. Strabo joins them with the Nabathæans, and Chavlotæans, whose habitation was rather in Arabia Deserta. Others think their Capital was Petra, otherwise Agra, and consequently they should be placed in Arabia Petræa. The author of the lxxxiiia Psalm, ver. 6. joins them with the Moabites; and in 1 Chr. v. 10.the Chronicles it is said, that the sons of Reuben, in the time of Saul, made war against the Hagarens, and became masters of their country, eastward of the mountains of Gilead. This therefore was the true and ancient country of the Hagarens. When Trajan came into Arabia, he besieged the Capital of the Hagarens, but could not take it. Dio. l. 68.The sons of Hagar valued themselves of old upon their wisdom, as appears by Baruch iii. 23.

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