Genesis 21

The Birth of Isaac

1 Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised.

1. It took a long time (25 years) for this promise to come to pass, but the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken, just as He always does. God never seems to be in a rush to do things. If we were God we would have all the problems of the world solved before lunch on the first day. Because God is patient, it means that no matter how old you are you can still be used in his plan. Anyone else would have Isaac born to a young couple, but God does not have a retirement age for his people. He uses them in vital ways at every age.

2. It was special for Sarah, and God meant this child to be special for her. Abraham already had a son that he loved greatly, but Sarah still went childless all these years. Abraham would have been happy if Ishmael had been the promised child, but she longed to be so blest as to have that child, and here we see God being gracious to her in granting her the promised child. This gave her life meaning as nothing else could. 3, Brian Morgan implies that the greatest joy was that of Sarah as he writes, "The opening scene resonates with the pure, unadulterated joy that is ours when God breaks into our lives and fulfills his promises. Given the ages of Abraham and Sarah, and their twenty-five years of waiting, their joy must have been indescribable. But for the narrator, it is Sarah's exultation that is predominant. Nothing compares to the joy of a barren woman who bears a child at last. Thus the narrator frames the scene with God's intervention for Sarah and her consequent joy. Between the echoes of Sarah's delight we read of the obedient actions of Abraham." But as we go to verse 8 we see it was Abraham who planned for the greatest feast in their lives. It would be hard to measure whose joy was greatest, nor is there any need to try.

4. This event confirms what Isaiah would later write of God saying,

"As the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven,

And returneth not thither,

Except it water the earth,

And maketh it bring forth and bud,

And give seed to the sower and bread to the eater ;

So shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth:

It shall not return unto Me void,

Except it accomplish that which I please,

And make the thing whereto I sent it prosper. (Isaiah IV, 10-11.)"

2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.

1. Someone noted, "If all is by natural process there is no evidence of God stepping into history. God's greatest miracles that had an impact on all of history came through motherhood. Sarah and Mary had babies by miracles and they changed the course of history as no other babies." Both Abraham and Sarah were without any capacity to have a child, and yet God promised that they would. You talk about faith! Imagine how great a faith it took to believe this promise. Paul talks like they were just barely above being a couple of corpses in their decrepit old bodies, but they believed in the impossible. Paul writes in Rom. 4:18-21, "Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be."19Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah's womb was also dead. 20Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised."

2. Pink has an interesting paragraph showing the parallel of the birth of Isaac with that of the Lord Jesus Christ. He wrote, "The birth of Christ was markedly foreshadowed by that of Isaac and this in seven ways at least. First, Isaac was the promised seed and son (Gen. 17:16); so also was Christ (Gen. 3:15; Isaiah 7:14). Second, a lengthy interval occurred between God’s first promise to Abraham and its realization. When we are told, "And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said" (Gen. 21:1), the immediate reference is to Genesis 17:16 and Genesis 18:14, but the remote reference was to the original promise of Genesis 12:7. So also was there a lengthy interval between God’s promise to send Christ and the actual fulfillment of it. Third, when Isaac’s birth was announced, his mother asked, "Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?" (Gen. 18:13), to which the answer was returned, "Is

anything too hard for the Lord?" and the striking analogy is seen in the fact that when the angel of the Lord made known unto Mary that she was to be the mother of the Savior, she asked, "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" (Luke 1:34), to which query the answer was returned, "With God nothing shall be impossible’’ (Luke 1:37): so that in each case God’s omnipotency was affirmed following the annunciation of the birth of the child. Fourth, Isaac’s name was specified before he was born—"And thou shalt call his name Isaac" (Gen. 17:19); compare with this thewords of the angel to Joseph before Christ was born—"And thou shalt call his name Jesus" (Matthew 1:21)! Fifth, Isaac’s birth occurred at God’s appointed time (Gen. 21:2) "at the set time"; so also in connection with the Lord Jesus we read "But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman" (Gal. 4:4). Sixth, as we have seen above, Isaac’s birth required a miracle to bring it about; so also was it with the incarnation of Immanuel. Seventh, the name Isaac (given untohim by Abraham and not Sarah, Genesis 21:3), which means laughter, declared him to be his father’s delight; so also was the one born at Bethlehem—"this is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Need we remark how strikingly this sevenfold type evidences the Divine inspiration of Scripture, and demonstrates that the book of Genesis—so much attacked by the critics—was written by one" moved by the Holy Spirit."

3 Abraham gave the name Isaac [a] to the son Sarah bore him.

1. God told Abraham to call his son Isaac back before he was born in Gen. 17:19 where we read, "And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him." Abraham obeyed God and named him Laughter just as God said he should. This was the promised child through whom the people of God would be established, and through whom God would bless the whole world. Here we have Father, mother, and child; the ideal family from which to build the greater family of the children of God. This is what we might call the first family of the kingdom of God on earth

2. It was such a joke that an old couple like Abraham and Sarah would have a child, and it led both of them to laugh at the very thought of it, and so the child born in the midst of such laughter was named laughter. Look again at the two texts that show their response to God's promise of a child. (Gen 17:17) Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?" (Gen 18:12) So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this

pleasure?" Isaac was a perpetual reminder that God has a sense of humor, for only a God of humor would seek to change the history of the world through an old man and woman, and do it through giving them a baby.

Another baby that brought laughter to a family was this one I read about. "When my daughter-in-law was pregnant, my son went with her to her doctor'sappointment. The day the doctor checked the baby's heartbeat for the first time, he handed the stethoscope to my son to listen. The doctor said, "Sounds like a washing machine, doesn't it?" My son agreed. On the way home my son was very quiet. Then came these words: "If it's a boy, we can name him Kenmore. If it's a girl, we could call her Maytag."

4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him.

1. Abraham was carrying out God's orders perfectly in naming him as God said he was to do, and now in circumcising him on the eighth day as God commanded. He lived in obedience, which is the best state a person can live it to please God and be blest with his favor.

2. Donald J. Gettys writes, "Why on the eighth day? Now, why on the eighth day? Well, Leviticus 12:3 dictates that all circumcisions in Bible times should take place on the eighth day. Why was this? For years we could only guess, but now we know. Science has determined that on the eighth day the quantity of vitamin K in the body is the highest it will ever be. After that day it diminishes. Vitamin K is responsible for blood clotting. Now, God knew that, didn't He, because God made the body and so that's when you should do your circumcising. Even if we don't understand why, it is always best to closely follow God's will." "Who does the bible say circumcised Isaac? Who did it? Abraham himself did it, didn't he? His ancient daddy, that old hand took the knife and circumcised Isaac. There on the desert floor the father painfully shed the blood of his only son. Observe how closely Abraham followed God's instruction. The circumcision was not done on the seventh day or the tenth day, but on the eighth day, the day of God's choosing."

5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

1. Abraham was more like a grand or great grandfather in age, but now he is a father again. It would be bad news in our day, but he lived for another 75 years and so he had a long life as a father with Isaac. He seems to have health right up to near the time of his death, and so his old age did not limit him as much as we might think. God had confidence that an old man could do the job that a father had to do. James Garfield said, "If wrinkles must be written upon our brow, let them not be written upon our heart. The spirit should not grow old." George W. Curtis said, "To have known one good old man-one man who, through the chances and mischances of a long life, has carried his heart in his hand, like a palm branch waving all discords into peace-helps our faith in God, in ourselves and in each other, more than many sermons." Abraham was just that kind of an old man.

Edward Tuck,

Age is a quality of the mind! If you have left your dreams behind, If hope is cold;If you no longer look ahead,If your ambition's fires are dead- Then you are old.But if from life you take the best,And if in life you keep the jest, If love you hold,No matter how the years go by,No matter how the birthdays fly You are not old.

6 Sarah said, "God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me."

1. Isaac was not the result of a virgin birth, but it was nevertheless a miracle of special providence. Today they would be in the Guinness Book of World Records. Their age would make the birth of a baby a joke in the community, and people would laugh when they heard about it. Take any couple you know 80 or older and imagine then having a baby, and you will enter into the emotions involved in the birth of Isaac. An old joke says, "My grandmother died at 93, but they saved the baby." Conrad Hyers wrote, "The history of Israel begins with a joke, a divine joke." It was a joke when Sarah first heard she would have a baby, but now it is no joke but a joy, for she is laughing with God now, and not at him for such an outlandish prediction. God gets the last laugh, but Sarah joins in that laughter, and she expects that people to the end of history will laugh with them when they read about this joke that became an historical reality. God brought laughter into their lives and into the world. The gift of laughter is one of God’s greatest gifts to all

mankind. It is a universal quality of all people, for they are made in the image of a God who laughs and loves laughter in his people. Technically God here has taken on the role of comedian, for a comedian is one who makes people laugh, and that is what God is doing here. There was great mirth at the birth of this one they called laughter, for it was the birth of laughter. People will be laughing for the rest of history because this child is proof that God will fulfill all of his promises no matter how unlikely they seem. It was still a joke, but a joke come true, and she had a baby called laughter at the age of 90. It was a joke that was to make people laugh for the rest of history, for everyone who hears of a woman who could be a great great grandmother having her first baby will laugh with her.

2. One pastor writing about the joy of Sarah after 25 years of anxious waiting wrote, “The joy must have been incredible. I am reminded of old Ebenezer Scrooge He had been haunted by three ghosts only to wake up on Christmas morning. "He was so transported with joy he could hardly put his clothes on. "I don't know what to do," cried Scrooge, laughing and crying at the same time. "I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a school boy, and I am as giddy as a drunken man." He burst into a laugh. "Really", exclaims Dickens, "Really, for a man who had been out of practice for so many years it was a splendid laugh, a most illustrious laugh, the father of a long line of laughs". Something on this level of laughter must have been the experience of Sarah at the birth of her impossible baby becoming a dream come true.

3. God has brought me laughterAnd now for ever afterAll who hear of thisWill join me in bliss, This miracle they will seeAnd they will laugh with me. For how can such an awesome birthNot be greeted with abundant mirth?

It was once a laughing matter because it was so far fetched and absurd. Now it is a laughing matter because it is a present reality and a wonder. It is almost as if God was playing a practical joke on Abraham and Sarah, and that the plan was that people all through history would laugh at what he did for them in giving them a baby in their old age. They have the record for all time, and it is laughable that God made it possible. Every child of God has something to laugh about too, because of their own new birth, for we are born again by the Spirit of God and by his grace when we are dead and have no capacity to be saved on our own power. It is the wonder of his grace that makes it possible for us to be born into his family when we are dead in sin. We need to think of this wonder from time to time and laugh in joyful celebration that we have experienced a miracle of birth. As somone said, "If you went out to golf and hit your first ball and made a hole in one you would collapse in laughter and others would laugh with you in amazement. Unbelievable things stimulate laughter." And what is more amazing than being saved for eternity when we can do nothing to deserve such love and reward?

4. Pastor Deffinbaugh has an excellent paragraph dealing with the laughter that God created in this couple's life. He writes, "What does it mean? God is a comedian. Look it up. Third connotation. A comedian is someone who amuses or makes people laugh. God made Abraham laugh. God made Sarah laugh. In this context, God is a comedian. Voltaire was right. God is a comedian but this audience was not afraid to laugh. Here's the problem. Their laughter was filled with hubris. Disbelief. Incredulous skepticism. But that's the trouble don't you see. It's been the problem all along. God makes these incredible promises, issues these marvelous blessings and then entrusts them to slapstick. Chaplainesque creatures who mess it all up. Keystone cops. Three stooges. People like you and me. God sets into a motion a movement of benevolent grace and blessing and we counter with a reaction of self-will that endangers the blessing. You see when Sarah first laughed, hers was a laugh of disbelief. No way she could have a child. That hope was long gone. But then she did. God had the last laugh. So do you know what Sarah did when her son was born? She laughed too! She joined right in and named her son "yits-khawk" or Isaac. He laughed. God had the last laugh and Sarah laughed too. She's with the program, she's celebrating, she understands now. So we need to celebrate God's blessings with laughter."

5. Spurgeon was eloquent in describing his new birth and its parallel to the birth of Isaac and the joy and laughter it brought to Sarah. He wrote, "I would have all those that hear of my great deliverance from hell, and my most blessed visitation from on high, laugh for joy with me. I would surprise my family with my abundant peace; I would delight my friends with my ever-increasing happiness; I would edify the Church with my grateful confessions; and even impress the world with the cheerfulness of my daily conversation. Bunyan tells us that Mercy laughed in her sleep, and no wonder when she dreamed of Jesus; my joy shall not stop short of hers while my Beloved is the theme of my daily thoughts. The Lord Jesus is a deep sea of joy: my soul shall dive therein, shall be swallowed up in the delights of His society. Sarah looked on her Isaac, and laughed with excess of rapture, and all her friends laughed with her; and thou, my soul, look on thy Jesus, and bid heaven and earth unite in thy joy unspeakable."

6. Scott Hoezee has an interesting paragraph here: "It's not the way we would have written it. As commentators note, the story of Isaac's long-awaited birth is both understated and brief. That is quite surprising when you consider what a big build-up this event has received in Genesis. Nine full chapters have come and gone since the initial call of Abram in Genesis 12. A good deal of chapter 12, all of chapters 15, 16, 17, and most of 18 had something or another to do with the promise of a son and the various covenant ceremonies God gave to back up those divine vows. So after all this drama that has been raising the stakes and heightening the anticipation, it's rather surprising to see that the text manages to dispense with the actual birth in just 7 short verses! All along the very thought of someone like old Sarah having a baby was a source of laughter, and so when the boy is finally born, they name him Laughter, or "Isaac" in Hebrew. No sooner did Sarah stop crying over the pain of childbirth and her tears dissolved into chortles. The sight of a baby nursing at her

old breasts was almost too funny to believe, and so Sarah laughs and predicts that everyone who hears about this will soon be joining in on the knee-slapping hilarity of it all!"

7. "We thank you Father than in your wisdom you have appointed a time in ourlives for laughter -- and that laughter and a merry heart are means bywhich you bring healing and wholeness to that which would be otherwisedried up and without beauty or vitality . Indeed, O Lord, we praise youfor giving Abraham and Sarah laughter in their old age -- and for eversince sending unto us those like Isaac who warm our hearts by theirpresence -- those people and events who enter our life when we think it isimpossible and prove all our certainties to be entirely too limiting... Thank you Lord for granting to us a sense of the ridiculous and the abilityto appreciate it when it comes to pass.... Lord hear our prayer....Bring joy and hope, laughter and wholeness, rejoicing and healing, today, OLord, to the many people and situations we lift up to you at this time... Lord, hear our prayer...These things we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen." Rev. Richard J. Fairchild

7 And she added, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."

1. Who that is, but God. Nobody else would be so presumptuous as to give them hope of having a child at their age. No one in their right mind would give such a thought a moment in their brain. It was a fantasy dream without substance; an illusion fit only for the unstable and foolish who have lost touch with reality and the facts of life. The number of people who would have told Abraham that his wife will one day be nursing a child at her age would not be just around zero, but exactly zero. The only being in the universe to be holding such an extreme view would be God, who alone can make unbelievable things happen.

2. Sarah is overjoyed and in a state of wonder, because God has done the impossible. If you look at all the promises God had made to her and Abraham, you realize that none of them could be fulfilled without the birth of this child. Everything in God's plan hinged on an impossible baby coming from their dead bodies. You might just as well expect life to rise from a tomb as for 90 year old Sarah to give birth to a new life. Her body was like a lifeless tomb, but that is the way God works. He not only does the unlikely, but the impossible. That is God's specialty. If he could not bring Jesus Christ back from the tomb, all of the promises of God to Israel and all mankind would have been meaningless. And if he could not bring a baby out of Sarah from the seed of Abraham, all of his promises would be meaningless as well. Carl Sandburg said, and rightly so, "A baby is God's opinion that the world should

go on. Look at how worthless all of God's promises would be without this baby.

(Gen 12:2-3) "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. (3) I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

(Gen 12:7) "To your offspring I will give this land."

(Gen 13:15-17) All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. (16) I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. (17) Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you."

(Gen 17:6-7) I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. (7) I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

Take the baby out of the picture and all you have are words without worth. The bottom line is, if God cannot do the impossible, it is the end of the line for his entire plan for Abraham and Sarah, and for the world. Thank God that he is the God of the impossible. Scripture stresses this over and over. Rev. Adrian Dieleman, who

put together the above Scriptures, has put together a list of other Scriptures that point out the reality of God's miracle working power, and he concludes with a children's song. He writes:

"The Lord has a response for Abraham and Sarah: "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" (Gen 18:14).

The Lord has a response for Joseph and Mary too: "For nothing is impossible with God" (Lk 1:37).

Often God's people forget: our God is so almighty! Jesus can say, "What is impossible with men is possible with God" (Lk 18:27).

Job listens to all of this and then he responds with this confession of faith: "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted" (Job 42:2).

The prophet Jeremiah comes to the same conclusion when he says to the Lord, "Nothing is too hard for you" (Jer 32:17). And the Lord replies to Jeremiah, "I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?" (Jer 32:27).

I've quoted once before a delightful children's song entitled "Anything":

You gotta believe God can do anything,

Anything He wants to do. He can paint the sky a bright, bright green And turn all the trees to blue. You gotta believe God can do anything, For everything is in His hands. Anything? Anything!! For everything is in His hands. "

3. Brian Morgan gets poetic also in his description of how Sarah must have felt. He writes, "Sarah is enraptured by delight. While Abraham is busy at work, she is making melodious music and poetic praise. Abraham names the son "laughter," but Sarah sings it. Her first refrain praises God, who transformed her laughter of unbelief into the laughter of joy indescribable. This new creation will gather a resounding chorus that will laugh alongside her at every mention of the boy's name. This is a timeless roar of infinite proportions..........In a mere seven verses (the symbolic number of perfection), the narrator allows us to plumb the depths of a human heart overwhelmed by the faithfulness of God. The text evokes joy's deepest depths, with five echoes of laughter, and celebrates that rare ecstasy in life when sorrow and sighing flee away. C. S. Lewis termed this the "inconsolable stab of joy,"

a time when we are torn from the shadows and seem to float weightless to another time and place."

Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away

8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast.

1. It is strange, but one the most difficult things to determine is just how old Isaac was when he was weaned. To be weaned means to be taken from the breast of the mother and put on more solid food. It is a major step in growing up, for now you are no longer just a baby, but a boy. The authorities are all over the map on just when it was a common practice to make this transition. Jerome said that in his day some said that children were weaned at the age of five, and others at the age of twelve. This seems excessive to imagine a 12 year old still taking milk from his mother. The Koran fixes it at two years of age. Gill writes, "The Jewish writers are not agreed about this matter. Jarchi and Ben Melech say that Isaac was weaned twenty four months after his birth; a chronologer of theirs says it was in the hundred and third year of Abraham, that is, when Isaac was three years old, which agrees with the Apocrypha: ``But she bowing herself toward him, laughing the cruel tyrant to scorn, spake in her country language on this manner; O my son, have pity upon me that bare thee nine months in my womb, and gave thee such three years, and nourished thee, and brought thee up unto this age, and endured the troubles of

education.'' (2 Maccabees 7:27). It is likely then that Isaac was at least between 3 and 5 years of age.

2. Whatever his age, it was a time for proud Abraham to hold a feast of celebration where all his family and friends could rejoice with him. A new baby is one thing everyone loves to celebrate. One father put it this way, "Some fellows can get away with anything. There's one in our neighborhood who does. Morals don't mean a thing to him. He's unmarried and lives openly with a woman he's crazy about, and doesn't care what the neighbors say or think. He has no regard for truth or law. The duties of the so-called good citizen are just so much bunk as far as he's concerned. He doesn't vote at either the primaries or the general election. He never thinks of paying a bill. He will not work a lick. So far as is known he has no intellectual or cultural interests at all. He neglects his appearance terribly. He’s so indolent he'd let the house burn down before he'd turn in an alarm. The telephone could ring off itself to pieces and he wouldn't bother to answer it. Even on such a controversial issue as the liquor question, nobody knows just where he stands; one minute he's dry and the next minute he's wet. But we say this for him; in spite of all his faults he comes from a darn good family. He's our new baby." Can you imagine the number of pictures Abraham would have had if camera's had been invented. Pictures are important to parents as this story reveals: "After our priest performed a baptism at Sunday Mass, one proud family spent a lot of time taking photographs. A month later the priest was again performing baptisms when he noticed the same family at the font. "Didn't I baptize your child a few weeks ago?" He asked the parents."Yes, the mother responded, "but the pictures didn't turn out."

3. This was a time to celebrate the growth of the child into a more mature stage, and so all of the relatives were called together just like we gather today for a birthday party. Abraham was an old man, but he was so proud to be the father of this little boy, and he did not just have a party, for the text says the held a great feast. It was an all out celebration with all the good foods that his vast wealth could provide. He had been waiting for 25 years to get this little boy, and now he is a lad who can be independent of his mother. He was on his way to being a man, and the one who would carry on the promise of God to make Abraham a great nation. Little Isaac was more than a loved child; he was a symbol of all the great things to come that God had promised to give to Abraham and his seed. This was reason to have the biggest feast of their lives. Nothing was going to be allowed to mar this day above all days, and that helps us understand what happens next

9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking,

1. It does not really matter just what the mocking was, nor how severe it was, for no negative, however slight, could be tolerated toward little Isaac on this day of great

celebration in his honor. He was king for a day, and any who would not bow were to be cast out of the kingdom where he reigned. Sarah's great joy was interrupted by an equally great anger when she saw Ishmael treating her prize and joy with disrespect, and it was the last straw for her. The mocking could have been laughing in his face and just generally tormenting the kid, and making sport of him with a scornful voice. It really irked Sarah, but she was forgetting that her laughter at God's promise of a child was much the same thing, but God forgave her with a mild rebuke. She might have done the same thing with Ishmael, but she was in no mood to be forgiving. Robert Ferguson reviews some history that explains the fury of Sarah. He writes, "Hagar returns and for thirteen years Sarah watches as Hagar raises Ishmael. For thirteen years she sees Abraham enjoy and revel in Ishmael as his son. The furor and rage continue to boil. No matter how miserable she tries to make Hagar's life she cannot get beyond the fact that Hagar has borne Abraham a son and she has not. Can we imagine how that fact affected Sarah? Can we comprehend her sense of worthlessness? Can we see how she would have taken that out upon Hagar in as vindictive a manner as possible?"

2. Nobody knows for sure just what this mocking amounted to, nor how bad it was, but here is one theory: Donald J. Gettys writes, "But Isaac had an older brother, Ishmael. Was Ishmael happy about this party? He was not too excited. He thought, "Did they hold a great big feast like this for me?" The Bible doesn't record it. And like the brother of the prodigal son, in Jesus' story in the New Testament, Ishmael's selfish spirit began to come up. He developed a jealous attitude that quickly surfaced. Bitterness began to spill over, and probably Ishmael was about fifteen years old. He was a teenager, a young lad. And he began to mock Isaac. He began to deride him and criticize him. "I'm the oldest, I deserve the best. I work hard around here with the sheep. I worked hard with the tent. I've done my part as a son. And look at how they treat my younger brother! They never did this for me. I'm the first born and this little brat is getting more than I ever got." So often the first-born feels slighted somehow when you begin to take pictures of the second-born. He said, "Look at how they are doting over him. It just isn't fair."

3. You notice that Sarah would not even use the name of Ishmael, but just called him that son of Hagar the Egyptian. He was no son of hers, and on top of that he was a foreigner, for he was born of an Egyptian mother. He had no place in her family, and it was time to get rid of him. She had some very strong negative feelings that had been bothering her for a long time, and they exploded when she saw Ishmael doing something that just rubbed her the wrong way. Many enter into her emotions and join her in casting Ishmael out of the family and even out of the kingdom of God. Others say this is an over reaction by Sarah and see no reason to picture Ishmael as some king of a monster here. So we arrive at another point of division in how people interpret the role of Ishmael. It is one of the great controversies of interpreters as to who most spoiled this great party. We will have to look at the anti-Ishmael and pro-Ishmael views at this point.

I. The Anti-Ishmael View

A. The most radical author literally condemns Ishmael to hell for this mocking, and, therefore makes it the unforgivable sin. I find none who go further than this. You may find a tinge of prejudice in his comments, and such words may make it clear why Arabs often hate Christians. He writes, "Ishmael mocked at Isaac, and when he did, he was mocking Christ. Resentment, jealousy, and hostility to the plan of God, which centered in Isaac, all boiled over like a witch's brew in Ishmael's soul. He wanted no part of anything that Isaac stood for in that family. So he mocked, and in mocking threw away all hope of salvation for his soul."

B. R. Akiba taught: And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, making sport. Now making sport refers to nothing other than immorality, as in the verse The Hebrew servant whom you have brought unto us came in to me to make sport of me [Genesis 39:17]. Thus this teaches that Sarah saw Ishmael ravish maidens, seduce married women and dishonor them. R. Ishmael taught: The term making sport refers to idolatry, as in the verse and rose up to make sport [Exodus 32:6]. This teaches that Sarah saw Ishmael build altars, catch locusts, and offer them as sacrifices [to an idol]." You could say that this might just possibly be reading into the word more than is there, but it is their opinion on the matter.

C. In order to justify Sarah in her radical demand the action of Ishmael had to be made a great and wicked evil, and so some came up with the following theory: "He that spares the rod, hates his son [Proverbs 13:24]. The verse is to teach you that when a man refrains from chastising his son, the son will fall into evil ways, so that in the end the father will come to hate his son. Thus it happened with Ishmael, whom his father loved so much that he did not chastise him; then, when Ishmael fell into evil ways, Abraham came to hate him so much that he cast him out empty-handed from his house. What had Ishmael done? When he was fifteen, he began to bring idols from the marketplace, make sport with them, and worship them the way he saw other people worship. When Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian making sport... she said to Abraham: Cast out this bondwoman and her son... [Gen. 21:9-10], lest my son learn his ways. There and then, Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took only bread and a bottle of water [Gen. 21:14]. The meager provisions show that Abraham had come to hate Ishmael so intensely that he decided to send him and his mother away empty-handed when he cast him out of his house. And what was Ishmael's end? After Abraham had driven him out, Ishmael sat at a crossroads and robbed travelers."

II. The Pro-Ishmael View

A. Ishmael and Isaac never became enemies, and there is no basis for suggesting that Ishmael was a godless man. He was raised by Abraham to be a man who worshiped his God. He was circumcised and was a part of the covenant. When Abraham died Ishmael and Isaac were there as brothers to arrange for the funeral

and burial, as we see in Gen. 25. All of the nasty things said of him may be true of many of his descendants, but there is no evidence they were true of him.

B. An unknown author writes, " By this time, he was about 14 years old because the Scripture says that Abraham was about 86 when he had Ishmael to Hagar. Sarah sees Ishmael (14 years old) and Isaac (about 3 years old) playing and running and the Scripture says that Sarah saw Ishmael mocking, teasing, and horsing around. As a matter of fact, the Scripture says she saw this and what it really refers to is that she cast a glance at this and then her reasoning or lack of reasoning started. Doesn't that happen? You look at something and you don't just see that thing, you see the future, where you think you see the future? Well, that's what happened to Sarah. And in spite of all God's promises up to this point, in spite of all the affirmations that God would bless them through Isaac, she says to Abraham, "This Ishmael will have no part in the inheritance. (Ishmael was the oldest and the oldest usually got double portion of the inheritance, right?) "This boy will not have anything to do with my boy Isaac"

C. Scott Hoezee has too paragraphs that are so good that I could not cut them down without losing something, and so I quote them both:

"But Sarah ends up spoiling the party. Who knows how many people were milling around that day, sipping wine, and lingering over the various meats and cheeses available at the buffet table? There were probably lots of other children around as well, playing ball in the back yard perhaps. At some point from the midst of the chatter of the adults and the delighted screams of the children at play, Sarah spies something that causes her jaw to set, her fists to clench, and her blood to boil. Verse 9 informs us that Sarah saw Ishmael "mocking" Isaac. And before she knew what she was doing, Sarah had rushed over to Abraham and, in front of everyone, screamed out, "Get rid of that slave woman's son and get rid of him now!" Suddenly the conversation ceased, stunned guests stopped chewing their cheese and sipping their wine. Embarrassed at this public display of a private family argument, some guests began edging toward the door. The party was over. The laughter dried up. Sarah was upset and angry. Abraham was upset and angry with Sarah and was depressed about what she'd just ordered him to do. Hagar herself had dropped her serving platter and fled the room in tears. Even the children out back knew something was up. The party was over. The laughter dried up.

But in verse 9 we're told that Ishmael was doing "mizhaq." Because of its close tie to the word for laughter, some translations of this, including the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament) have rendered verse 9 to say that Sarah saw Ishmael just "playing with Isaac." In that translation, there is nothing bad going on, but somehow just seeing the two boys together was enough to make Sarah worry that Ishmael would some day try to horn in on Isaac's inheritance. But that translation seems unlikely, and so commentators have concluded that we are supposed to read something negative and derisive into Ishmael's behavior. "Mocking" may well be the better translation after all. But if so, I would further

suggest that because of the close connection to the word "laughter," probably what Ishmael was doing was indeed laughing at Isaac but in a nasty, sneering way. This is the kind of a laugh that comes out of a child's mouth right after saying something like, "Look at little ole' Isaac over there. Na-na-na-na-na-na, poor wittle baby, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha." It's a mocking kind of laughter. Ishmael laughs at Laughter but he does it in such a way as to end all true laughter, all true mirth and joy over Isaac's presence in the family." If the following verse in any indication, Sarah did not find anything funny about this laughter at her son laughter.

10 and she said to Abraham, "Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac."

1. Sarah was wearing the pants in that family now, and she was barking out the orders. Notice again, she did not use the names, but just called them the slave woman and her son. Her concern was that Ishmael might share in the inheritance with her son Isaac, and she wanted no such thing.

2. It is so hard to make judgments on how justified people are for their anger. God agrees that Ishmael and Hagar should be sent away and only Isaac receives the inheritance. That is why all of Abraham's other children were sent away. But it is hard to think that her attitude here was the right attitude. One author expresses what many are thinking as he writes, "Sarah is obviously not at her best in chapter 21, but then neither is Abraham. Some have tried to applaud Sarah for her depth of spiritual insight concerning the fact that Isaac would be the heir, not Ishmael. Personally, I think that her primary motive was that of jealousy and a protective instinct to see to it that her son got what was coming to him. Sarah, like every Christian I have ever known, had moments she would just as soon forget entirely. This is surely one of those times for her."

3. An unknown author puts Sarah down as radically as she put Ishmael down when he writes, "And something happened in Sarah's heart, too. She decided that Ishmael would never be an heir; he would never share the benefits of her husband's vast wealth (see Genesis 13:2). A seed was born in her heart, too, one of selfishness. Even though Sarah and Abraham were multimillionaires (by today's standards) she did not want Ishmael to end up with one red cent of the money. We might ask, "Why would it matter?" She had so much. Why would it matter if Ishmael shared in the fortune? It only mattered to Sarah. She hardened her heart toward the boy and his mother, Hagar. Instead of opening her hand to them, she closed it. She instigated the entire thing and then did not have the fortitude to live with what she had created. And what a difference it has made down through the centuries! But she not only decided to disinherit Ishmael, she told Abraham in no uncertain terms that he was

to get rid of the two of them. And "when Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!"

4. Maybe this author is even more harsh: "“Sarah is depicted as viciously jealous of Ishmael, an innocent child playing with his younger half brother, and demands that Abraham toss Ishmael and his mother out into the world on their own. This easily places Sarah in the role of the wicked step-mother in any given children’s story—the sort of woman who might send Hansel and Gretel out into the woods to get lost, for instance, or feed a poison apple to Snow White.” Brian Morgan writes, "One glance from a mother's eyes and Sarah interprets Ishmael's childish play to be a threat to her son as Abraham's future heir. Filled with jealous rage, Sarah distances herself by refusing to even pronounce the boy's name, demoting him from the status of son to slave, and his mother, from wife to maid. Charged with the emotion of a mother bear being robbed of her cubs, she demands that her husband intervene to solve the situation. Her harsh disdain is clear as she orders Abraham to act with brute force: "Drive out this maid and her son!" The verb garash ("drive out") carries with it the idea of force (cf. Exod 6:1). Ruthless motherhood goes to work in defense of her boy."

11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son.

1. In verse 10 Isaac is "my son," says Sarah, and here Ishmael is "his son," referring to Abraham. You have two sons and they are loved on different levels by each of the parents. Sarah wants her son to have it all, and Abraham is distressed because his son is being forced out of the family. Note he is greatly distressed, and that is because he has come to love Ishmael deeply. Sarah never made an effort to become a mother to Ishmael, and she did not care if he ever came home again. This division of love for children was one of the curses in polygamy. We see it so strongly again in Isaac who loved Esau, while his wife Rebekah loved Jacob. If Godly people have such a hard time loving their children equally, how can we expect the people of the world to do so, and so there is no end to tension in families because of this division of love. The result of it here is that a great party filled with rejoicing and laughing people is suddenly turned into a time of anger and grief for the very two parents who are celebrating their greatest joy. It is a terrible truth that life can go from joy to grief in a very short time, and we see it is true even for God's chosen people.

2. Abraham loved this firstborn son Ishmael, and the thought of pushing him out of the family was cause for deep grief, but as some point out, it was inevitable that he had to leave, as did all of his other son by Keturah, for Isaac alone was to inherit all that he had. It took a showdown like this to make it happen, or Abraham would never have come to the point of being able to do it. Sarah's anger was so severe that he had no choice but to send him away even if God had no told him to do so.

3. An unknown author says it all about how reasonable it is that this was the beginning of a warfare that seems never to end, and yet which has a solution in Jesus Christ. He writes, "What about Ishmael? What about all the good memories of going fishing with Dad, working by his side, listening to the fireside stories before bed time, adoring his father, hanging on his every word--emulating him. Now that was all dashed to bits in a matter of minutes. All of his dreams were destroyed. All of his love was torn from him. The man he had trusted the most was sending him and his mother into Beer-sheba to die. Dark thoughts came into the mind and emotions of this young teenager. "I will never trust anyone again. I will harden my heart so that I cannot ever be hurt again. I will kill anyone that I distrust. I will become a wild man." Certainly very dark seeds were planted in his heart, in his very soul, and they went into his bloodstream, into his blood, into his genes, and would be passed from generation to generation. For neither Ishmael or his mother died in the wasteland. God rescued them. But would you be jealous of an Isaac after that? Would you want to destroy him for inheriting so much, when you received worse than nothing? The only solution is for all to become true children of Abraham by faith in Jesus Christ and experience peace with God and all of His children. Christianity is the answer to the conflict of Jews and Arabs."

4. Scott Hoezee struggles with a question many ask, and his only answer is that God had not other choice but to work with sinful human beings, and even his chosen ones are just that. He writes, "Some commentators have even wondered about God'sletting Sarah get away with her nasty directive to get rid of Hagar and Ishmael. Bad enough Abraham didn't stand up to his wife, but how come even God didn't stand up to her? That's maybe the wrong question to ask, and even those who do ask it come up with no answers. Again, however, it may be no more than a sign that God's grace must be active in and through human sinfulness because where else could it be active? Where else is grace needed if not in the flotsam and jetsam of our sometimes rather greasy lives?

12 But God said to him, "Do not be so distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring [b] will be reckoned.

1. Brian Morgan wrote, "It is only by the grace of God that we are able to maneuver through such pain. Fortunately, God intervenes to guide Abraham through this sea of emotion. God has the same affections as Abraham for the boy and his mother, and thus we might expect him to side with Abraham's anger, but he does not. He identifies with Abraham's affections, but gives him rather surprising counsel: "Listen to the voice of your wife." This is the height of irony, since Abraham got into this predicament in the first place because he "listened to the

voice of his wife" (16:2). On that occasion her motives were pure; she wanted to fulfill the promise of a son for her husband. But despite her good motives, her plan did not serve God's purposes. In this instance, however, rage and disdain taint her motives, and yet God tells Abraham, "Whatever Sarah says, obey (lit. "hear") her voice." The ways of God are beyond comprehension. The reason for God's directive is that, despite Sarah's ungodly anger, his larger purpose will be served by the separation of these two boys. Abraham need not fear for the boy's future. God will care for him and bless him. Thus it is time for Abraham to let go of what he had produced in his own strength. Ishmael must be sent off into the desert."

2. Another writes, "“Now truthfully, I would have preferred that God intervene in a different way, smacking down the arrogance of Sarah. As Gerhard von Rad observes, this is “’the tense’ moment in the structure of the narrative, for the reader has not expected that God would be on Sarah’s side, but rather on Abraham’s. But precisely this is what the patriarchal stories like to show, that God pursues his great historical purposes in, with, and under all the headstrong acts of men.”

3. Dr. Ritsch helps us understand that God can use even negative acts of people to accomplish his purpose, because he knows how it will work out. He writes, "But the biblical story here is giving us a God’s eye view of history. This is important to understand. It is not Abraham’s or Sarah’s idea that this fulfils some greater purpose. Sarah is simply jealous and Abraham is offended. God is the one whose eye is on the greater purpose, and who assures Abraham that everything will work out all right. Only God can make the determination if such a terrible act may serve a larger good. God has the unique ability to look backward on history. God can see the end result, even control the end result. And so God can say that a terrible thing now will have a good result. You know the saying: “Hindsight is 20/20?” Well, God has that 20/20 hindsight, only God has it now. God sees the future from a backward perspective.” Rev. Dr. Frederick F. Ritsch, III, Pastor

4. Another author writes, "In fact, He instructs Abraham later on to listen to what Sarah said because God is using Sarah as His instrument. This is not the first or the last time in the book of Genesis that we will see the action of a human being, which is wrong, stated to be part of the plan of God, which is right and good. Think of Genesis 50:20. "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good." And once again even if Sarah is wrong in her desires here, her words are, according to Paul, the very words of God expressing a distinctive destiny for Isaac and for his descendants in the covenant of grace. And so we see that this distinction between Ishmael and Isaac is more than just a family squabble, it’s a distinction between the natural and the spiritual seeds. And did not God promise through Moses and did not God promise through the record of Moses and in His words to Adam, that He would put enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent? And we’re seeing yet another incidence in the book of Genesis where God establishes enmity in order to bless His people right here."

5. Another writes, "Now let’s turn back then to Genesis 21. Sarah has asked Abraham to cast out Hagar and Ishmael and Abraham is deeply distressed. This is

perfectly understandable. Ishmael is probably seventeen years old now. We have seen indications all along that Abraham loved this boy deeply. In fact, when God came to Abraham to promise him the birth of Isaac, do you remember Abraham’s response? Oh, that Ishmael might live before you. In effect, oh, that Ishmael might be the heir of the covenant. Abraham loved this boy. Sarah was asking Abraham to cast out his son and never see him again. That parting and the thought of that parting must have been brutal to Abraham. You know, of all the scenes that reduced me to a puddle in this last week in Littleton, Colorado, there was the scene of that school teacher as he lay dying. And his students pulling out his wallet to show him the picture of his girls. And his final words, "Tell them that I love them." And here Abraham must send out a boy that he loves and never see him again - into the wilderness, into the desert heat, perhaps to die, never to be reunited. Do you feel the cost of this parting to Abraham? However Sarah feels about Ishmael and Hagar right now, Abraham loves that boy. And so Abraham is quite understandably distressed. Not only does law prevent him from turning out Ishmael without a provision, but also his love for his son breaks his heart at the thought of losing him. And so God himself comes to Abraham and He says, and this is so beautiful, Abraham, I will provide for your boy. I know it’s hard for you to understand what Sarah is saying to you right now, but what Sarah is saying to you is part of my plan. So I want you to listen to her and I just want you to know this. I will provide for your boy. Because I love you, Abraham, I will make him a great nation. I will protect him. And so you do what Sarah has asked you to do, however brutal it seems, however heartbreaking it may be to you."

13 I will make the son of the maidservant into a nation also, because he is your offspring."

1. God comforts Abraham with a renewal of his promise to make Ishmael into a nation, and so there is no need to despair as if this loved boy of yours is being cast out of God's plan like he is being cast out of your home. God is saying, "Don't worry Abraham, for no child of yours will go unblest. This is not the end of anything, but the beginning of an independent life that will lead to a great future for this son of yours."

2. Abraham was told "As for Ishmael, I have heard you; I will bless him and make him fruitful and exceedingly numerous; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation" (Genesis 17:20). The Ishmaelite tribes were later joined by the Midianite and other Arab clans descended from Abraham's second wife Keturah (Genesis 25:1-6). The Edomite tribes descended from Abraham's grandson Esau were also included as Arabs (Genesis 36:1-43).

3. Scott Hozee has a note that needs to be read, for he points out that God only has one side in the conflict of the descendants of Isaac and Ishmael, and that is the side

of Jesus Christ. He writes, "Some commentators like to suggest that God's blessing of Ishmael and his descendants shows that God's care extends wider than just Israel. Striking a contemporary political note, some preachers like to equate Ishmael with the Palestinians as a way to say that no one should think God is only on the sideof the Israelis. That's probably too neat a move on both sides: it is dicey to see today's Israelis as the direct and sole descendants of Abraham and also dubious to make all Palestinians Ishmael's children. Doing that ignores the New Testament theology that identifies the church--Jew and Gentile alike--as the new Israel and as the truest descendants of Abraham and of the promises made to him.

14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the desert of Beersheba.

1. Scott Hoezee continues his brilliant descriptions of what is happening. He writes, "So for a second time in the Abraham cycle of stories, Hagar is kicked out on her ear, this time not with a baby in her womb but a young adolescent trotting after her into the harsh wilderness wastes. Hagar is weeping. Abraham's old chin is quivering because say what you want about Ishmael, he's still Abraham's boy and Abraham loves him. He's helped to raise him, taught him how to hunt, how to play ball, how to be a man. Maybe even young Isaac is crying, too. Perhaps Laughter also weeps. Despite the teasing he'd endured the day of his party, Isaac may well have liked Ishmael anyway--maybe he even loved his big brother. Sarah may well have been the only dry-eyed one in the bunch as they watched Hagar and Ishmael's figures grow smaller as they wandered ever farther out toward the desert horizon."

2. Being there was no bus or train to catch, it seems that Abraham, a multi-millionaire, was being a little too conservative on the supplies he gave them to survive in the desert. A skin of water, unless it was in the skin of a water buffalo, would not really be adequate to keep them alive for very long. The text says that Abraham sent them off early in the morning, and this was probably to get them on their way before Sarah got up and screamed at him for wasting bread and water on them. Not likely, for she probably got over her anger by now. It was just wise to get an early start to go into the desert in the cool of the day. But the fact is, he got this child because of Sarah, and now he has to lose him because of Sarah. She had some radical mood swings that had her going from "Take Hagar as your wife and thereby get a son," to , "Get rid of that slave woman and her son."

3. . One pastor expresses what many feel when they read this passage. "Here is

where some get angry with Abraham. One pastor preached, “Talk about a dysfunctional family. Abraham convinces himself that bread and a skin of water is all Hagar and Ishmael deserve. Is this the same Abraham that is to become the "father of many nations" (Genesis 17:35)? How can it be possible? Abraham cannot bring himself to be the father of his own son, let alone of one nation. He essentially becomes a dead-beat father. I know it may sound sacrilegious for me to pounce on Abraham so much and perhaps some of you may be wondering why is kahu getting so uluku or extremely upset. The Biblical text is there for us to take a good, long hard look at the effect of Abraham’s parenting skills on Ishmael. When the water Hagar received from Abraham was gone, she placed Ishmael under a bush. She goes off some distance from him and prays to God, "Let me not look upon his death." We are told that immediately afterward, Ishmael lifts up his voice and weeps. What a great trauma it must have been for Ishmael! That’s what makes me upset about Abraham despite God’s admonition to him to listen to whatever Sarah tells him.” Many are mystified as to how God could not only allow this, but also actually approve of it. The only explanation is that God had a plan for this lad who needed a miracle to survive. Sometimes a sad separation is an essential step to success.

4. On a more positive note another pastor wrote, "Abraham arose early to send off

Hagar and Ishmael. This may evidence his resolve to carry out an unpleasant task, as Kidner suggests.2 While it sounds far less spiritual, I wonder if Abraham did not do so for other reasons. Surely an early start would be wise in the desert, since travel should be done in the cool of the day. Also, an early departure would make it easier to say their good-byes

without the interference of Sarah. I think that Abraham wanted to express his deep-rooted-rooted-rooted-rooted

love for both Hagar and Ishmael without a hostile audience.

15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes.

1. It is really bad news when you head into the desert in one verse and then in the very next verse it says you are out of water. There is something wrong with this picture. Hagar had been a part of Abraham and Sarah's family for almost 20 years. She was the mother of Abraham's first-born son, whom he loved dearly. Now all of a sudden she is dying of thirst in the desert along with her son, and all because this teenager had mocked the new kid on the block in that family. If ever there was family abuse and injustice, this is an example. It is outrageous that Abraham could allow this to happen. We know God is going to come to the rescue, but he did not know that was going to happen. He assumed Ishmael would survive, for that is the only way God could keep his promise that he would be a great nation, but what about Hagar? He had no promise about her, and so she could be dying out there as his wife and mother of his child. It seems so heartless and cruel what Abraham and Sarah have done.

16 Then she went off and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she thought, "I cannot watch the boy die." And as she sat there nearby, she [c] began to sob.

1. Hagar had the promise also that this lad of hers was going to be a great nation, but when one is dying of thirst and watching one's child die as well, the optimism fades as to the future. It was all over as far as she was concerned, and her only thought was to be far enough away so that she would not see his final gasps as he died of thirst. There she sat weeping without hope.

17 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, "What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.

1. Twice in this verse we are told that God heard the boy crying. We can have no idea of how loud and pathetic this crying was, but the implication is that Ishmael was wailing in deepest despair that he would have to perish at such a young age. It was a sight and sound so sad that God could not ignore it. In compassion he sent his Son, the angel of the Lord, which is the pre-incarnate Christ, and he assures Hagar that she need not fear, for God has heard the boy’s cry. This means that God will not let him die. God does not say to Hagar that he heard her cry, but that he heard the cry of her son. She is weeping too, but probably quietly so as not to add misery to Ishmael who is dying. Ishmael on the other hand is loud and gets God's attention that he quiet sobbing does not get. This crying was like a prayer, or was a prayer, for God heard it and came in answer to it. Our depth of sorrow that makes us cry is a form of prayer, for it is a cry to God for help. We can assume that Hagar was praying, for she had been in the presence of Abraham for many years and was a part of his worship arrangements for all of his people, but God does not say he comes in answer to prayer, but in response to the crying. Crying sends a message that can be more powerful than words of prayer.

2. It sounds strange that God's first question is "What is the matter, Hagar?" It is obvious, of course, but God is not seeking information, but is assuring her that it does not matter what is the matter, for she does not need to be afraid. He could also

mean, what is the matter with you, for I have promised you that your son will be the father of a multitude, and so you do not need to fear no matter how bad things look. When God says do not be afraid you can count on it that your problems will soon be over. God is communicating to her things like, "You have reason to feel rejected and abandoned, but this is not the case from heaven's perspective. You and your son are a part of my plan for the future, so don't give up even when circumstances seem hopeless."

18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation."

1. God is saying don't sit back here sobbing, but go take the boy by the hand for I have big plans for him. You are weeping as if this is the end, but the fact is, this is just the beginning of what will be a history of vast peoples that will play a major role in the history of mankind. You help him up to get a drink, and I will build him up to be a multitude.

2. Someone pointed out, "Many times we look unfavorably on Hagar as the bondwoman who was cast out of Abraham's family - this is partly due to Paul's application of Hagar and Ishmael cast in the role of the fleshly. While that is a proper application of spiritual matters, the fact remains that the Genesis casts the whole experience of Hagar in a very poignant role - that of an impetuous, young concubine who was looked after by Jehovah, the God who saw the need of this single mother. Hagar, bondslave of Sarah and mistress of Abraham was all alone with no rights as a mother - indeed, was eventually cast out of the household of Abraham - Hagar's status was very tenuous as a single mother - being a single mother without any outward means of security or support. But the LORD intervened and her life was forever changed. Jehovah is truly the God of the single mother."

19 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

1. We do not know if God by a miracle made a well there, or if there was one there already and he just helped Hagar see what her tear clouded eyes missed. Something tells me a miracle is most likely, for how could you be dying of thirst and not see a well that was within eyesight?

2. Salvation by water is one of the ways God has worked all through history to save lives. Here he comes to the rescue of a single parent who has lost everything she had but her boy. It is a common problem in the world, and God has compassion for all who have suffered similar losses. A drink of water saved this mother and son, and a cup of cold water given in the name of Jesus has led many to the well that never runs dry.

3. A Jewish tradition has this fascinating account: "Ishmael himself cried unto God, and his prayer and the merits of Abraham brought them help in their need, though the angels appeared against Ishmael before God. They said, "Wilt Thou cause a well of water to spring up for him whose descendants will let Thy children of Israel perish with thirst?" But God replied, and said, "What is Ishmael at this moment--righteous or wicked?" and when the angels called him righteous, God continued, "I treat man according to his deserts at each moment."

20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer.

1. So many are negative about Ishmael and they doubt that he was a believer, and some are quite sure he will not be in heaven because his people fought the children of Isaac. This verse makes it clear that God was protecting this young man, and that he had a plan for his life. There is no reason to doubt that he was a godly young manwho was taught by Abraham to be just that, and God honored him for his righteousness. This is not a meaningless verse that can be cast aside like he was from the house of Abraham, for it says that God walked with him as he grew up. God does not just hang out with everyone like he did with Ishmael. If we give him the respect God gave him, we will recognize he was a special person to God. God's love is not limited to Isaac and his descendants just because they are the ones who are chosen to bring forth the Savior of the world. That truly is the greatest honor, but it is also an honor to have God walk with you in life as one with a less noble destiny. God chose to befriend Ishmael, even though he was not chosen to produce the bloodline to the Messiah.

2. Someone pointed out this valuable insight: "We should be reminded that the right things sometimes happen for the wrong reasons. I do not believe that Sarah was shown in the best light in this chapter. I do not see a quiet and submissive spirit in her confrontation with Abraham. Nevertheless, we must conclude from God’s instructions to Abraham to obey his wife that the right thing to do was to put Ishmael away, once and for all. Throughout the Bible we see that the right things are often the result of the wrong reasons. For example, Joseph was sent to Egypt to prepare the way for the salvation of the nation Israel, but he got there through the treachery of his brothers, who thought they were getting rid of him by selling him into slavery."

It was wrong, he is saying, for the way Ishmael was treated and cast out, but it was good that he was for the sake of becoming independent and developing a successful life on his own. He was not going to inherit the riches of Abraham, and so he had to get away and do it on his own. God would be with him and so he would succeed, but it would not have worked out had he stayed on with Abraham. It is a paradox, for it was bad that he was kicked out, but also good that he was kicked out. It was a terrible burden and a tremendous blessing. It was a mixture of good and bad, but God takes that messed up mixture and turns it into a thing of beauty. It had to be so hard to take the rejection by his father, but now he has a greater sense of the father he has in heaven. He was to become a desert king, and this would never have happened had he stayed with Abraham. He had to be separated from Abraham to fulfill his destiny, but the way it happened was still sad.

3. To show that the boy did far more than survive, the narrator casts us forward into his distant future. God will continue to be faithful to what he had promised. He was with the boy, and as a result, the lad grew (as did Isaac, vs. 8). This experience of being saved in the wilderness would shape his destiny. He would become an archer. Just as God had saved him when he was a bowshot away from his mother in the wilderness, so he became a skilled bowman in that harsh place of the wilderness. Ishmael didn't just survive the desert, he conquered it.

21 While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.

1. "The narrator concludes with the mention of Hagar as a single mother taking responsibility to provide a wife for her son. This was a parent's final obligation toward a child. So Hagar returned to her original home to acquire a wife for Ishmael (as Abraham would later do for Isaac). Now that the boy is mature and married, we sense that the concerns Abraham had for Ishmael have been completely met in the provision of a gracious God -- and to a much greater degree than if had Ishmael remained at home under Abraham's roof."

The Treaty at Beersheba

22 At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his forces said to Abraham, "God is with you in everything you do.

1. This is a sudden transition from Ishmael's desert life and his Egyptian wife. Now

we are back involved with king Abimelech who took Sarah into his harem, but was delivered by God from death because he was not aware that Abraham deceived him. He gave Sarah back and along with her a fortune in gifts to Abraham. The crisis ended with Abimelech becoming a friend with Abraham, and offering him to take any place he wanted in his country as a place to settle down and live.

2. This verse makes it clear that he had been keeping an eye on Abraham and the way he succeeded in his managing his vast estate. He could see that God was blessing him in all that he did. This is quite a compliment coming from a Philistine king. Abimelech knew by experience what the God of Abraham could do if he was displeased with you, and so he dreaded that the day would ever come when he would have to face Abraham in battle. His God could end the fight in a moment by miraculous power, and he wanted no part of that threat. He wanted to be on Abraham's side in any conflict, for then he would have the God of Abraham on his side too. Abraham came into the land thinking there was no fear of God there, but now he sees there is plenty of the fear of God, and Abimelech wants to make sure he never gets on the wrong side of God again. Once is enough for anyone.

3. You note that the commander of his forces is with him, and so this is a military matter that we are dealing with here. The issue is, are we going to be military friends or military enemies? He wanted to make sure that Abraham does not pull another fast one on him and deceive him into some action that leads to God's judgment again.

23 Now swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Show to me and the country where you are living as an alien the same kindness I have shown to you."

1. Abimelech could see that Abraham was becoming more and more powerful every day, and this made him realize that he could become an enemy and do him great damage if he did. He was just playing it smart by making him a greater friend by entering into a treaty with him. He wanted assurance that the good relationship he had with Abraham would not change, either by him, or by his descendants. He had been kind to Abraham, even though he was an alien, and he wanted Abraham to treat him just as he was treated. Here we see the possibility of a believer entering into an agreement with a non-believer for the sake of peace and harmony.

24 Abraham said, "I swear it."

1. Can a child of God enter into a treaty with a pagan who worships idols? Why not? A treaty is something two people or more are convinced is a good thing for them. It is for protection from enemies outside the treaty. Our country has treaties with all sorts of people who do not have the same democratic principles as we do. Some are even dictators that we abhor, but we still want peace with them, and agreements as to how we treat each other. It was to Abraham's benefit to have a treaty with Abimelech, for he needed friends in that land where he was an alien.

25 Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech's servants had seized.

1. Abraham took quick advantage of this peace treaty by complaining of an unkind act on the part of Abimelech's servants. They had in neighborly fashion seized his well, and this was a violation of the peace treaty.

2. "He speaks directly to Abimelech about a problem that had arisen over a certainwell. And, to his credit once again, Abimelech responds honorably to this situation, and appears to be as shocked and dismayed by what was happening as Abraham. And Abraham must have seen Abimelech’s response and judged it to be genuine for in the next verse we see him taking steps to address the problem and settle things peacefully. Even though it would appear that it was Abimelech’s people that had wrongly seized a well for themselves which Abraham felt belonged to him, for the sake of peace Abraham goes the extra mile and “pays” for the well which was already his and he does so by giving a gift of sheep and oxen to Abimelech."

26 But Abimelech said, "I don't know who has done this. You did not tell me, and I heard about it only today."

1. The king was upset by this charge against his servants, for he did not know about it and he rebukes Abraham for not telling him about this matter sooner. He is just hearing of it now, and it is disturbing for he has just appealed to Abraham to treat him with kindness, and now he hears his own men have not treated Abraham with kindness. It was embarrassing to him, for he comes pleading to be treated right, and

his men have mistreated Abraham.

27 So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a treaty.

1. "What did Abraham do when all came out into the open? Abraham rendered good for bad. Remember back in verse twenty, when the two had met again after many years, It was Abimelech that covered over Abraham's embarrassment, for giving his wife Sarai to Abimelech, and saying she was his sister. It was Abimelech that gave riches to Abraham, and said, let's put this embarrassment behind us. Now it is Abraham that is doing likewise, and covering over Abimelech's fault. Abimelech hasn't done any wrong, but it was his people. Peace is restored. Abraham makes a payment to Abimelech. He recognizes that this is Abimelech’s territory and that compensation must be paid for the use of certain facilities (compare the tithes paid to Mechizedek (14.20). ‘And they made a treaty’. Terms of agreement are hammered out."

28 Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock,

1. Seven ewe lambs" means that they are young female sheep.

2. "The well is so important that Abraham wants it confirmed by a specific ceremony. The ceremony does not necessarily mean that Abimelech does not know the significance of the seven lambs. Indeed we are probably to recognize that he does. There is no point in a ceremony if it is not understood. They are going through the formal ceremony in a generally recognized procedure with stereotyped questions and answers. Abraham sets aside the ewe lambs, Abimelech asks what they mean, then Abraham confirms their significance.

So a solemn agreement is concluded within the larger covenant. It was an ancient custom that the acceptance of a gift included recognition of the just claim of the giver. The seven ewe lambs were probably intended to signify the whole price paid by Abraham in verse 27, seven being the number of divine perfection and completeness. Alternately they may have been the price paid for use of the specific well. From now on both sides will recognize that the well has been dug by, and its use officially guaranteed to, Abraham and his group."

29 and Abimelech asked Abraham, "What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs you have set apart by themselves?" 30 He replied, "Accept these seven lambs from my hand as a witness that I dug this well."

1. "By accepting the seven ewe lambs, Abimelech gave recognition to Abraham that he knew that the well was dug, and owned by Abraham. The well was known as "Beersheba" which in the Hebrew means the "well of the oath". It was here that the oath between the two was made, and 1900 years later, it would be at this well that Jesus drew the water for the woman, and called her attention to the fact that she had been married to five men, and forgave the woman of her sins [John 4:6-30]. Jesus offered the woman water from the living fountain, that if she partakes of it, she shall never thirst. She knew of the prophecies of the coming Messiah, and when she saw Jesus and heard Him, she wanted to taste of the living water that only Jesus Christ could offer."

31 So that place was called Beersheba, because the two men swore an oath there.

1. "Genesis 21.14 refers to the wilderness of Beersheba. It could be that Abraham takes the well-known name of the wilderness and applies it to the well because it is appropriate. Alternately it may be that the wilderness originally had another name, altered to Beersheba when Beersheba became well known, for the name Beersheba is eventually applied to a city. (Genesis 26.33 refers to a city of Beersheba, whose name appeared subsequently to that time, and that is the general meaning of Beersheba later on)." Beersheba, which is a kind of pun that can mean, “well of the seven” or “well of the oath”.

32 After the treaty had been made at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his forces returned to the land of the Philistines.

33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of the LORD, the Eternal God.

1. "It may be that the Philistines in Gerar worshipped El ‘Olam whom, because of the significance of his name Abraham accepted as being Yahweh for he knew Yahweh to be God from everlasting to everlasting (there was no concept of ‘eternity’. ‘Olam meant from time past to time future), compare El Elyon (14.22). The Tamarisk tree was native to the area. It was to mark and possibly to provide shelter over the well. Thus the thirsty passer by, needing water, would see the well was there. ‘Called there on the name of Yahweh’. As priest of the tribe he originated cult worship there. It became a shrine to the goodness of God, the central place of worship for his family tribe."

2. "Abraham plants a tamarisk tree there - which is s sign of permanence and stability, a sign that Abraham is quite literally putting some “roots” down in that place, settling down. It is at this point in the text where we are also told that, in addition to planting this tree, Abraham “called on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God”. In other words, Abraham worshiped God in that place which, if you remember from the earlier chapters of the Abraham story was a practice that had characterized and defined his movements at the very beginning - setting up sites for worship as he went along from place to place. And that is where the text leaves us - with a picture of a more mature Abraham, a settled Abraham, a peaceful Abraham who has a son, and who deals forthrightly with his neighbors, and who trusts in the Lord’s promises and worships the Lord his God."

34 And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time.

1. Here is proof that a man of God can live among a godless people in peace, and be able to get along with them. The Philistines may not have been as evil as they did eventually become so that they had to be wiped out, but they were certainly not the best people for neighbors, and they were definitely idolaters.

‘In the land of the Philistines.’ It is clear that the area where they were was acknowledged to be under the control of the Philistine group. This may not be the name of the area but just an acknowledgement of the facts.

‘Many days.’ The idea of Abraham wandering continually around from place to place is incorrect. Here ‘many days’ probably means a number of years. He was there when Isaac was born. He was there when Isaac was a growing lad (chapter 22). Of course, the flocks and herds had to be moved about to find grazing, but this

was done from a permanent center.