A mother's deepest crisis in the unforgiving desert unfolds as Hagar faces the impending death of her child. Overwhelmed by absolute despair, she creates a profound barrier between herself and Ishmael, separating from him both physically and emotionally.
Despite a previous promise that Ishmael would grow into a great nation, Hagar loses all hope. Commentators note that her faith was weak, leading her to revert to the idol worship of her father's house [הדר זקנים]. Consumed by hopelessness, she reasons that if Abraham could abandon his own boy, she has no obligation to care for him any more than his father did [ביאור יש״ר]. This emotional detachment is starkly evident in how she speaks of him. Rather than calling him her son, she refers to him coldly as the child who is dying, alienating herself from him entirely. This stands in sharp contrast to Abraham, who maintained a deep bond of love when taking Isaac to be sacrificed, tenderly calling him his son [קונטרס חיבה יתירה].
Along with her emotional withdrawal, Hagar physically removes herself from the scene. Rather than sitting close and facing him, the primary approach among commentators is that she turns away and sits at a distance [רש״י, שד״ל, שפתי חכמים, ביאור יש״ר]. She moves far enough away to avoid the immediate reality of his condition, yet keeps him just within sight so she can continue to watch over him [רד״ק, ביאור שטיינזלץ].
She positions herself at the distance of a bowshot, generally understood as the flight range of a fired arrow, roughly one hundred and seventy meters [אבן עזרא, רד״ק, רלב״ג, ביאור שטיינזלץ, יהל אור]. Some note that the distance was actually twice as far, spanning the length of two arrow shots [רש״י, מזרחי, ברטנורא]. There are several explanations for choosing this exact distance. One perspective suggests she wanted to avoid witnessing his final moments up close, while also ensuring he would not hear her weeping. The sound of crying is deeply distressing for someone who is severely ill, regardless of whether they are dying or recovering [העמק דבר, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Another view suggests her distance was driven by a fear for her own safety. Since Ishmael was a skilled archer, she worried that the intense agony of his illness might drive him to madness, causing him to shoot at her. To protect herself, she deliberately stayed completely out of his firing range [ברטנורא, פענח רזא].
A completely different approach reframes this separation not as an act of abandonment, but as a coordinated effort of hope. According to this view, mother and son agreed to separate by the distance of a bowshot to search for water. They established a signal: if either of them found water, they would shoot an arrow to alert the other. Therefore, when an angel later revealed the water to her, she immediately understood it was located near the boy and rushed back to search around him [פענח רזא].
Ultimately, the ongoing narrative emphasizes her repeated act of sitting at a distance. This highlights that every time Hagar noticed Ishmael's condition deteriorating and death drawing closer, she retreated an additional distance, entirely unable to bear the sight of his suffering [רש״י, העמק דבר].