And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken.
1. visited ] Cf. 1Sa 2:21; Luk 1:68. The word is used for the dealings of God, sometimes, as here, in blessing, and sometimes in punishment.
The two clauses of this verse are identical in meaning: the first probably refers to Gen 18:10-14 (J): the second to Gen 17:16; Gen 17:21 (P). If the second clause is from P, the substitution of “Jehovah” for “God” is probably either editorial, or a transcriptional error.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
– The Birth of Isaac
7. mlel speak, an ancient and therefore solemn and poetical word.
14. chemet bottle, akin to chamah, surround, enclose, and chum black. beer–sheba, Beer-sheba, well of seven.
22. pykol, Pikhol, mouth or spokesman of all.
23. nyn offspring, kin; related: sprout, flourish. neked progeny, perhaps acquaintance, cognate with ngd, be before (the eyes) and nqd, mark.
33. ‘eshel grove; aroura, Septuagint.; ‘ylabah, a tree, Onkelos.
This chapter records the birth of Isaac with other concomitant circumstances. This is the beginning of the fulfillment of the second part of the covenant with Abraham – that concerning the seed. This precedes, we observe, his possession of even a foot-breadth of the soil, and is long antecedent to the entrance of his descendants as conquerors into the land of promise.
Gen 21:1-8
Isaac is born according to promise, and grows to be weaned. The Lord had visited Sarah. It is possible that this event may have occurred before the patriarchal pair arrived in Gerar. To visit, is to draw near to a person for the purpose of either chastising or conferring a favor. The Lord had been faithful to his gracious promise to Sarah. He did as he had spoken. The object of the visit was accomplished. In due time she bears a son, whom Abraham, in accordance with the divine command, calls Isaac, and circumcises on the eighth day. Abraham was now a hundred years old, and therefore Isaac was born thirty years after the call. Sarah expressed her grateful wonder in two somewhat poetic strains. The first, consisting of two sentences, turns on the word laugh. This is no longer the laugh of delight mingled with doubt, but that of wonder and joy at the power of the Lord overcoming the impotence of the aged mother. The second strain of three sentences turns upon the object of this admiring joy. The event that nobody ever expected to hear announced to Abraham, has nevertheless taken place; for I have borne him a son in his old age. The time of weaning, the second step of the child to individual existence, at length arrives, and the household of Abraham make merry, as was wont, on the festive occasion. The infant was usually weaned in the second or third year 1Sa 1:22-24; 2Ch 31:16. The child seems to have remained for the first five years under the special care of the mother Lev 27:6. The son then came under the management of the father.
Gen 21:9-21
The dismissal of Hagar and Ishmael. The son of Hagar … laughing. The birth of Isaac has made a great change in the position of Ishmael, now at the age of at least fifteen years. He was not now, as formerly, the chief object of attention, and some bitterness of feeling may have arisen on this account. His laugh was therefore the laugh of derision. Rightly was the child of promise named Isaac, the one at whom all laugh with various feelings of incredulity, wonder, gladness, and scorn. Sarah cannot brook the insolence of Ishmael, and demands his dismissal. This was painful to Abraham. Nevertheless, God enjoins it as reasonable, on the ground that in Isaac was his seed to be called. This means not only that Isaac was to be called his seed, but in Isaac as the progenitor was included the seed of Abraham in the highest and utmost sense of the phrase. From him the holy seed was to spring that was to be the agent in eventually bringing the whole race again under the covenant of Noah, in that higher form which it assumes in the New Testament. Abraham is comforted in this separation with a renewal of the promise concerning Ishmael Gen 17:20.
He proceeds with all singleness of heart and denial of self to dismiss the mother and the son. This separation from the family of Abraham was, no doubt, distressing to the feelings of the parties concerned. But it involved no material hardship to those who departed, and conferred certain real advantages. Hagar obtained her freedom. Ishmael, though called a lad, was at an age when it is not unusual in the East to marry and provide for oneself. And their departure did not imply their exclusion from the privileges of communion with God, as they might still be under the covenant with Abraham, since Ishmael had been circumcised, and, at all events, were under the broader covenant of Noah. It was only their own voluntary rejection of God and his mercy, whether before or after their departure, that could cut them off from the promise of eternal life. It seems likely that Hagar and Ishmael had so behaved as to deserve their dismissal from the sacred home. A bottle of water.
This was probably a kid-skin bottle, as Hagar could not have carried a goat-skin. Its contents were precious in the wilderness, but soon exhausted. And the lad. He took the lad and gave him to Hagar. The bread and water-skin were on her shoulder; the lad she held by the hand. In the wilderness of Beer-sheba. It is possible that the departure of Hagar occurred after the league with Abimelek and the naming of Beer-sheba, though coming in here naturally as the sequel of the birth and weaning of Isaac. The wilderness in Scripture is simply the land not profitable for cultivation, though fit for pasture to a greater or less extent. The wilderness of Beer-sheba is that part of the wilderness which was adjacent to Beer-sheba, where probably at this time Abraham was residing. Laid the lad. Ishmael was now, no doubt, thoroughly humbled as well as wearied, and therefore passive under his mothers guidance. She led him to a sheltering bush, and caused him to lie down in its shade, resigning herself to despair. The artless description here is deeply affecting.
Gen 21:17-21
The fortunes of Ishmael. God cares for the wanderers. He hears the voice of the lad, whose sufferings from thirst are greater than those of the mother. An angel is sent, who addresses Hagar in the simple words of encouragement and direction. Hold thy hand upon him. Lay thy hand firmly upon him. The former promise Gen 16:10 is renewed to her. God also opened her eyes that she saw a well of water, from which the bottle is replenished, and she and the lad are recruited for their further journey. It is unnecessary to determine how far this opening of the eyes was miraculous. It may refer to the cheering of her mind and the sharpening of her attention. In Scripture the natural and supernatural are not always set over against each other as with us. All events are alike ascribed to an ever-watchful Providence, whether they flow from the ordinary laws of nature or some higher law of the divine will. God was with the lad. Ishmael may have been cured of his childish spleen. It is possible also his father did not forget him, but sent him a stock of cattle with which to begin the pastoral life on his account. He became an archer. He grew an archer, or multiplied into a tribe of archers. Paran Gen 14:6 lay south of Palestine, and therefore on the way to Egypt, out of which his mother took him a wife. The Ishmaelites, therefore, both root and branch, were descended on the mothers side from the Egyptians.
Gen 21:22-34
According to the common law of Hebrew narrative, this event took place before some of the circumstances recorded in the previous passage; probably not long after the birth of Isaac. Abimelek, accompanied by Phikol, his commander-in-chief, proposes to form a league with Abraham. The reason assigned for this is that God was with him in all that he did. Various circumstances concurred to produce this conviction in Abimelek. The never-to-be-forgotten appearance of God to himself in a dream interposing on behalf of Abraham, the birth of Isaac, and the consequent certainty of his having an heir, and the growing retinue and affluence of one who, some ten years before, could lead out a trained band of three hundred and eighteen men-at-arms, were amply sufficient to prove that God was the source of his strength. Such a man is formidable as a foe, but serviceable as an ally. It is the part of sound policy, therefore, to approach him and endeavor to prevail upon him to swear by God not to deal falsely with him or his. Kin and kith. We have adopted these words to represent the conversational alliterative phrase of the original. They correspond tolerably well with the sperma and onoma, seed and name, of the Septuagint. Abraham frankly consents to this oath. This is evidently a personal covenant, referring to existing circumstances. A similar confederacy had been already formed with Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre. Abraham was disposed to such alliances, as they contributed to peaceful neighborhood. He was not in a condition to make a national covenant, though it is a fact that the Philistines were scarcely ever wholly subjugated by his descendants.
Gen 21:25-26
Abraham takes occasion to remonstrate with Abimelek about a well which his people had seized. Wells were extremely valuable in Palestine, on account of the long absence of rain between the latter or vernal rain ending in March, and the early or autumnal rain beginning in November. The digging of a well was therefore a matter of the greatest moment, and often gave a certain title to the adjacent fields. Hence, the many disputes about wells, as the neighboring Emirs or chieftains were jealous of rights so acquired, and often sought to enter by the strong hand on the labors of patient industry. Hence, Abraham lays more stress on a public attestation that he has dug, and is therefore the owner of this well, than on all the rest of the treaty. Seven is the number of sanctity, and therefore of obligation. This number is accordingly figured in some part of the form of confederation; in the present case, in the seven ewe-lambs which Abraham tenders, and Abimelek, in token of consent, accepts at his hand. The name of the well is remarkable as an instance of the various meanings attached to nearly the same sound. Even in Hebrew it means the well of seven, or the well of the oath, as the roots of seven, and of the verb meaning to swear, have the same radical letters. Bir es-Seba means the well of seven or of the lion.
Gen 21:32-34
Returned unto the land of the Philistines. – Beer-sheba was on the borders of the land of the Philistines. Going therefore to Gerar, they returned into that land. In the transactions with Hagar and with Abimelek, the name God is employed, because the relation of the Supreme Being with these parties is more general or less intimate than with the heir of promise. The same name, however, is used in reference to Abraham and Sarah, who stand in a twofold relation to him as the Eternal Potentate, and the Author of being and blessing. Hence, the chapter begins and ends with Yahweh, the proper name of God in communion with man. Eshel is a field under tillage in the Septuagint, and a tree in Onkelos. It is therefore well translated a grove in the King James Version, though it is rendered the tamarisk by many. The planting of a grove implies that Abraham now felt he had a resting-place in the land, in consequence of his treaty with Abimelek. He calls upon the name of the Lord with the significant surname of the God of perpetuity, the eternal, unchangeable God. This marks him as the sure and able performer of his promise, as the everlasting vindicator of the faith of treaties, and as the infallible source of the believers rest and peace. Accordingly, Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Gen 21:1-5
Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac
The birth of Isaac
I.
AS IT ILLUSTRATES THE POWER OF GOD.
1. Gods power as distinctly seen.
2. Gods power as it affects personal interest.
3. Gods power manifested as benevolent.
II. As IT ILLUSTRATES THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD.
1. The promises of God sooner or later pass into exact fulfilment.
2. Their fulfilment justifies our confidence in God.
3. Their fulfilment is the stay of the believers soul.
III. As IT ILLUSTRATES THE FAITH OF MAN. Abraham believed in God against all human hope, and Sarah by faith received strength to conceive Heb 11:11).
1. It was a faith which was severely tried.
(1) By long waiting. Abraham had waited for twenty-five years.
(2) By natural difficulties. He and his wife had advanced to a stage of life when there could be no human prospect of offspring.
2. It was a practical faith. All the time he was waiting, Abraham was obedient to the word of the Lord.
IV. As IT LOOKS ONWARD TO THE BIRTH OF THE WORLDS REDEEMER.
1. Both births were announced long before.
2. Both occur at the time fixed by God.
3. Both persons were named before their birth.
4. Both births were supernatural.
5. Both births were the occasion of great joy.
6. Both births are associated with the life beyond. (T. H. Leale.)
Isaac a type of Christ
I. IN THY APPROPRIATENESS OF HIS NAME. Laughter, rejoicing.
II. IN THE PECULIAR CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS BIRTH.
III. IN BEING INTENTIONALLY OFFERED AS A SACRIFICE. Observe–
1. The description of the sacrifice which was given. Thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest. How naturally our thoughts are led by this language to Jesus, the only-begotten Son of God, the Son of His delight, His dearly beloved Son.
2. He was to be presented as a sacrifice (Gen 22:1-2, &c). Here again we are directly led to Jesus. He came to be a sacrifice.
3. He was to be devoted and sacrificed by his Father. To Abraham God said, Take now thy son, &c. Jesus was Gods gift to the world.
4. He was to be offered on mount Moriah. To this spot, with his father, he travelled for three days, &c. Near the same spot–on Calvary, Jesus was sacrificed for the sin of the world.
5. Isaac bare the wood, which was designed to burn the offering. Christ also bare the cross on which He was to be crucified.
6. Isaac freely submitted to be bound and tied upon the altar. Jesus voluntarily went forth to death, and freely surrendered his spirit into the hands of his Father. But here the typical resemblance terminates. For Isaac a substitute is provided.
APPLICATION.
1. Let the subject lead us to contemplate the true desert of sin–which is death.
2. Consider the necessity of an atoning sacrifice.
3. Consider the infinite merit and preciousness of that sacrifice which God has provided–His own Son.
4. The necessity of a believing, personal interest in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
5. The awful consequence of neglecting the propitiation the love of God has provided–eternal death. (J. Burns, D. D.)
Light in the clouds; or, comfort for the discouraged
I. Back there in the beginning, Gods call to Abraham had been accompanied by a promise. From thy kindred, and from thy Fathers house unto a land that I will show thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So accompanied with the call came the promise. He was to sacrifice–but sacrifice was only a rougher path to a smooth and shining end. Out of its thorns was to blossom a better destiny than Abraham otherwise could possibly have gained. It was not all cross for Abraham; it was crown, too, and the cross was but the ladder climbing up which he should reach and wear the crown. What was true for Abraham is just as true for you and me. There comes to us no call of God, how rough and heavy soever its yoke may seem, that is not cushioned too with promise, that does not point onward and upward from itself to some vast and burdened blessing which otherwise we could not gain! You must yield a bad habit. Yes, but in order that you may enter into a great self-mastering.
II. And the energy to do the duty, the strength to bear the burden, is to be found where? This is where it is to be found–in faith in the promise. Well, Abraham yields to the call and puts faith in the promise, and goes on and enters Canaan. They have staid in the land for several long years, and still their tent is voiceless of a child. They have been much blessed in other ways. Abraham is a person held, too, in very good repute. His name and position are most honourable. Every way and on every side the best things seem to come to Abraham–except the one special thing which he desires most of all, and which is absolutely essential to lift him into the high destiny God has promised him. He is still childless. I think, too, Abraham must have been just now in a despondent reaction after a great strain. The anxiety about Lot, and that military expedition, had taxed him terribly. I think all this, because the Word of God, which just now comes to him, seems to be a word answering to just such a mood as this. And then the Lord illustrates the glory of this promise to him. Look up, God said to Abraham; canst thou tell the stars to number them? So shall thy seed be. It is a great thing when a husband and a wife are united in the same faith. It is a great thing when they stand in equal faith, and so together pass forward into the uncertain years. Usually where a man and wife are believing people the wife has the greater faith. It is she who gets the firmest hold upon the Divine promises. It is she who rests on them the more utterly. It is she who, by many a faithful word and by the serene example of her trust, gives heart to the husbands failing courage, gives swiftness to his more laggard step. It was not so with Abraham and Sarah. Abraham was more a man of faith than Sarah was a woman of faith. And Abraham instead of being led on in the right way by his wife was led off in the wrong was by her. I have no time to wait to tell you of all the gain and shame which came to Abraham and to Sarah from this false step. How, even though Ishmael came to the tent, discord came with him; how jealous Sarah grew, and then how cruel. From the time of that second manifestation of the promise and the ratification of it full fourteen years have sped away. Ishmael has been born, but Ishmael is not the promised seed. Still Abrahams tent is empty of the true heir. I think Abraham had fallen into a lower sort of life since he had gone off in the wrong way. I suppose he tried to be content with Ishmael. That is the way a great many Christians live. They do not think that God means all He says. Possibly He may mean half; but never all, to them anyway. They must get on as best they can with a little joy and a little peace, and be very thankful for that little, and never hope that they can have much more. And then God comes to break in upon him with another and better word of promise still. He comes to him announcing for Himself a new name–God Almighty, Omnipotent, the God with whom nothing is impossible. Abraham, He says, I am the Almighty God; walk before Me, and be thou perfect, that is, sincere in faith–upright. And then the promise is again renewed in terms more unmistakable. Abraham is to have a son and Sarah is to be its mother. All Gods thoughts for us are always greater than our thoughts for Him. (W. Hoyt.)
Prayer sure to be answered
When the season has been cold and backward, when rains fell and prices rose, and farmers desponded, and the poor despaired, I have heard old people, whose hopes resting on Gods promise did not rise and fall with the barometer nor shifting winds, say we shall have harvest after all; and this you can safely say of the labours and fruits of prayer. (T. Guthrie.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XXI
Isaac is born according to the promise, 1-3;
and is circumcised when eight days old, 4.
Abraham’s age, and Sarah’s exultation at the birth of their son, 5-7.
Isaac is weaned, 8.
Ishmael mocking on the occasion, Sarah requires that both he and his
mother Hagar shall be dismissed, 9, 10.
Abraham, distressed on the account, is ordered by the Lord to
comply, 11, 12.
The promise renewed to Ishmael, 13.
Abraham dismisses Hagar and her son, who go to the wilderness of
Beer-sheba, 14.
They are greatly distressed for want of water, 15, 16.
An angel of God appears to and relieves them, 17-19.
Ishmael prospers and is married, 20, 21.
Abimelech, and Phichol his chief captain, make a covenant with
Abraham, and surrender the well of Beersheba for seven ewe
lambs, 22-32.
Abraham plants a grove, and invokes the name of the everlasting
God, 33.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXI
Verse 1. The Lord visited Sarah] That is, God fulfilled his promise to Sarah by giving her, at the advanced age of ninety, power to conceive and bring forth a son.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The Lord visited Sarah, i.e. performed his gracious promise of giving her strength to conceive and bear a child. God’s visitation of a person in Scripture use, is the manifestation and execution of his purpose or word towards that person, and that either for evil, and so it is an inflicting of evils threatened, as the word visiting is used, Exo 20:5; Psa 59:5; or for good, and so it is used for the actual giving of mercies promised, as here, and Gen 50:24; Exo 4:31; Rth 1:6.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. the Lord visited SarahThelanguage of the historian seems designedly chosen to magnify thepower of God as well as His faithfulness to His promise. It was God’sgrace that brought about that event, as well as the raising ofspiritual children to Abraham, of which the birth of this son wastypical [CALVIN].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said,…. To Abraham,
Ge 17:16; in a way of mercy and kindness, by fulfilling his promise, giving strength to conceive and bear a child; see 1Sa 2:21:
and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken; which intends the same thing in different words; and the repetition is made to cause attention to God’s fulfilment of his promise, who is always faithful to his word, even in things very difficult and seemingly impossible, as in the present case: hence the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem paraphrase it, God did a wonder or wonders for Sarah in causing her to conceive when she was so old, and in such circumstances as she was.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Birth of Isaac. – Jehovah did for Sarah what God had promised in Gen 17:6 (cf. Gen 18:14): she conceived, and at the time appointed bore a son to Abraham, when he was 100 years old. Abraham gave it the name of Jizchak (or Isaac), and circumcised it on the eighth day. The name for the promised son had been selected by God, in connection with Abraham’s laughing (Gen 17:17 and Gen 17:19), to indicate the nature of his birth and existence. For as his laughing sprang from the contrast between the idea and the reality; so through a miracle of grace the birth of Isaac gave effect to this contrast between the promise of God and the pledge of its fulfilment on the one hand, and the incapacity of Abraham for begetting children, and of Sarah for bearing them, on the other; and through this name, Isaac was designated as the fruit of omnipotent grace working against and above the forces of nature. Sarah also, who had previously laughed with unbelief at the divine promise (Gen 18:12), found a reason in the now accomplished birth of the promised son for laughing with joyous amazement; so that she exclaimed, with evident allusion to his name, “ A laughing hath God prepared for me; every one who hears it will laugh to me ” (i.e., will rejoice with me, in amazement at the blessing of God which has come upon me even in my old age), and gave a fitting expression to the joy of her heart, in this inspired tristich (Gen 21:7): “ Who would have said unto Abraham: Sarah is giving suck; for I have born a son to his old age.” is the poetic word for , and before the perfect has the sense of – whoever has said, which we should express as a subjunctive; cf. 2Ki 20:9; Psa 11:3, etc.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Birth of Isaac. | B. C. 1897. |
1 And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. 2 For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3 And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. 6 And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. 7 And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have borne him a son in his old age. 8 And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.
Long-looked-for comes at last. The vision concerning the promised seed is for an appointed time, and now, at the end, it speaks, and does not lie; few under the Old Testament were brought into the world with such expectation as Isaac was, not for the sake of any great person eminence at which he was to arrive, but because he was to be, in this very thing, a type of Christ, that seed which the holy God had so long promised and holy men so long expected. In this account of the first days of Isaac we may observe,
I. The fulfilling of God’s promise in the conception and birth of Isaac, Gen 21:1; Gen 21:2. Note, God’s providences look best and brightest when they are compared with his word, and when we observe how God, in them all, acts as he has said, as he has spoken. 1. Isaac was born according to the promise. The Lord visited Sarah in mercy, as he had said. Note, No word of God shall fall to the ground; for he is faithful that has promised, and God’s faithfulness is the stay and support of his people’s faith. He was born at the set time of which God had spoken, v. 2. Note, God is always punctual to his time; though his promised mercies come not at the time we set, they will certainly come at the time he sets, and that is the best time. 2. He was born by virtue of the promise: Sarah by faith received strength to conceive Heb. xi. 11. God therefore by promise gave that strength. It was not by the power of common providence, but by the power of a special promise, that Isaac was born. A sentence of death was, as it were, passed upon the second causes: Abraham was old, and Sarah old, and both as good as dead; and then the word of God took place. Note, True believers, by virtue of God’s promises, are enabled to do that which is above the power of human nature, for by them they partake of a divine nature, 2 Pet. i. 4.
II. Abraham’s obedience to God’s precept concerning Isaac.
1. He named him, as God commanded him, v. 3. God directed him to a name for a memorial, Isaac, laughter; and Abraham, whose office it was, gave him that name, though he might have designed him some other name of a more pompous signification. Note, It is fit that the luxuriancy of human invention should always yield to the sovereignty and plainness of divine institution; yet there was good reason for the name, for, (1.) When Abraham received the promise of him he laughed for joy, ch. xvii. 17. Note, When the sun of comfort has risen upon the soul it is good to remember how welcome the dawning of the day was, and with what exultation we embraced the promise. (2.) When Sarah received the promise she laughed with distrust and diffidence. Note, When God gives us the mercies we began to despair of we ought to remember with sorrow and shame our sinful distrusts of God’s power and promise, when we were in pursuit of them. (3.) Isaac was himself, afterwards, laughed at by Ishmael (v. 9), and perhaps his name bade him expect it. Note, God’s favourites are often the world’s laughing-stocks. (4.) The promise which he was not only the son, but the heir of, was to be the joy of all the saints in all ages, and that which would fill their mouths with laughter.
2. He circumcised him, v. 4. The covenant being established with him, the seal of the covenant was administered to him; and though a bloody ordinance, and he a darling, yet it must not be omitted, no, nor deferred beyond the eighth day. God had kept time in performing the promise, and therefore Abraham must keep time in obeying the precept.
III. The impressions which this mercy made upon Sarah.
1. It filled her with joy (v. 6): “God has made me to laugh; he has given me both cause to rejoice and a heart to rejoice.” Thus the mother of our Lord, Luk 1:46; Luk 1:47. Note, (1.) God bestows mercies upon his people to encourage their joy in his work and service; and, whatever is the matter of our joy, God must be acknowledged as the author of it, unless it be the laughter of the fool. (2.) When mercies have been long deferred they are the more welcome when they come. (3.) It adds to the comfort of any mercy to have our friends rejoice with us in it: All that hear will laugh with me; for laughing is catching. See Luke i. 58. Others would rejoice in this instance of God’s power and goodness, and be encouraged to trust in him. See Ps. cxix. 74.
2. It filled her with wonder, v. 7. Observe here, (1.) What it was she thought so wonderful: That Sarah should give children suck, that she should, not only bear a child, but be so strong and hearty at the age as to give it suck. Note, Mothers, if they be able, ought to be nurses to their own children. Sarah was a person of quality, was aged; nursing might be thought prejudicial of herself, or to the child, or to both; she had choice of nurses, no doubt, in her own family: and yet she would do her duty in this matter; and her daughters the good wives are while they thus do well,1Pe 3:5; 1Pe 3:6. See Lam. iv. 3. (2.) How she expressed her wonder: “Who would have said it? The thing was so highly improbable, so near to impossible, that if any one but God had said it we could not have believed it.” Note, God’s favours to his covenant-people are such as surpass both their own and others’ thoughts and expectations. Who could imagine that God should do so much for those that deserve so little, nay, for those that deserve so ill? See Eph 3:20; 2Sa 7:18; 2Sa 7:19. Who would have said that God should send his Son to die for us, his Spirit to sanctify us, his angels to attend us? Who would have said that such great sins should be pardoned, such mean services accepted, and such worthless worms taken into covenant and communion with the great and holy God?
IV. A short account of Isaac’s infancy: The child grew, v. 8. Special notice is taken of this, though a thing of course, to intimate that the children of the promise are growing children. See Luk 1:80; Luk 2:40. Those that are born of God shall increase of God, Col. ii. 19. He grew so as not always to need milk, but was able to bear strong meat, and then he was weaned. See Heb 5:13; Heb 5:14. And then it was that Abraham made a great feast for his friends and neighbours, in thankfulness to God for his mercy to him. He made this feast, not on the day that Isaac was born, that would have been too great a disturbance to Sarah; nor on the day that he was circumcised, that would have been too great a diversion from the ordinance; but on the day that he was weaned, because God’s blessing upon the nursing of children, and the preservation of them throughout the perils of the infant age, are signal instances of the care and tenderness of the divine providence, which ought to be acknowledged, to its praise. See Psa 22:9; Psa 22:10; Hos 11:1.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
GENESIS – CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Verses 1-5:
The conception and birth of Isaac occurred after Abraham’s experience in Gerar, likely while he lived in the region of Beersheba. “Lord” is Jehovah, the Covenant-God, who fulfilled exactly the terms of His promise to Abraham made in Mamre one year earlier (see ch. 17). Abraham circumcised his son eight days after his birth, as God had instructed.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1. And the Lord visited Sarah. In this chapters not only is the nativity of Isaac related, but because, in his very birth, God has set before us a lively picture of his Church, Moses also gives a particular account of this matter. And first, he says that God visited Sarah, as he had promised. Because all offspring, flows from the kindness of God, as it is in the psalm,
‘
The fruit of the womb is the gift of God;’ (Psa 127:3😉
therefore the Lord is said, not without reason, to visit those, to whom he gives children. For although the foetus seems to be produced naturally, each from its own kind; there is yet no fecundity in animals, except so far as the Lord puts forth his own power, to fulfill what he has said, Increase and multiply. But in the propagation of the human race, his special benediction is conspicuous; and, therefore, the birth of every child is rightly deemed the effect of divine visitation. But Moses, in this place, looks higher, forasmuch as Isaac was born out of the accustomed course of nature. (433) Therefore Moses here commends that secret and unwonted power of God, which is superior to the law of nature; and not improperly, since it is of great consequence for us to know that the gratuitous kindness of God reigned, as well in the origin, as in the progress of the Church; and that the sons of God were not otherwise born, than from his mere mercy. And this is the reason why he did not make Abraham a father, till his body was nearly withered. It is also to be noticed, that Moses declares the visitation which he mentions, to be founded upon promise; ‘Jehovah visited Sarah, as he had promised.’ In these words he annexes the effect to its cause, in order that the special grace of God, of which an example is given in the birth of Isaac, might be the more perceptible. If he had barely said, that the Lord had respect unto Sarah, when she brought forth a son; some other cause might have been sought for. None, however, can doubt, that the promise, by which Isaac had been granted to his father Abraham, was gratuitous; since the child was the fruit of that adoption, which can be ascribed to nothing but the mere grace of God. Therefore, whoever wishes rightly and prudently to reflect upon the work of God, in the birth of Isaac, must necessarily begin with the promise. There is also great emphasis in the repetition, “The Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken.” For he thus retains his readers, as by laying his hand upon them, that they may pause in the consideration of so great a miracle. Meanwhile, Moses commends the faithfulness of God; as if he had said he never feeds men with empty promises, nor is he less true in granting what he has promised, than he is liberal, and willing, in making the promise.
(433) Calvin here adds, “ Nam communis gignendi ratio, et vis illa quam Dominus hominibus indidit, in Abraham et ejus uxore cessaverat.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
ABRAHAMTHE FRIEND OF GOD
Gen 11:10 to Gen 25:10.
ONE week ago we gave this hour to a study in Genesis, our subject being, The Beginnings. The birds-eye view of ten chapters and ten verses brought us to Babel, and impressed upon us the many profitable lessons that come between the record of creation and the report of confusion.
Beginning with the 10th verse of the 11th chapter of Genesis (Gen 11:10), and concluding with the 10th verse of the 25th chapter (Gen 25:10), we have the whole history of Abraham, the friend of God; and while other important persons, such as Sarai, Hagar, Lot, Pharaoh, Abimelech, Isaac, Rebecca and even Melchisedec appear in these chapters, Abraham plays altogether the prominent part, and aside from Melchisedec, the High Priest, is easily the most important person, and the most interesting subject presented in this inspired panorama. It may be of interest to say that Abraham lived midway between Adam and Jesus, and such was his greatness that the Chaldeans, East Indians, Sabeans and Mohammedans all join with the Jew in claiming to be the offspring of Abraham; while it is the Christians proud boast that he is Abrahams spiritual descendant.
It is little wonder that all these contend for a kinship with him whom God deigns to call His friend. The man who is a friend of God is entitled to a large place in history. Fourteen chapters are none too many for his record; and hours spent in analyzing his character and searching for the secrets of his success are hours so employed as to meet the Divine approval.
The problem is how to so set Abrahams history before you as to make it at once easy of comprehension, and yet thoroughly impress its lessons. In trying to solve that question it has seemed best to call attention to
THE CALL AND THE COVENANT.
Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy fathers house, unto a land that I will show thee, and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing; and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed (Gen 12:1-3).
Did you ever stop to think of the separations involved in this call?
It meant a separation from home. From thy fathers house. How painful that call is, those of us who have passed through it perfectly understand; and yet many of us have gone so short a distance from home, or else have made the greater journey with such extended stops, that we know but little how to sympathize with Abrahams more effective separation from that dear spot. To go from Chaldea to Canaan in that day, from a country with which he was familiar to one he had never seen; and from a people who were his own, to sojourn among strangers, was every whit equal to William Careys departure from England for India. But as plants and flowers have to be taken from the hot-bed into the broad garden that they may best bring forth, so God lifts the subject of His affection from the warm atmosphere of home-life and sets him down in the far field that he may bring forth fruit unto Him; hence, as is written in Hebrews, Abraham had to go out, not knowing whither he went.
This call also involves separation from kindred. And from thy kindred. In Chaldea, Abram had a multitude of relatives, as the 11th chapter fully shows. Upon all of these, save the members of his own house, and Lot, his brothers son, Abram must turn his back. In the process of time the irreligion of Lot will necessitate also a separation from him. In this respect, Abrahams call is in no whit different from that which God is giving the men and women today. You cannot respond to the call of God without separating yourself from all kin who worship at false shrines; and you cannot make the progress you ought and live in intimate relation with so worldly a professor of religion as was Lot.
We may have marvelled at times that Abraham so soon separated himself from Lot, but the real wonder is that the man of God so long retained his hold upon him. No more difficult task was ever undertaken than that of keeping in the line of service a man who, in the lust of his eyes and the purpose of his heart, has pitched his tent toward Sodom. It is worthy of note that so soon as Abraham was separated from Lot, the Lord said unto him,
Lift up now thine eyes and look from the place that thou art, northward and southward, and eastward and westward, for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it and to thy seed forever (Gen 13:14-15).
The men of the broadest view in spiritual things, the men upon whom God has put His choicest blessing, have been from time immemorial men who have separated themselves from idolaters and pretenders that they might be the more free to respond to the call of God, and upon such, God has rested His richest favors.
This call also involves separation from the Gentiles. The Gentiles of Chaldea and the Gentiles of Canaan; from the first he was separated by distance and from the second by circumcision. Gods appeal has been and is for a peculiar people, not that they might be queer, but that He might keep them separatedunspotted from the world. God knows, O so well, how few souls there are that can mingle with the unregenerate crowd without losing their testimony and learning to speak the shibboleth of sinners. Peter was a good man; in some respects greater than Abraham; but Peter in that porch-company was a poor witness for Jesus Christ, while his profanity proved the baneful effect of fellowship with Gods enemies. The call to separation, therefore, is none other than the call to salvation, for if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.
But Gods calls are always attended by
GODS COVENANTS.
As this call required three separations with their sacrifices, so its attendant covenant contained three promised blessings. God never empties the heart without filling it again, and with better things. God never detaches the affections from lower objects without at once attaching them to subjects that are higher; consequently call and covenant must go together.
I will make of thee a great nation. That was the first article in His covenant. To the Jew, that was one of the most precious promises. This ancient people delighted in progeny. The Psalmist wrote, As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. If our Puritan fathers, few in number and feeble as they were, could have imagined the might and multitude of their offspring, they would have found in the prospect an unspeakable pride, and a source of mighty pleasure. It was because those fathers did, in some measure, imagine the America to come, that they were willing to endure the privations and dangers of their day; but the honor of being fathers of a nation, shared in by a half hundred of them, was an honor on which Abraham had a close corporation, for to him God said,
I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth; so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall also thy seed be numbered.
If the heart, parting from parents and home, is empty, the arms into which children have been placed are full; and homesickness, the pain of separation, is overcome when, through the grace of God, one sits down in the midst of his own.
This covenant contained a further promise. I will . . . make thy name great. We may believe that the word great here refers not so much to empty honors as to merited praise. The Jewish conception of such a promise was expressed by Solomon when he said, A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches. And, notwithstanding the fact that our age is guilty of over-estimating the value of riches, men find it difficult to underrate the value of a good name.
Years ago, Jonas Chickering decided to make a better piano than had ever appeared on the market. He spared neither time nor labor in this attempt. His endeavor was rewarded in purity and truthfulness of tone as well as in simplicity of plan, and there came to him the ever-attendant result of success. His name on a piano was that instruments best salesman.
A Massachusetts man, seeing this, went to the Massachusetts legislature and succeeded in getting them to change his name to Chickering, that he might put it upon his own instruments.
As Marden said when referring to this incident, Character has a commercial value.
And, when God promised Abraham to make his name great, He bestowed the very honor which men most covet to this hour.
But the climax of His covenant is contained in this last sentence, In thee shall all the families of the earth be blest. That is the honor of honors! That is the success of all successes! That is the privilege of all privileges!
When Mr. Moody died some man said, Every one of us has lost a friend, and that speaker was right, for there is not a man in America who has not enjoyed at least an opportunity to be better because Moody lived. No matter whether the individual had ever seen him or no; had ever read one of his sermons or no; yet the tidal waves of Moodys work have rolled over the entire land, over many lands for that matter, and even the most ignorant and debased have breathed the better atmosphere on account of him. George Davis claims that Moody traveled a million miles, and addressed a hundred million people, and dealt personally with 750,000 individuals! I think Davis claim is an overstatement, and yet these whom he touched personally are only a tithe of the multitudes blessed indirectly by that evangelism for which Moody stood for forty years. If today I could be privileged to make my choice of the articles of this covenant, rather than be the father of a great nation, rather than enjoy the power of a great name, I would say, Give me the covenant that through me all the nations of the earth should be blessed. Such would indeed be the crowning glory of a life, and such ought to be the crowning joy of a true mans heart.
In the next place, I call your attention to
ABRAHAMS OBEDIENCE AND BLUNDERS.
His obedience was prompt No sooner are the call and covenant spoken than we read,
So Abraham departed as the Lord had spoken unto him (Gen 12:4).
In that his conduct favorably contrasted with the behavior of some other of the Old Testaments most prominent men. Moses was in many respects a model, but he gave himself to an eloquent endeavor to show God that He was making a mistake in appointing him Israels deliverer. Elijah at times indulged in the same unprofitable controversy, and the story of Jonahs criticism of the Divine appointment will be among our later studies. I am confident that Abraham brings before every generation a much needed example in this matter. In these days, men are tempted to live too much in mathematics and to regard too lightly Gods revelations of duty. That is one of the reasons why many pulpits are empty. That is one of the reasons why many a Sunday School class is without a teacher. That is the only reason why any man in this country can say with any show of truthfulness, No man careth for my soul. If the congregations assembled in Gods sanctuary should go out of them, as Abram departed from his home in Haran, to fulfil all that the Lord had spoken unto them, the world would be turned upside down in a fortnight, and Christ would quickly come.
In his obedience Abraham was steadfast also. There are many men who respond to the calls of God; there are only a few who remain faithful to those calls through a long and busy life. There were battles ahead for Abram. There were blunders in store for Abram. There were bereavements and disappointments to come. But, in spite of them all, he marched on until God gathered him to his people. I thank God that such stedfastness is not wholly strange at the present time. When we see professors of religion proving themselves shallow and playing truant before the smaller trials, and we are thereby tempted to join in Solomons dyspeptic lament, All is vanity and vexation of spirit, it heartens one to remember the history that some have made and others are making. Think of Carey and Judson, Jewett and Livingstone, Goddard and Morrison, Clough and Ashmoremen who, through long years, deprivations and persecutions, proved as faithful as was ever Abraham; and so, long as the world shall stand, stedfastness in obedience to the commands of God will be regarded highly in Heaven. Why is it that we so much admire the company of the apostles, and why is it that we sing the praises of martyrs? They withstood in the evil day, and having done all, stood.
Again, Abrams obedience was inspired by faith.
When he went out from Chaldea to come into Canaan, he was not yielding to reason but walking according to revelation. His action was explained in the sentence, He believed in the Lord. Joseph Parker commenting on the world believed as here employed says, This is the first time the word believed occurs in the Bible. * * * * What history opens in this one word. Abram nourished and nurtured himself in God. * * * * He took the promise as a fulfilment. The word was to him a fact. The stars had new meanings to him, as, long before, the rainbow had to Noah. Abram drew himself upward by the stars. Every night they spoke to him of his posterity and of his greatness. They were henceforward not stars only but promises and oaths and blessings.
One great need of the present-day church is a truer trust in God. Oh, for men who like Columbus can let the craft of life float out on the seas of thought and action, and look to the starry heavens for the guidance that shall land them upon newer and richer shores! Oh, for men that will turn their ears heavenward to hear what God will say, and even though His commissions contain sacrifice will go about exercising it! Such men are never forgotten by the Father. We are not surprised to hear Him break forth in praise of Abraham, saying,
Because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, m blessing 1 will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gates of the enemy, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice.
No sacrifice made in faith is ever forgotten, and when Gods rewards for service are spoken, good men always regard them more than sufficient. If you could call up today the souls of Carey, Judson, Livingstone and Morrison, and assemble Clough, Ashmore, Taylor, Powell, Clark, Richards and a hundred others worthy to stand with them, and ask them the question Has God failed in any particular to keep with you any article of His covenant? they would answer in a chorus, No. And has God more than met the expectations of your faith? they would reply without dissent, Yes. As He was faithful to our father Abraham, so He is faithful to the present-day servant.
And yet Abraham, the obedient, was
GUILTY OF BLUNDERING.
Twice he lied, and the third time he approached the utmost limits of truth. He told Sarai to say she was his sister. She was his half-sister, and so he thought to excuse himself by dissembling and keeping back a part. But a lie is not a question of words and phrases! It may be acted as easily as spoken! When God comes to make a report upon your conduct and mine, dissembling will be labeled falsehood, for God does not cover up the sins of men. Somebody has asked, Do you suppose, if the Bible had been written by some learned Doctor, revised by a committee of some eminent scholars, and published by some great ecclesiastical society, we would ever have heard of Noahs drunkenness, of Abrams deception, of Lots disgrace, of Jacobs rascality, of the quarrel between Paul and Barnabas, or of Peters conduct on the porch? Not at all. But when the Almighty writes a mans life, He tells the truth about him.
I heard a colored preacher at Cincinnati say, The most of us would not care for a biography of ourselves, if God was to be the Author of it. Yet the work of the Recording Angel goes on, and as surely as we read today the report of Abrams blunders, we will be compelled to confront our own. Let us cease, therefore, from sin.
But Abrams few blunders cannot blacken his beautiful record. The luster of his life is too positive to be easily dimmed; and like the sun, will continue to shine despite the spots. Run through these chapters, and in every one of the fourteen you will find some touch of his true life. It was Abraham whose heart beat in sweetest sympathy with the sufferings of Hagar. It was Abraham who showed the most unselfish spirit in separating from Lot and dividing the estate. It was Abraham who opened his door to strangers in a hospitality of which this age knows all too little. It was Abram who overcame the forces of the combined kings and snatched Lot out of their hands. It was Abraham whose prayers prevailed with God in saving this same weakkneed professor out of Sodom. It was Abraham who trusted God for a child when Nature said the faith was foolish. It was Abraham who offered that same child in sacrifice at the word, not halting because of his own heart-sufferings. It was Abraham who mourned Sarahs death as deeply as ever any bereft bride felt her loss.
The more I search these chapters, the more I feel that she was right who wrote, A holy life has a voice. It speaks when the tongue is silent and is either a constant attraction or a continued reproof. Put your ear close to these pages of Genesis, and if Abraham does not whisper good to your heart, then be sure that your soul is dead and you are yet in your sins.
There remains time for but a brief review of these fourteen chapters in search of
THEIR TYPES AND SYMBOLS
Abrams call is a type of the Church of Christ. The Greek word for Church means the called-out. Separation from the Chaldeans was essential to Abrams access to the Father, and separation from the world is essential to the Churchs access to God and also essential to its exertion of an influence for righteousness. I believe Dr. Gordon was right when, in The Two-Fold Life he said, The truest remedy for the present-day naturalized Christianity and worldly consecration is to be found in a strenuous and stubborn non-conformity to the world on the part of Christians. With the most unshaken conviction, we believe that the Church can only make headway, in this world, by being loyal to her heavenly calling. Towards Ritualism her cry must be not a rag of popery; towards Rationalism, not a vestige of whatsoever is not of faith; and towards
Secularism, not a shred of the garment spotted by the flesh. The Bride of Christ can only give a true and powerful testimony in this world as she is found clothed with her own proper vesture even the fine linen clean and white, which is the righteousness of the saints.
Isaacs offering is a type of Gods gift of Jesus. He was an only son and Abraham laid him upon the altar of sacrifice. And, if one say that he fails as a type because he passed not through the experience of death, let us remember what is written into Heb 11:17 following,
By faith Abraham when he was tried, offered up Isaac; and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, *** accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from whence also he received him, in a figure.
It might be written in Scripture, Abraham so believed God that he gave his only begotten son, for Gods sake. It is written in Scripture, God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Melchisedec is a type of our High Priest, Jesus Christ. His record in Gen 14:18-20 is brief, but the interpretation of his character in Hebrews 7 presents him as either identical with the Lord Himself, or else as one whose priesthood is the most perfect type of that which Jesus Christ has performed, and performs today for the sons of men.
In Sodom, we find the type of the days of the Son of Man. Of it the Lord said,
Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto Me.
Jesus Christ referred to that city and likened its condition to that which should obtain upon the earth at the coming of the Son of Man, saying, As it was in the days of Lot, they did eat; they drank; they bought; they sold; they planted; they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all, even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
The newspapers some time ago reported great religious excitement in a Southern city through the work of two evangelists. Doctors said, We will prescribe no more liquor for patients, druggists said, We will sell no more liquor as a beverage; gamblers gave up their gambling; those called the toughs of the town turned to the Lord; the people of means put off their jewels, changed their frivolous clothes to plainer style; and wherever one went he heard either the singing of hymns or the utterance of prayers, and a great newspaper said this had all come about because the people in that little college town expected the speedy return of Christ. You may call it fanaticism, if you will, and doubtless there would be some occasion, and yet call it what you may, this sentence will remain in the Scriptures, Therefore, be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
CRITICAL NOTES.
Gen. 21:1. The Lord visited Sarah.] Jehovah, the Covenant God. To visit, in this connection, signifies drawing near for the purpose of conferring a favour (Gen. 1:24; Rth. 1:6.) The LXX. has , a word adopted by St. Luke in two places in the song of Zacharias (Luk. 1:68-78).
Gen. 21:2. The set time. As promised in Gen. 17:21; Gen. 18:14.
Gen. 21:3. Called the name of his son, Isaac.] In obedience to the Divine command (Gen. 17:19).
Gen. 21:4. Circumcised his son Isaac, being eight days old, as God had commanded him.] (Gen. 17:10-12.)
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Gen. 21:1-5
THE BIRTH OF ISAAC
We now come to the first substantial result of Gods covenant with Abraham. The child which had only been present to the eye of faith and hope was now before himGods promises turned into realities, as they always shall be. As the birth of Isaac was not only marked by special circumstances, but is also an important event in the history of religion, it may be considered from several points of view.
I. As it illustrates the power of God. The birth of a son to Abraham is here regarded not as a common occurrence in the course of nature, but as the direct result of the visitation of God. (Gen. 21:1-2.) It was an exhibition of Divine power, but in that form which we call miraculous.
1. Gods power as distinctly seen. No one who considers this vast universe, with its mighty forces and wonderful order, can fail to be impressed with an overwhelming sense of the power of God. But all men do not consider, and the very constancy and greatness of that power prevents it from being distinctly recognised. A miracle does not require more of Divine power than is put forth in the maintenance of the system of nature, but it may be to us a greater proof of that power. The birth of Isaac was the result of the special interference of God, and His power was distinctly seen. The observation of the regular course of nature taught Abraham what to expect, and he had his natural hopes like other men. But his faith in the promise of God enabled him to believe against such hope. He knew that God was able to perform, and now he had a special proof of it.
2. Gods power as it affects personal interest. This was not a wonderful thing which they were to gaze upon from the outside with distant awe and astonishment. They were personally interested in the event. They were an essential part of it. They were obliged to stand within that circle in which the power of God was now displayed, and the sense of it brought home to them. Doubt would be impossible of that which so intimately touched themselves. Thus, whatever is wrought within us, gives us the highest proof of God. What is the moral miracle of regeneration but the power of God so brought home to us that we have consciousness of its reality? Who can deny the Divine source of His heavenly birth?
3. Gods power manifested as benevolent. There are judicial visitations of God, when He comes to punish transgressors. (Exo. 28:5.) But this was a friendly visit, full of grace and good gifts. The Divine power was put forth, not to alarm or crush, but with kind intent. This is the aspect of His power which is given to His saints to beholdthe power of God unto salvation.
II. As it illustrates the faithfulness of God. The birth of this child was not only a loving and gracious expression of Gods power, but was also the accomplishment of His word. The child was given according to promise. His parents could not regard his birth otherwise than as a proof of the faithfulness of a covenant keeping God. Such experience have all His children.
1. The promises of God sooner or later pass into exact fulfilment. His word is as good as the fact, and he who trusts in that word has an inheritance upon a sure title. He has a substantial foundation for a hope which maketh not ashamed. The universe was but the thought of God expressing itself in an outward reality. He spake the word and creation arose. Gods word tends inevitably to pass into fulfilment.
2. Their fulfilment justifies our confidence in God. We ought to have confidence in Gods word without any immediate proof; but the journey of faith is long, and God has consideration for the infirmity of our poor human nature in giving us encouragement by the way. He deals with us as a kind Father who is always giving us reasons to love and serve Him. All is not left to the future world to disclose and verify. We have real and essential good now and here. Abraham had not received all the promises of God, but he had received enough to justify his confidence, and to encourage him to persevere in a life of faith to the end.
3. Their fulfilment is the stay of the believers soul. The word of the Lord is a tried word. We may consider it as sure, and we can build upon it without any misgiving. The memory of Gods past dealings becomes a ground of hope for the future. Thou hast been my help is a proper plea to urge in prayer for blessings yet to be given. Gods promises already verified give us that confidence which becomes the stay of our soul for the time to come. We feel that there is something sure and fixed in the midst of change and decay. We come to know whom we have believed. It is only when the doctrines about God pass into the facts of experience within us that they become knowledge. And of all foundations to build upon the only secure one is knowledge. Our faith itself derives its value from the fact that it is concerned with realities.
III. As it illustrates the faith of man. The wonderful birth of this child was the reward of faith. Abraham believed in God against all human hope, and Sarah by faith received strength to conceive seed (Heb. 11:11).
1. It was a faith which was severely tried.
(1) By long waiting. Abraham had waited for twenty-five years.
(2) By natural difficulties. He and his wife had advanced to a stage of life when there could be no human prospect of offspring. So the faith of believers is tried by many delays, and by difficulties that to the eye of sense seem to be insurmountable. Our way often appears to be shut up, as if we could go no further; but God interferes in His own good time. Our faiths journey continues, and we pass on to new triumphs.
2. It was a practical faith. All the time that he was waiting, Abraham was obedient to the word of the Lord. Faith, with him, was not a mere sentiment, but was practically one with duty. It is quite indifferent whether we call his conduct faith or obedience. He chose a certain course of life, and entered upon certain duties, because he believed in God. Now that the promise is fulfilled he is still giving attention to his duty. He circumcised his son and called him by that name which God had appointed. (Gen. 21:3-4.)
IV. As it looks onwards to the birth of the worlds Redeemer. This was not an isolated event, but had reference to a Greater Man. The whole life of Abraham was ordered so as to prepare the line along which the Messiah should come. The details of the birth of Isaac, considered merely in themselves, are but a piece of human history calculated to awaken but a passing curiosity and interest. But when they are regarded in their relation to the birth of the Son of God, these details are invested with a surpassing importance. Throughout the history of this chosen family, God was working out His way towards an endthe bringing in of His first-begotten into the world. (Heb. 1:6.) The analogy between the birth of Isaac and that of Jesus Christ is obvious.
1. Both births were announced long before. Indeed, to Abraham the two births were virtually announced together. He had to wait many years before the promise was fulfilled, and the world had to wait through long ages for the birth of the Son of Man.
2. Both occur at the time fixed by God. Isaac was born at the set time of which God had spoken to Abraham. So the date of Messiahs birth was fixed by the prophet Daniel. (Dan. 9:24.) Seventy prophetic weeks are four hundred and ninety years. The re-establishment of the theocracy began thirteen years before the rebuilding of Jerusalem, 457 B.C. This number subtracted from four hundred and ninety years will give thirty-three years, to be reckoned from the commencement of the Christian era. Thus the Messiah was to be cut off in the middle of the last week. All this is now a matter of history. Thus the time when Christ should appear in the world was before appointed.
3. Both persons were named before their birth. Isaacs name was given according to the Divine command. (Gen. 17:19.) So was the name Jesus. (Mat. 1:21.)
4. Both births were supernatural. Each was born after a miraculous manner.
5. Both births were the occasion of great joy. Abraham and Sarah had more than the common joy of parents. The event was so wonderful that amazement must have mingled with their delight. When Jesus was born angels and men rejoiced.
6. Both births are associated with the life beyond. The faithful shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. They shall be with Christ, for ever with the Lord.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen. 21:1. God pays not His people with words only. He fools them not off with fair promises. Good men are the children that will not lie. (Isa. 63:8.) Their Father is a God that cannot lie. (Titus 1, 2.) He is the God of Amen, as Isaiah calleth Him (Isa. 65:16); all His promises are Yea, and Amen in Christ Jesus (2Co. 1:20); the faithful and true witness. (Rev. 3:14.)(Trapp.)
Sarahs visitation is a type of the visitation of Mary, notwithstanding the great distinction between them. The visitation lies in the extraordinary and wonderful personal grace, to which an immeasurable general human salvation is closely joined. But with Sarah this visitation occurs very late in life, and after long waiting; with Mary it was entirely unexpected. Sarahs body is dead; Mary had not known a husband. The son of Sarah is himself a type of the son of Mary. But with both women the richest promise of heaven is limited through one particular woman on the earth, a conception in faith, an apparently impossible, but yet actual human birth; both are illustrious instances of the destination of the female race, of the importance of the wife, the mother for the kingdom of God. Both became illustrious since they freely subjected themselves to this destination, since they yielded their sons in the future, the sons of promise, or in the son of promise; for Isaac has all his importance as a type of Christ, and Christ, the son of Mary, is the manifesta-of the Eternal Son.(Lange.)
Believers are visited with the word of promise, and then with the word of fulfilment.
Gen. 21:2. This is stated as explanatory of the manner in which the Divine veracity affirmed in the first verse was established. God had promised that Sarah should conceive and bear a son, and she did thus conceive and bring forth; but it does not necessarily follow that the time of her conceiving was subsequent to the events related in the preceding chapter; on the contrary, there is every reason to believe that this took place some weeks or months before (comp. Gen. 17:21), but it is mentioned here, without regard to date, merely as a fulfilment of the promise.(Bush.)
Faith which once faltered may gather strength again and achieve noble deeds. Sarah has won a place amongst the ancient worthies. (Heb. 11:11.)
The birth of this son was not according to nature (Gal. 4:23), but above nature. The miraculous element marks throughout the history of the chosen people. Thus mankind was prepared for the grand miracle of the manifestation of the Son of God.
Human redemption belongs to a course of things altogether above nature, for nature preaches no doctrine of forgiveness, no restoration of powers when once they are dead. Grace alone can bring salvation.
With God nothing can occur out of season, or fall otherwise than at the appointed time.
One great difference between this child and the son of Hagar consisted in this: the one was born after the flesh, that is, in the ordinary course of generation; but the other, after the spirit, that is, by extraordinary Divine interposition, and in virtue of a special promise. Analogous to these were those Jews, on the one hand, who were merely descended from Abraham according to the flesh, and those, on the other, who were not of the circumcision only, but also walked in the steps of the faith of their father Abraham. (Rom. 4:12.) The former were the children of the bondwoman who were cast out, the latter of the freewoman, who, being His people whom He foreknew, were not cast away, but were counted for the seed. (Gal. 4:28-31; Rom. 9:7; Rom. 9:9; Rom. 11:1-2.)(Fuller.)
Gen. 21:3. As the name is associated with the fulfilment, it keeps in mind the contrast between the idea and the reality. Her laughter of incredulity is turned now into the laughter of joy at the event. (Gen. 21:6.) The name Isaac, therefore, is most significant. Through this name, Isaac is designated as the fruit of omnipotent grace working against and above the forces of nature. It is as much as to say, this son of promise is indeed he, the mention of whose birth was laughed as impossible. So, afterwards, Ishmael laughed at him, as too weak to be the ground of such attention and such hopes. (Gen. 21:9.) And the name keeps in view this contrast of the natural and the supernatural.(Jacobus.)
Gen. 21:4. The patriarch here pursues his accustomed tenor of obedience, by subjecting his child to the painful rite of circumcision. Nothing is of higher value in the sight of God than an implicit observance of His positive precepts, and a disposition to adhere with punctilious strictness to the letter of the command, neither failing nor exceeding in the rule of duty. This is peculiarly important in the matter of sacramental institutions, where, as we learn from the example of the Papists, human perverseness is prone to fabricate new observances, and enforce them by promises and threatenings equally unknown to the Scriptures. Well would it be were they as much intent upon performing what God has really enjoined.(Bush.)
The joy of a great blessing should not hinder us from paying the minutest attention to duty, and carefully observing every ordinance of God.
This was a sign of the covenant love of God towards the child, stamped upon him. Circumcision was an Egyptian, not a Jewish rite. It was therefore an adopted ceremony, and a religious signification was now thrown into it. So it is with our rites of baptism, of the Lords day, of the Supper of the Redeemer. These institutions were in existence before the time of Christ; He made them new by connecting them with new ideas. It is wise thus to vitalize existing forms, to infuse into them fresh meaning. We do not want new ones, the old are good enough for us; for what we want is, to throw into the old a new life, that that which is dying out may become alive. Circumcision was a coarse rite given to a coarse nation, a sign that they could understand; notwithstanding, they forgot that it was only a symbol. Prophet after prophet testified against this. As soon as the form began to lose its meaning and became substituted for the spiritual reality, it was proclaimed by our Master and His inspired servants that both were dead. And the fate of that institution is the fate of all form when it becomes nothing but form; and men are wanted now who will say out with Apostolic authority, baptism is nothing, the Lords Supper is nothing, unless a living spirit be within them.(Robertson.)
Gen. 21:5. The sacred historian takes care to show that the birth of Isaac was above nature.
1. Hence, it foreshadows the miraculous birth of Jesus.
2. It was the beginning of a Divine supernatural agency which would continue to work throughout the history of the chosen people. Even to this day, the inextinguishable life of this ancient race is a perpetual witness to the power of Godindeed, a miracle wrought before our very eyes.
Isaac was born thirty years after the call of Abraham, and when his parents had lived for sixty years in fruitless marriage union. After many delays and difficulties insurmountable by nature, Gods promised mercies come at last.
Isaac.
1. The child of hope.
2. The child of prayer.
3. The child of faith.
If we believe in the miracle of creation, we are prepared to believe in any other miraculous interference of God. He who brought life and being from barren nothing can afterwards depart from His established ways, and give life when nature forbids the hope of it.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
3. The Birth of the Promised Heir (Gen. 21:1-7)
1 And Jehovah visited Sarah as he had said, and Jehovah did unto Sarah as he had spoken. 2 And Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3 And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 And Abraham was a hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. 6 And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh; every one that heareth will laugh with me. 7 And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should give children suck? for I have borne him a son in his old age.
Gen. 21:1-2Yahweh visited Sarah, that is, fulfilled His promise at the set time He had promised to do so: our God keeps His promises to the very letter. (Cf. Gen. 17:21; Gen. 18:10; Gen. 18:14). Sarah bare Abraham a son in his old age: all sources emphasize the fact that Isaac was a late-born child (Skinner, ICCG, 321). And Abraham called the sons name Isaac, i.e., Laughter (cf. Gen. 17:17, Gen. 18:12). The son was so called because of his fathers believing and his mothers unbelieving laughter at the promise of his birth, and because of their great joy now at the fulfillment of it (Gen. 21:6; cf. Isa. 54:1). The birth, naming and circumcision of Isaac were in accord with Gen. 17:19; Gen. 17:12. Ishmael had been circumcised previously at the age of thirteen (Gen. 17:25). Abraham was now 100 years old: thus he had waited twenty-five years for the fulfillment of the promise (cf. Gen. 12:5)a remarkable instance of faith and patience (Rom. 4:20); and thus Isaacs birth was a remarkable demonstration of divine power (Rom. 4:20, Heb. 11:11-12). The several instances of miraculous conception mentioned in Scripture are the following: Sarah (Heb. 11:11); Rebekah (Gen. 25:21); Rachel (Gen. 30:22); Manoahs wife (Jdg. 13:3-24); Hannah (1Sa. 1:19-20); Elisabeth (Luk. 1:24-25; Luk. 1:36-37; Luk. 1:58); and Mary, by the Holy Spirit (Mat. 1:18; Mat. 1:20; Luk. 1:31-35).
REVIEW QUESTIONS
See Gen. 21:22-24.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
XXI.
BIRTH OF ISAAC, AND REJECTION OF ISHMAEL.
(1) And the Lord (Jehovah) visited Sarah as he had said.See Gen. 17:19, where it is Elohim who gives the promise. So here in Gen. 21:2 the name Elohim is interchanged with Jehovah.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
BIRTH OF ISAAC, 1-8.
“At last the time of fulfilment has arrived. During five and twenty years cheering assurances had brightened the gloom of Abraham’s pilgrimage; he had risen to God by altars and prayers, and God had descended to him by visions and revelations; he had obeyed, with spontaneous faith, and had received signs and pledges; a covenant had sanctified, and miraculous aid had protected his life; land and posterity were promised, blessings guaranteed to his seed and to mankind; the child of faith had been announced both to him and to Sarah; and the realization corresponded strictly with the promises.” Kalisch.
1. The Lord visited Sarah The same Lord (Jehovah) who interposed to rescue her from Abimelech . Comp . Gen 20:18.
Visited Any favour of divine Providence is a gracious visitation; but this was special in being the fulfilling of a promise often repeated .
As he had spoken See Gen 17:16; Gen 17:19; Gen 18:10; Gen 18:14.
A Son is Born to Sarah and Another Son of Abraham is Cast Out ( Gen 21:1-21 ).
The account of Yahweh’s fulfilment of His promise to Abraham in the giving of a son comes interestingly enough in the covenant made by God with Ishmael. Thus the writing down of the detail was by Ishmael. This explains the flatness of the initial introduction in respect of something that would have made Abraham and Sarah ecstatic. Had it not been for this connection with a covenant the birth narrative could well have been carried down in the oral tradition and may well have not been recorded in writing. But while to Ishmael the birth was rather a misfortune than a blessing to the compiler this is an event of outstanding importance.
The first verse in this chapter, Gen 21:1, like Gen 20:18, is introduced by the person who combined the two covenant documents of Genesis 20, 21 together. The former spoke of the fact that Yahweh had closed the wombs of the house of Abimelech, this verse declares that Yahweh has opened the womb of Sarah. He Who can make barren can also make fruitful. It enables the one document to slide into the other.
Gen 21:1
‘And Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said and Yahweh did to Sarah as he had spoken.’
This introductory clause confirms the faithfulness of Yahweh with typical repetition. For He is the faithful One and the carrying out of His promise is about to be revealed.
But in the whole passage from 21:2 to 21:21 the One Who acts is consistently ‘God’. This is because the covenant is with one, and recorded by one, who feels he is no longer a part of Yahweh’s chosen people, but is cast out. He records it in the name of ‘God’ Whom he will in future worship. This explains the remarkable fact that in the description of Isaac’s birth little religious connotation is brought in. Indeed it is noticeably absent. There is no worship of Yahweh, no message from Yahweh and little of the exultation we would expect at so great a moment. What there is, apart from what is basically necessary, is almost totally secular.
Gen 21:2
‘And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the set time of which God had spoken to him.’
Even Ishmael and his scribe cannot help but be struck that the baby came ‘at the set time’. As he looks back he recognises the sovereign power of ‘God’. ‘The set time’ is mentioned in Gen 17:21 and it is significant that this is in the middle of a covenant which very much included Ishmael and for that reason was spoken of as ‘God’s’.
Gen 21:3-4
‘And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old as God had commanded him.’
The narrative is straight and stiff. It describes the birth, and the circumcision, and stresses that the child was truly Sarah’s and was, by circumcision, made a participator in the covenant previously made in Genesis 17 in obedience to God’s command.
The name Isaac means ‘laughter’, but it is very probable that his full name was ‘Isaac-El’, in accord with similar names elsewhere, which means ‘God laughs’, or ‘may God laugh (on the child)’. But it was clearly shortened to Isaac.
Gen 21:5
‘And Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.’
Again this connects with the covenant chapter 17, where the ninety nine years was fixed by the fact that there was one year to go to the birth of the promised child. The hundred years is a round number indicating the fullness of time.
Gen 21:6-7
‘And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, everyone who hears will laugh with me”, and she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would breast feed her own children, for I have borne him a son in his old age”.’
The first part of the sentence would seem to confirm that the official name was ‘Isaac-el’ (yishaq’el). But popularly he was known as Isaac, a reminder of the laughter and joy he had brought. Sarah expresses her thanks to God by declaring the He has given her laughter. Then she immediately goes on to declare how much happiness this has brought to those around who will share her joy. Isaac, she is saying, is well named for he brings laughter. The reader will remember the other kind of laughter mentioned earlier before he was born. But Sarah is now content.
Gen 21:8
‘And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.’
Isaac would be about three years old when he was weaned (finally eating food other than milk – see 1Sa 1:23). In all this, while God is acknowledged, it is hardly the paean of praise to Yahweh that we might expect. Rather it is a brief but honest summary of the essentials preparatory to what is to come with regard to Ishmael, brought to life by the subsequently added introductory phrase (Genesis 21:).
Do we detect in all this some bitterness on behalf of one whose birth was not declared to be accompanied by laughter and whose birth was not described as an occasion of general rejoicing, but indeed became an embarrassment rather than being celebrated by a feast? (see Genesis 16).
Gen 21:9
‘And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking (or ‘playing’).’
The word translated ‘mocking’ can have a variety of meanings. It really indicates ‘enjoying or amusing oneself’. This could be totally innocent, or at the expense of others (thus ‘mocking’) – compare its use in Gen 19:14. It can mean (with ’eth) ‘fondling’ a woman (26:8). No final decision can be made on its meaning here. It may simply mean that they were playing together as equals, but this is unlikely in view of Ishmael’s age (he is about 16, and a man). Or it could suggest unpleasantness of either a slight (making a fool of), or of a more abhorrent kind. If Ishmael was responsible for this record then the word may be deliberately used vaguely to give the impression of innocence. What he saw as ‘playing’ others may have seen in a different light.
The fact that Abraham is prepared even to consider expulsion (verse 11), very much against his will until Yahweh intervenes, would suggest it was more than just innocent fun. To send away a slave-wife and a son was a grave act, and in some societies at the time a son born under the method used by Sarah would be sacrosanct and could not be turned out. This suggests that ‘playing’ is a euphemism for something far worse.
It is again emphasised that Hagar is an Egyptian. But that may have been how she was known in comparison with another Hagar. It may, however, contain a hint of rancour as Ishmael remembers how his mother was treated as a foreigner, or even of pride. Egyptians were not short in national pride. They saw themselves as superior.
Gen 21:10
‘As a result she said to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son, for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac”.’
Sarah had done nothing for three or more years. Furthermore she has always been very submissive to her husband. What then provokes this sudden demand that Abraham deal with matters so drastically against his will. Was it jealousy for her son’s position? But she could have no real doubt that Isaac would take over leadership of the tribe, for God had promised it. Was it a fear of something she saw in Ishmael’s behaviour, some veiled threat to her son? All we know is that something spurred her on to make this demand.
“This bondwoman”. One can see the curl on her beautiful lip as she says it. It is deliberately derogatory, drawing attention to how Hagar is seen, at least by her. The stinging words were clearly remembered by Ishmael.
“Shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” She wanted everything for Isaac. He had the prime inheritance but she wanted more. Happily this attitude was not later maintained between the two sons for they come together to bury Abraham (Gen 25:9). And there too we learn that although Isaac did receive the prime inheritance, Abraham’s other sons were not forgotten (Gen 25:5-6).
Gen 21:11
‘And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight on account of his son.’
Abraham clearly loved Ishmael deeply. This does suggest that Sarah must have had some sound grounds for what she was suggesting. As patriarch he had to act justly and fairly, and we know he was a just and fair man. He would not have given the matter consideration without just cause.
But this may also reflect the memory that Ishmael carried with him, the certainty that in spite of all his father loved him deeply.
Gen 21:12
‘And God said to Abraham, “Let it not be grievous in your sight because of the lad and because of your bondwoman. In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice. For in Isaac shall your seed be called. And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is your seed ”.’
God’s approval to the plan must indicate that there were grounds for the expulsion (even granted that it was within His purpose). Such an expulsion would not take place lightly, for Ishmael would no doubt have some support in the family tribe, and external evidence demonstrates that the casting out of a bondwoman’s son would under normal circumstances be frowned on. God is calling Abraham to his duty. And yet in so doing He confirms His promises to Ishmael.
“For in Isaac shall your seed be called”. The future fulfilment of the central promise of God lies in Isaac. This expulsion will not affect the Promise.
Gen 21:14 a
“And Abraham rose up early in the morning and took bread and a water-skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the boy, and sent her away.’
The emphasis is on the expulsion of Hagar herself. This supports the view that we have here Ishmael’s memory of the picture. He cannot forget that Abraham sent his mother away. He grieves, not for himself for he is possibly aware that he has committed some fault, but for her. The word for ‘boy’ is neutral. It can equally mean a young man. It may also suggest that Abraham sees her as the one with the strength to cope with the situation.
“Took bread — and the lad, and sent her away.” The blame is put on Hagar’s shoulders. It is she who is sent away at Sarah’s request. The lad goes with her. He is possibly not yet considered to be of age. He is in fact about fifteen years old. (As forty appears to be looked on as the age for marrying a fifteen year old might not then have been looked on as mature).
Abraham arises himself to see to the matter. The detail is all remembered. How could Ishmael ever forget it? The early morning rise. Abraham, with heavy heart, providing food and water and putting them on Hagar’s shoulder. It must be remembered that she is the servantwoman and Ishmael is the patriarch’s son. It is not right that he carries the burden.
Gen 21:14 b
‘And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.’
Why does she not again make for Egypt as she had done before? (Gen 16:7). There is no attempt here. Why does she avoid the highways? Is she aware of some shame that will prevent her acceptance in Egypt that was not there before? Or is she determined to stay within reach of her son’s inheritance?
It is quite clear in all this that Hagar is the dominant person. It is she who takes over and makes the decisions. It has been clear from the beginning that she was very strongminded, and years of servitude have hardened her as she has carried her grievance through the years. Ishmael may be a little bewildered at the turn of events, but not Hagar. She takes control.
Gen 21:15
‘And the water in the water-skin was spent and she heaved the lad under one of the shrubs.’
The water runs out and even the hardiest person cannot do without water. As they become more and more parched their strength fails, the young man’s first for he is not yet fully matured and he has not had to fight for himself as Hagar has. Then at length he collapses and Hagar has this further burden to bear. Yet bravely she struggles on with him until she knows her cause is lost. (Like many strong women she may have been a very awkward person, but we cannot help but admire her now, as the writer does as well. He does not have to fill in the details. All his readers know the perils of the burning sun and the wilderness).
“She heaved the lad under one of the shrubs”. A last desperate effort. The only shelter within reach. And she does what she can for her son.
Gen 21:16
‘And she went and sat down in front of him a good way off, as it were a bowshot, for she said, “Let me not look on the death of my boy.” And she sat opposite him and wept.’
She cannot bear to watch him die, yet she cannot bear to leave him. She must be within sight if his eyes open again. Yet she cannot remain too close. Her deep grief is clear. It is almost more than she can bear.
Gen 21:17
‘And God heard the voice of the young man, and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven and said to her, “What is wrong with you, Hagar? Don’t be afraid. For God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. Get up. Lift the lad up and support him firmly with your hand. For I will make him a great nation”.’
The name Ishmael meant ‘God has heard’. In the extremity he is in the lad prays, and God hears. Note that it is his prayer that is heard. He is a son of Abraham, and God will hear for Abraham’s sake.
“The angel of God”. Similar to the ‘angel of Yahweh’, but ‘Yahweh’ cannot be used here for Ishmael is now outside the covenant line. It is to ‘God’ that he will henceforth look.
“What is wrong with you Hagar?” It is as though God says, ‘this is not like you, Hagar, to give up, and especially when there is help within reach. The lad needs you now as never before. Do not let him down’.
“For I will make him a great nation.” Does she not remember His covenant? Does she think He will let the lad to whom He has made these great promises die? The promise renewed under these circumstances (and in verse 13) is the original reason for the writing of the record.
Gen 21:19
‘And God opened her eyes and she saw a spring of water, and she went and filled the water-skin with water and gave the lad drink.’
In all her struggles and wanderings a hand had unknowingly guided her. Where she thought there was nothing there was salvation. Unknowingly she had struggled to where there was a small spring. But without the voice of God she would never have known.
She has no thought for herself. Her one concern is for her son. She immediately fills the wine-skin and gives water to her son. In all this her toughness too comes out. She is a survivor. Without her Ishmael would have been doomed.
The detail in the narrative stresses that it is recorded at the instigation of one who was there. It is not overplayed, yet it conveys the heart of the matter. And the subtle nuances are too deep to be just an invention of a storyteller. All through this account was written from experience of the events, and from a particular viewpoint. The comparative briefness of the birth of Isaac, that event that should have been written in gold, compared with the detail of the experiences of Ishmael, even to the awareness of his deepest feelings, confirm that we have here a record compiled by him. And the renewal of the covenant under the most difficult of circumstances explains why it was put into writing.
Gen 21:20-21
‘And God was with the lad and he grew, and he dwelt in the wilderness and became an archer. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.’
This clear addition to the account, with its local colour, was no doubt either added to the covenant tablet at a later date or when it was combined with others to form a connected sequence.
“He dwelt in the wilderness and became an archer”. He soon learned to adapt to his surroundings and became a wilderness wanderer, and a hunter both of man and beast as he lived out his precarious existence. The wilderness in which he established himself, and later his tribe, (Abraham’s sons were born to be leaders) was the wilderness of Paran, between Palestine and Egypt in the Sinai region near the Gulf of Aqabah.
“And his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt”. The hand of his strong-minded mother continues to influence him. She is proud of her Egyptian background and does not want him to marry just anyone. His relatives are closed to him and she takes the only possible alternative.
Hagar stands out throughout as a strong minded, resourceful woman. Later we read of a tribe called the Hagrites who were connected with the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, and Moab (Psa 83:6). See also 1Ch 5:10; 1Ch 5:19 where they are connected with Jetur and Naphish, sons of Ishmael (Gen 25:15). It may be that she even established her own tribe, although the connection may be a coincidence.
Abraham Renews His Covenant With Abimelech in ‘the Land of the Philistines’ (Gen 21:22-34).
This passage contains the first mention of ‘Philistines’ as being in the land. Some have doubted this on the grounds that the Philistines arrived later in 12th century BC in the wave of Sea Peoples invading among others the coasts of Lebanon, ancient Phoenicia, sweeping down through the coastal plains of Palestine (named after them) and troubling Egypt, where they are referred to as Prst.
It is, of course, true that in the sense of the Philistines as a ruling nation and a threat to others in Palestine, the 12th century BC is the commencement of their presence, but the peoples from whom they came were certainly evidenced in the Ancient Near East before that.
There is clear archaeological evidence of trade between Caphtor (home of the Philistines – see 10:14: Jer 47:4; Amo 9:7) and the mainland around this time, including trade with Ugarit and Hazor, and also Egypt; and a tablet from Mari (18th century BC) records the sending of gifts from the king of Hazor to Kaptara (Caphtor). There is therefore nothing unlikely in a trading set up being established in Palestine around this time, on the trading route between Mesopotamia and Egypt, by people from Caphtor, whence came the Philistines (Jer 47:4; Amo 9:7). They were a sea people.
“Philistines” may be a later modernisation of an archaic term for them originally found in the text, so that the reader could identify them, but as we do not know the origin of the name, it may easily have applied to a section of the people of Caphtor in the time of Abraham, some of whom came as peaceful traders to Palestine long before their later arrival. On the whole people only get mentioned in inscriptions when they have made their presence felt.
The reference in Genesis 21 to ‘the land of the Philistines’ may thus simply be an indication of the presence of a trading group from Caphtor who have established themselves there, not necessarily very numerous, but very noteworthy in that part of Canaan. It is possibly significant that Abimelech is called king of Gerar in 20:2 but king of the Philistines in 26:1, 8; suggesting either a later increase in the Philistine presence, or that Abraham did not know who they were until later, which would be evidence of the genuine ancient provenance of the accounts. (He first arrives in the region of Gerar and meets an unknown people, he later learns that the area is called by many ‘the land of the Philistines’, he then discovers that it is Philistines with whom he has been dealing at Gerar, and all this is discovered between the recording of the different covenants).
Hagar is Sent from Abraham and Sarah Gen 21:1-21 gives the account of Abraham sending Hagar off into the wilderness with their son Ishmael. Genesis 16, 21 contain accounts of Hagar in the wilderness.
Gen 21:1 And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken.
Gen 21:2 Gen 21:2 Gen 18:10, “And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.
Gen 21:3 And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.
Gen 21:3 Gen 21:4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him.
Gen 21:5 Gen 21:6 Gen 21:7 Gen 21:8 Gen 21:9 Gen 21:9 Gal 4:29, “But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.”
Gen 21:10 Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.
Gen 21:10 Gal 4:30-31, “Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.”
Gen 21:11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son.
Gen 21:11 Gen 21:12 And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
Gen 21:12 Rom 9:7, “Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called .”
Heb 11:17-18, “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called :”
Gen 21:13 And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.
Gen 21:13 Gen 21:14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
Gen 21:9-14 Pro 22:10, “Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease.”
Gen 21:15 And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.
Gen 21:16 Gen 21:17 Gen 21:17 “Lo, I have sought thee, following thee upon the hills and pursuing thee through the barren wastes. Yea, I have called after thee, but thou hast not heard. Thou thoughtest in thine heart that thou wouldst find Me, and thou hast set out in thine haste to seek for Me, but thou hast looked for Me in vain. Thou hast scanned the horizon from day to day, until thine eyes fail thee from thy searching, as the traveler seeking in vain for a spring in the desert, and finding none languisheth for water and fainteth in the heat.
“Lo, as Hagar of old, thy tears have blinded thine eyes whilst meantime I have revealed My glory and made My provisions apparent to the child . Fir it is written, ‘Except thou become as a little child, ye shall in no wise enter in.’ (Luk 18:17) For My ways are hid to those who seek Me in impatience, and the eyes which seek Me in human wisdom shall never find Me. For I am found of them that seek Me in utter simplicity and in candid honesty..
“For when thou art utterly finished and exhausted in thy struggling; when thou hast come to an end in all thy striving; when thou art ready to desert thine intellectual pursuit, and when thou shalt cast thyself upon Me as a babe upon its mother’s breast; then shalt thou know surely that I have been constantly at thy very side; that I have never deserted thee.” [210]
[210] Frances J. Roberts, Come Away My Beloved (Ojai, California: King’s Farspan, Inc., 1973), 87.
Gen 21:17 “fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is” – Comments – The statement by the angel, “fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is,” appears to be a play on words from the meaning of Ishmael’s name, which means “God hears” (Gen 16:11).
Gen 16:11, “And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction .”
Gen 21:18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation.
Gen 21:19 Gen 21:20 Gen 21:21 Gen 21:21 Gen 16:1, “Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar .”
Ten Genealogies (Calling) – The Genealogies of Righteous Men and their Divine Callings (To Be Fruitful and Multiply) – The ten genealogies found within the book of Genesis are structured in a way that traces the seed of righteousness from Adam to Noah to Shem to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob and the seventy souls that followed him down into Egypt. The book of Genesis closes with the story of the preservation of these seventy souls, leading us into the book of Exodus where we see the creation of the nation of Israel while in Egyptian bondage, which nation of righteousness God will use to be a witness to all nations on earth in His plan of redemption. Thus, we see how the book of Genesis concludes with the origin of the nation of Israel while its first eleven chapters reveal that the God of Israel is in fact that God of all nations and all creation.
The genealogies of the six righteous men in Genesis (Adam, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) are the emphasis in this first book of the Old Testament, with each of their narrative stories opening with a divine commission from God to these men, and closing with the fulfillment of prophetic words concerning the divine commissions. This structure suggests that the author of the book of Genesis wrote under the office of the prophet in that a prophecy is given and fulfilled within each of the genealogies of these six primary patriarchs. Furthermore, all the books of the Old Testament were written by men of God who moved in the office of the prophet, which includes the book of Genesis. We find a reference to the fulfillment of these divine commissions by the patriarchs in Heb 11:1-40. The underlying theme of the Holy Scriptures is God’s plan of redemption for mankind. Thus, the book of Genesis places emphasis upon these men of righteousness because of the role that they play in this divine plan as they fulfilled their divine commissions. This explains why the genealogies of Ishmael (Gen 25:12-18) and of Esau (Gen 36:1-43) are relatively brief, because God does not discuss the destinies of these two men in the book of Genesis. These two men were not men of righteousness, for they missed their destinies because of sin. Ishmael persecuted Isaac and Esau sold his birthright. However, it helps us to understand that God has blessed Ishmael and Esau because of Abraham although the seed of the Messiah and our redemption does not pass through their lineage. Prophecies were given to Ishmael and Esau by their fathers, and their genealogies testify to the fulfillment of these prophecies. There were six righteous men did fulfill their destinies in order to preserve a righteous seed so that God could create a righteous nation from the fruit of their loins. Illustration As a young schoolchild learning to read, I would check out biographies of famous men from the library, take them home and read them as a part of class assignments. The lives of these men stirred me up and placed a desire within me to accomplish something great for mankind as did these men. In like manner, the patriarchs of the genealogies in Genesis are designed to stir up our faith in God and encourage us to walk in their footsteps in obedience to God.
The first five genealogies in the book of Genesis bring redemptive history to the place of identifying seventy nations listed in the Table of Nations. The next five genealogies focus upon the origin of the nation of Israel and its patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
There is much more history and events that took place surrounding these individuals emphasized in the book of Genesis, which can be found in other ancient Jewish writings, such as The Book of Jubilees. However, the Holy Scriptures and the book of Genesis focus upon the particular events that shaped God’s plan of redemption through the procreation of men of righteousness. Thus, it was unnecessary to include many of these historical events that were irrelevant to God’s plan of redemption.
In addition, if we see that the ten genealogies contained within the book of Genesis show to us the seed of righteousness that God has preserved in order to fulfill His promise that the “seed of woman” would bruise the serpent’s head in Gen 3:15, then we must understand that each of these men of righteousness had a particular calling, destiny, and purpose for their lives. We can find within each of these genealogies the destiny of each of these men of God, for each one of them fulfilled their destiny. These individual destinies are mentioned at the beginning of each of their genealogies.
It is important for us to search these passages of Scripture and learn how each of these men fulfilled their destiny in order that we can better understand that God has a destiny and a purpose for each of His children as He continues to work out His divine plan of redemption among the children of men. This means that He has a destiny for you and me. Thus, these stories will show us how other men fulfilled their destinies and help us learn how to fulfill our destiny. The fact that there are ten callings in the book of Genesis, and since the number “10” represents the concept of countless, many, or numerous, we should understand that God calls out men in each subsequent generation until God’s plan of redemption is complete.
We can even examine the meanings of each of their names in order to determine their destiny, which was determined for them from a child. Adam’s name means “ruddy, i.e. a human being” ( Strong), for it was his destiny to begin the human race. Noah’s name means, “rest” ( Strong). His destiny was to build the ark and save a remnant of mankind so that God could restore peace and rest to the fallen human race. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, meaning, “father of a multitude” ( Strong), because his destiny was to live in the land of Canaan and believe God for a son of promise so that his seed would become fruitful and multiply and take dominion over the earth. Isaac’s name means, “laughter” ( Strong) because he was the child of promise. His destiny was to father two nations, believing that the elder would serve the younger. Isaac overcame the obstacles that hindered the possession of the land, such as barrenness and the threat of his enemies in order to father two nations, Israel and Esau. Jacob’s name was changed to Israel, which means “he will rule as God” ( Strong), because of his ability to prevail over his brother Esau and receive his father’s blessings, and because he prevailed over the angel in order to preserve his posterity, which was the procreation of twelve sons who later multiplied into the twelve tribes of Israel. Thus, his ability to prevail against all odds and father twelve righteous seeds earned him his name as one who prevailed with God’s plan of being fruitful and multiplying seeds of righteousness.
In order for God’s plan to be fulfilled in each of the lives of these patriarchs, they were commanded to be fruitful and multiply. It was God’s plan that the fruit of each man was to be a godly seed, a seed of righteousness. It was because of the Fall that unrighteous seed was produced. This ungodly offspring was not then nor is it today God’s plan for mankind.
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. The Generation of the Heavens and the Earth Gen 2:4 to Gen 4:26
a) The Creation of Man Gen 2:4-25
b) The Fall Gen 3:1-24
c) Cain and Abel Gen 4:1-26
2. The Generation of Adam Gen 5:1 to Gen 6:8
3. The Generation of Noah Gen 6:9 to Gen 9:29
4. The Generation of the Sons of Noah Gen 10:1 to Gen 11:9
5. The Generation of Shem Gen 11:10-26
6. The Generation of Terah (& Abraham) Gen 11:27 to Gen 25:11
7. The Generation Ishmael Gen 25:12-18
8. The Generation of Isaac Gen 25:19 to Gen 35:29
9. The Generation of Esau Gen 36:1-43
10. The Generation of Jacob Gen 37:1 to Gen 50:26
The Genealogy of Terah (and of Abraham) The genealogies of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have a common structure in that they open with God speaking to a patriarch and giving him a commission and a promise in which to believe. In each of these genealogies, the patriarch’s calling is to believe God’s promise, while this passage of Scripture serves as a witness to God’s faithfulness in fulfilling each promise. Only then does the genealogy come to a close.
Gen 11:27 to Gen 25:11 gives the account of the genealogy of Terah and his son Abraham. (Perhaps the reason this genealogy is not exclusively of Abraham, but rather of his father Terah, is because of the importance of Lot and the two tribes descended from him, the Moabites and the Ammonites, who will play a significant role in Israel’s redemptive history.) Heb 11:8-19 reveals the central message in this genealogy that stirs our faith in God when it describes Abraham’s acts of faith and obedience to God, culminating in the offering of his son Isaac on Mount Moriah. The genealogy of Abraham opens with God’s promise to him that if he would separate himself from his father and dwell in the land of Canaan, then God would make from him a great nation through his son (Gen 12:1-3), and it closes with God fulfilling His promise to Abraham by giving Him a son Isaac. However, this genealogy records Abraham’s spiritual journey to maturity in his faith in God, as is typical of each child of God. We find a summary of this genealogy in Heb 11:8-19. During the course of Abraham’s calling, God appeared to Abraham a number of times. God reappeared to him and told him that He would make his seed as numerous as the stars in the sky (Gen 15:5). God later appeared to Abraham and made the covenant of circumcision with him and said, “I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.”(Gen 17:2) After Abraham offered Isaac his son upon the altar, God reconfirmed His promise that “That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.” (Gen 22:17). The event on Mount Moriah serves as a testimony that Abraham fulfilled his part in believing that God would raise up a nation from Isaac, his son of promise. Thus, Abraham fulfilled his calling and destiny for his generation by dwelling in the land of Canaan and believing in God’s promise of the birth of his son Isaac. All of God’s promises to Abraham emphasized the birth of his one seed called Isaac. This genealogy testifies to God’s faithfulness to fulfill His promise of giving Abraham a son and of Abraham’s faith to believe in God’s promises. Rom 9:6-9 reflects the theme of Abraham’s genealogy in that it discusses the son of promise called Isaac.
Abraham’s Faith Perfected ( Jas 2:21-22 ) – Abraham had a promise from God that he would have a son by Sarai his wife. However, when we read the Scriptures in the book of Genesis where God gave Abraham this promise, we see that he did not immediately believe the promise from God (Gen 17:17-18).
Gen 17:17-18, “Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!”
Instead of agreeing with God’s promise, Abraham laughed and suggested that God use Ishmael to fulfill His promise. However, many years later, by the time God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son, he was fully persuaded that God was able to use Isaac to make him a father of nations. We see Abraham’s faith when he told his son Isaac that God Himself was able to provide a sacrifice, because he knew that God would raise Isaac from the dead, if need be, in order to fulfill His promise (Gen 22:8).
Gen 22:8, “And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.”
Heb 11:17-19, “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.”
The best illustration of being fully persuaded is when Abraham believed that God would raise up Isaac from the dead in order to fulfill His promise. This is truly being fully persuaded and this is what Rom 4:21 is referring to.
What distinguished Abraham as a man of faith was not his somewhat initial weak reaction to the promises of God in Gen 17:17-18, but it was his daily obedience to God. Note a reference to Abraham’s daily obedience in Heb 11:8.
Heb 11:8, “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed ; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.”
Abraham was righteous before God because he believed and obeyed God’s Words on a daily basis. A good illustration how God considers obedience as an act of righteousness is found in Genesis 19. Abraham had prayed for ten righteous people to deliver Sodom from destruction. The angels found only four people who hearkened to their words. These people were considered righteous in God’s eyes because they were obedient and left the city as they had been told to do by the angels.
Abraham’s ability to stagger not (Rom 4:20) and to be fully persuaded (Rom 4:21) came through time. As he was obedient to God, his faith in God’s promise began to take hold of his heart and grow, until he came to a place of conviction that circumstances no longer moved him. Abraham had to learn to be obedient to God when he did not understand the big picture. Rom 5:3-5 teaches us that tribulation produces patience, and patience produces experience, and experience hope. Abraham had to pass through these four phases of faith in order to develop strong faith that is no longer moved by circumstances.
Let us look at Abraham’s history of obedience to God. He had first been obedient to follow his father from Ur to Haran.
Gen 11:31, “And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.”
He was further obedient when he left Haran and went to a land that he did not know.
Gen 12:1, “Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:”
He was further obedient for the next twenty-five years in this Promised Land, learning that God was his Shield and his Reward. Note:
Gen 15:1, “After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.”
God called Himself Abraham’s shield and reward because Abraham had come to know Him as a God who protects him and as a God who prospers him. Note that Abraham was living in a land where people believed in many gods, where people believed that there was a god for every area of their lives. God was teaching Abraham that He was an All-sufficient God. This was why God said to Abraham in Gen 17:1, “I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.” In other words, God was telling Abraham to be obedient. Abraham’s role in fulfilling this third promise was to be obedient, and to live a holy life. As Abraham did this, he began to know God as an Almighty God, a God who would be with him in every situation in life. As Abraham fulfilled his role, God fulfilled His divine role in Abraham’s life.
God would later test Abraham’s faith in Gen 22:1 to see if Abraham believed that God was Almighty.
Gen 22:1, “And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.”
God knew Abraham’s heart. However, Abraham was about to learn what was in his heart. For on Mount Moriah, Abraham’s heart was fully persuaded that God was able to raise Isaac from the dead in order to fulfill His promise:
Heb 11:19, “Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.”
Abraham had to die to his own ways of reasoning out God’s plan. He had taken Eliezer of Damascus as his heir as a result of God’s first promise. Then, he had conceived Ishmael in an attempt to fulfill God’s second promise. Now, Abraham was going to have to learn to totally depend upon God’s plan and learn to follow it.
The first promise to Abraham was made to him at the age of 75, when he first entered the Promised Land.
Gen 12:7, “And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.”
This first promise was simple, that God would give this land to Abraham’s seed. So, Abraham took Eliezer of Damascus as his heir. But the second promise was greater in magnitude and more specific.
Gen 15:4-5, “And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
This next promise said that God would give Abraham this land to Abraham’s biological child and that his seed would proliferate and multiply as the stars of heaven. So, Abraham has a son, Ishmael, by Hagar, his handmaid in order to fulfill this promise.
The third promise, which came twenty-five years after the first promise, was greater than the first and second promises. God said that Abraham would become a father of many nations through Sarah, his wife. Abraham had seen God be his Shield and protect him from the Canaanites. He had seen God as his Reward, by increasing his wealth (Gen 15:1). But now, Abraham was to learn that God was Almighty (Gen 17:1), that with God, all things are possible.
It was on Mount Moriah that Abraham truly died to himself, and learned to live unto God. In the same way, it was at Peniel that Jacob died to his own self and learned to totally depend upon God. After Mount Moriah, Abraham stopped making foolish decisions. There is not a fault to find in Abraham after his experience of sacrificing his son. When Abraham was making wrong decisions, he had the wisdom to build an altar at every place he pitched his tent. It was at these altars that he dealt with his sins and wrong decisions.
At Peniel God called Jacob by the name Israel. Why would God give Jacob this name? Because Jacob must now learn to totally trust in God. His thigh was limp and his physical strength was gone. The only might that he will ever know the rest of his life will be the strength that he finds in trusting God. Jacob was about to meet his brother and for the first time in his life, he was facing a situation that he could not handle in his own strength and cunning. He has been able to get himself out of every other situation in his life, but this time, it was different. He was going to have to trust God or die, and Jacob knew this. His name was now Israel, a mighty one in God. Jacob would have to now find his strength in God, because he had no strength to fight in the flesh. Thus, his name showed him that he could look to God and prevail as a mighty one both with God and with man. After this night, the Scriptures never record a foolish decision that Jacob made. He began to learn how to totally rely upon the Lord as his father Abraham had learned.
After Mount Moriah and Peniel, we read no more of foolish decisions by Abraham and Jacob. We just see men broken to God’s will and humble before God’s mercy.
Obedience is the key, and total obedience is not learned quickly. I believe that it takes decades, as we see in the life of Abraham, to learn to be obedient to a God whom we know as Almighty. This is not learned over night.
Abraham had a word from God before he left Ur. When he reached Canaan, he received a promise from God. Don’t mess with a man and his promise. Pharaoh tried to mess with this man’s promise and God judged him. King Abimelech tried to take Abraham’s promise, but God judged him.
Like Abraham, we may start the journey making some poor judgments, but God is greater than our errors.
We will first know God as our shield and our reward. He will protect us throughout our ministry. He will reward us. He will prosper our ministry. As we learn to be obedient, we will come to know our God as the Almighty in a way that we have never known Him before.
Do not mess with a man who has laid Isaac on the altar. I have heard Gen 17:17 taught as the laugh of faith.
Gen 17:17-18, “Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!”
I see very little faith in Abraham’s words in these verses. On the other hand, I have heard other preachers criticize Abraham for his lack of faith at these times in his life; yet, I do not see God criticizing his faith. Abraham was not fully persuaded at this point, but he did not fail God. Abraham simply continued being obedient and living holy until the faith grew in his heart. Every wrong decision that Abraham made brought him that much closer to the right decision. We call this the school of hard knocks. As a result, faith continued to grow in his heart. By Genesis 22, Abraham was fully persuaded and strong in faith that God was Almighty.
Watch out, lest you criticize a man learning to walk in his promise. He may look foolish at times, but do not look on the outward appearance. You either run with him, or get out of the way, but don’t get in the way.
When I left Seminary and a Master’s degree, I was given a job driving a garbage truck while learning to pastor a Charismatic church. I was learning to walk in a promise from God. I will never forget riding on the back of these garbage trucks in my hometown, while the church members who had given money to send me to Seminary watched me in disbelief.
God does not measure a man by the size of his ministry, but by the size of his heart. When Jimmy Swaggart fell into sin, Alethia Fellowship Church was one of his partners, so this church was receiving his monthly ministry tapes during this period in his ministry. In a cassette tape immediately after his fall, he gave a testimony of how he told the Lord that he had failed. The Lord replied to him that he had not failed; rather the Lord had to get some things out of his life. [170] That word from God gave him the courage to go on in the midst of failure. You see, God was more pleased with Jimmy Swaggart living a godly life in fellowship with Him than preaching in great crusades while living in sin.
[170] Jimmy Swaggart, “Monthly Partner Cassette Tape,” (Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, February 1988), audiocassette.
Joyce Meyer said that if God measured our success by the way the world measured us, He would have called us “achievers” and not “believers.” [171] Abraham was justified by faith and not by his works. Our work is to believe, not to achieve.
[171] Joyce Meyer, Life in the Word (Fenton, Missouri: Joyce Meyer Ministries), on Trinity Broadcasting Network (Santa Ana, California), television program.
Many of my church friends and relatives criticized me as a failure. However, I knew somehow that the walk of faith was obedience to the Word of God, and not a walk of pleasing man. I obviously did not spend much time with people who thought that I was nuts. Instead, I spent so much time in my bedroom studying my Bible that I looked dysfunctional. Yet, the Lord strengthened me. I will never forget, after riding the garbage truck during the day, and hiding in God’s Word in the night. One night, I laid down about 1:00 a.m. and the glory of God filled my room until 5:00 a.m. in the morning. It was during these most difficult times that the Lord strengthened me the most.
The Lord strengthened Abraham in the midst of his questions and errors. If you will just stay obedient, God will see His Word come to pass through you, as did Abraham learn to see God as Almighty.
Gen 11:27 Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.
Gen 11:28 Gen 11:28 “And in the thirty-fifth jubilee, in the third week, in the first year [1681 A.M.] thereof, Reu took to himself a wife, and her name was ‘Ora, the daughter of ‘Ur, the son of Kesed, and she bare him a son, and he called his name Seroh, in the seventh year of this week in this jubilee. And ‘Ur, the son of Kesed, built the city of ‘Ara of the Chaldees, and called its name after his own name and the name of his father. And they made for themselves molten images, and they worshipped each the idol, the molten image which they had made for themselves, and they began to make graven images and unclean simulacra, and malignant spirits assisted and seduced (them) into committing transgression and uncleanness.” ( The Book of Jubilees 11.1-5)
Gen 11:29 And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.
Gen 11:29 Gen 20:12, “And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.”
Compare the comments in Gen 11:29 where Nahor, Abraham’s brother, took his niece, the daughter of Haran, as his wife.
Gen 11:29 “and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah” – Word Study on “Milcah” Gesenius tells us that by Chaldean usage the Hebrew name “Milcah” “Milkah” ( ) (H4435) means “counsel.” Strong tells us that the name means, “queen.” PTW tells us it means, “counsel.” She is daughter of Haran and sister to Lot and Iscah. She married her uncle named Nahor and bare him eight children. She is first mentioned in Gen 11:29 in the genealogy of Terah. She is mentioned a second time in Scripture Gen 22:20-24, where Nahor’s genealogy is given. Her name is mentioned on a third occasion in the chapter where Isaac takes Rebekah as his bride (Gen 24:15; Gen 24:24; Gen 24:47). She is mentioned no more in the Scriptures.
Word Study on “Iscah” Gesenius says the Hebrew name “Iscah” “Yickah” ( ) (H3252) means, “one who beholds, looks out” from ( ). Strong tells us that it comes from an unused word meaning “to watch.” PTW tells us it means, “Jehovah is looking” or “who looks.” Iscah was the sister to Milcah and Lot. Nothing more is mentioned of this person in the Scriptures, her significance being her relationship to her siblings, of whom Lot is the best known.
Gen 11:30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child.
Gen 11:30 Gen 11:31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.
Gen 11:31 “And Terah went forth from Ur of the Chaldees, he and his sons, to go into the land of Lebanon and into the land of Canaan, and he dwelt in the land of Haran, and Abram dwelt with Terah his father in Haran two weeks of years.” ( The Book of Jubilees 12.15-16)
However, Act 7:1-4 says that it was Abraham who moved out from Ur due to a Word from the Lord.
Act 7:1-4, “Then said the high priest, Are these things so? And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee. Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell.”
Gen 11:31 Scripture References – Note:
Jos 24:2, “And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah , the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods.”
Gen 11:32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.
Gen 12:1-3 The Calling of the Patriarchs of Israel We can find two major divisions within the book of Genesis that reveal God’s foreknowledge in designing a plan of redemption to establish a righteous people upon earth. Paul reveals this four-fold plan in Rom 8:29-30: predestination, calling, justification, and glorification.
Rom 8:29-30, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”
The book of Genesis will reflect the first two phase of redemption, which are predestination and calling. We find in the first division in Gen 1:1 to Gen 2:3 emphasizing predestination. The Creation Story gives us God’s predestined plan for mankind, which is to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth with righteous offspring. The second major division is found in Gen 2:4 to Gen 50:25, which gives us ten genealogies, in which God calls men of righteousness to play a role in His divine plan of redemption.
The foundational theme of Gen 2:4 to Gen 11:26 is the divine calling for mankind to be fruitful and multiply, which commission was given to Adam prior to the Flood (Gen 1:28-29), and to Noah after the Flood (Gen 9:1). The establishment of the seventy nations prepares us for the calling out of Abraham and his sons, which story fills the rest of the book of Genesis. Thus, God’s calling through His divine foreknowledge (Gen 11:27 to Gen 50:26) will focus the calling of Abraham and his descendants to establish the nation of Israel. God will call the patriarchs to fulfill the original purpose and intent of creation, which is to multiply into a righteous nation, for which mankind was originally predestined to fulfill.
The generations of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob take up a large portion of the book of Genesis. These genealogies have a common structure in that they all begin with God revealing Himself to a patriarch and giving him a divine commission, and they close with God fulfilling His promise to each of them because of their faith in His promise. God promised Abraham a son through Sarah his wife that would multiply into a nation, and Abraham demonstrated his faith in this promise on Mount Moriah. God promised Isaac two sons, with the younger receiving the first-born blessing, and this was fulfilled when Jacob deceived his father and received the blessing above his brother Esau. Jacob’s son Joseph received two dreams of ruling over his brothers, and Jacob testified to his faith in this promise by following Joseph into the land of Egypt. Thus, these three genealogies emphasize God’s call and commission to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their response of faith in seeing God fulfill His word to each of them.
1. The Generations of Terah (& Abraham) Gen 11:27 to Gen 25:11
2. The Generations Ishmael Gen 25:12-18
3. The Generations of Isaac Gen 25:19 to Gen 35:29
4. The Generations of Esau Gen 36:1-43
5. The Generations of Jacob Gen 37:1 to Gen 50:26
The Origin of the Nation of Israel After Gen 1:1 to Gen 9:29 takes us through the origin of the heavens and the earth as we know them today, and Gen 10:1 to Gen 11:26 explains the origin of the seventy nations (Gen 10:1 to Gen 11:26), we see that the rest of the book of Genesis focuses upon the origin of the nation of Israel (Gen 11:27 to Gen 50:26). Thus, each of these major divisions serves as a foundation upon which the next division is built.
Paul the apostle reveals the four phases of God the Father’s plan of redemption for mankind through His divine foreknowledge of all things in Rom 8:29-30, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” Predestination – Gen 1:1 to Gen 11:26 emphasizes the theme of God the Father’s predestined purpose of the earth, which was to serve mankind, and of mankind, which was to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth with righteousness. Calling – Gen 11:27 to Gen 50:26 will place emphasis upon the second phase of God’s plan of redemption for mankind, which is His divine calling to fulfill His purpose of multiplying and filling the earth with righteousness. (The additional two phases of Justification and Glorification will unfold within the rest of the books of the Pentateuch.) This second section of Genesis can be divided into five genealogies. The three genealogies of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob begin with a divine calling to a patriarch. The two shorter genealogies of Ishmael and Esau are given simply because they inherit a measure of divine blessings as descendants of Abraham, but they will not play a central role in God’s redemptive plan for mankind. God will implement phase two of His divine plan of redemption by calling one man named Abraham to depart unto the Promised Land (Gen 12:1-3), and this calling was fulfilled by the patriarch. Isaac’s calling can also be found at the beginning of his genealogy, where God commands him to dwell in the Promised Land (Gen 26:1-6), and this calling was fulfilled by the patriarch Isaac. Jacob’s calling was fulfilled as he bore twelve sons and took them into Egypt where they multiplied into a nation. The opening passage of Jacob’s genealogy reveals that his destiny would be fulfilled through the dream of his son Joseph (Gen 37:1-11), which took place in the land of Egypt. Perhaps Jacob did not receive such a clear calling as Abraham and Isaac because his early life was one of deceit, rather than of righteousness obedience to God; so the Lord had to reveal His plan for Jacob through his righteous son Joseph. In a similar way, God spoke to righteous kings of Israel, and was silent to those who did not serve Him. Thus, the three patriarchs of Israel received a divine calling, which they fulfilled in order for the nation of Israel to become established in the land of Egypt. Perhaps the reason the Lord sent the Jacob and the seventy souls into Egypt to multiply rather than leaving them in the Promised Land is that the Israelites would have intermarried the cultic nations around them and failed to produce a nation of righteousness. God’s ways are always perfect.
1. The Generations of Terah (& Abraham) Gen 11:27 to Gen 25:11
2. The Generations Ishmael Gen 25:12-18
3. The Generations of Isaac Gen 25:19 to Gen 35:29
4. The Generations of Esau Gen 36:1-43
5. The Generations of Jacob Gen 37:1 to Gen 50:26
Divine Miracles It is important to note that up until now the Scriptures record no miracles in the lives of men. Thus, we will observe that divine miracles begin with Abraham and the children of Israel. Testimonies reveal today that the Jews are still recipients of God’s miracles as He divinely intervenes in this nation to fulfill His purpose and plan for His people. Yes, God is working miracles through His New Testament Church, but miracles had their beginning with the nation of Israel.
Isaac Born, Circumcised, and Weaned
v. 1. And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as He had spoken. v. 2. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age at the set time of which God had spoken to him. v. 3. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. v. 4. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac, being eight days old, as God had commanded him. v. 5. And Abraham was an hundred years old when his son Isaac was born unto him.
v. 6. And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.
v. 7. And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham that Sarah should have given children suck? For I have born him a son in his old age. v. 8. And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. EXPOSITION
Gen 21:1
And the LordJehovah; not because the verse is Jehovistic (Knobel, Bleek, et alii), but because the promise naturally falls to be implemented by him who gave it (vide Gen 18:10)visitedremembered with love (Onkelos), (LXX.; cf. Gen 1:24; Exo 4:31; 1Sa 2:21; Isa 23:17); though it sometimes means to approach in judgment (vide Exo 20:5; Exo 32:34). Alleged to be peculiar to the Jehovist (the term used by the Elohist being : Gen 8:1; Gen 19:29; Gen 30:20), the word occurs in Gen 1:24, which Tuch and Bleek ascribe to the ElohistSarah as he had said (Gen 17:21; Gen 18:10, Gen 18:14),God’s word of promise being ever the rule of his performance (cf. Exo 12:25; Luk 1:72)and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spokeni.e. implemented his promise; the proof of which is next given (cf. Num 23:19; Heb 6:18).
Gen 21:2
For Sarah conceived,through faith receiving strength from God for that purpose (Heb 11:11); the fruit of the womb, in every instance God’s handiwork (Isa 44:2), being in her case a special gift of grace and product of Divine powerand barethe usual construction (Gen 29:32; Gen 30:5) is here somewhat modified by the Jehovist (Kalisch); but the clause may be compared with Gen 30:22, Gen 30:23, commonly assigned to the ElohlstAbraham (literally, to Abraham) a son in his old age,literally, to his old age; (LXX.)at the set time (vide Gen 17:21; Gen 18:10, Gen 18:14) of which God had spoken to him. God’s word gave Abraham strength to beget, Sarah to conceive, and Isaac to come forth. Three times repeated in two verses, the clause points to the supernatural character of Isaac’s birth.
Gen 21:3
And Abraham called the name of his sonthe naming of a child by its father is, according to partitionists, a peculiarity of the Elohist as distinguished from the Jehovist, who assigns that function to the mother; but vide Gen 16:15that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him (the latter clause being added to distinguish him from Hagar’s child), Isaaclaughter; the name appointed for him by God before his birth (Gen 17:19).
Gen 21:4
And Abraham circumcised (vide on Gen 17:11, and note at the end of that chapter) his son Isaac being eight days old (literally, a son of eight days), as (not only because, but in the manner in which) God had commanded him.
Gen 21:5
And Abraham was an hundred years old (cf. Gen 17:1, Gen 17:17), when his son Isaac was born unto him. Literally, at the time of bearing to him ( ) Isaac. Thus Abraham had waited twenty-five years for the fulfillment of the promisea remarkable instance of faith and patience (Rom 4:20), as Isaac’s birth was a signal display of Divine power (Rom 4:17; Heb 11:12). Whether Isaac was born at Gerar or at Beersheba cannot with certitude be inferred.
Gen 21:6
And Sarah said,the spiritual elevation of her soul being indicated by the poetical form of her speech. Differing from Mary’s magnificat in having been uttered after, and not before, the birth of the promised seed, the anthem of Sarah was obviously designed as a prelude to that loftier song of the Virgin (cf. Luk 1:46). It consists of two sentences, the first containing two, and the second three linesGod hath made me to laugh. Or, retaining the order of the Hebrew, To laugh hath made me Elohim; the emphatic position of , containing an allusion to the name Isaac, probably indicating that Sarah’s laughter was of a different character now from what it had previously been (Gen 18:12); and her ascription of it to Elohim intimating that him whom she formerly mistook for a traveler she now recognized to be Divine (‘Speaker’s Commentary’). So that all that hear me will laugh with me. Not, will laugh at me, deridebit me (Poole), a sense the words will bear (Rosenmller, ‘Speaker’s Commentary’), though in the instances adduced (Job 5:22; Job 39:7, Job 39:18, Job 39:22) rather conveys the idea of despising difficulties (Kalisch); but, will laugh with me, , congaudebit mihi (LXX; Vulgate, Targums, Calvin, Dathe, Keil).
Gen 21:7
And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham,, the poetic word for , is introduced by in order to express astonishment; the meaning being that what had happened was altogether out of the ordinary course of nature, was, in fact, God’s work alone (Vatablus, Calvin, Rosenmller, Keil, Kalisch, ‘Speaker’s Commentary’). Less happy are (LXX.); quis auditurum crederet Abraham quod (Vulgate); quam fidelis est ille qui dixit Abrahamo (Onkelos)that Sarah should have given children suck? Literally, Sarah suckleth sons. “Many of the greatest saints in Holy Scripture, and even our Lord himself, were nursed by their own mothers” (Wordsworth). For I have born him a son in his old age. Literally, I have born a son to his old age. The LXX. incorrectly render .
Gen 21:8
And the child grew, (LXX.): imitated by Luke concerning Christ: (Luk 2:40)and was weaned. The verb gamal originally signifies to do good to any one, to do completely; hence to finish, or make completely ready, as an infant; hence to wean, since either at that time the period of infancy is regarded as complete, or the child’s independent existence is then fully reached. The time of weaning is commonly believed to have been at the end of the second or third year (cf. 1Sa 1:22-24; 2Ch 31:16; 2 Macc. 7:27; Josephus, ‘Ant.,’ 2.9, 6). And Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. Literally, in the day of the weaning of Isaac; probably, therefore, when Isaac was three years old and Ishmael seventeen. “It is still customary in the East to have a festive gathering at the time a child is weaned. Among the Hindoos, when the time for weaning has come, the event is accompanied with feasting and religious ceremonies, during which rice is formally presented to the child”.
HOMILETICS
Gen 21:1-8
The son of promise, or a young child’s biography.
I. THE BIRTH OF ISAAC
1. A surprising phenomenon. “Who would have said that Sarah should have suckled sons?” “Motherhood at ninety was certainly unusual, especially when conjoined with paternity at a hundred. In a world presided over by a personal Deity there must always be room for surprises.
2. A miraculous production. That the conception and birth of Isaac were due to Divine interpositionthat in fact, the child of promise was a special supernatural creationis asserted by Paul as well as Moses (Rom 4:17).
3. An accomplished prediction. Not only the fact of Isaac’s birth, but the exact time was specified beforehand. And now the long-looked-for child had arrived. A signal proof of the Divine veracity, it was another pledge to God’s people in every age of the Divine fidelity in implementing his gracious word of promise.
4. A joyous inspiration. Isaac’s birth not simply wok o laughing echoes in Sarah’s tent, but opened founts of song in Sarah’s breast; which was not wonderful, considering that the tender infant over which she exulted was the child of her own and Abraham’s old age, the child of promise, the fruit of faith and the gift of grace, and the Heaven-appointed heir of the covenant blessing.
5. A prophetic intimation. Sarah’s anthem contained a higher note of melody than that occasioned by a mother’s joy; there was in it too the gladness of a faith that saw in Isaac the harbinger and pledge of another and greater Seed. Like the birth of Isaac, that of Christ was fore announced by God, waited for in faith, accomplished through Divine power, and welcomed with bursts of joy.
II. THE CIRCUMCISION OF ISAAC.
1. The import of the rite (see on Gen 17:10). It implied the formal reception of the party upon whom it was imposed within the prime of the Old Testament Church; it signified the putting away of the filth of the flesh; it took the subject of it bound to a holy life. Of a like import is the Christian sacrament of baptism, which, however, differs from the Hebrew rite in looking back upon a Christ already manifested, instead of forward to a Christ that was still to come.
2. The authority for the rite. This was exclusively the Divine commandment the sole reason that can be assigned for the observance of the Christian sacraments, which in themselves are only symbols of spiritual transactions, and have no validity apart from the appointment of Christ.
3. The index to the rite. This was contained in the name generally given on the occasion of its observance: cf. Abraham (Gen 17:5), John the Baptist (Luk 1:60), Jesus (Luk 2:21). With this ancient custom must be connected the Christian practice of naming children at baptism.
III. THE WEANING OF ISAAC.
1. A mother‘s duty fulfilled. The first duty of a mother is to her babe, and to withhold the sustenance God has provided for her babe’s necessities is both to violate Divine law and to perpetrate a fraud upon her helpless offspring. Sarah, though a princess, was not above discharging the duties of a nursean example which Sarah’s daughters should diligently follow.
2. A child‘s independence begun. From the moment of weaning a child may be said to enter on a separate and as it were independent existence, attaining then for the first time to a distinct individuality of being.
3. A father‘s joy expressed. The interesting event was celebrated by a festal entertainment, at which, if not Shem, Melchisedeck, and Selah, according to the Rabbis, the inmates of Abraham’s household were doubtless present. “God’s blessing upon the nursing of children, and his preservation of them during the perils of infant age, are signal instances of the care and tenderness of Divine providence, which ought to be acknowledged to its praise” (Henry).
Lessons:
1. The right of parents to rejoice in their children.
2. The duty of parents to introduce their children to the Church of God.
3. The propriety of parents recognizing the separate individualities of children.
HOMILIES BY J.F. MONTGOMERY
Gen 21:1-8
Birth, circumcision and weaning of Isaac.
Here, is
I. THE FAITIIFULNESS OF JEHOVAH. “As he had spoken. At the set time.” “God hath made me to laugh.”
II. THE FAITH OF HIS SERVANT, which was evidenced in waiting, hoping, naming the son born unto him, obeying the commandment.
III. THE GIFT of God was THE REVELATION of God: his love, his power, his purpose, his patience.
IV. Taken TYPICALLY, the foreshadowing of the miraculous conception, the kingdom of God, as originating in the sphere of human infirmity and helplessness; as being the introduction of bright hope and cheerful promise into the gloomy barrenness of human life; as the lifting up of man’s state into the covenant of God, sealed with his appointed ordinance, surrounded with the promised blessings. Isaac was the type of Christ, Sarah of Mary, Abraham of the people and Church of God.
V. SARAH‘S SONG, the first cradle hymn of a mother’s thankful joy, representing the Divine delight in the pure and simple happiness of those who are children of God. Abraham rejoiced to see the brightness of the future (Joh 8:56).
VI. THE WEANING FEAST. All called in to share in the joy. Household joy should be widespread. We may suppose that such a banquet was religious in its character so, not only is it a sanction of religious festivals, but it reminds us that we should connect the events of the family life immediately with the word and ordinances of God.R.
Gen 21:8-21
The separation of the bondwoman’s so, from the promised seed.
It was necessary that this should take place for the accomplishment of the Divine plan. Human conduct is employed, as in so many other cases, as the instrument or occasion. There was mockery or unbelief in Ishmael. It was not personal merely, but a mockery of Jehovah and of his Church. Sarah saw it. The mother’s keen affections were sharpened to detect the scorn of her joy. Abraham and Sarah were both severely tried. Their lack of faith must yield fruit of sorrow. The separation was pain to the father, but it was part of the gracious work of God for Isaac. Abraham was being prepared by such discipline for his great climax of trial. There is beautiful tenderness and simplicity in Abraham’s conduct (Gen 21:14). It is
1. Entire obedience.
2. Kind and gentle consideration for Sarah and Hagar.
3. Strong faith; he committed her to God according to his word.
4. The master and the servant at the door of the house in the early morning; the master himself placing the bottle of water on the bondwoman’s shoulder as a sign of continued affinity. God commands separations. In obedience to him they may involve severe struggle with self. Should still be carried out with as little wounding of human affections as possible.R.
Gen 21:1. Visited Sarah Had regard to her. To visit, in Scripture, denotes the attention of Providence to execute his promises and designs, whether of good, as Gen 50:24. Exo 4:31. Luk 1:68 or of evil and chastisement, as Exo 20:5. Psa 89:32. Num 16:29. The Chaldee has it, the Lord remembered Sarah, and the word is used in that sense, 1Sa 15:2.
NINTH SECTION
The birth of Isaac. Ishmaels expulsion. The Covenant of peace with Abimelech at Beer-sheba
Gen 21:1-34
1And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. 2For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God [Elohim] had spoken to him. 3And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac [Jitzhak; he or one will laugh].4And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac, being eight days old [at the eighth day], as God 5[Elohim] had commanded him. And Abraham was an hundred years old when his son Isaac was born unto him.
6And Sarah said, God [Elohim] hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. 7And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have borne him a son in his old age. 8And the child grew and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.
9And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had borne unto Abraham, mocking. 10Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. 11And the thing was very grievous in Abrahams sight, because of his son.
12And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight, because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed [thy descendants] be called.1 13And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed. 14And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and [took with her] the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba [seven wells; well of the oath]. 15And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. 16And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot [as archers]: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over 17against him, and lifted up her voice and wept. And God [Elohim] heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God2 [Elohim] called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God [Elohim] hath heard the voice of the lad where he Isaiah 18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation. 19And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. 20And God was with the 21lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an [mighty] archer. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran [Gesenius: prob. a region abounding in caverns]: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.
22And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phichol [mouth of all; i.e., commanding all] the chief captain of his host [general] spake unto Abraham, saying, God 23[Elohim] is with thee in all that thou doest: Now therefore swear unto me here by God [Elohim] that thou wilt not deal falsely [injure deceitfully] with me, nor with my son, nor with my sons son: but [rather] according to the kindness [truth] that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned. 24And Abraham said, I will swear. 25And Abraham reproved Abimelech [brought a charge against him] because [in the case] of a well of water, which Abimelechs servants had violently taken away. 26And Abimelech said, I wot not [have not known] who hath done this thing; neither didst thou tell me, neither yet heard I of it but to-day. 27And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant.
28And Abraham set [still] seven ewe-lambs of the flock by themselves. 29And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What mean these seven ewe-lambs, which thou hast set by themselves? 30And he said, For these seven ewe-lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that they may be a witness unto me that I have digged this well. 31Wherefore he called that place Beer-sheba; because there they sware both of them. 32Thus they made a covenant at Beer-sheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines.
33And Abraham planted a grove [Tamarisk, tree] in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God. 34And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines land many days.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS
1. Delitzsch holds (not led astray by Gen 21:1) that Gen 21:1-21, forms the fourth Elohistic part of the third section of the life of Abraham. The first part (Gen 21:1-8, of Genesis 21) goes back to Genesis 17, unfolds itself with a clear reference to it, and forms one whole with it. The second verse here refers to Gen 17:21. According to Knobel on the contrary, only Gen 21:2-5, belong to the original writing; the rest consists of Jehovistic enlargements, out of records which, at the most, may possibly be Elohistic. Since Delitzsch describes Genesis 20 also as Elohistic, it is plain that he must assume different Elohistic sources. But out of this assumption the whole arbitrary and artificial hypothesis may be developed. There must certainly be some internal reason for the change of the names in the first and second verses. That the name Elohim should be used in the history of the expulsion of Ishmael, and of the covenant of Abraham with Abimelech requires no explanation: Abimelech does not know Jehovah; Ishmael walks under the general providence of God. The reason lies in the fact that in Gen 21:2 there is a reference to Gen 17:21, while Gen 21:1 refers to Gen 18:14. So likewise it is with the circumcision of Isaac, which Elohim commanded (Gen 21:4); it embraces in Isaac both Esau and Jacob. Sarah also (Gen 21:6), refers the name of Isaac to the arrangement of Elohim; since every one in the world (existing under Elohim), would recognize Isaac as a miraculously given childawakening laughter and joy.3
2. It is questionable whether we should refer Gen 21:8 to what precedes, or what follows. Delitzsch favors the first connection, Knobel and Keil the last. They suppose that the feast at the weaning of Isaac gave occasion for the expulsion of Ishmael. But this is not certain, and were it even certain, Gen 21:8 could, notwithstanding, belong to the conclusion of the history of the childhood of Isaac.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. Isaacs birth, circumcision, and the feast at his weaning.(Gen 21:1-8).And the Lord (Jehovah) visited. [The Sept. has , a word adopted by St. Luke in two places in the song of Zacharias (Luk 1:68-78), who thus intimates the connection between the birth of Isaac and the birth of the promised seed. Wordsworth p. 93. He refers also to the connection of the song of the blessed virgin with these exultant and thankful words of Sarah. See also Gen 17:17-19; Luk 2:21; Joh 8:56; and Luk 1:44-47.A. G.] Sarah. to come to, to visit, to visit with the purpose of aiding, of saving, or with the design to punish, marking the great transitions in the providence of God; an idea running throughout the Scriptures (Gen 50:24; Exo 3:16), to express which, according to Knobel, the Elohist uses (ch.Gen 8:1; Gen 19:29; Gen 30:20); where, however, in the two first cases, the ideas are widely different. The pregnancy of Sarah is traced back to Jehovah, since the conception of Isaac is a fruit of faith, i.e., of that connection of the sexes, on the part of both parents, animated and sanctified through faith.As he had said (Gen 18:14).As God had said to him (Gen 17:21).[These expressions have an exegetical value, not only as showing the divine faithfulness, and the development of his plan, but as showing also how the different parts of this book are inwoven together, and thus prove its unity.A. G.]As God had commanded him (Gen 17:12).It is assumed, alluding to what had been done before on this occasion, that the son should bear the name Isaac. God had given him this name already, before his birth (Gen 17:19; comp. Gen 19:11). The special cause of this name lies in the laughing of Abraham (Genesis 17) whose darker echo is heard in the laugh of Sarah (Genesis 18), and the laughter of the people at this singular birth, of which Sarah speaks further here. The one thread running through all these various laughs is the apparently incredible nature of the event. Knobel, therefore, holds, without sufficient ground, that these are different attempts to explain the origin of the name.An hundred years old (see Gen 17:24).And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh.Delitzsch signalizes the poetical force of the two sentences of Sarah. They are joyful cries, the first a distich, the second in three lines. Hence also the term instead of . Sarah, without doubt, goes back to the divine giving of the name, which the laughing of Abraham had occasioned. But then also, she glances at her own laughing, which is now followed by another and better laugh, even the joyful cry of a thankful faith. That laugh arose from her unbelief, this Jehovah has given to her as the fruit of her faith. But she must explain still further, and that not without a certain feeling of shame. (Delitzsch, comp. Gen 18:12.)All that hear will laugh with me.[ with the perfect has the sense of the conjunctive. Keil, p. 172.A. G.]i.e., with astonishment at the miraculously given child.A great feast.Starke: The Hebrews, and other eastern nations, named their feasts from the drinks (), as if more regard was paid to the drinks than to the food. But as the joy over Isaac, in respect to the promise given in him, was directed more to the spiritual than the bodily, so also without doubt this feast was arranged with reference to the same thing.And the child grew.Knobel and Keil refer the eighth verse to the following section. Ishmael, Keil remarks, mocked at the feast held at the weaning of Isaac.4Knobel: he had made sport. But it is hardly probable that Ishmael had thus made sport or mocked on one occasion only. The weaning of the child was often delayed, sometimes after three (2Ma 7:27; Mungo Parks Travels, p. 237), and even after four years, (Russel: Natural History of Aleppo, I. p. 427). [The weaning from the mothers breast was the first step to the independent existence of the child (Baumgarten), and hence gave occasion for the profane wit and mocking of Ishmael, in which there was, as Keil remarks, unbelief, envy, and pride.A. G.] It was observed by Abraham, as also to day in the lands of the east, as a family feast. Schrder: The Koran fixes two years, at least, as the period of nursing children.
2. The expulsion of Ishmael (Gen 21:9-21).And Sarah saw the son of Hagar.It is not said that this happened at the feast upon the weaning of Isaac. The different explanations of . The first explanation: The word describes one making sport, as Gen 19:14; Ishmael appears as a playful lad, leaping and dancing around, who thus excited the envy of Sarah. Thus Knobel, after Aben Ezra, Ilgen, Gesenius, Tuch. The Septuagint and Vulgate introduce so much into the text: playing with Isaac. Since Ishmael was fourteen years of age at the birth of Isaac, and now about sixteen to seventeen, Sarah must certainly have seen him playing with Isaac much earlier, with jealousy, if his playfulness generally could indeed have excited her jealousy. But if Ishmael, at the feast-day of Isaac, was extravagantly joyful, he thus gave an assurance of his good-will towards her son, the heir of the house. Hence the second explanation: The word describes the act of scoffing, mockery. Keil and others, after Kimchi, Vatabl, Piscat, Grot, against which Knobel objects that the word in question was never used of mocking. Still less, he adds, are we to think of a persecution of Isaac (Gal 4:29; Rosenm.; Del.), or of a controversy about the inheritance (the old Jewish interpret.), or of an idolatrous service (Jonathan, Jarchi). Delitzsch explains: Ishmael, at the feast of the weaning of the child, made sport of the son of his father instead of sharing the joy of the household. But the text certainly says only that Sarah made the observation that he was a jesting, mocking youth. But since the follows so directly upon , so we may certainly conjecture that the word is here used to denote that he mimicked Isaac, jeered at him, or he ridiculed Isaac. [He does not laugh, but makes himself sportive, derides. This little feeble Isaac a father of nations! Hengstenberg: Beitrge, ii. p. 276. Kurtz urges well in favor of the stronger meaning of the word, the force of the Pihel and the fact that the conduct of Ishmael so described was made the reason by Sarah for her demand that the son of the bondwoman should be driven out, p. 202.A. G.] Leaving this out of view, the observation of Sarah was certainly the observation of a development of character. Ishmael developed a characteristic trait of jealousy, and such persons pass easily, even without any inclination, to mockery. It is probable that this reviling conduct appeared in some striking way at the feast of the weaning of Isaac, although this cannot be inferred with certainty from the text. The Rabbins feign here a controversy between the children, about the descent of Isaac from Abimelech, about the inheritance, and the like. Schrder. Sarah does not regard him directly as a pretender, claiming the rights of primogeniture, but as one unworthy to be heir with her son. Even later, the moral earnestness and the sense and love of truth in the heir of the promise, are wanting in the talking and fiction-loving Arab. But tradition has added to this feature, his hand is against every man, and thus has found the explanation, that he persecuted Isaac with his jests and scoffs, a tradition which Paul could use in his allegorical explanation. [The apostle does far more than merely use a Jewish tradition. He appears to allude to the use made of this history by the prophet Isaiah (Gen 54), and in his explanation of the allegory states that the conduct of Ishmael towards Isaac was a type of the conduct of the self-righteous Jews towards those who were trusting in Christ alone for righteousness, or who were believers. This mocking, therefore, was the persecution of him who was born against him who was born . In this view, the word can only mean the unbelieving, envious sport and derision of this youth, proud of his mere fleshly preminence, as Keil and Hengstenberg hold. He was thus, obviously, in heart separated from the household of faith.A. G.] The passages, however, which Delitzsch quotes (Gen 39:14 and Eze 23:32) for the meaning of , to scoff, must not be overlooked. In her estimate of character, Sarah was far superior to Abraham, as Rebekah was also superior to Isaac in judgment in reference to her two sons.Cast out5 this bondwoman and her son.Knobel thinks that according to Gen 25:6 the Elohist has not admitted into the record any such expulsion. The unmerciful severity towards his own son and his mother, does not agree well with the character of Abraham, and it is doubtful, therefore, whether we are dealing here with a literal fact. But this is a mere human arbitrariness, in which the lofty, pure motive, remains unappreciated. [There is underlying all these objections of Knobel and others who sympathize with him, a false hermeneutical principle, viz., that we must interpret and explain the word by what we conceive to have been the moral state and feelings of these historical personages.A. G.] The word of Sarah was displeasing to Abraham also. It is not the Angel of the Lord, but God as Elohim, who confirms the judgment of Sarah. For the exclusion of Ishmael was requisite not only to the prosperity of Isaac and the line of the promise, but to the welfare of Ishmael himself.For in Isaac shall thy seed be called (see Gen 17:19).There are three explanations of these words: 1. After Isaac shall thy seed be named (Hofmann). But Delitzsch reminds us that the people of the promise are only once called Isaac (Amo 7:9). 2. In Isaac shall thy seed be called into existence (Drechsler); better, 3. In Isaac shall the people which is, and is called (Isa 41:8) the peculiar seed of Abraham, have its point of departure (Bleek, Delitzsch).And also of the son of the bondwoman (comp. Gen 17:20; Gen 16:12).And Abraham rose up early in the morning.He did not yield to the will of Sarah, but indeed to the command of God which, as it seems, came to him in a revelation by night. This decided, perfect, prompt cheerfulness, proves that he would, at the command of God, sacrifice Isaac also (Gen 22:3).And took bread and a bottle of water.The narrative passes over the provision of Hagar with the simple requisites for her journey; with the bread it may be thought (Gen 25:6) that there was included a provision with money for a longer time. He had doubtless made known to his household the revelation of the night, so that Sarah might not be elated nor Hagar depressed.And the child.[He was now about sixteen or seventeena youth. Boys were often married at this age. Ishmael was soon after married. This must be borne in mind in our estimate of the command given to Abraham.A. G.] According to the Septuagint, Tuch, and others, the author places the burden upon the boy also; [The conjunctive makes it necessary that the should be connected with the principal verb . Keil, p. 172.A. G.] but this does not follow from the text. Knobel correctly recalls to view that Ishmael was at this time at least sixteen years old. Delitzsch, on the contrary, understands the passage in the first instance thus: Abraham placed Isaac [Ishmael?A. G.] also upon the back of Hagar; and speaks of inconsistencies and contradictions in the context; but then, he himself destroys this interpretation in a casual side remark. The Vulgate also here corrects the Septuagint.She departed and wandered.In the first case she found the way easily, for her flight was voluntary, but in this case she is quickly lost, no doubt because of the extreme agitation of her mind on account of her sudden dismissal. Luther has admirably shown these inward causes for her wandering.In the wilderness of Beersheba.Southerly from Beersheba (see Gen 21:33), bordering upon the desert El Tih.And the water was spent in the bottle.This was the special necessary of life for those passing through the desert. The boy began to faint from thirst.And she cast the child.The words here have certainly the appearance as if spoken of a little child. But a wearied boy of sixteen years, unacquainted with the straits of the desert, would naturally be to the anxious mother like a little child. The expression, she cast him, is an expression that, with a feeling of despair, or of renunciation, she suddenly laid down the wearied one, whom she had supported and drawn along with her, as if she had prayed that he might die, and then hastened away with the feeling that she had sacrificed her child. A whole group of the beautiful traits of a mothers love appear here; she lays her child under the protecting shadow of a bush; she hastens away; she seats herself over against him at the distance of a bowshot, because she will not see him die, and yet cannot leave him, and there weeps aloud. Thus also Ishmael must be offered up, as Isaac was somewhat later. But through this necessity he was consecrated, with his future race, to be the son and king of the desert. And now Hagar must discover the oasis, which is also a condition of life for the sons of the desert.As it were a bowshot.Just as the stones throw in Luk 22:41.And God heard the voice of the lad.The weeping of the mother and the child forms one voice, which the narrative assumes. It is a groundless particularism when it is said Ishmael was heard because he was the son of Abraham.And the Angel of God.6As Jehovah himself is Elohim for Ishmael, so the Angel of the Lord (Jehovah) also is for him the Angel of God. There is no word here of a peculiar angelic appearance, for Hagar only hears the call of the Angel from heaven. But the call of the Angel was so far completed by the work of God that he opened her eyes. Since she suffers on account of the people of revelation, the angel of revelation here also, as in her flight, Genesis 16, protects and rescues her.What aileth thee, Hagar? Fear not.Her heart grows firm and strong again under the revelation from above.And hold him in thine hand.Jerome infers admirably from this expression as to the sense of the former passage, from which it is manifest that he who is held could not have been a burden upon his mother, but her companion.For I will make him a great nation.A repetition of the earlier promise in Genesis 16. He therefore cannot die.I will make him.It is only the Angel of Elohim, who is Elohim, who can thus speak.And she saw a well of water.A living fountain, not merely a cistern. The cisterns were covered, and only discoverable by signs which were known only to those who were entrusted with the secret. Some have conjectured that Hagar now discovered these marks of a cistern. But it is a well in the peculiar sense which is here spoken of.And gave the lad drink.Ishmael is saved, and now grows up as the consecrated son of the desert.And became an archer.The bow was the means of his livelihood in the desert. Some of the Ishmaelitish tribes, e.g., the Kedarenes and Itureans (Gen 25:13-15), distinguish themselves through this weapon. Knobel. For the twofold signification , see Delitzsch, p. 410.7And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran.Ishmael is already in the way from Palestine to Arabia. The wilderness of Paran is the present great desert El Tih. It runs from the southern border of Palestine, especially from the desert of Beersheba, beginning with the desert of Sin, between Palestine and Egypt, southeasterly down to the northern part of the Sinaitic peninsula, where it is limited by the mountains of Paran [Robinson and Coleman think it embraces the whole great desert, and this supposition best meets the various notices of this desert in the Scriptures.A. G.] (See the article in the Bible Dictionary for Christian People.)A wife out of the land of Egypt.Hagar takes a wife for her son from her own home. Thus the heathen element at once receives additional strength. The Ishmaelite Arabs are thus, as to their natural origin, sprung from a twofold mingling of Hebrew and Egyptian blood; of an ideal and contented disposition, inwoven with a recluse, dream-like, and gloomy view of the world.
3. The covenant between Abraham and Abimelech (Gen 21:22-34).And Abimelech spake unto Abraham.Abimelech, i.e., father of the king, or father-king, the king my father, the title of the kings at Gerar; Phichol, i.e., the mouth of all, probably also a title of the highest officer of the kings at Gerar. The proposition of Abimelech to Abraham to make a covenant with him rests upon a deep feeling of the blessing which Abraham had in communion with God, and upon a strong presentiment that in the future he would be a dangerous power to the inhabitants of Canaan. It is to this mans praise that he does not seek in a criminal way to free himself from his anxiety, as Pharaoh in his hostility to the Israelites in Egypt, or as Saul in his hostility to David, but in the direct, frank, honest way of a covenant. Abimelech has indeed no presentiment how far the hopes of Abraham for the future go beyond his anxieties. The willingness, however, of Abraham to enter into the covenant, is a proof that he had no hopes for the personal possession of Canaan. As a prudent prince, Abimelech meets him in the company of his chief captain, who might make an impression of his power upon Abraham, although he addresses his appeal chiefly to his generosity and gratitude. He appeals to the faithfulness which he had shown him, and desires only that he should not be injured by Abraham either in his person or in his descendants. But Abraham distinguishes clearly between political and private rights, and now it is for him to administer rebukes.8And he reproved Abimelech because of a well of water (see Gen 13:7; Gen 26:15; the great value of wells in Canaan).But the ingenuous prince in part throws back the reproach upon him: Abraham had not spoken of the matter until to-day, and he had known nothing of it. He is ready, therefore, to make restitution, and now follows the making of the covenant.Sheep and oxen.The usual covenant presents (Isa 30:6; Isa 39:1; 1Ki 15:19).Seven ewe lambs of the flock.Although the well belonged to him, he secures again in the most solemn way its possession, through the execution of the covenant, since a gift which one of the contracting parties receives from the other binds him more strictly to its stipulations (Ewald: Antiquities, p. 18).Beersheba.It is a question, in the first place, how the name is to be explained, and then, what relation this well, in its derivation, sustains to the wells of Beersheba (Gen 26:32). Knobel asserts that the author explains Beersheba through oath of the wells, since he takes for , oath; but literally the word can only signify seven wells. Keil, on the other hand, asserts that the sense of the passage is this: that the wells take their name from the seven lambs with whose gift Abraham sealed his possession. When we recollect that in the name of Isaac differently related titles were united, we shall not press the antithesis between the seven wells and the wells of the oath. The form designates it as the seven wells, but the seven really marks it as the well of the oath. , they sware, literally they confirmed by seven, not because three, the number of the deity, is united in the oath with four, the number of the world (Leopold Schmidt, and this exposition is undeniably suggestive), but on account of the sacredness of the number seven, which has its ground and origin in the number seven of the creation (which, however, may be divided into the three and the four); they chose seven things for the confirmation of the oath, as Herodotus, among others, testifies of the Arabians (Gen 3:8). Keil. According to Knobel, the narrative of the name Beersheba (Gen 26:30) is only another tradition concerning the origin of the same name. But Robinson, Delitzsch replies, after a long time the first explorer of the southern region of Palestine, found upon the borders of the desert two deep wells, with clear, excellent water.9 These wells are called Bir es Seba, seven wells; after the erroneous explanation of the Bedouins, the well of the lions. According to Robinson, Beersheba lay in the bed of a wide watercourse running here towards the coast, called Wady es Seba (Rob. Pal. i. p. 300).And he planted a grove (tamarisk).Probably the Tamarix Africana, common in Egypt, Petrea, and Palestine; not a collection (compare with this tamarisk of Abraham, that in Gibeah, 1Sa 22:6, and that in Jabesh, 1Sa 31:13). Delitzsch. They were accustomed to plant the tamarisks as garden trees, which grew to a remarkable height and furnished a wide shade. [Calvin remarks that the planting of the trees indicates that Abraham enjoyed more of quiet and rest after the covenant was made than he had done before.A. G.] Michaelis. The tamarisk, with its lasting wood and evergreen foliage, was an emblem of the eternity of God, whom he declared, or as Keil expresses it, of the eternally enduring grace of the true God of the Covenant. But it is questionable whether Abraham, the great antagonist of all that is traditional in mythology, overthrowing the symbolism of nature, would make such an exception here. We must then also suppose that his preaching of Jehovah, the eternal God, both preceded and followed the planting of the tamarisk. Knobel thinks it is clear that a remarkable tamarisk stood there, which one then traced back to Abraham. As a planter of the tamarisk, Abraham appears a prophet of civilization, as in his proclaiming of the eternal God (the with beth is always more definite than simply to call upon; it designates also the act of proclaiming) he is the prophet of the faith (the cultus).The name appears to be used here as a peculiar explanation of , and thus to justify the translation of this name by the words, the eternal. But Abraham had earlier (Gen 14:22) designated Jehovah as El Eljon, then recognized him (Gen 17:1) as El Shaddai. It follows from this that Jehovah revealed himself to him under various aspects, whose definitions form a parallel to the universal name Elohim. The God of the highest majesty who gave him victory over the kings of the East, the God of miraculous power who bestows upon him his son Isaac, now reveals himself in his divine covenant-truth, over against his temporary covenant with Abimelech, as the eternal God. And the tamarisk might well signify this also, that the hope of his seed should remain fresh and green until the most distant future, uninjured by his temporary covenant with Abimelech, which he will hold sacred.Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines.Abraham evidently remained a longer time at Beersheba, and this, together with his residence at Gerar, is described as a sojourn in the land of the Philistines. But how then could it be said before, that Abimelech and his chief captain turned back from Beersheba to the land of the Philistines? Keil solves the apparent difficulty with the remark, the land of the Philistines had at that time no fixed bounds towards the wilderness; Beersheba did not belong to Gerar, the kingdom of Abimelech in the narrower sense.Many days.These many days during which he sojourned in the land of the Philistines, form a contrast to the name of the eternal God, who had promised Canaan to him.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Sarahs visitation a type of the visitation of Mary, notwithstanding the great distinction between them. The visitation lies in the extraordinary and wonderful personal grace, to which an immeasurable general human salvation is closely joined. But with Sarah this visitation occurs very late in life, and after long waiting; with Mary it was entirely unexpected. Sarahs body is dead; Mary had not known a husband. The son of Sarah is himself only a type of the son of Mary. But with both women the richest promise of heaven is limited through one particular woman on the earth, a conception in faith, an apparently impossible, but yet actual human birth; both are illustrious instances of the destination of the female race, of the importance of the wife, the mother, for the kingdom of God. Both become illustrious since they freely subjected themselves to this destination, since they yielded their sons in the future, the sons of promise, or in the son of promise; for Isaac has all his importance as a type of Christ, and Christ the son of Mary is the manifestation of the eternal Son.The visitation of Sarah was that which Jehovah had promised a year before. He visits the believer with the word of promise, and visits him again with the word of fulfilment. Abraham must have waited five and twenty years for the promise, Sarah only one year.
2. Isaac: he will laugh, or one will laugh (see Gen 17:19). The believer laughs at the last.
3. The sons of old age and miraculously-given children: the sons of Noah, Isaac, Joseph (Gen 37:3), Benjamin (Gen 44:20), Samuel, John the Baptist, and Christ.
4. The little song of Sarah, the sacred joyful word of the mother over Isaac. The first cradle hymn. 6. The whole context confirms the Hebrew tradition, which finds in the jests of Ishmael the kindred idea of mockery, and upon this rests the confirmation of the allegorical explanation of Paul (Galatians 4; comp. Biblework on Gal 4:22-30). [The apostle, however, does not say that the history was designed to be typical, but had been used and may be used to illustrate the truth he was discussing.A. G.] [Ishmael mocked the child of promise, the faith of his parents, and therefore the word and purpose of God. His mocking was the outward expression of his unbelief, as the joy of his parents, which gave rise to the feast, was of their faith. It thus reveals his character as unworthy and incapable of sharing in the blessing, which then, as now, was secured only by faith. Hence, like Esau, Saul, the carnal Judaizers of the apostles day, all who trust in themselves rather than in the promise, he was cast out.A. G.]
7. Female tact and accuracy in the estimate of youthful character. Sarah. Rebekah. Sarahs interference with the order of Abrahams household cannot be without sin, but in this case she meets and responds to the theocratic thought. This fact is repeated in a stronger form in the position of Rebekah over against that of Isaac, since she secures to Jacob the right of the first-born. Both fathers must have their prejudices in favor of the rights of the natural first-born corrected by the presaging, far-seeing mothers. 9. The expulsion of Hagar. Since Ishmael had grown to nearly sixteen years of age in the house of Sarah, her proposal cannot be explained upon motives of human jealousy. The text shows how painful the measure was to Abraham. But the man of faith who should later offer up Isaac, must now be able to offer Ishmael also. He dismisses him, however, in the light of the promise, that his expulsion confirmed his promotion to be the head of a great nation, and because the purpose of God in reference to Isaac could only become actual through this separation. The separation of Lot from Abraham, of Ishmael from Isaac, of Esau from Jacob, proceeds later in the separation of the ten tribes from Judah, and finally in the excision of the unbelieving Jewish population from the election (Romans 10.; Galatians 4.). These separations are continued even in the Christian Church. In the New-Covenant, moreover, the Jews for the most part have been excluded as Ishmael, while many Ishmaelites on the contrary have been made heirs of the faith of Abraham. The Queen of Sheba perhaps adheres more faithfully to wisdom than Solomon.
10. The moral beauty of Hagar in the desert, in her mother-love and in her confidence in God. Hagar in the desert an imperishable pattern of true maternal love.
11. The straits of the desert the consecration of the sons of the desert. The terrible desert, through the wonderful help of God, the wells, and oases of God, became a dear home to him. There is no doubt, also, that after he had learned thoroughly by experience that he was not a fellow-heir with Isaac, he was richly endowed by Abraham (Gen 25:6), and also remained in friendly relations with Isaac (Gen 25:9).
12. Abimelechs presentiment of Abrahams future greatness, and his prudent care for the security of his kingdom in his own person and in his descendants. The children of Israel did not attack the land of the Philistines until the Philistines had destroyed every recollection of the old covenant relations. Abimelech ever prudent, honest, and noble. The significance of the covenant of peace between the father of the faithful and a heathen prince (comp. Covenant of Abraham, ch.14). 16. Abraham, Samson, and David, in the land of the Philistines. Alternate friendships and hostilities. Abraham at first gains in South-Canaan a well, then a grave (ch, 23.). Both were signs of his inheriting the land at some future time.
17. Beersheba, honored and sanctified through the long residence of Abraham and Isaac. This city marking the southern limits of Israel in contrast with the city of Dan as a northern limit was, later, also profaned through an idolatrous service (Amo 5:5; Amo 8:14).
18. Passavant dwells upon the glory of the Arabians in Spain for seven centuries. Indeed, they still, to day, from the wide and broad desert, ever weep over the forsaken, crushed clods of that heroic land. But what has Roman fanaticism made of the land of Spain? He says again: Arabia has also its treasures, its spices, and ointments, herds of noble animals, sweet, noble fruits, but it is not a Canaan, and its sons, coursing, racing, plundering, find in its wild freedom an uncertain inheritance. Gal 4:29 is fulfilled especially in the history of Mohammed.
19. Upon the covenant of Abraham and Abimelech, Passavant quotes the words, Blessed are the peace-makers. Schwenke represents Abimelech as a self-righteous person, but without sufficient reason.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
See the doctrinal paragraphs.The connection between Isaacs birth and Ishmaels expulsion.The joyful feast in Abrahams house.Hagars necessity; Hagars purification and glorification.Abrahams second meeting with Abimelech.Abraham at Beersheba, or the connection between civilization and the cultus in Abrahams life. An example for Christian missions. Gen 21:8. (Whether, as the Jews say, Shem, Melchizedec and Selah were present at this feast, cannot be said with certainty.)Abraham doubtless had his servants to share in the feast, and held instructive conversation with them, exhorting them to confidence in God, to the praise of his name. It is a peculiarly spiritual, joyful, and thankful feast.An enumeration of biblical feasts (2Co 1:20).The blessing of children. Ingratitude, in regarding many such gifts (children) as a punishment.Feasts after baptism are not opposed to the will of God, but they should still be observed to his honor, with pious people, without luxury, and other poor women in childbed should not be forgotten.Schrder: Gen 21:1. He is faithful (Num 23:19).Since every birth flows from (is a gift from) God (Psa 127:3), so we may rightly say, that the Lord visits those to whom he sends children.
Gen 21:3. Isaac was the son of the free-woman, born through the promise of God (Gal 4:22-23), consequently a type of every child of God, who through the strength of the promise, or of the gospel, is born to freedom and of a free-woman. (Roos.)What strange disappointments! The son, who receives from God who hears the cries and wishes of men, his name Ishmael (God hears) is not the promised one, but the promise was fulfilled in the other, Isaac, who was named according to a more common human custom! [The laughing of Abraham (Gen 17:17) has however a greater spiritual worth than the cry of Hagar for help (Gen 16:11).]Passavant: Behold, two children of one father and in the same house, reared under one discipline, consecrated before the same altar, of like hearts, borne before God upon the same prayer and thus offered to him, and still so unlike in their minds and ways, in their conduct and aims, etc.; the dark mysteries of nature and grace.Taube: The birth of Isaac and expulsion of Ishmael an example of what occurred at the Reformation, and of what must take place in us all.
2. Ishmaels removal (Gen 21:9-21). The theocratic separations in their import: a. Judgment in respect to the fitness for theocratic purposes, but not, b. in respect to a destination to blessedness.[So Henry. We are not sure that it was his eternal ruin; it is presumption to say that all those who are left out of the external dispensation of Gods covenant, are therefore excluded from all his mercies.A. G.]The providence of God over Ishmael.The Arabians.The Mohammedan world.Mission Sermons.The external separation presupposes an inward estrangement.
Starke: Gen 21:9. A laughing, jesting, gay, and playful youth. It may be that Ishmael had reviled Isaac because of his name which he had received from a laugh, and had treated him with scorn.Lange: Gen 21:10. Sarah could not have been without human weakness in this harsh demand; but the hand of God was in it.Cramer: The faults and defects of parents usually cleave to their children, hence parents, especially mothers during pregnancy, should guard themselves lest they stain themselves with a grave fault which shall cleave to their children during their lives.Bibl. Tb.: The mocking spirit is the sign of an evil, proud, jealous, envious heart; take heed that thou dost not sit with the scorner (Psa 1:1)Bibl. Wirt.: Cases often occur in a family in which the wife is much wiser than her husband, hence their advice and counsel ought not to be refused (1Sa 25:3; 1Sa 25:17). Polygamy produces great unhappiness.Cramer: There will arise sometimes disputes between married persons, even between those who are usually peaceful and friendly. Still one should not give loose reins to his passion, or allow the difference to go too far.
Gen 21:12. Lange: Here we see that the seed of the bondwoman shall be distinguished from Isaac.The general rule is, that the wife shall be subject to her husband, and in all reasonable things obey him, but here God makes an exception.Since Abraham in the former case had followed his wife without consulting God, when she gave him Hagar to wife, so he must now also fulfil her will.The comparison of Ishmael with the unbelieving Jews at the time of the New Testament: the haughty, perverse, scoffing spirit of persecution; the sympathy of Abraham with Ishmael, the compassion of Jesus towards the Jews; the expulsion and wandering in the wilderness, but still under the Divine providence; the hope that they shall finally attain favor and grace.Cramer: The recollection of his former sins should be a cross to the Christian.One misfortune seldom comes alone.Bibl. Wirt.: There is nothing which makes a man so tender and humble as the cross, affliction, and distress.Gerlach: The great truth that natural claims avail nothing before God, reveals itself clearly in this history.Isaac receives his name from a holy laughing; Ishmael was also a laugher, but at the same time a profane scoffer.Calwer, Handbuch: What we often receive as a reproach, and listen to with reluctance, may contain under the rough, hard shell a noble kernel of truth, which indeed agrees with the will of God.Schrder: (Luther supposes Abraham to invite to the feast all the patriarchs then living; with Melchizedec and the King of the Philistines.)Isaac, the subject of the holy laugh, serves also as a laughing-stock of profane wit.Ishmael is the representative of that world in the church yet scoffing at the church. (In the letter to the Galatians of the bond-church, in opposition to the free.Both, if I may say so, are the sons of laughter but in how different a sense. Sarah does not call Ishmael by his name (a clear sign of her indignation), and shows her contempt by calling him the son of this bond-woman. (Luther: Gen 3:24; Pro 22:10; Joh 8:35.)
Gen 21:13. Ishmael remained his son, and indeed his first-born, whom he had long held for the heir of the blessing. It is never easy to rend from our hearts the objects of our dear affections. But he who must soon offer Isaac also is here put into the school for preparation. Michaelis sees in this removal the evidence that God was displeased with polygamy.
Gen 21:14. In many points surely the men of God seem somewhat cold and hard-hearted (Exo 32:27; Deu 13:6 ff; Deu 33:9; Mat 10:37; Luk 14:26). After this distinction was clearly made, Ishmael himself might draw near again (Gen 25:9) and indeed share in the possessions of his rich father. Baumgarten.The expulsion of Ishmael was a warning for Israel, so far as it constantly relied upon its natural sonship from Abraham.Thus the Papists to-day, when they parade their long succession, say nothing more than if they also called Ishmael the first-born.
Gen 21:17. We see moreover here that if father and mother forsake us, then the Lord himself will take us up. Calvin.The same: Gen 21:19. If God withdraw from us the grace of his providence we are as surely deprived of all means of help, even of those which lie near at hand, as if they were far removed from us. We pray him, therefore, not only that he would supply us with what we need, but give us prudence to make a right use of it; otherwise it will happen that, with closed eyes, we shall lie in the midst of our supplies and perish.10Passavant: Hagars marriage was Sarahs own deed, not the work of God, and this also made her fearful. Men easily become anxious about their own, self-chosen ways.Abraham obeys.The obedience of the pious blessed in its results in all cases.God knows how to find us, even in the wilderness.
3. Abrahams covenant with Abimelech (Gen 21:22-34).Traces of noble minds in the heathen world.The Hebrews and the Philistines.Why they attract and why repel.Starke: Bibl. Tub.. Even the world wonders at the blessedness of the pious.Bibl. Wirt. It is allowed the Christian truly to enter into covenant with strange, foreign, and, to a certain extent, with unbelieving people.A pious man ought to complain to the rulers of the reproach and injustice he suffers.Rulers should themselves guard the care of the land, since courtiers often do what they wish.The Rabbins (Gen 21:33) think that Abraham planted a garden of fruit-trees, in which he received and entertained the strangers, from which he did not suffer them to depart until they became proselytes.It is probable that Abraham had pitched near a grove or wood, from which he might have wood for his sacrifices, and in which he might perhaps hold his worship, and also that he might have more shade in this hot Eastern land.I am also a stranger here upon the earth.Gerlach: Gen 21:22. The blessing of God which rested upon Abraham awakened reverence even in these heathen, who served still the true God; a type of the blessing which, even in Old-Testament times, passed over from the covenant people upon the heathen.Schrder: A consolation follows upon the great sorrow (Calvin).The oath was an act of condescension to the evident mistrust of the Princes; in the other aspect an act of worship.The Holy Scriptures regard the oath as if a peculiar sacrament; there is the name of God, and the hearts of the people are reconciled, and mistrust and strifes destroyed. (Luther).Nature fixes itself firmly when all goes well. But faith knows here no continuing city (Berlenburger Bibel).Moses reports three sacred works of Abraham: 1. He labored; 2. he preached; 3. he bore patiently his long sojourn in a strange land.
Footnotes:
[1][Gen 21:12.In Isaac shall seed be called to thee.A. G.]
[2][Gen 21:17.Not , as in Gen 16:7.A. G.]
[3][The birth of Isaac is the first result of the covenant, and the first step toward its goal. As it is the germ of the future development, and looks to the greater than Isaacthe New Testament Son of Promiseso it is the practical and personal pledge on Gods part, that the salvation of the world shall be accomplished. Jacobus.A. G.]
[4][Kurtz says that Ishmael laughed at the contrast between the promises and corresponding hopes centring in Isaac, and the weak nursling, p. 201.A. G.]
[5][Bush suggests that it is some legal divorce which is intended. The Heb. word has that meaning, see Lev 21:7; Lev 21:14; Lev 22:13; Isa 57:20.A. G.]
[6][The angel of Elohim, not Jehovah, because Ishmael, since the divinely ordained removal from the house of Abraham, passes from under the protection of the covenant God, to that of the leading and providence of God, the ruler of all nations. Keil, p. 173.A. G.]
[7][Baumgarten renders a hero an archer; and refers for an analogy to the phrase , p. 223.A. G.]
[8][Murphy renders Kin and Kith to represent the Hebrew , p. 334.A. G.]
[9][There are thus, in fact, two wells, from which the city might have been named, and from which it was named, according to the two accounts or testimonies in Genesis. Delitzsch, p. 296.A. G.]
[10][So we do not see the fountain opened for sinners in this worlds wilderness until God opens our eyes. Jacobus.A. G.]
And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken.
The long-looked for blessing of a son to Abraham and Sarah, is at length bestowed; and Isaac, the child of promise, is born. This Chapter relates the auspicious event. The casting out of Ishmael, the Son of Hagar, the bond-woman, is also noticed, with the circumstances attending it. Some inferior matters, which occurred in Abraham’s family, and a covenant of amity, which the Patriarch entered into with Abimelech; form the remainder of the particulars, related in this Chapter.
That is a precious Scripture of the prophet, Hab 2:3-4 . And the apostle’s comment upon it, is not less so. Heb 10:36 , etc. These words are not only applicable in the case of the Patriarch’s trials of faith, but have been refreshing to thousands in their various exercises.
Sarah the Steadfast
Gen 21
What is that quality in the mind of Sarah which lies below all other qualities, and which subsists when others change? It may be expressed in one word steadfastness. The abiding secret of this woman’s greatness is her own abidingness.
I. Sarah in the romantic stage. When the scene first opens in the married life of Abraham and Sarah, they are having an experience which their romance had not bargained for the poverty of the land. For a married pair I can imagine no duller experience. This must have been Sarah’s first real sorrow not the famine in the land, but the famine in Abraham’s soul. She sees her ideal husband in a new light. She has seen him in Ur of the Chaldees flaming with the poetic impulse to abandon himself for the sake of humanity. She beholds him in the land of Canaan with his fire cooled down. True he is under a cloud, and the cloud distresses her; but her eye looks beyond the cloud to the normal shining of her husband’s soul.
II. She has need of all her hope; for meantime the gloom deepens. The complaint which has come to Abraham is one which seems occasionally to beset high-strung natures a reaction of the nerves producing extreme timidity. He says to Sarah, ‘We are going into a country where I shall suffer by your beauty. Men will envy me the possession of you; they will lament that you are wedded, bound; they will seek to kill me that you may be free. You can save me if you will. Pretend that you are already free.’ This is the eclipse in Abraham’s heart of the wifely relation itself. A more terrible strain upon a woman’s conjugal love is not to be conceived. Yet this noble woman stood the strain.
III. The cloud clears from Canaan, and Abraham and Sarah return. Years pass, and for Abraham prosperity dawns. But there throbs in Sarah’s heart a pulse of pain. There is as yet no heir. She says to her husband, ‘Take my slave Hagar as a second wife’. She says to herself, ‘If an heir should come through Hagar he will still be my son, not hers’. But Sarah has miscalculated something. She has said that even maternity will not make Hagar less her slave. In body perhaps not: but in spirit it will break her bonds. It is essential to Sarah’s peace that Hagar should be not a person but a thing. The combat ends in favour of Sarah. Mother and son are sent out into the desert. Sarah has purified her home. She has relighted her nuptial fire.
G. Matheson, Representative Women of the Bible, p. 55.
Ishmael the Outcast
Gen 21:10
Israel has from the very first provided a place for the pariah has opened a door of entrance to the man whom she has herself turned out. Ishmael is the first pariah, the first outcast from society. To any man who had breathed the patriarchal atmosphere the expulsion from that atmosphere was death in the desert. Expulsion from the patriarchal fold was not necessarily a change of land at all: the outcast could live in sight of his former home. But the sting lay in the fact that the brotherhood itself was broken.
I. What brought Ishmael into this exile? As in nearly all cases of social ostracism he owes it partly to his misfortune for an Eastern of being an unconventional man. The spirit of the age is at variance with his spirit. He set up the authority of his individual conscience in opposition to the use and want of the whole community. What was that individual conviction for which Ishmael strove? Ishmael saw Hagar, his actual mother, in the position of a menial to his adopted mother. He saw her subjected to daily indignities. He listened to her assertions of a right to be equal to Sarah, of her claim to be treated as the wife of Abraham.
II. Then something happened. A real heir was born to Sarah. Ishmael was supplanted. All his hopes were withered. He seems to have thrown off the mask which had hitherto concealed his irritation. His tone became mocking, satirical. He preferred a life of independent poverty to a life of luxurious vassalage. He panted to be free. The wrath of Sarah was kindled. She moves her hand and says ‘Go!’ and Hagar and Ishmael issue forth from the patriarchal home to return no more. When they reach the desert their supply of water is exhausted. Hagar betook herself to prayer. It was not the God of Israel she communed with. It was her own God. But he answered her. The answer comes in the form of an inward peace. It sent no supernatural vision, because that was not needed. The means of refuge lay within the limits of the natural. The well was there, had always been there. What was wanted was a mental calm adequate to the recognition of it.
III. But the grand thing was the moral bearing of the fact. It had an historical significance. It declared that God had a place for the pariah. It proclaimed that the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac was still the God of Egypt and the God of Hagar. God is larger than all our creeds, and higher than all our theories.
G. Matheson, Representative Men of the Bible, p. 1.
References. XXI. 6. Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 167. XXI. 16. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvii. No. 974. XXI. 17. C. Bosanquet, Tender Grass for the Lambs, p. 1. J. Vaughan, Sermons to Children (5th Series), p. 105. XXI. 19. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xix. No. 1123; ibid. vol. xxv. No. 1461. XXI. J. Parker, Adam, Noah, and Abraham, p. 14. P. W. Robertson, Notes on Genesis, p. 50.
Ishmael
Gen 21:14
The first feeling we have in reading the story of Hagar and Ishmael is that they were both most cruelly used. If you were to read this story in the newspapers, as an incident happening in our own time, you would strongly condemn both Abraham and Sarah his wife. Hagar and Ishmael were cast forth out of the house of Abraham. Hagar received from Abraham “bread and a bottle of water,” and she and her child “departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.” They were sent away from comfort into destitution, and this, so far as we know, for no crime. Some offence may have been given to Sarah, an offence which Sarah visited with most excessive and unpardonable resentment, as it appears to us on the face of the story. The very reading of it makes us the eager partisans of Hagar. We instantly take sides with her in the hour of her injury and pain, and in her affliction we are afflicted with great distress. This woman was wronged, and in her suffering all other generations of women have been disennobled and outraged. It was indeed with no readiness of will that Abraham responded. “The thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son.”
The first feeling is that a most cruel act has been done. The next feeling is that surely we do not know the whole case. It must be only the outside that we see. Behind all this there must be something we do not fully understand. Hagar would never go away so quietly of her own will. Ishmael, seventeen years old, would surely show some sign of discontent and rebellion. How is it that people go out to poverty, to loneliness, to all hardness of life, so quietly, so dumbly, with only great hot tears in their eyes, and no sharp word of reproach or revenge on their lips? Had they gone away, Hagar and Ishmael, with violent upbraidings and threats hurled at the heads of those who banished them, the pathos would have been lost; the story would have been only a noisy brawl a women’s fight, in which the weakest got the worst; that is all, nothing more! But what of this strange quietness? Can the heart be hushed by voices which the ear cannot hear? Can the poor fickle will, which so often mistakes petulance for strength, be touched from infinite heights by a tender and pitiful omnipotence which is working upon a sphere so vast that anything we can now see of it is as a straight line? When the first flush of anger dies away I begin to wonder whether there may not be something behind, which when known will explain everything, and add to this confused and riotous life of ours a solemnity and a grandeur supernatural! Through this incident, as through a door ajar, we may see a good deal of human life on what may be called its tragical side. The details are ancient and local, but the meaning is flowing around our life today and should be understood by all who are seeking the great principles rather than the passing accidents of human history.
1. As a mere matter of fact there are events in human life which cannot but affect us with a sense of disorder in the government and administration of things, if indeed there be either government or administration. One is taken, another left. One moves upwards to wealth and honour, another is neither prosperous by day nor restful by night. Sarah is the centre of a home; Hagar is a vagrant in the wilderness. Isaac is the idol of two hearts; Ishmael has no father, and his mother’s poor life throbs between the points of disgrace and helplessness. Such is human life as we ourselves know it. This is not fancy; it is fact. You know it; you represent it; it is your own strange, perplexing, immeasurable life. You may take one of two views of this state of facts.
( a ) Life is a scramble; the strong man wins; the weak man dies; Luck is the only god, Chance is the only law, Death the only end. Suffering is the price paid by weakness for being allowed to exist, and poverty is the penalty a man pays for being conscientious. Society is the triumph of confusion. It is a giddy whirl, and nobody can tell who will be down or who will be up at the next turn of the wheel. The disorder of human life mocks the order of material nature. Or thus:
( b ) There must be a power mightier than man’s, controlling and shaping things. Looking at human history in great breadths we see that even confusion itself is not lawless; it is a discord in the solemn music; it is an eccentricity in the astronomic movement; but it is caught up by the great laws, and wrought into the general harmony; above all, beyond all, there is a benign and holy power. Now from my point of view it requires less faith to believe this than to believe the other. The man who judges universal providence by solitary instances, is a man who would prove to himself that the earth cannot be a globe so long as there is a molehill upon its surface. He denies that the universal can affect the particular, and that the temporary can be swallowed up by the eternal.
Prove that an action or an event begins and ends in itself, and you establish a special law of judgment; but let it once be allowed that actions and events are not self-contained; that they have antecedents and consequents; that they are modified and sometimes counteracted by unexplained and unexpected influences, and at once you introduce new laws and new standards of judgment. You have then an unknown and most subtle element to deal with. It may surprise you by new revelations any moment. It may make the desert blossom as the rose, or it may turn the fair garden into barrenness. You cannot measure it by your reason; you cannot control it by your skill; you cannot avert it by your adroitness. It takes its own time, sometimes little, sometimes much. It works in its own secret but sure way. It is silent, mighty, irresistible.
2. As a further matter of fact in human life, there are cases marked by utter despair, for which it seems utterly impossible that any deliverance can ever arise. Hagar’s is a case in point Her water was spent. The hot sun was beating on her head. Ishmael was faint with weakness. There was no one to speak to. No human friend answered the appealing voice. Some of us may have been in the same circumstances as to their effect upon the soul. When you were left a widow with six children no fortune, the water gone, the children crying for bread, the officer at the door, you wished to die; you were subdued by a great fear. But I ask you, in God’s house, if there were not made to you sudden revelations, or given to you unexpected promises that brought light to the weary and hopeless heart? How did friends appear, how were doors opened, how did the boys get a little schooling and get their first chance in life? Are you the person now to turn round and say that it all came by chance, or will you not rather exclaim, “This is the Lord’s doing; I was brought low and he helped me”?
And what men God trains in the wilderness! It would seem as if great destinies often had rough beginnings. “I will make him a great nation,” said the angel of God. We must go down to go up. We must suffer if we would be strong with other than a rude unmellowed power. Why this is human history repeated in an individual example! Man’s story had a rough opening. Adam, in blighted Eden, was as Ishmael in the inhospitable wilderness. God knows what we need, where we are, and when to come for us. Compare your present self with your former self, and say if God be not as gracious as he is mighty. If you could take out of your character all the fine elements which have come into it through sorrow, you would be turned into a crude and selfish creature. Sorrow, rightly accepted, sorrow sanctified, refines the gold of life; it raises the heart into noble elevation of feeling; it enriches the memory with many helpful recollections; it conquers and destroys the spirit of unbelieving and selfish fear. My friends, God would make us very poor if he took from us the results of sanctified sorrow.
3. You will bear me witness, as a further matter of fact, that life is full of surprises and improbabilities, and that the proverb, “Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity,” is supported by innumerable instances. “God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water.” She expected to die; and lo, she never was so sure of life. Ishmael withered only at the top, not at the root, for out of that root was to spring a great nation. These surprises not only save life from monotony, they keep us, if rightly valued, lowly, expectant, dependent. They operate in two contrary ways lifting up man, and casting him down.
4. As a matter of fact, the men who seem to be the most prosperous have trials of a heavy and most disciplinary kind. Early in the morning Abraham sent Hagar away; early on another morning a heavier cloud gathered over his horizon, and a keener pang tortured his heart. It seems as if great nations must be built upon ruins as if great prices must be paid for great honours. Ishmael is to die of thirst; Isaac is to perish by the knife did ever brilliant destinies arise from such flickering embers? My friend, thou knowest not what thou shalt be, or thy children; life is very low with thee just now; it may be because immortality is so near!
I have not far to go for an evangelical application of this incident. It is in our despair that Christ brings his Gospel to us. It is when there is no well that he smites the rock. It is when the knife is lifted over our heart that he becomes a “Lamb” for us!
XXV
THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM–(Concluded)
Gen 19:29-25:18
This chapter concludes the life of Abraham. It covers over five chapters of Genesis. The important events are varied:
1. Lot’s history after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the incestuous origin of the Ammonites and Moabites.
2. Abraham’s dealing with Abimelech, the Philistine king.
3. The birth and weaning of Isaac.
4. The casting out of the handmaiden, Hagar, and Ishmael.
5. The great trial of Abraham’s faith.
6. The death and burial of Sarah.
7. The marriage of Isaac.
8. Abraham’s marriage with Keturah their children.
9. Abraham’s disposition of his property.
10. Death and burial.
11. Character.
All these events wonderfully illustrate Oriental life of that age.
Our lesson commences with Gen 19:29 : “And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the Plains, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt.” An examination question will be, To whom was Lot indebted for his rescue from the destruction of Sodom? Gen 19:30 gives the origin of two famous should say infamous nations: Moabites and Ammonites. They resulted from the incest with his daughters on the part of Lot. No nations have developed so harmoniously with their origin. They were immoral, untrustworthy, every way a blot upon civilization, the bitterest enemies of the Israelites, except the Amalekites and Philistines.
The twentieth chapter returns to Abraham. He located in the territory of the Philistine king. The Philistines, descendants of a son of Ham, originally located in Egypt. But they get their name from their migratory habits. Leaving the place that God assigned to them, they took possession of the southwestern coast of the land which derives its name from them, in our time called Palestine. They had not yet developed the confederacy of the five cities, like the Swiss cantons, which they established later. Abimelech is not a name, but a title, like Pharaoh. The Philistine king has more honor than any subsequent king. We have discussed the responsibility of Abraham, making Sarah say that she was his sister. She is eighty years old, but a most beautiful young woman. God has restored youth to her and Abraham. Abimelech takes Sarah, but is prevented from harming her through a dream God sent, warning him that she was the wife of one of his prophets, and that he would die if he did not return her. Abimelech justly rebukes them both. In Gen 19:9 he says to Abraham, “What hast thou done unto us? and in what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and my kingdom a great sin?” Abraham makes a very lame excuse. Isaac repeats the very same thing with another Abimelech. To Sarah, Abimelech says, “Behold, I have given a thousand pieces of silver; behold it is for thee a covering of the eyes to all that are with thee; and in respect of all thou art righted.” The wrong that had been done by her captivity was thus amply compensated. The text of the King James Version says she was reproved. I think it was a gentle rebuke. Note the healing of Abimelech in Gen 19:17 at the prayer of Abraham, just as we see the friends of Job forgiven at the intercession of Job, and Israel forgiven at the intercession of Samuel and Moses. What mighty power has the intercessory prayer of good men with God!
According to promise Isaac was born. Then Sarah becomes both inspired and poetical. Her Magnification sounds like that of the virgin Mary. She said, “God hath made me to laugh; every one that heareth will laugh with me.” The child was named Isaac, which means laughter. Some children are born to make parental hearts sing with joy. Many children cause the parental heart to ache.
We come to another incident: “The child grew, and was weaned.” And Abraham made a great religious festival in honor of the weaning of Isaac. Sarah saw the son of Hagar making sport and said to Abraham, “Cast out this handmaid and her son; for the son of this handmaid shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.” It was a little hard on Ishmael. He had been the only child, much loved by his father. He was taking a pretty wide swing in affairs at the birth of Isaac, which, according to an old saying, “broke his nose,” and put him out of commission. So, although it was a religious ceremony, Ishmael mocked, sinning against God, the father, mother, and child. Sarah seems rather hard, but she was exceedingly wise. It was very difficult to bring up two seta of children in a house where there is already a spirit of jealousy. Ishmael would not have been a safe guide for his little brother. It hurt Abraham very much. That night God appeared to him in a vision and confirmed what Sarah had said. Paul quotes the words of Sarah in Gal 4 , “Cast out the handmaid and her son.” In that famous letter he says that Hagar and Sarah are allegorical, representing two covenants: one according to the flesh, Hagar, typifying Israel; the other according to the spirit, in which Sarah represents the Jerusalem which is above. All true spiritual children of Abraham are children of promise, born of the spirit. This interpretation throws a great light on the incidents recorded here.
The story becomes still more pathetic when early next morning Abraham puts a goatskin full of water and some bread upon Hagar’s shoulder, and starts her and the boy off. She struck out, trying to find the way to Egypt. But she got tangled up in the desert. In a hot dry, sandy country it does not take long to drink all the water a woman can carry. The water gave out. Ishmael was famishing with thirst. The mother could not bear to see him die. So she put him under a little bush to shelter him as much as possible, and drawing off to a distance, wept and sobbed in anguish of spirit. And the angel of God spoke to her, “What aileth thee, Hagar? Fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.” The boy, too, was praying. Once in preaching a sermon to children I took that text. The other night my little boy asked me to repeat a scripture before we had family prayer. I told him of the boy born to be a wild man, against whom was every man’s hand, and whose hand was against every man. How that he and his mother had to leave home when he was a little fellow. That hot walk in the desert, the insatiable thirst, and the mother going off to pray. How it occurred to the little boy to pray, and how when he prayed God heard the voice of the lad himself. Instantly my little boy spoke up and began to tell of two or three times when he had prayed and God had heard him. I encouraged him in that thought. I told him whenever he got into trouble, no matter how small, to pray; just as a child to tell God, and while nobody on earth might hear him, his Heavenly Father would hear even a whisper. I tell you this that you may impress upon young people the fact that God heard the voice of the lad himself. At the Arkansas convention in Texarkana, I preached a sermon for Dr. Barton’s church. A mother came to me before preaching and said that she had two boys in whom she was very much interested, and wanted me to pray for them that day. I said, “Suppose you tell those boys to pray while I preach.” She told them, and at the close of the sermon they were happily converted. Dr. Barton baptized them that night, both at one time, holding each other’s hands. It made a very impressive sight. Having heard about this, when I returned later to Texarkana, another mother came and stated a similar case. I told her to ask the lad to pray himself. That boy was converted and joined the church at the close of the service. In lecturing to the Y. M. C. A. in the afternoon, before I commenced my talk, I raised the point that God could hear anybody in that audience of five hundred men. There were some very bad cases, men who had stained their homes, grieved their wives, darkened the prospect of their children. I told them that God would hear them even on the brink of hell, if they would turn to him and pray, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” One man stepped right up and gave me his hand. At night all the churches worshiped at one church. I preached to within ten minutes of train time, and left without knowing the result. But with two preachers to call out from the audience the people who would take God at his word, and judging from the seeming impression, there ought to have been a great many conversions there that night. I would be glad if every preacher would take that text, “I have heard the voice of the lad where he is,” and preach a sermon. Get it on the minds of the children that God will hear them. “God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. And God was with the lad.” That is the second part of the text. First, I have heard the voice of the lad himself; second, God was with the lad.
His mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt, and he became the father of twelve nations. I have told you about the Arabs, the descendants of Ishmael. They hold the ground where Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Leah, Isaac, and Rachel were buried. There is an immense structure built at that place. Until 1869 they would not allow a Gentile to enter, but in that year the Prince of Wales was permitted to go inside. The remainder of the chapter states a remarkable covenant between Abraham and Abimelech. It became evident that God was with Abraham and nobody could harm him. Abimelech wanted a covenant with that kind of a man. In my preaching I used to advise sinners never to go into business with a backslidden Christian, for God will surely visit him with Judgments, and he may come with fire to burn up the store. Anyway, a backslidden Christian is an unsafe partner. But what a fine partner is a Christian who is not a backslidden one. Abraham said that he ought to rectify a certain offense. “I dug this well in order to water my stock and your servants took it.” Abimelech righted the wrong. They took an oath of amity toward each other, so that the place was called Beersheba, i.e., the well of the oath. That marks the southern boundary of Palestine as we regard it.
I am going to give you the salient points of the twenty-second chapter, which presents the most remarkable incident in the life of Abraham. God had said that in Isaac was all Abraham’s hope for the future. God determined to try the faith of Abraham. It has been forty years since his conversion, and he has been stepping up higher and higher until you would think he must have reached the heights and graduated. But the crowning touch to his faith is to come now. God said, “Take now thy sou, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering.” It was a staggering request, and yet Abraham staggered not in unbelief. He thought, “What will become of God’s promise?” In Hebrews it is explained how he argued it out and trusted. If God said, “Put Isaac to death,” he would do it, but God had said that through Isaac was to come the Messiah. So it would be necessary for God to raise Isaac from the dead. They set out early. If they had waked Sarah and told her what they were going to do, there probably would have been a row. So they took their servant, a mule, and some wood, and started to distant Mount Moriah, where Jerusalem is. As they drew near the place, Isaac, who had been doing some thinking, says, “Father, here is the wood and the fire, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?” It had not been mentioned what his part was. Abraham answered, “My son, the Lord will pro-, vide a sacrifice.” They reached the place near where Christ was later crucified. Abraham built the altar and placed the wood upon it. He commenced binding Isaac. The son, never saying a word, submitted. He stretched him over that altar, and drew his knife over the boy, and already in Abraham’s mind Isaac was dead. But just as the knife was about to descend, God said, “Abraham, Abraham, stay thy hand. Isaac shall not die.” He looked around and there in a bush was a ram caught by its horns. He took that and offered it.
There are two marvelous lessons to be derived from this incident. The most significant is that God made Abraham feel the anguish that God felt in giving up his only begotten Son to die for man. Abraham is the only man that ever entered into the sorrow of the Divine Mind in giving up Jesus to die. When he is bound on the cross and prays, “Save me from the sword,” the Father cries out, “Wake, O sword, and smite the Shepherd.” When he cries, “Save me from the enemy that goeth about like a roaring lion,” and when he prays, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me,” it was not possible if anybody was to be saved. The other thought is that as the Father consented to give up his Son, so the Son obediently submitted. Thus Isaac becomes the type of Christ. And Abraham called the name of the place Jehovah-jireh, “it shall be provided.” When I was a young preacher I preached a sermon on all the double names of Jehovah found in the Old Testament, such as Jehovah-Elohim, Jehovah-Tsidkena, Jehovah-jireh, etc.
Now we come to a passage that made a great impression on the mind of the author of the letter to the Hebrews. “And the angel of the Lord called unto Abram in a second time out of heaven, and said, By myself have I sworn, saith Jehovah, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.” That matter is discussed in Hebrews, Romans, and Galatians. When I was a young preacher I used to delight in preaching from this passage, and I like it yet, Heb 6:16 , “For men verily swear by the greater; and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil.” In order to assure every child of God that his hope is well grounded and that he cannot be disappointed, two things in which it is impossible for God to lie are joined and twisted together to make a cable which is fastened to the anchor of hope: one, the promise of God, the other the oath of God. In commenting upon that Paul said that, though it was a covenant with a man, because it was confirmed by the oath of God, it could not be disannulled.
In Gen 22:20 we find, “And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also borne children unto thy brother Nahor; Uz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram, and Chesed, and Hazo and Pildash, and Jidlaph and Bethuel. And Bethuel begat Rebekah.” That incident is put in to prepare for a subsequent chapter, showing where Isaac got his wife. My wife’s brother, when he was a little fellow, came to his mother and wanted to know who were the boys that milked a bear. She said she did not know. He said it was in the Bible, so he read, “Those eight did Milcah bear.” Then his mother told him of the old Hardshell preacher’s sermon on that text, to this effect: They got out of milk at a certain house. The only available source was a she bear, and so the sturdy boys roped her and brought in the milk.
The twenty-third chapter, which gives an account of the death of Sarah, and the purchase of a burial place by Abraham, is a very interesting historical account because it gives all the details of a noted business transaction, showing how Orientals dealt in their trades. Notice particularly the Gen 23:11 , what Ephron says, “Nay, my lord, hear me: the field I give thee, and the cave that is therein, I give it thee; in the presence of the children of my people gave I it thee: bury thy dead.” If an Englishman or an American had said that, it would have meant an outright gift, but for an Oriental or a Mexican, he expects the full price. If you enter a house in Mexico they will tell you everything is yours, cows, lambs, etc., but don’t you take for granted that it is so; it is just soft speech. Notice in closing this transaction that the currency was not coin, but weighed silver. Silver and gold were not put in pieces of money, but in any form; as, rings, bracelets, or bars, counted by weight; not numbered.
The twenty-fourth chapter tells how marriages were contracted in the East, and is an exceedingly interesting bit of history on that subject. Abraham brings out a revelation that God had previously made that we have no account of elsewhere, viz.: that God had told him not to marry his son to any of the idolaters of the land, but to his own people who were worshipers of God. So Abraham took Eliezer and swore him. The form of the oath is given, showing how these solemn oaths were taken between man and man. This head servant, taking ten camels, struck out from the southern part of Palestine, going to the Euphrates, a long trip, though common for caravans. He is much concerned about his mission and says to Abraham, “You tell me not to take Isaac there because God told you never to take your son back to that country.” There is another revelation, not previously recorded. “Now, suppose when I get there the girl won’t come to me?” Abraham said, “That will exempt you from your responsibility, but God will prosper you in this, his arrangement, and will govern you in everything.” We have a description of this old man falling on a plan by which a sign would be given. He sat down near a well and waited for the women to come and draw water. In this country men draw the water we don’t expect women to draw enough water for a herd of cattle. His plan was that he would steadily look at the women who came and fixing his mind on one, he would ask her to give him a drink, and if she inclined the bucket to him and said, “Let me water your camels,” she would be the one. Later we find Jacob falling upon the same method. In our time young men manage to find their wives without signs or omens. So when Rebekah, granddaughter of Nahor, brother of Abraham, came out, a beautiful virgin, and he asked her for a drink, and she let her pitcher down and held it in her hand, and then offered to water the camels, Eliezer knew she was the right one. He took a ring of gold, a half-shekel in weight, two bracelets for her hands, ten shekels in weight, and said, “Whose daughter art thou? Is there in thy father’s house a place for us to pass the night?” She told him who she was, and that there was a place and abundant provisions for him and his camels.
So when she got to the house she reported the case and her brothers came out. Her father was a polygamist, and the eldest of each set of children was the head. So Laban, Rebekah’s brother, came out and invited old Eliezer in. Food is set before him, but he says, “I will not eat until I have told my message.” Laban told him to tell it. And he said, “I am Abraham’s servant. And Jehovah hath blessed my master greatly; and he is become great; and he hath given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and men servants and maid servants, and camels and asses. And Sarah, my master’s wife, bare a son to my master when she was old; and unto him hath he given all that he hath.” That was a very fine introduction. Whenever you open negotiations with a young lady’s father for marriage in the case of a young man whose father is very wealthy and this son his only heir, you have paved the way for a fair hearing. He strengthened the case by stating that under the inspiration of God he was forbidden to take a wife from among the idolaters, but was commanded to come to this place for a wife, the idea of appointment by God, a match made in heaven. Some matches are made of sulfur, not in heaven. He gave his third reason. “Not only is my master’s son rich, and I am here under the arrangement of God, but after I got to this place, I let God give me a sign to determine the woman.” Having stated his case he says, “If you will deal truly and kindly with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left.”
In the King James Version, Eliezer’s speech has a translation that used to be very famous as a text. He says, “I have come to seek a bride for my lord.” A Methodist preacher in Edward Eggleston’s Circuit Rider, preaching from that text before an immense congregation, says, “My theme is suggested by the twenty-fourth chapter of Genesis,” and gave a little of the history. “Now,” he says, “I am here to seek a bride for my Lord, to espouse a soul to God. And like old Eliezer, I am under an oath of God. Like him I am not willing to eat until I have stated my case. And like him I have come by divine appointment. And like him I have tokens of his spirit that somewhere in this congregation is the bride of God. And like him I commence wooing for my Lord by stating whose son he is. He is the Son of God. He is very rich. He is the heir of all things in the world.” Edward Eggleston, in telling that story, relates that Patsy, a beautiful girl, who had despised religion and circuit riders, was wonderfully impressed by the sermon. It was the custom in the early days of Methodism to demand that women should eschew jewels, basing it on a New Testament expression about bad worldly ornaments. So while the preacher was exhorting and pleading for a bride for his master, Patsy commenced taking off her earrings, loosening her bracelets, and putting them all on the table. Then she said, “I seek to be ornamented by the One to whom you propose to espouse me, even the Lord Jesus Christ. I lay aside the trappings of external wealth and splendour, and look for that quality of spirit that best ornaments a woman.” Paul says, showing that the Methodist preacher was not going out of the record, “I have espoused you to Christ.”
The custom was for the betrothal to take place at the house of the bride’s father, and Eliezer comes in the name of his master and the betrothal is undertaken. The marriage is consummated whenever the bride is taken to the bridegroom’s house, and he meets and takes her in. The virgins of Mat 25 are all espoused, but the bridegroom has not yet come to take them to his house. When Eliezer had stated his case the father and brother say, “This thing proceeds from Jehovah, and it is a question we cannot answer. Behold Rebekah is before you. Take her and go, and let her be the wife of thy master’s son.” As soon as the betrothal is completed, Eliezer according to custom, takes the lady to his camel and hands out the presents sent by the bridegroom. “And the servants brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah, and he gave also to her brother and her mother precious things.” We perpetuate that somewhat in our marriage festivals when friends bring bridal presents. According to an Eastern custom a bridegroom makes presents to the bride’s mother and family. As these samples of the richness of Abraham were displayed, they felt still better satisfied about the judiciousness of the marriage.
Next morning Eliezer wants to start right home, but they said, “Let the damsel stay awhile. You stay a couple of weeks or months.” But Orientals always expect the answer, “No, I am in a hurry. I must go.” So they proposed to leave it to the girl. I have often wondered if they were going to leave anything to her. They called Rebekah and she said, “I will go.” That leads me to remark what a singular thing it is that a girl raised in a loving family, sheltered by parental care from even a cold breath of air, the pride and light of the house, all at once, on one night’s notice, pulls up stakes and leaves the old home, saying to a man pretty much what Ruth said to Naomi, “Where thou goest I will go. Where thou lodgest I will lodge. Thy God shall be my God, and thy people shall be my people, and God do so to me, if I ever cease from following after thee.” And yet, it is God’s providence. So Rebekah and her maids, and the servant of Abraham and his men struck out from Haran on the Euphrates, on that long pilgrimage, south to Damascus; to the headwaters of the Jordan; then down either side of the river until you come to Hebron, where the bridegroom was. Just before Rebekah gets to Hebron, it happened that Isaac was out, taking a walk for meditation. In such a period of a young man’s life, he is given to meditation. When you see a young fellow that has always wanted to be surrounded by a crowd of boys, getting up early in the morning and taking a long walk by himself, there is something up. So Isaac was out on this meditating expedition, and Rebekah saw him. She instantly slipped down from the camel and put the veil over her face. The bridegroom could never see the face of the bride until he took her into his house. That part I do not think I would like. In the East the women are secluded until after their marriage.
The next chapter gives us an account of Abraham we hardly expect. Sarah has been dead sometime, and he took another wife, Keturah. Then there is a statement of their children and the countries they inhabit. They become mostly Arabs. We find this in Gen 25:5 : “And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. But unto the sons of the concubines, Hagar and Keturah, that Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts; and he sent them away from his son Isaac, while he yet lived, eastward unto the east country.” Though he made provisions for all, his general estate went to the child of promise.
Abraham lived 175 years and died in a good old age, full of days. Brother Smith used that expression in conducting the funeral of President Brooks’ father. Going from the funeral I asked my wife, who is a good listener to a sermon of any kind, what Brother Smith said. She said, “He had the usual things to say on such occasions, but brought out the biblical interpretation I am not sure about. He interpreted ‘full of days’ to mean ‘satisfied with his days.’ ” I said, “He certainly is right. Old age and full of days are distinguished thus. A man might live to be an old man and not be full of days. Every retrospect of his life might bring him sorrow.” I am afraid few people, when they come to die, can say with Paul, “The time of my exodus is at hand, and I am ready to be poured out full of days. I have fought a good fight. I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up a crown which God the righteous judge shall give to me.”
The next noticeable expression is, “He was gathered to his people.” That does not mean that his body was deposited in the family burying ground. As yet no member of his family was in the cave of Machpelah except his wife. In the Old Testament the expression refers to the soul and is one of those expressions that teach the belief in the immortality of the soul and the existence of the soul separate from the body. Next, Isaac and Ishmael bury him. The last time we saw Ishmael was at the weaning of Isaac, when he was mocking. Both are married. Ishmael has a large family. The fathers of these nationalities that are to be distinct until the second coming of Christ, come together at the father’s grave. It is very touching that these two boys whom the antagonism of life had parted, whom the very trend of destiny had led separate, when the father died, came back without antagonism to bury him.
The chapter then gives a brief account of the generations of Ishmael, which constitutes one of the sections of the book of Genesis. Note the fact that according to the promise made to Ishmael, he becomes the father of twelve tribes. He died at the age of 137. Gen 25:18 says, “Before the face of his brethren he abode.” That expression means that he dwelt in the sight of his brethren, yet separated from them, living his own independent life.
Abraham is now dead. Here is a question I put to every class in Genesis. Analyze the character of Abraham and state the constituent elements of his greatness. I give you some hints.
(1) His mighty faith, the father of the faithful, whose faith took steps and staggered not through unbelief, no matter how often or hard it was tried. That is the supreme element of his greatness.
(2) His habit of religion. He took no “religious furloughs” when he travelled, as some men do. Wherever he stopped he erected an altar to God. Some years ago at Texarkana, some young men got on the train, and among them a Baptist preacher, and all were drinking. Finally one of them turned to him and said, “I won’t drink with you any more unless you will promise to quit preaching.” He was away from home and thought nobody knew him.
(3) His capacity for friendship. He was one of very few men counted the friend of God. Christ says concerning some of his people, “I call you not servants. I call you friends, and ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.” Abraham was also a friend of his fellow men. No man or woman, no matter what the external conditions, who is not capable of great, strong, undying friendship, can be very great.
(4) His love of peace. He said to Lot concerning the strife between the herdsmen, “Let there be no strife between us. Though I am the older and came here first, you can take the land you want and I will take what is left.” Lot selected the fertile plain of the Jordan and pitched his tent. Wherever Abraham went there were warlike, quarrelsome tribes, men who lived with swords on and daggers in hand, yet he had no quarrels.
(5) But as we have seen, when necessary to make war, he struck fast, hard, and effectively. He evinced great courage.
(6) His independence of character. He would not accept a gift from Ephron the Hittite a burying place for his dead. He would not accept as much as a shoestring from the spoils of the Sodomites, which he had recovered in battle from the Babylonians, lest the king of Sodom should say, “I have made Abram rich.”
(7) His justice. In an old reader there is a legend that a stranger, lost and in trouble, came to his tent. Abraham cared for his stock, washed his feet, gave him food and a place to sleep. But when the man started to lie down, Abraham seized him and said, “You cannot sleep under my tent. You propose to lie down without thanking God for these blessings!” He put him out and the man went to sleep outside of the tent. In the night came a voice from heaven, “Abraham, where is the guest I sent?” “Lord, he came; I treated him kindly, but when I saw how unthankful to thee he was, I cast him out.” “Abraham, I have borne with that man many years. Could you not bear with him one night? I sent him that you might lead him to me.” Abraham, weeping, went out, and brought the man back in his arms.
(8) Governing his family. “I know Abraham, that he will command his children after him.”
(9) His unswerving obedience.
(10) His affection and provision for his family. He loved his wife very much, and made provision for every member of his family before he died. These are some of the characteristics of the greatness of Abraham. They are homely virtues, but they are rare on that account.
QUESTIONS 1. To whom was Lot indebted for his rescue from the destruction of Sodom? Proof?
2. What was the origin of the Moabites and Ammonites and how does their history harmonize with their origin?
3. In whose country does Abraham locate after the destruction of Sodom, of which son of Noah were they descendants and what the origin of their name?
4. Who was king of this people, what was Abraham’s aim here and what notable example of intercessory prayer?
5. Recite Sarah’s Magnification and give a New Testament parallel.
6. What was the occasion of Ishmael’s sin that drove him and his mother from home, what was the sin itself, the wisdom of Sarah, the divine approval and the New Testament use of this incident?
7. Tell the story of Hagar and Ishmael as outcasts, what text cited in this story, and what the application?
8. Whom did Ishmael marry, how many nations of his descendants and who are his descendants today?
9. What was the covenant between Abimelech and Abraham and what advice to businessmen is based thereon?
10. What great trial of Abraham’s faith and how did he stand the test?
11. What two marvelous lessons from this incident?
12. What blessing from heaven on Abraham because of his obedience in this test and what New Testament impress of this passage?
13. In the great trial of his faith when Isaac was offered, how was Abraham a type of the Father?
14. Why the incident of Gen 22:20-24 , given here, and what the text and Hardshell sermon cited?
15. What of particular interest in the twenty-third chapter, what Oriental custom here exemplified and what was the medium of exchange?
16. What two new revelations in Gen 24 , and tell the story of how Isaac got his wife.
17. What famous text is in this passage and what noted sermon cited on it?
18. What was the custom of Oriental marriages and what New Testament scripture does it illustrate?
19. What part of the Oriental marriage do we perpetuate in our marriages and with what modifications?
20. What part did Rebekah have in this affair and what eastern custom does she comply with upon her first sight of Isaac?
21. Who was Abraham’s second wife and who were his descendants by this wife?
22. How old was Abraham when he died and what is the meaning of “full of days”?
23. What is the meaning, both negatively and positively, of the expression: “He was gathered to his people,” what touching thing occurred at his funeral and what was the meaning of “Before the face of his brethren he abode”?
24. Analyze the character of Abraham and state the constituent elements of his greatness.
Gen 21:1 And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken.
Ver. 1. And the Lord visited Sarah. ] God pays not his people with words only, as Sertorius did his soldiers, a He fools them not off with fair promises, b as Ptolemy (surnamed therefore D ) did his favourites; but is real, yea, royal in his promises and performances. Of many promisers it may be said, as Tertullian of the peacock, all in changeable colours: as oft changed as moved. Italians all; as Aeneas Sylvius said of Italy; Novitate quadam, nihil habet stablile . Not so their ancestors, the Romans. They had a great care always to perform their word; insomuch, that the first temple built in Rome was dedicated to the goddess Fidelity. Great men’s words, saith one, are like dead men’s shoes: he may go barefoot that waits for them. Not so good men; they will stand to their oath, though it tend to their loss. Psa 15:4 They are children that will not lie. Isa 63:8 Their Father is a God that cannot lie. Tit 1:2 He is the God of Amen, as Isaiah calleth him; Isa 65:16 and “all his promises are Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus,” 2Co 1:20 “the faithful and true witness”. Rev 3:14 Judah would not break promise with the harlot, lest he should be shamed. Gen 38:23 One of the laws of the knights of the band in Spain was, that if any of them broke his promise, he went alone by himself, and nobody spake to him, nor he to any. When God serves any so, let him be so served. But the promises are ancient. Tit 1:2 And not any tittle of them, as yet, ever fell to the ground. Wherefore, “gird up the loins of your minds, and trust perfectly on the grace that is brought unto you”. 1Pe 1:13 “Faithful is he that hath promised, who also will do it”. 1Th 5:24
a Zonaras.
b Pollicitis dives quilibet esse potest . – Plutarch.
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Gen 21:1-7
1Then the LORD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had promised. 2So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. 3Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. 4Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” 7And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
Gen 21:1
NASBThen the LORD took note of Sarah”
NKJVand the LORD visited Sarah”
NRSVthe LORD dealt with Sarah”
TEVthe LORD blessed Sarah”
NJBYahweh treated Sarah as he had said”
YHWH is repeated twice for emphasis. This child was by His enabling! The VERB is literally “visited” (BDB 823, KB 955, Qal PERFECT). This is often used of God drawing near to someone either for blessing or judgment. In the positive sense one may note Gen. 15:24-25 and Exo 13:19. However, it must be noted that this word is usually used in the sense of judgment.
“as He had promised” This seems to specifically refer to Gen 18:10-15. Sarah delivering (Gen 21:2; Heb 11:11 ) the special child of promise is implied in God’s promises to Abraham in Genesis 12, 15, , , 17.
Gen 21:2 “at the appointed time” This refers specifically to Gen 17:21; Gen 18:10; Gen 18:14. I believe that it refers to the nine month gestation period.
Gen 21:3 “Isaac” His name was given in Gen 17:19; Gen 17:21. It comes from the word for “laughter” (BDB 850) and is connected to Abraham’s laughter in Gen 17:17 and Sarah’s laughter in Gen 18:15.
Gen 21:4 “Abraham circumcised his son Isaac” This was the sign of the covenant mandated by YHWH. It was done when the child was eight days old as God had commanded (cf. Gen 17:9-14). From Gen 17:25, the Arabs developed the practice of circumcising their children at age thirteen, in line with the circumcision of Ishmael. All of the people of the Ancient Near East circumcised their children, but at different ages and for different purposes. Only the Philistines and Hivites were uncircumcized (i.e., Genesis 34).
Gen 21:5 Again, Abraham’s age (cf. Gen 17:17) is given to show the grace of God in His promise, not human strength or effort.
Gen 21:6 There is a word play on
1. Abraham and Sarah’s expressed doubt about the Lord’s revelation in Gen 17:17; Gen 18:12 by laughing
2. the child is named “laughter”
3. laughter was the outward sign of the joy of Sarah finally having a child of her own and people congratulating her by laughing with her
4. laughter is used in a negative sense in Gen 21:9 of Hagar’s attitude toward Isaac
Gen 21:7 “Sarah will nurse children” The term “children” is PLURAL. Hebrew has so many unexpected PLURALS. It must have been a way to show (1) things that come in pairs (eyes, ears, hands) and (2) intensity (i.e., PLURAL OF MAJESTY).
the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.
as = according as.
said. Emphasis on “said” for our faith.
spoken. Figure of speech Pleonasm (App-6), for emphasis.
Now the LORD visited Sarah as he had said ( Gen 21:1 ),
I like this.
and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken ( Gen 21:1 ).
I like that, “as He had said, and as He had spoken.” I’ve got that underlined that just sort of hit me. “The Lord visited Sarah as he had said.” The Lord keeps His word. The Lord is faithful to His promise. He may not do it as quickly as we would like Him to do it. Abraham been waiting for thirteen years, you know, since the last promise was made. And he was getting older everyday. But the Lord came to Sarah as He said and He did as He had spoken.
And Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time which God had spoken to him about. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Laughter ( Gen 21:2-3 ).
Certainly it’s a fitting name for the son because the first time God said, “Hey, I’m going to give Sarah a son”; Abraham just laughed. And then later on when the angel of the Lord came to Abraham and said, “Sarah is going to bear thee a son”; she was standing at the tent door eavesdropping and when she heard that, she laughed. And the angel said, “Why’d you laugh”? She said, “Oh, I didn’t laugh”. “Oh yes, you did”. And so very fitting that the child be named Laughter when he was born.
And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. And Abraham was a hundred years old, when Isaac was born unto him. And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah would be given a child to nurse? for I have born him a son in his old age. And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned ( Gen 21:4-8 ).
Don’t you know that this kid was one of the most pampered kids that ever came along? Boy, after waiting this long a time and all, I’m sure that Isaac was just, oh my, the center of attention and excitement and all.
And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born to Abraham, mocking ( Gen 21:9 ).
Now at this time, he was a teenager, thirteen, fourteen years old and he at this great ceremony and all, and feast, he mocked. He was looking with a sneer at this half-brother of his. And Sarah saw his attitude and the sneering.
Therefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son ( Gen 21:10-11 ).
Now Abraham was torn. He loved Ishmael because Ishmael was his son and the thing really hurt Abraham.
But God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called ( Gen 21:12 ).
So God is telling Abraham, Go ahead and listen to your wife. “Hearken unto her, cast out the bondwoman.”
And also the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, he took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba ( Gen 21:13-14 ).
Now that is, of course, it’s not very much to give to her. A bottle of water and a loaf of bread and send her off. And she wandered in the area of Beersheba. Evidently, she was intending to go down to Egypt but lost her way.
And soon she ran out of water, and the child, she put the child under one of the shrubs. And she went, and sat down over nearby a good way off, as it were a bowshot ( Gen 21:15-16 ):
Now this was happened after the weaning of Isaac. And they usually nurse children till they were three or four years old, so it means that he was actually about sixteen years old or so at this point, Ishmael. And yet because of the lack of water, he was faint and she put him under a bush, one of the shrubs, and she got down a ways off, about as far as you could shoot an arrow,
And she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and she lifted up her voice, and wept. And God heard the voice of the lad ( Gen 21:16-17 );
So evidently, Ishmael was praying also unto God as he was lying there under that shrub.
and the angel of God called unto Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What ails you, Hagar ( Gen 21:17 )?
How many times has God called out of heaven and say, “What ails you?” you know.
fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise and lift up the lad, and hold him in your hand; and I will make him a great nation. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad a drink. And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt ( Gen 21:17-21 ).
And so Ishmael became the father of the Arabs. And so actually, the Arabs and the Israelis are linked together through Abraham. And yet, there is to this day that bitterness and animosity that exists between the two, between the Arabs and the Israelites.
And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phichol the chief captain of his host spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with you in all that you’re doing: Now therefore swear unto me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son’s son: but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned. And Abraham said, I will swear ( Gen 21:22-24 ).
Now Abimelech recognized that the hand of God’s blessing and prosperity was upon Abraham. And he began to be a little fearful. What’s the future hold? What about my grandkids, you know? This guy is continually blessed of God and gets great. Maybe they’ll, you know, he’ll wipe us out. And so he wanted sort of a treaty with Abraham that he would treat them well.
And Abraham then took the opportunity to reprove Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech’s servants had violently taken away from Abraham. And Abimelech said, I did not know that this thing was done: you didn’t tell me about it and I didn’t know it until now. And so Abraham took sheep and oxen, and he gave them to Abimelech; and they both of them made there a covenant. And Abraham set seven ewe lambs by themselves. And Abimelech said to Abraham, What’s the deal with these seven ewe lambs that are setting over by themselves? And Abraham said unto it them that these are a witness that I am the one who dug this well. And so they called the name of the place Beersheba [or the well of witness]; because there they both of them swore together. Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba: and Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned to the land of the Philistines. And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba [of tamaris], and called there upon the name of the LORD, the everlasting God ( Gen 21:25-33 ).
El owlam. Owlam. El owlam, God everlasting.
And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines’ lands for many days ( Gen 21:34 ).
“
At last in God’s ‘Set time,” and in spite of all natural difficulties, the long-promised son was born. Sarah who at an earlier point had laughed with the laughter of incredulity, now laughed with the laughter of realization.
There is something vivid and startling, even, in the story of Ishmael. It was necessary that, because of an act of unbelief, the son should be cast out in order to carry out the divine purpose. Yet in this act the tenderness of God is revealed in that He “heard the voice of the lad,” and sent an angel, promising that he also should become a great nation.
The principal value of the story is that of the part it plays in the history of Abraham. In spite of personal inclination and in simple obedience, he sent forth the child of the bond-woman and leaned back wholly and only on the divine provision for the fulfillment of the promise.
The chapter closes with the account of the covenant made with Abimelech. This covenant was based on Abimelech’s clear recognition of the fact that God was with Abraham. Notwithstanding the previous failure of Abraham’s faith, which had brought about Abimelech’s rebuke, the deeper fact of the existence of his faith had influenced this man and did bring him into covenant relationship with God through Abraham. As the story is written, there seems to be no reason to think that in this covenant made on the basis of the recognition of God there was anything contrary to the purpose of God. I prefer to think of it as revealing the influence that might have been growingly exerted by the people of faith had they been true to God.
Birth of Isaac
Gen 21:1-7
God is faithful. Heaven and earth may pass, but His word cannot fail. We may wait until all human hopes have died, and then, at Gods set time, the child is born. Abraham laughed at the first announcement of this event, Gen 17:17. Later, as Sarah listened to the conversation between her husband and his mysterious guests, she laughed with incredulity, Gen 18:12-15. But now, in the joy of long-deferred motherhood, she found that the Lord had prepared laughter for her, and so named her child Isaac. See r.v. margin. Be of good cheer. The Lord has prepared laughter for you also, some few miles ahead on lifes journey. Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright. O thou afflicted, He shall lay thy stones in fair colors! And when thy joy comes, rejoice in it. Thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the Lord thy God giveth thee. But in those hours think kindly of others, and do not forget that some, like Hagar, may be disappointed by what gives thee joy!
Gen 21:15-19
In this hidden well, which Ishmael’s prayer uncovered, lies many a true lesson, if only we have the right sort of pitcher to dip and draw.
I. How came the well to be there, just where and when it was wanted? The Arab shepherds who dug it never meant it for wandering travellers, but for their own flocks. God guided the steps of Hagar to it. Life is full of hidden wells-stored-up blessings, ready at the right moment to supply the answer to prayer. God foresees our prayers as well as our necessities.
II. Our encouragement to pray is not our own goodness, but God’s. We plead not the name of Abraham, or of any earthly parent or friend, but the name of Jesus, God’s own dear Son.
III. Learn from this story not to think little things of no importance, and not to be afraid to pray to God about little things as well as great. There are two reasons which prove that God does not disdain to attend to little things: (1) He has made many more little things than great, and has made the greatest things to depend on the least; (2) God is so great, that the difference between what we call great and little is to Him as nothing; and He is so wise, that nothing-not a thought or atom-is small enough to escape His eye.
IV. Prayer itself is a hidden well; a secret source of strength and joy and wisdom, not only in times of trouble, but always. Do not wait for trouble to drive you to prayer, but say, like the Psalmist, “O God, Thou art my God, early will I seek Thee.”
E. R. Conder, Children’s Sermons, “Drops and Rocks,” p. 25.
Reference: Gen 21:16.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvii., No. 974.
Gen 21:17
A minister once said to a boy, “Can you pray? How did you pray?” He said, “Sir, I begged.” He could not have used a better word: praying is begging of God.
Prayer is very much like a bow. The arrow is a promise; the string is faith. You use your faith; with your faith you send a promise up to the skies. David said, “I will make my prayer and look up,”-look up and see where the arrow comes down again.
There are a great many things to think of in prayer. Let me tell you of one or two.
(1) You should always address God by one of His names or titles, in a very reverent way. You have to thank God for His mercies; you have to confess to God your sins; you have to trust God to bless you; you have to ask for other people; then to end all “For Jesus Christ’s sake.” Tell God anything you like, only take care you ask it all in the name of Jesus, because we have no promise to prayer that God will hear us unless we add the name of Jesus to it.
(2) Every boy and girl ought to have a form of prayer, though they need not always use it. A psalm is sometimes very good. But the more you practise, the more you will have to say out of your heart.
(3) Wandering thoughts often trouble us in prayer. They are like the birds which flew down on Abraham’s altar and spoilt the sacrifice. We must drive away these little birds; we must ask God to keep off the wandering thoughts.
(4) When you are praying always remember that there is One who is offering up that prayer for you to God. That prayer does not go to God just as you send it up: but before it gets to the throne of God it gets much sweeter. Jesus puts His sweet incense into our prayer. So God will be pleased with us for His sake.
(5) Pray always. You cannot always kneel down and pray, but little prayers in your hearts can be always going up. These little darts or ejaculations can be sent up anywhere, at any time.
J. VAUGHAN, Sermons to Children, 5th series, p. 105.
I. This passage teaches a lesson to parents. It teaches that God is with us at our work; that the wilderness of life is full of Him; that in the waste of this world He is close beside us; that our children are His children; that He sees them under the shrub of the desert; that He has a property in them, a work for them, a work in them; that they are heirs, not of the desert in which they seem to be perishing, but of the many mansions of their heavenly Father’s house. Believe that your children have been united to Christ; and that if you teach them to claim this union for themselves, its strength and its healing shall come out for them day by day as you seek to bring them up for Him.
II. This passage contains instruction for the young themselves. (1) God saw the lad as he lay beneath the desert shrub. And He sees you, wherever you are, at home or abroad-His eye is ever on you. Learn this lesson first-God’s eye is ever on the lad, and sees him wherever he is. (2) God was the true protector of the lad, and He is your true and only Friend. He sees in you the adopted children of Jesus Christ. Even from your helpless infancy has He thus looked on you, and had purposes of love towards you. (3) God had a purpose for the lad and a work in him. He meant him to become a great nation in these waste places. His casting out, dark as it seemed, was preparing the way for this; and so it is with you. Everything around you is ordered by God for an end. That end is truly your best spiritual happiness. (4) God heard the voice of the lad; and He will hear you in every time of your trouble. Ishmael was heard because he was the son of Abraham; you will be heard because you are the son of God through Christ.
S. Wilberforce, Sermons, p. 115.
Homeless, helpless: is there any sight more pitiable than this-a child in the wilderness? Think of the hundreds about us, pinched with hunger, perishing in sore need; the young life passing away neglected, to appear before the throne of God, there by its presence to plead against us, or else rising up in this wilderness to avenge our disregard,-“a wild man, whose hand shall be against every man, and every man’s hand against him.”
I. We dwell on these words especially as teaching the Father’s care for the children. Do not think of this event as occurring under a dispensation so different from ours that we can find in it no distinct teaching for to-day-very beautiful, but of little worth save for its beauty. These words mean a thousandfold more to us than they could do to Hagar. The Father had not then revealed Himself in the only-begotten Son. The Son of God went away into the wilderness; He shivered in the cold night-blast; He felt the pitiless beating of the storm. And now in all the world there is not one poor child shut out from His sympathy, for He Himself has lived a child of poverty and woe.
II. Not to angels now is this work of rescue given. It is our high honour and prerogative to be the ministers of the Father’s love. Angels may bring the tidings, perhaps, but only that we may obey. Angels shall reveal the means, but only that we may carry the blessing. Hagar must fill the bottle and give the lad to drink; she must lift him up and hold him by the hand.
M. G Pearse, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 303
References: Gen 21:17.-Bishop Walsham How, Plain Words to Children, p. 90. Gen 21:19.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xii., No. 681; vol. xix., No. 1123; vol. xxv., No. 1461. Gen 21:22.-Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 416. Gen 21:22-33.-R. S. Candlish, Book of Genesis, vol. i.,
Gen. 21
In the story of Hagar and Ishmael, we notice:-
I. The outcast. As Abraham is the father of all the faithful, so the Arab Ishmael is the father of all our outcasts. He was an impudent boy, who mocked his betters, and became “a wild ass of a man,” whose hand was against every man. Do not despise the poor outcast children of our cities. Respect them for their sorrows; take them into your pity; let them find a home in your heart. For are we not all outcasts, the children of Adam the outcast? Are we not the followers of Him who makes the outcasts of earth the inmates of heaven?
II. The God of the outcast. The highest kindness is to be personally interested in us and to meet our wants. And God showed such kindness to Ishmael. Notice, it was the voice of the lad, not of the mother, that God heard. God pities most those who most need pity; and so should you. When Ishmael is before you, try to be godlike.
III. The angel of the outcast. It is part of angels’ work to cheer and save the outcast. A church near Dijon contains a monument with a group of the Bible prophets and kings, each holding a scroll of mourning from his writings. But above is a circle of angels who look far sadder than the prophets whose words they read. They see more in the sorrows than the men below them see. The angels see the whole of the sins and sorrows of the young, and so rejoice more than we can do over the work of God among them. The orphans of society are cast upon the fatherhood of God, and He wishes them to be the children of the Church and the children of our adoption.
IV. The allegory of the outcast. Look at that lad in the desert perishing of thirst and a fountain at his side. Are you not a spiritual Ishmael to-day, a wanderer upon life’s highway, perishing of thirst at the side of the fountains of living water? Earth is a sandy desert, which holds nothing that can slake your soul’s thirst. But Jesus Christ has opened the fountain of life, and now it is at your very side.
J. Wells, Bible Children, p. 19.
References: Gen 21-F. W. Robertson, Notes on Genesis, p. 50; R. S. Candlish, Book of Genesis, vol. i., p. 346; M. Dods, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Gen 21:6.-Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 167. 21:0-12.-R. S. Candlish, Book of Genesis, vol. i., p. 356. Gen 21:14.-Parker, vol. i., p. 231. Gen 21:20.-Homiletic Magazine, vol. xiii, p. 25.
CHAPTER 21 Isaac and Ishmael and the Covenant with Abimelech
1. Isaacs birth (Gen 22:1-3) 2. His circumcision (Gen 22:4-8)
3. Ishmael mocking (Gen 22:9)
4. Sarahs demand (Gen 22:10-11)
5. God speaks to Abraham (Gen 22:12-13)
6. Hagar and Ishmael cast out (Gen 22:14-16)
7. The intervention of God (Gen 22:17-21)
8. The covenant with Abimelech (Gen. 22:22-34)
Isaac, the promised seed, was born at the set time as God had spoken.
As there was a set time when the promised son was born to Abraham, so there was an appointed time when God gave His Son when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His Son. There is also a set time, when the First-Begotten will be brought into the world again, His second coming. Then it will be the set time for Israel, too, when God remembers His promises and when He visits and does all, what He has spoken concerning them. Thou shalt arise and have mercy on Zion; for the time to favor her, yea, the set time is come (Psa 102:13).
Isaacs name means laughter, the laughter of God in view of mans helplessness. Isaac the promised one, the only one, in his wonderful birth and in his name is a type of the promised seed, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is Gods laughter over Satan, sin and death.
Sarah laughed again, but it is the laughter of joy. The word the Lord spoke to her: is anything too hard for the Lord? wrought faith in her heart. Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised (Heb 11:11). We have called attention before to the allegory in Gal 4:21-31. This passage gives meaning to the historical account. Sarah stands for the grace covenant; Hagar for the law covenant. As soon as the Seed came (Christ) the law was cast out. The law was only the schoolmaster till Christ came. Hagars son also typifies the flesh. Isaac is typical of the nature which grace bestows. No sooner was Isaac weaned and a great feast made than the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, mocked. Ishmael manifests his true character. As long as there was no Isaac, nothing is heard of Ishmael; the presence of Isaac makes known what was in the son of the bond-woman. The presence of the new nature makes known what the flesh really is and it is fulfilled what is written The flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh.
Here we have also a dispensational picture. According to the passage in Galatians Hagar corresponds to Jerusalem which is now, the one who is in bondage with her children. As Hagar wandered in the wilderness so the natural descendants of Abraham have become wanderers. It is on account of that covenant of grace that rich grace in the Lord Jesus Christ, which they rejected that they are cast out. But they are like Hagar in the wilderness of Beersheba, which means translated, well of the oath, reminding us of the oath of God and His gifts and calling, which are without repentance. Like Hagars eyes their eyes are blinded and they see not the well of water which is for them. A time, however, will come when their eyes will be opened and when they shall draw water out of the wells of salvation (Isa 12:3). The rest of the chapter is taken up with the record of the covenant, which Abimelech made with Abraham. He, who had been healed in answer to the prayer of Abraham, now acknowledges openly that God is with his servant. This shows the faithfulness of God to His promises. Abraham is blest and is a blessing. In the grove of Beersheba he called on the name of Jehovah, the everlasting God.
visited: Gen 50:24, Exo 3:16, Exo 4:31, Exo 20:5, Rth 1:6, 1Sa 2:21, Psa 106:4, Luk 1:68, Luk 19:44, Rom 4:17-20
Sarah as: Gen 17:19, Gen 18:10, Gen 18:14, Psa 12:6, Mat 24:35, Gal 4:23, Gal 4:28, Tit 1:2
Reciprocal: Gen 11:30 – barren Gen 24:36 – Sarah Gen 29:31 – he opened Gen 30:22 – remembered Rth 4:13 – the Lord 1Sa 1:19 – and the Lord 2Ki 4:17 – General Psa 8:4 – visitest Ecc 3:2 – time to be born Luk 1:25 – hath Act 7:8 – and so Gal 4:22 – that Heb 11:11 – Sara
The Birth of Isaac
Gen 21:1-21
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
Gen 20:1-18 is a chapter that is vital in many ways.
1. It shows us that even God’s best may err through unbelief. Abraham, in fear, passed off his wife as his sister. She was, indeed, his sister, inasmuch as she was the daughter of his father, yet not of his mother. However, Sarah was more than Abraham’s sister, she was his wife; and Abraham deceived Abimelech.
Unbelief always affects the fate of others. Because of Abraham’s fear and strategy, Abimelech almost lost his life. Abimelech took Sarah to make her his wife; then, God said unto him, in a dream, “Behold thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife.”
Would that all of us would weigh our every act in the light of its effect upon others. God help us not to entail others in our unbelief and sins. And yet, if we do sin, or doubt, others will be affected.
2. It shows the kindness of God. When God warned Abimelech He did it in kindness. He wanted to save the king from being slain, therefore He gave him an opportunity to restore Sarah to Abraham.
God also was manifesting kindness to Abraham, in spite of his unbelief. Sarah also had her share of kindness, in that God kept her from harm. Beyond all of this God was kind to us all, for He was safeguarding Sarah against the time when she should be mother to Isaac, and thus fulfill her part toward us all in the granting to us of a Savior who was born of Sarah’s lineage, so far as the flesh is concerned.
3. It shows that there was a nation that feared God even in the days of Abraham. Abimelech said, as he pled for himself and his nation, “Wilt Thou slay also a righteous nation?” To what extent Abimelech served the Lord we may not know; we do know that he dared to call his nation, righteous.
4. It shows how careful all of us should be in our treatment of God’s people. To Abimelech God said, “Restore the man his wife; for he is a Prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live.”
The Lord’s servant is worthy of double honor. He should be true to his calling, and men should be true to him. He who sins against one of God’s prophets sins against God.
5. It shows the magnanimous spirit of a man who ruled in Gerah. Abimelech gave back to Abraham his wife, but he also gave him gifts, and said, “Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee.”
Thus did Abimelech bless Abraham, and thus, in return, did God bless Abimelech. God sendeth His blessing upon all of those who seek His face and endeavor to walk in His ways. Blessed be the Lord.
I. A FULFILLED PROMISE (Gen 21:1)
1. God kept His promises to Abraham and Sarah. How convincingly the words ring out: “The Lord visited Sarah as He had said.” “The Lord did unto Sarah as He had spoken.” In full assurance of hope Abraham had believed contrary to all human possibility of hope. The impossible is far from the improbable with our God. God works miracles and wonders and signs, with more ease than we mortals can work the simplest matters in the realm of the possible.
Here is the query of the prophet: “Is any thing too hard for the Lord?” Nay, we know that our God can do anything. Every page of Holy Writ is filled with unspeakable marvels. From Gen 1:1 to Rev 22:21 God is described as One who does wonders. Thus, when Sarah and Abraham had reached the end of their row, God stepped in and undertook.
God delights in beginning where we end. When we are all spent in the power to accomplishment, God undertakes.
2. God still keeps faith with His children. There has arisen in these last days some who teach that God has ceased to manifest His presence in the performing of the miraculous. Whether this is an effort to excuse their own lack of faith, or, whether they sincerely believe that God has purposefully ceased to show Himself strong in our behalf, we. may not know.
For our part we believe that the Lord is manifesting most striking manifestations of the miraculous in behalf of His own today. The experiences of missionaries on the far front show unmistakable marks of God’s all-powerful and miraculous deliverances.
Only last night in our church, a missionary, Rev. Young from near the China-Burma frontier, told us how a squad of armed persecutors endeavored time and again to shoot him and his son. Their aim was good, their guns and cartridges were good, but the guns simply would not fire when leveled at the heads of the missionaries. One persecutor deliberately pulled his trigger twice while leveled on the missionary, and the gun would not work; then, in disgust, he raised the gun toward the sky and pulled the trigger and it immediately “went off.” Thus God kept tryst with Sarah and Abraham and fulfilled His promise, in spite of the impossible-and God still keeps tryst with us.
II. OBEDIENT TO GOD’S COMMAND (Gen 21:4)
1. Abraham circumcised his son as God commanded him. There is something refreshing in this simple statement as to Abraham’s obedience. God spake, Abraham obeyed. There was no hesitancy, no quibbling, no arguments, no effort to evade. Abraham did as the Lord commanded.
2. Let us do all of His commands. There is nothing in all of His commands that will interfere with our happiness and prosperity. Let us stop and run through the things which He commands relative to our separation from the world and from sin, all of these will only lead us to better things.
The child may not think that the demands of his parents are for his good, but every true father or mother will only act in behalf of the welfare of his offspring.
All things in God’s physical creation obey the word of the Lord. Shall we who stand far above them refuse to obey? Nay, we will bend the knee and take His yoke. We will listen to His voice, and seek always to do all of His will.
III. THE FLY IN THE OINTMENT (Gen 21:9-10)
1. The joy centering in Isaac. Sarah was a very happy mother. She said, “God hath made me to laugh.” She even looked with the eye of a Prophet, and said, “So that all that hear will laugh with me.”
Mothers usually, we are told, dream dreams as they fondle their children. Sarah must have dreamed with unusual joy. She knew that her babe was a child of destiny. She could sit with her beloved Isaac in her arms, and picture to herself his future glory and power, upon the sure word of the Lord. Wondrous things had been spoken of Isaac, and these things were her song.
2. The great day of feasting. On the day of Isaac’s weaning, Abraham made a great feast. He called in many to rejoice with him and with Sarah over God’s gift. That day, many far-reaching words were spoken of the little one in whose honor the feast was given. God’s promises were no doubt discussed. Perhaps some Simeons were there to bless the babe, and to speak of his marvelously prophetic future.
3. The fly in the ointment. As the feast progressed, Sarah observed the son of Hagar mocking. This spoiled the joy in her heart. She could not endure the mocking of the son of her handmaiden, the son of the bondwoman mocking at her son, the son of the freewoman.
Abraham was called to the rescue, and Hagar and Ishmael were cast out. How often does the evil one seek to spoil our joy and rejoicing in Christ! He is always casting out insinuations of doubt as to God’s fidelity. He is always setting the promises of God at nought.
Let us not waver in our faith nor slacken in our hope. God’s Word will surely come to pass. There shall not fail one good thing of all that He has spoken.
IV. CAST OUT THE BONDWOMAN AND HER SON (Gen 21:10)
1. There is no place for fellowship between the spiritual and the carnal. The Holy Spirit in Gal 4:1-31 speaks at some length on this very thing. He says: “Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by the free-woman.” The one was born by the flesh, the other was by promise.
We have but one thing to do with our “flesh,” that is, to reckon it dead. The flesh stands for our self-life-the “ego.” The flesh is filled up with deceitful desires. It is corrupt. It is enmity to God. It is the representative of our old man.
We are commanded to reckon our flesh as dead. We are to put off the old man, with the workings thereof.
When Abraham took Sarah’s maid to wife, he acted in unbelief. He was prompted by the flesh. His action brought him sorrow. It is always so.
2. There is no place for fellowship between the law and promise. Hagar and Ishmael stand for legality. Hagar stands for Mount Sinai, which gendereth bondage. She stands for the Jerusalem which now is. Sarah stands for Grace. She answers to Jerusalem, which is from above, which is the mother of us all.
Let us examine deeply into our hearts and lives. Are we like unto Abraham, prompted by the flesh, and tying himself down in bondage to earthly things; or, are we like Abraham led by the Spirit, and looking forward to that marvelous vista of coming things-the things which are from above?
There was a while when Ishmael seemed to be Abraham’s chief joy. Ishmael’s mother Hagar thought herself the supplanter of Sarah. However, there came a time when Sarah the desolate became the mother of many more children than Hagar ever knew, or could know. The spiritual always predominates over the carnal, and the fleshly. Let us walk in the Spirit, and we shall not fill up the lusts of our flesh.
V. GOD’S PROVISION FOR THE JUST AND THE UNJUST (Gen 21:12-13)
1. The command to cast out the bondwoman and her son. God spoke unto Abraham as the strife raged in Sarah’s heart, and as she urged Abraham to cast out Hagar. God said, “In all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.”
As Isaac, we too are children of the freewoman and not of the bondwoman.
The son of the flesh cannot inherit with the son of the spiritual. All that is of the flesh must be burned-it is the wood, the hay, and the stubble. If we sow to the flesh, our harvest must perish. Thus, we sow to corruption. If we sow to the Spirit, we sow to that which will reap in life everlasting.
2. God’s watching over Hagar and her child. When Abraham rose up and cast out Hagar, he gave her a bottle of water, and bread, and sent her away. Thus she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. When the water was spent, she cast the child under one of the shrubs, while she herself sat down in the distance saying, “Let me not see the death of the child.” There she mourned and wept.
God heard the voice of the lad and He called to Hagar put of Heaven, encouraging her, and saying,-“I will make him a great nation.”
When we refuse the flesh, we must remember that the accomplishments of the flesh are great. Think of what the genius and prowess of man have done. The world today in its marvelous development is due, for the most part, to the flesh and its skill. Paul knew this when he said, “If any other man * * trust in the flesh, I more.” Yet, Paul also said, “What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.” God did make of Hagar a great nation; but He made of Abraham, a greater.
The flesh weighed by things of earth, and seen in its present temporal glory seems great. However, when the world and its works are consumed, and the earth passes away with a great noise, then the things which remain will glow with a glory that will outshine the stars, and abide forever.
VI. GOD’S PROVISION FOR THE NEEDY (Gen 21:17-21)
When Hagar lifted up her eyes at God’s command she saw a well of water. From this she filled her jug and gave the lad drink. Thus, God was good to the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness and became an archer.
1. God sendeth His rain upon the just, and upon the unjust. Never should we think that God has not been good to those who walk after the flesh. He has been good. He has given to all men all things richly to enjoy. God did not hedge about His temporal blessings and say to the wicked, “Stand thou there.” God opened wide the door, and bade all to eat, to drink, and to be clothed.
The very earth is laden with blessing. These blessings are unstinted, and unguarded. God places no price upon the fruit of the field, or, upon the hidden riches within the earth. The birds of the air are freely given to man.
2. The call of God’s blessings. Every cup of water, every fruit that is good for food, every good and perfect gift from the hand of God is God’s call to man to trust in Him, to hear His voice, and to follow Him. If God has given us all things temporal, richly to enjoy, we may assure our hearts that He has also given us all things spiritual.
God’s goodness to Hagar and to Ishmael should have led them to repentance. How could they accept these things from the hand of God, and yet close their eyes to the better and more enduring things?
We have read how the Lord said concerning food and raiment, “After all of these things do the Gentiles seek.” He also said,-“But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness.”
Over God’s spirituals He has written just as large and cordial a “Whosoever will,” as He has written over His temporals-“Come and dine.”
VII. THE COVENANT AT BEERSHEBA (Gen 21:30-33)
1. Abimelech’s observations. Abimelech saw that God was with Abraham. He and his captain-general said: “God is with thee in all that thou doest.”
We, who name the Name of the Lord, need to so live that we may magnify the Name of our Lord. God does bless us in a thousand ways, yet, how often do we obscure His favor upon us, by our bickerings and strife.
God grant that those who meet us may take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus. We must be unto Him for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory. We must, as His chosen generation, royal priesthood, holy nation, and peculiar people, show forth His praises.
2. Abimelech’s plea for a covenant of peace. When the king saw that God was with Abraham, he wanted to conclude a binding covenant with him that would safeguard him from Abraham’s wrath. Abimelech had been most kind and generous to God’s patriarch, therefore it was a joy to Abraham to seal the covenant.
The sealing was effected by seven ewe lambs which Abraham gave to Abimelech. There they sware unto each other and made their tryst.
Our God has made tryst with us. He has given us a covenant that is sealed in the Blood of His Son. It is a sure covenant. Heaven and earth may pass away, but He will never let His covenant pass. Thank God for the Blood of the Cross, and the Covenant of Grace which it seals. This is a joy forever to His saints.
3. Abraham calls upon the Name of his God. It was at Beer-sheba, the well of the oath, that Abraham planted a grove, and called there upon the Name of his God.
It was at Beer-sheba that the Name of the Lord was called, the Everlasting God. Blessed revelation, blessed fellowship. What a privilege it is to us to have access unto God, the Everlasting! How marvelous that we worms of the dust may worship the One all Divine!
AN ILLUSTRATION
LIFE IS THE MAIN MATTER
“‘A corpse may be laid in state, and sumptuously adorned, but there is no life within.’ Adornments are out of place in the chamber of death; they do but make the scene the more ghastly. We have heard of a dead prince who was placed upon a throne, dressed in imperial purple, crowned, and sceptered! How pitiful the spectacle! The courtiers mustered to so wretched a travesty of state must have loathed the pageantry.
“So is it when a man’s religion is a dead profession; its ostentatious zeal and ceremonious display are the grim trappings which make the death appear more manifest. When, like Jehu, a man cries, ‘Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord,’ his false heart betrays itself. The more he decorates his Godliness the more does the hypocrite’s spiritual death appear. It is not possible to supply the lack of the Divine life. There is an essential difference between a dead child at its’ best and a living child at its worst, and it needs no Solomon to see it. Unless the Spirit of God shall give life, sustain life, and perfect life, none of us can ever dwell with the Living God. This is the point to look to: the vestments and trappings are a secondary business.”
Gen 21:1. The Lord visited Sarah That is, was present with her in his mercy, power, and faithfulness, to perform his gracious promise of giving her a child.
Gen 21:3-6. Isaac; that is, laughter or holy joy. Luk 6:21. Sarah had once laughed through unbelief; now being ashamed of that, she could sing with Mary, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
Gen 21:7. Who would have thought that Sarah should have given suck! The Hebrew women with their last child have often given suck three years. Samuel was not weaned till he could attend the tabernacle. In the isles of the Pacific ocean, princes have been suckled by fourteen women, as our missionaries report. The object of those parents is to make the child grow to enormous strength and stature. How much then does Sarah reprove those effeminate courtiers who refuse their milk to their children. A nurse is not a mother.
Gen 21:9. Mocking, playing, which sometimes means fighting, 2Sa 2:14; or persecuting, with sneers of contempt, as Gal 4:29. Here the bitter fruits of concubinage were tasted in the patriarchs house. It was Sarah, when distrusting the promise, that had brought Hagar to Abrahams bed, as her maid; and some families gave a dotal maid with their daughters to prevent divorce. Now Sarah, feeling as a mother and a wife, requires her to be cast out, and sent home to her own people. One decisive stroke of this kind would prevent a thousand future pains.
Gen 21:12. Hearken unto her voice. Here God has plainly decided against polygamy. Hagar was not Abrahams wife, for in these very words the Lord calls Ishmael the son of a bond-woman: and there is no passage in which God allowed of it. Hence concubinage was a licentious liberty, but too generally assumed by the patriarchs of the earth, and from which the good patriarchs were not wholly free.
Gen 21:14. Bread is here put for the whole of provisions. No doubt Abraham, who grieved for Ishmael, sent the mother and the lad (now near twenty years of age) away, properly equipped with presents, that they might go to their own people in Egypt. But poor Hagar through grief delayed till all the water was spent.
Gen 21:17. God heardand the Angel of God. Primitive christians urged this passage, and very justly too, against the Arians in favour of the Godhead of Christ, and of the Holy Trinity. The preservation of the patriarchs by the angelic presence of the Lord, fairly marks a sociality or a plurality of persons in the Godhead. See Gen 18:2.
Gen 21:20. God was with the lad. Ishmael was indeed cut off from being Abrahams heir; but he was not cut off from the blessing of Abrahams seed, promised to all the families of the earth.
Gen 21:21. His mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt. It is a great addition to the calamity of children born like Ishmael, that they cannot be educated in their fathers house. This is a reproach to religion, and a dangerous stroke at public morals.
Gen 21:33. A grove. Eshel, or esholt, as the Saxons would pronounce it. Holt is the name of very many villages in Germany and in England, once the inviting abodes of knights and chiefs, surrounded with woods. The country people around York still aspirate a short e in the enunciation of the name of that city, and say Eyork. After the covenant with Abimelech, Abraham considered Beer-sheba, the well of the oath, as his favourite residence for the remaining years of his pilgrimage. It was the nearest point of the promised land to Egypt, where he knew his family must sojourn. Groves and fountains in the torrid zones were therefore the pleasing retreats of true devotion, as well as the haunts of idolatry before the erection of temples; while, on the contrary, the druids preferred raising their Cromlech, or broad tabled altar, on three blocks of stones, on the summit of a craggy mountain, as at Cairne-brae near Redruth, and innumerable other places. But where no such places offered, they chose the best situations which the country afforded.
REFLECTIONS.
The long expected and happy day of Isaacs birth arrived at last. Abraham, after having discovered in twenty five years many fears, and sometimes great weakness in his faith, at length embraces the promised son. He could indeed say, Now Lord, mine eyes have seen thy salvation; for in the supernatural gift of Isaac he saw the Saviour, and the glory of his day. Hence we learn, that the birth of a son, when he proves the hope of his family, is to be regarded as one of the greatest of Gods temporal gifts. But let us rejoice with trembling: our children are certain cares, and doubtful comforts. This day of joy to Abraham and Sarah, proved a day of grief and tears to Hagar. Sarah seeing her son mocked, required the expulsion of the bond- woman and her son; and though Abraham would not hearken to her, yet as soon as he knew it to be the will of God he immediately complied. These things, says St. Paul, are an allegory. Hagar represents mount Sinai where the law was given, or Jerusalem where it reigned, which is in bondage with its children. Sarah represents mount Zion which is above, whose children are free, having received the spirit of adoption.
But did Abraham cast out this bond-woman for whom he was grieved; did he alienate this once favourite son, for whom he had entreated the Lord in this fervent prayer, Oh that Ishmael might live before thee? Let us learn of him to comply with Gods severest commands in the mortification of sin; let us cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light. Then our hearts being renewed by faith in the promises, we shall be prepared to serve God in all the duties and difficulties of future life.
Did Hagar and Ishmael weep and cry to the Lord in their grief and trouble; and did the Lord graciously hear and provide for them, and comfort them with future hopes? Let us all learn of them to seek Gods counsel and aid in the day of trouble. He is the orphans father, and the widows friend. Nor let us be discouraged at adversity, for a young mans day of greatest trouble has often proved the day for laying the foundation of his future peace.
Did Abimelech, prompted by selfish motives, on seeing the prosperity of Abraham, court alliance and friendship with him? Just so it is still with worldly men, who on observing the prosperity of the righteous solicit their friendship and connection; and if good men are, in this age of trade and riches, called to stand this trial of their faith and virtue, let them imitate the caution of our patriarch. He reproved Abimelech because of the well; and God having promised the land to Abraham and his seed, he contracted a covenant for three generations only. Good men must contract no covenants with the world at the expense of Gods covenant.
Genesis 21
And the Lord visited Sarah, as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken.” Here we have accomplished promise – the blessed fruit of patient waiting upon God. None ever waited in vain. The soul, that takes hold of God’s promise by faith, has gotten a stable reality which will never fail him. Thus was it with Abraham; thus was it with all the faithful from age to age; and thus will it be with all those, who are enabled, in any measure, to trust in the living God. Oh! it is a wonderful blessing to have God Himself as our portion and resting-place, amid the unsatisfying shadows of this scene through which we are passing; to have our anchor cast within the veil; to have the word and oath of God, the two immutable things, to lean upon, for the comfort and tranquility of our souls.
When God’s promise stood before the soul of Abraham, as an accomplished fact, he might well have learnt the futility of his own effort to reach that accomplishment. Ishmael was of no use, whatever, so far as God’s promise was concerned. He might, and did, afford something for nature’s affections to entwine themselves around, thus furnishing a more difficult task for Abraham to perform afterwards; but he was in no wise conducive to the development of the purpose of God, or to the establishment of Abraham’s faith – quite the reverse. Nature can never do ought for God. The Lord must visit and the Lord must “do,” and faith must wait, and nature must be still; yea, must be entirely set aside as a dead, worthless thing, and then the divine glory can shine out, and faith find in that outshining all its rich and sweet reward. “Sarah conceived and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.” There is such a thing as God’s “set time,” His “due season,” and for this the faithful must be content to wait. The time may seem long, and hope deferred may make the heart sick; but the spiritual mind will ever find its relief in the assurance, that all is for the ultimate display of God’s glory. “For the vision is for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie; though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. . . . . . but the just shall live by his faith.” (Hab. 2: 3, 4) This wondrous faith! It brings into our present all the power of God’s future, and feeds upon God’s promise as a present reality. By its power the soul is kept hanging upon God, when every outward thing seems to be against it; and, “at the set time,” the mouth is filled with laughter. “Abraham was an hundred years old when his son Isaac was born unto him.” Thus nature had nothing to glory in. “Man’s extremity was God’s opportunity;” and Sarah said, “God hath made me to laugh.” All is triumph when God is allowed to show Himself.
Now while the birth of Isaac filled Sarah’s mouth with laughter, it introduced an entirely new element into Abraham’s house. The son of the free-woman very speedily developed the true character of the son of the bond-woman. Indeed, Isaac proved, in principle, to be to the household of Abraham, what the implantation of the new nature is in the soul of a sinner. It was not Ishmael changed, but it was Isaac born. The son of the bond-woman could never be anything else but that. He might become a great nation, he might dwell in the wilderness, and become an archer, he might become the father of twelve princes, but he was the son of the bond-woman all the while. On the contrary, no matter how weak and despised Isaac might be, he was the son of the free-woman. His position and character, his standing and prospects, were all from the Lord. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
Regeneration is not a change of the old nature, but the introduction of a new; it is the implantation of the nature or life of the Second Adam, by the operation of the Holy Ghost, founded upon the accomplished redemption of Christ, and in full keeping with the sovereign will or counsel of God. The moment a sinner believes in his heart, and confesses with his mouth, the Lord Jesus, he becomes the possessor of a new life, and that life is Christ. He is born of God, is a child of God, is a son of the free-woman. (See Rom. 10: 9; Col. 3: 4; 1 John 3: 1, 2; Gal. 3: 26; Gal. 4: 31)
Nor does the introduction of this new nature alter, in the slightest degree, the true, essential character of the old. This latter continues what it was, and is made, in no respect, better; yea, rather, there is the full display of its evil character in opposition to the new element. “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other.” There they are in all their distinctness, and the one is only thrown into relief by the other.
I believe this doctrine of the two natures in the believer is not generally understood; and yet, so long as there is ignorance of it, the mind must be utterly at sea, in reference to the true standing and privileges of the child of God. Some there are, who think that regeneration is a certain change which the old nature undergoes; and, moreover, that this change is gradual in its operation, until, at length, the whole man becomes transformed. That this idea is unsound, can be proved by various quotations from the New Testament. For example, “the carnal mind is enmity against God.” How can that, which is thus spoken of, ever undergo any improvement? The apostle goes on to say, “it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” If it cannot be subject to the law of God, how can it be improved How can it undergo any change? Again, “that which is born of the flesh is flesh.” Do what you Will with flesh, and it is flesh all the while. As Solomon says, “Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar, among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.” (Prov. 27: 22) There is no use in seeking to make foolishness wise: you must introduce heavenly wisdom into the heart that has been heretofore only governed by folly. Again, “ye have put off the old man.” (Col. 3: 9) He does not say, Ye have improved, or are seeking to improve, “the old man;” but, Ye have put it off. This gives us a totally different idea. There is a very great difference between seeking to mend an old garment, and casting it aside altogether, and putting on a new one. This is the ides of the last-quoted passage. It is a putting off the old, and a putting on of the new. Nothing can be more distinct or simple.
Passages might easily be multiplied to prove the unsoundness; of the theory, with respect to the gradual improvement of the old nature – to prove that the old nature is dead in sins, and utterly unrenewable and unimproveable; and, moreover, that the only thing we can do with it is, to keep it under our feet in the power of that new life, which we have in union with our risen Head in the heavens.
The birth of Isaac did not improve Ishmael, but only brought out his real opposition to the child of promise. He might have gone on very quietly and orderly till Isaac made his appearance; but then he showed what he was, by persecuting and mocking at the child of resurrection. What then was the remedy? To make Ishmael better? By no means; but, “cast out this bondwomen and her son; for the son of this bond-woman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.” (8-10) Here was the only remedy. “That which is crooked cannot be made straight;” therefore you have only to get rid of the crooked thing altogether, and occupy yourself with that which is divinely straight. It is labour lost to seek to make a crooked thing straight. Hence all efforts after the improvement of nature, are utterly futile, so far as God is concerned. It may be all very well for men to cultivate and improve that which is of use to themselves; but God has given his children something infinitely better to do, even to cultivate that which is His own creation, the fruits of which, while they, in no wise, serve to exalt nature, are entirely to His praise and glory.
Now the error into which the Galatian churches fell, was the introduction of that which addressed itself to nature. “Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.” Here salvation was made to depend upon something that man could be, or man could do, or man could keep. This was upsetting the whole glorious fabric of redemption, which, as the believer knows, rests exclusively upon what Christ is, and what He has done. To make salvation dependent, in the most remote manner, upon anything in, or done by, man, is to set it entirely aside. In other words, Ishmael must be entirely cast out, and all Abraham’s hopes be made to depend upon what God had done, and given, in the person of Isaac. This, it is needless to say, leaves man nothing to glory in. If present or future blessedness were made to depend upon even a divine change wrought in nature, flesh might glory. Though my nature were improved, it would be something of me, and thus God would not have all the glory. But when I am introduced into a new creation, I find it is all of God, designed, matured, developed by Himself alone. God is the actor, and I am a worshipper; He is the blesser, and I am the blessed; He is “the better,” and I am “the less;” (Heb. 7: 7) He is the giver, and I am the receiver. This is what makes Christianity what it is; and, moreover, distinguishes it from every system of human religion under the sun, whether it be Romanian, Puseyism, or any other ism whatsoever. Human religion gives the creature a place more or less; it keeps the bond-woman and her son in the house; it gives man something to glory in. On the contrary, Christianity excludes the creature from all interference in the work of salvation; casts out the bond-woman and her son, and gives all the glory to Him, to whom alone it is due.
But let us inquire who this bond-woman and her son really are, and what they shadow forth. Galatians 4 furnishes ample teaching as to these two points. In a word, then, the bond-woman represents the covenant of the law; and her son represents all, who are “of works of law,” or on that principle (ex ergon nomou). This is very plain. The bond-woman only genders to bondage, and can never bring forth a free man. How can she? The law never could give liberty, for so long as a man was alive it ruled him. (Rom. 7: 1) I can never be free so long as I am under the dominion of any one. But while I live, the law rules me; and nothing but death can give me deliverance from its dominion. This is the blessed doctrine of Rom. 7. “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that you should be married to another, even to him that is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.” This is freedom; for, “If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” (John 8: 36) So, then, brethren, we are not children of the bond-woman, but of the free.” (Gal. 4: 31)
Now, it is in the power of this freedom that we are enabled to obey the command, cast out this bondwoman and her son.” If I am not consciously free, I shall be seeking to attain liberty in the strangest way possible, even by keeping the bond-woman in the house: in other words, I shall be seeking to get life by keeping the law; I shall be establishing my own righteousness. No doubt, it will involve a struggle to cast out this element of bondage, for legalism is natural to our hearts. “The thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight, because of his son.” Still, however grievous it may be, it is according to the divine mind that we should abidingly stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hat made us free, and not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” (Gal. 5: 1) May we, beloved reader, so fully and experimentally enter into the blessedness of God’s provision for us in Christ, that we may be done with all thoughts about the flesh, and all that it can be, do, or produce. There is a fullness in Christ which renders all appeal to nature utterly superfluous and vain.
Gen 12:1 to Gen 25:18. The Story of Abraham.In this section the three main sources, J. E, P are present. Gunkel has given strong reasons for holding that J is here made up of two main sources, one connecting Abraham with Hebron, the other with Beersheba and the Negeb. The former associates Abraham with Lot. (For details, see ICC.) On the interpretation to be placed on the figures of Abraham and the patriarchs, see the Introduction. The interest, which has hitherto been diffused over the fortunes of mankind in general, is now concentrated on Abraham and his posterity, the principle of election narrowing it down to Isaac, Ishmael being left aside, and then to Jacob, Esau being excluded.
THE PROMISE FULFILLED IN ISAAC
Now the grace of God bears its most important fruit in the history of Abraham. Sarah, at the unlikely age of 90 years, gives birth to Isaac, at the time God Himself had appointed (v.2). Though faith (that of Abraham) had waited long, till he was 100 years of age, yet grace (as seen in Sarah) eventually bore the fruit that God had promised. This pictures the fact that believers throughout the Old Testament had waited through centuries before the grace of God is seen in all its beautiful fruition in the birth of the Lord Jesus. What an answer to their patient waiting in faith! He came at God’s appointed time, after the law had proven itself unable to bring forth any fruit for God. He has come to fill the hearts of the faithful with deepest joy, just as Abraham and Sarah were so delighted with their son that they named him Isaac, meaning “laughter”.
ISAAC WEANED AND ISHMAEL PUT OUT
It may seem a curious matter to us that Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned (v.8). But the typical teaching in this is of striking importance. Dispensationally, the birth of Christ is foreshadowed in the birth of Isaac; then the death of the Lord Jesus is pictured in Isaac’s circumcision. The weaning of Isaac therefore would speak of the establishing of Christianity as seen in the book of Acts.
At this time Sarah saw Ishmael the son of Hagar mocking. Being the son of the bondwoman, we have seen that he is a type of Israel after the flesh, under bondage to law. When Christ was preached in the book of Acts, this caused contemptuous opposition on the part of the religious Jews who were zealous for the law of Moses. Sarah demanded of Abraham that he should drive out the bondwoman and her son, for she insisted he was not to have any part with Isaac as heir (v.10).
Abraham found this extremely hard to do, because, after all, Ishmael was actually his son (v.11). Therefore God Himself intervened to tell him not to be grieved in acting on Sarah’s word. However he felt about it, his feelings were not to rule in this matter. The reason for his putting Hagar and Ishmael out is plainly told him, “For in Isaac your seed shall be called” (v.12). Again we are given the clear message that grace and law cannot be mixed. In fact, when Gal 4:30 refers to this matter, Sarah’s words are said to be “scripture:” What does scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son.” In other words, it was God who put those words into Sarah’s lips.
By the time the book of Acts was finished, therefore, Christianity was clearly distinguished from Judaism. God made it abundantly clear that He accepted repentant sinners on the ground of pure grace, and only through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the seed of Isaac.
On the other hand, God assured Abraham that He would make a nation of Ishmael because he was Abraham’s seed. In spite of the nomadic, wandering character of the Ishmaelites, God would preserve them as a nation, as He has for centuries. They are of course not Israelites, but they are typical of Israel after the flesh. We must not forget that God’s dealings with nations as such are distinct from His dealings with individuals in the nations. Though Israel is His chosen nation, yet this does not limit Him in His working in the hearts of people in any nation under heaven. Nor does Israel’s national status guarantee the personal blessing of all who are born Israelites. The New Testament makes it clear that personal faith in the living God is an absolute requisite for the receiving of the grace of God in Christ Jesus. Consider Rom 10:1-13.
Abraham, believing God, did not delay. He rose early the next morning, no doubt considering it well that Hagar would have an entire day in which to prepare for what to expect by nightfall. He gave her food and a skin of water. But she had no direction as to where to go. She wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba, which means “well of the oath.” It is like Israel, wandering in their present state of independence of God, but in the very place that should remind them of God’s oath that He will unfailingly bless them yet.
The water in the skin was soon used up. This is a picture of the fact that under law there was some measure of ministry of the word of God, but a very limited measure, so that eventually the law itself would lead to death (cf.Romans 7:10). In her utter desolation Hagar thought that Ishmael was dying, and she left him under a shrub while she went a little distance away and wept, not able to bear the sight of her son’s death (v.16).
But the God who ordered her expulsion is the God of grace. He heard the voice of the boy (v.17), then spoke directly to Hagar, “What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is.” At such a time, why did Hagar show no faith in God by appealing to Him’? But if not, God would still hear the complaint of her son. The legal principle always leaves one to himself and to his own strength, which must fail. But God in grace tells her to rise and lift up the lad “and hold him with your hand.” That is, she was to hold him up that he would not fall. Does it not remind us that God, by His grace, holds up every believer, — “for God is able to make him stand” (Rom 14:4). This is true, no matter how distressing our circumstances my be. God opened Hagar’s eyes to see a well of water that she had not observed before. How often it is the case that people are perishing for thirst spiritually because they are blinded by the legality of their own thoughts, and do not discern that God’s source of true refreshment is actually near them — “in your mouth and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom 10:8-9). But people’s eyes are not opened to this naturally: this work must be done by God’s sovereign operation.
By the water from the well Ishmael was saved from an untimely death, and Hagar also. Nothing more is said about how they survived or where they went at the time, but it is sufficient that God was with the boy. He grew, living in the wilderness, and became an archer, earning his support evidently by selling the meat of the animals he killed in hunting. This was in contrast to Isaac who owned flocks and heard (Gen 26:14). As a type of Christ, Isaac had a shepherd character. Ishmael’s archer character is more in keeping with his picturing the law with its arrows being continually fired to cause damage. Hagar, an Egyptian herself, chose a wife from the land of Egypt for Ishmael, for the law’s closest relationship is with the world, symbolized by Egypt.
PHILISTINES RECOGNIZE GOD IS WITH ABRAHAM
Evidently it is the same Abimelech of Chapter 20 who, with his chief captain, approaches Abraham to tell him they had observed that God was with him in all that he did (v.22). Since Abraham had so increased in riches, this could be a threat to the Philistines if Abraham were to become militant. Therefore Abimelech desires the protection of an oath from Abraham that he would not deal falsely with him, with his son, nor with his grandson. He reminds Abraham that he himself had shown kindness to him, which was true (v.23).
Abraham had no hesitation in telling Abimelech that he would indeed swear by God to this effect. It is good to see that he first gave this promise before telling him of a well of water that Abimelech’s servants had violently taken away (v.25). Thus the matter is rightly faced, while the relationship remains cordial. Abimelech assures him that he personally had had no knowledge of this.
It may seem that, rather than Abraham giving gifts of sheep and oxen to Abimelech at this time, it would have been more becoming the other way around. However, Abraham is showing the genuineness of his covenant. This reminds us too that in chapter 20:14 it was Abimelech who gave to Abraham sheep, oxen and servants at a time when Abraham was really to blame. Now it is Abraham’s turn!
Abraham set seven ewe lambs apart from the other animals (v.28) and explained this to Abimelech as being a witness that Abraham had dug the well (v.30). Of course Abimelech’s receiving them would therefore be a public acknowledgement that this was true. Abraham then called the place “Beersheba” — “well of the oath,” because both he and Abimelech gave their oath to one another, evidently a covenant of peace, that neither would infringe on the other’s rights. The situation then was much more amicable than that now existing between Israel and the Palestinians present day Philistines)! But it is typical of the peace that will be established in the millennium. Consistently with this Abraham planted there a tamarisk tree (an evergreen) and “called upon the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God.” It pictures a true, lasting peace to be established only by the everlasting God, and which we know is yet future. But Abraham was welcome then to sojourn in the Philistines’ land for many days.
12. The birth of Isaac 21:1-21
God proved faithful to His promise by providing Isaac. Abraham and Sarah responded with obedience and praise. Ishmael, however, became a threat to Abraham’s heir and, consequently, his father sent him away into the wilderness where God continued to provide for him and his mother.
God’s provision and Abraham and Sarah’s response 21:1-7
The emphasis in this brief section is on the faithfulness and power of God in keeping His promise and providing an heir miraculously through Sarah (Gen 17:16; Gen 18:14). Note the threefold repetition of "as He had said," "as He had promised," and "of which God had spoken" (Gen 21:1-2). The tension of anticipation finally subsides, but only temporarily.
God "visited" Sarah (Gen 21:1, NIV), a common metaphor that describes God’s intervention in nature and human afffairs. The Hebrew word translated "visited" (paqad) also appears when God intervened to save the Israelites from Egyptian bondage (Gen 50:24-25; Exo 4:31) and when He ended a famine (Rth 1:6). It also occurs when He made Hannah conceive (1Sa 2:21) and when He brought the Jewish exiles home from Babylonian captivity (Jer 29:10). Thus its presence here highlights the major significance of Isaac’s birth.
Abraham’s obedience in naming his son "Isaac" (Gen 17:19) and circumcising him on the eighth day (Gen 17:12) was an expression of worship.
Isaac’s name ("laughter") was appropriate for two reasons.
1. Isaac would be a source of joy to his parents as the fulfillment of God’s promised seed.
2. Both Abraham and Sarah had laughed in amazement and unbelief respectively when told that God had chosen to bless them by giving them a son so late in life (Gen 17:17; Gen 18:12). [Note: On the alternate reading of Gen 21:6-7 as "God has made a joke of me . . . laugh at me . . .," see Isaac Rabinowitz, "Sarah’s Wish (Gen. XXI 6-7)," Vetus Testamentum 29 (July 1979):362-63. This reading has not won support from most commentators.]
ISHMAEL AND ISAAC
Gen 21:1-34; Gen 22:1-24
Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. Which things are an allegory.- Gal 4:22.
“Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.” Gen 22:10
IN the birth of Isaac, Abraham at length sees the long-delayed fulfilment of the promise. But his trials are by no means over. He has himself introduced into his family the seeds of discord and disturbance, and speedily the fruit is borne. Ishmael, at the birth of Isaac, was a lad of fourteen years, and, reckoning from Eastern customs, he must have been over sixteen when the feast was made in honour of the weaned child. Certainly he was quite old enough to understand the important and not very welcome alteration in his prospects which the birth of this new son effected. He had been brought up to count himself the heir of all the wealth and influence of Abraham. There was no alienation of feeling between father and son: no shadow had flitted over the bright prospect of the boy as he grew up; when suddenly and unexpectedly there was interposed between him and his expectation the effectual barrier of this child of Sarahs. The importance of this child to the family was in due course indicated in many ways offensive to Ishmael; and when the feast was made, his spleen could no longer be repressed. This weaning was the first step in the direction of an independent existence, and this would be the point of the feast in celebration. The child was no longer a mere part of the mother, but an individual, a member of the family. The hopes of the parents were carried forward to the time when he should be quite independent of them.
But in all this there was great food for the ridicule of a thoughtless lad. It was precisely the kind of thing which could easily be mocked without any great expenditure of wit by a boy of Ishmaels age. The too visible pride of the aged mother, the incongruity of maternal duties with ninety years, the concentration of attention and honours on so small an object, -all this was, doubtless, a temptation to a boy who had probably at no time too much reverence. But the words and gestures which others might have disregarded as childish frolic, or, at worst, as the unseemly and ill-natured impertinence of a boy who knew no better, stung Sarah, and left a poison in her blood that infuriated her. “Cast out that bondwoman and her son,” she demanded of Abraham. Evidently she feared the rivalry of this second household of Abraham, and was resolved it should come to an end. The mocking of Ishmael is but the violent concussion that at last produces the explosion, for which material has long been laid in train. She had seen on Abrahams part a clinging to Ishmael, which she was unable to appreciate. And though her harsh decision was nothing more than the dictate of maternal jealousy, it did prevent things from running on as they were until even a more painful family quarrel must have been the issue.
The act of expulsion was itself unaccountably harsh. There was nothing to prevent Abraham sending the boy and his mother under an escort to some safe place; nothing to prevent him from giving the lad some share of his possessions sufficient to provide for him. Nothing of this kind was done. The woman and the boy were simply put to the door; and this, although Ishmael had for years been counted Abrahams heir, and though he was a member of the covenant made with Abraham. There may have been some law giving Sarah absolute power over her maid; but if any law gave her power to do what was now done, it was a thoroughly barbarous one, and she was a barbarous woman who used it.
It is one of those painful cases in which one poor creature clothed with a little brief authority stretches it to the utmost in vindictive maltreatment of another. Sarah happened to be mistress, and, instead of using her position to make those under her happy, she used it for her own convenience, for the gratification of her own spite, and to make those beneath her conscious of her power by their suffering. She happened to be a mother, and instead of bringing her into sympathy with all women and their children, this concentrated her affection with a fierce jealousy on her own child. She breathed freely when Hagar and Ishmael were fairly out of sight. A smile of satisfied malice betrayed her bitter spirit. No thought of the sufferings to which she had committed a woman who had served her well for years, who had yielded everything to her will, and who had no other natural protector but her, no glimpses of Abrahams saddened face, visited her with any relentings. It mattered not to her what came of the woman and the boy to whom she really owed a more loving and careful regard than to any except Abraham and Isaac. It is a story often repeated. One who has been a member of the household for many years is at last dismissed at the dictate of some petty pique or spite as remorselessly and inhumanly as a piece of old furniture might be parted with. Some thoroughly good servant, who has made sacrifices to forward his employers interest, is at last. through no offence of his own, found to be in his employers way, and at once all old services are forgotten, all old ties broken, and the authority of the employer, legal but inhuman, is exercised. It is often those who can least defend themselves who are thus treated; no resistance is possible, and also, alas! the party is too weak to face the wilderness on which she is thrown out, and if any cares to follow her history, we may find her at the last gasp under a bush.
Still, both for Abraham and for Ishmael, it was better this severance should take place. It was grievous to Abraham; and Sarah saw that for this very reason it was necessary. Ishmael was his firstborn, and for many years had received the whole of his parental affection: and, looking on the little Isaac, he might feel the desirableness of keeping another son in reserve, lest this strangely-given child might as strangely pass away. Coming to him in a way so unusual, and having perhaps in his appearance some indication of his peculiar birth, he might seem scarcely fit for the rough life Abraham himself had led. On the other hand, it was plain that in Ishmael were the very qualities which Isaac was already showing that he lacked. Already Abraham was observing that with all his insolence and turbulence there was a natural force and independence of character which might come to be most useful in the patriarchal household. The man who had pursued and routed the allied kings could not but be drawn to a youth who already gave promise of capacity for similar enterprises-and this youth his own son. But can Abraham have failed to let his fancy picture the deeds this lad might one day do at the head of his armed slaves? And may he not have dreamt of a glory in the land not altogether such as the promise of God encouraged him to look for, but such as the tribes around would acknowledge and fear? All the hopes Abraham had of Ishmael had gained firm hold of his mind before Isaac was born; and before Isaac grew up, Ishmael must have taken the most influential place in the house and plans of Abraham. His mind would thus have received a strong bias towards conquests and forcible modes of advance. He might have been led to neglect, and, perhaps, finally despise, the unostentatious blessings of heaven.
If, then, Abraham was to become the founder, not of one new warlike power in addition to the already too numerous warlike powers of the East, but of a religion which should finally develop into the most elevating and purifying influence among men, it is obvious that Ishmael was not at all a desirable heir. Whatever pain it gave to Abraham to part with him, separation in some form had become necessary. It was impossible that the father should continue to enjoy the filial affection of Ishmael, his lively talk, and warm enthusiasm, and adventurous exploits, and at the same time concentrate his hope and his care on Isaac. He had, therefore, to give up, with something of the sorrow and self-control he afterwards underwent in connection with the sacrifice of Isaac, the lad whose bright face had for so many years shone in all his paths. And in some such way are we often called to part with prospects which have wrought themselves very deep into our spirit, and which, indeed, just because they are very promising and seductive, have become dangerous to us, upsetting the balance of our life, and throwing into the shade objects and purposes which ought to be outstanding. And when we are thus required to give up what we were looking to for comfort, for applause, and for profit, the voice of God in its first admonition sometimes seems to us little better than the jealousy of a woman. Like Sarahs demand, that none should share with her son, does the requirement seem which indicates to us that we must set nothing on a level with Gods direct gifts to us. We refuse to see why we may not have all the pleasures and enjoyments, all the display and brilliance that the world can give. We feel as if we were needlessly restricted. But this instance shows us that when circumstances compel us to give up something of this kind which we have been cherishing, room is given for a better thing than itself to grow.
For Ishmael himself, too, wronged as he was in the mode of his expulsion, it was yet far better that he should go. Isaac was the true heir. No jeering allusions to his late birth or to his appearance could alter that fact. And to a temper like Ishmaels it was impossible to occupy a subordinate, dependent position. All he required to call out his latent powers was to be thrown thus on his own resources. The daring and high spirit and quickness to take offence and use violence, which would have wrought untold mischief in a pastoral camp, were the very qualities which found fit exercise in the desert, and seemed there only in keeping with the life he had to lead. And his hard experience at first would at his age do him no harm, but good only. To be compelled to face life single-handed at the age of sixteen is by no means a fate to be pitied. It was the making Of Ishmael. and is the making of many a lad in every generation.
But the two fugitives are soon reminded that, though expelled from Abrahams tents and protection, they are not expelled from his God. Ishmael finds it true that when father and mother forsake him, the Lord takes him up. At the very outset of his desert life he is made conscious that God is still his God, mindful of his wants, responsive to his cry of distress.
It was not through Ishmael the promised seed was to come, but the descendants of Ishmael had every inducement to retain faith in the God of Abraham, who listened to their fathers cry. The fact of being excluded from certain privileges did not involve that they were to be excluded from all privileges. God still “heard the voice of the lad, and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven.”
It is this voice of God to Hagar that so speedily, and apparently once for all, lifts her out of despair to cheerful hope. It would appear as if her despair had been needless; at least from the words addressed to her, “What aileth thee, Hagar?” it would appear as if she might herself have found the water that was close at hand, if only she had been disposed to look for it. But she had lost heart, and perhaps with her despair was mingled some resentment, not only at Sarah, but at the whole Hebrew connection, including the God of the Hebrews, who had before encouraged her. Here was the end of the magnificent promise which that God had made her before her child was born-a helpless human form gasping its life away without a drop of water to moisten the parched tongue and bring light to the glazing eyes, and with no easier couch than the burning sand. Was it for this, the bitterest drop that, apart from sin, can be given to any parent to drink, she had been brought from Egypt and led through all her past? Had her hopes been nursed by means so extraordinary only that they might be so bitterly blighted? Thus she learnt to her conclusions, and judged that because her skin of water had failed God had failed her too. No one can blame her, with her boy dying before her, and herself helpless to relieve one pang of his suffering. Hitherto, in the well-furnished tents of Abraham, she had been able to respond to his slightest desire. Thirst he had never known, save as the relish to some boyish adventure. But now, when his eyes appeal to her in dying anguish, she can but turn away in helpless despair. She cannot relieve his simplest want. Not for her own fate has she any tears, but to see her pride, her life and joy, perishing thus miserably, is more than she can bear.
No one can blame, but every one may learn from her. When angry resentment and unbelieving despair fill the mind, we may perish of thirst in the midst of springs. When Gods promises produce no faith, but seem to us so much waste paper, we are necessarily in danger of missing their fulfilment. When we ascribe to God the harshness and wickedness of those who represent Him in the world, we commit moral suicide. So far from the promises given to Hagar being now at the point of extinction, this was the first considerable step toward their fulfilment. When Ishmael turned his back on the familiar tents, and flung his last gibe at Sarah, he was really setting out to a far richer inheritance, so far as this world goes, than ever fell to Isaac and his sons.
But the chief use Paul makes of this entire episode in the history is to see in it an allegory. a kind of picture made up of real persons and events, representing the impossibility of law and gospel living harmoniously together, the incompatibility of a spirit of service with a spirit of sonship. Hagar, he says, is in this picture the likeness of the law given from Sinai, which gendereth to bondage. Hagar and her son, that is to say, stand for the law and the kind of righteousness produced by the law, -not superficially a bad kind; on the contrary, a righteousness with much dash and brilliance and strong manly force about it. but at the root defective, faulty in its origin, springing from the slavish spirit. And first Paul bids us notice how the free-born is persecuted and mocked by the slave-born, that is, how the children of God who are trying to live by love and faith in Christ are put to shame and made uneasy by the law. They believe they are Gods dear children, that they are loved by Him, and may go out and in freely in His house as their own home, using all that is His with the freedom of His heirs; but the law mocks them, frightens them, tells them it is Gods firstborn; law lying far back in the dimness of eternity, coeval with God Himself. It tells them they are puny and weak, scarcely out of their mothers arms, tottering, lisping creatures, doing much mischief, but none of the housework, at best only getting some little thing to pretend to work at. In contrast to their feeble, soft, unskilled weakness, it sets before them a finely-moulded, athletic form, becoming disciplined to all work, and able to take a place among the serviceable and able-bodied. But with all this there is in that puny babe a life begun which will grow and make it the true heir, dwelling in the house and possessing what it has not toiled for, while the vigorous, likely-looking lad must go into the wilderness and make a possession for himself with his own bow and spear.
Now, of course, righteousness of life and character, or perfect manhood, is the end at which all that we call salvation aims, and that which can give us the purest, ripest character is salvation for us; that which can make us, for all purposes, most serviceable and strong. And when we are confronted with persons who might speak of service we cannot render, of an upright, unfaltering carriage we cannot assume, of a general human worthiness we can make no pretension to, we are justly perturbed, and should regain our equanimity only under the influence of the most undoubted truth-and fact. If we can honestly say in our hearts, “Although we can show no such work done, and no such masculine growth, yet we have a life in us which is of God, and will grow”; if we are sure that we have the spirit of Gods children, a spirit of love and dutifulness, we may take comfort from this incident. We may remind ourselves that it is not he who has at the present moment the best appearance who always abides in the fathers home, but he who is by birth the heir. Have we or have we not the spirit of the Son? not feeling that we must every evening make good our claim to another nights lodging by showing the task we have. accomplished, but being conscious that the interests in which we are called to work are our own interests, that we are heirs in the fathers house, so that all we do for the house is really done for ourselves. Do we go out and in with God, feeling no need of His commands, our own eye seeing where help is required, and our own desires being wholly directed towards that which engages all His attention and work?
For Paul would have each of us apply, allegorically, the words, Cast out the bondwoman and her son, that is, cast out the legal mode of earning a standing in Gods house, and with this legal mode cast out all the self-seeking, the servile fear of God, the self-righteousness, and the hardheartedness it engenders. Cast out wholly from yourself the spirit of the slave, and cherish the spirit-of the son and heir. The slave-born may seem for a while to have a firm footing in the fathers house, but it cannot last. The temper and tastes of Ishmael are radically different from those of Abraham, and when the slave-born becomes mature, the wild Egyptian strain will appear in his character. Moreover, he looks upon the goods of Abraham as plunder; he cannot rid himself of the feeling of an alien, and this would, at length, show itself in a want of frankness with Abraham-slowly, but surely, the confidence between them would be worn out. Nothing but being a child of God, being born of the Spirit, can give the feeling of intimacy, confidence, unity of interest, which constitutes true religion. All we do as slaves goes for nothing; that is to say, all we do, not because we see the good of it, but because we are commanded; not because we have any liking for the thing done, but because we wish to be paid for it. The day is coming when we shall attain our majority, when it will be said to us by God, Now, do whatever you like, whatever you have a mind to; no surveillance, no commands are now needed; I put all into your own hand. What, in these circumstances, should we straightway do? Should we, for the love of the thing, carry on the same work to which Gods commands had driven us; should we, if left absolutely in charge, find nothing more attractive than just to prosecute that idea of life and the world set before us by Christ? Or should we see that we had merely been keeping ourselves in check for a while, biding our time, untamed as Ishmael, craving the rewards but not the life of the children of God? The most serious of all questions these-questions that determine the issues of our whole life, that determine whether our home is to be-where all the best interests Of men and the highest blessings of God have their seat, or in the pathless desert where life is an aimless wandering, dissociated from all the forward movements of men.
The distinction between the servile spirit and the spirit of sonship being thus radical, it could be by no mere formality, or exhibition of his legal title, that Isaac became the heir of Gods heritage. His sacrifice on Moriah was the requisite condition of his succession to Abrahams place; it was the only suitable celebration of his majority. Abraham himself had been able to enter into covenant with God only by sacrifice; and sacrifice not of a dead and external kind, but vivified by an actual surrender of himself to God, and by so true a perception of Gods holiness and requirements that he was in a horror of great darkness. By no other process can any of his heirs succeed to the inheritance. A true resignation of self, in whatever outward form this resignation may appear, is required that we may become one with God in His holy purposes and in His eternal blessedness. There could be no doubt that Abraham had found a true heir, when Isaac laid himself on the altar and steadied his heart to receive the knife. Dearer to God, and of immeasurably greater value than any service, was this surrender of himself into the hand of his Father and his God. In this was promise of all service and all loving fellowship. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. O Lord, truly I am Thy servant; I am Thy servant, the son of Thine handmaid: Thou hast loosed my bonds.”
So incomparable with the most distinguished service did this sacrifice of Isaacs self appear, that the record of his active life seems to have had no interest to his contemporaries or successors. There was but this one thing to say of him. No more seemed needful. The sacrifice was indeed great, and worthy of commemoration. No act could so conclusively have shown that Isaac was thoroughly at one with God. He had much to live for; from his birth there hovered round him interests and hopes of the most exciting and flattering nature; a new kind of glory such as had not yet been attained on earth was to be attained, or, at any rate, approached in him. This glory was certain to be realised, being guaranteed by Gods promise, so that his hopes might launch out in the boldest confidence and give him the aspect and bearing of a king; while it was uncertain in the time and manner of its realisation, so that the most attractive mystery hung around his future.
Plainly his was a life worth entering on and living through; a life fit to engage and absorb a mans whole desire, interest, and effort; a life such as might well make a man gird himself and resolve to play the man throughout, that so each part of it might reveal its secret to him, and that none of its wonder might be lost. It was a life which, above all others, seemed worth protecting from all injury and risk, and for which, no doubt, not a few of the homeborn servants in the patriarchal encampment would have gladly ventured their own. There have, indeed, been few, if any, lives of which it could so truly be said, The world cannot do without this-at all hazards and costs this must be cherished. And all this must have been even more obvious to its owner than to any one else, and must have begotten in him an unquestioning assurance, that he at least had a charmed life, and would live and see good days. Yet with whatever shock the command of God came upon him, there is no word of doubt or remonstrance or rebellion. He gave his life to Him who had first given it to him. And thus yielding himself to God, he entered into the inheritance, and became worthy to stand to all time the representative heir of God, as Abraham by his faith had become the father of the faithful.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
5. The feast of the weaning of Isaac. The announcement, the birth, the weaning of the child.All this furnishes matter for manifold joy and laughter; , i.e., the laughter, the fulness of joy in his name. Our Lord reveals the profoundest source of this joy when he says (Joh 8:56), Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad. Since Sarah, the wife of one, became the mother of Isaac, she became the mother of Israel (Isa 51:2; Mal 2:15; Eze 33:24), and since she is the mother of Israel, the ancestress, and, in some sense, the mother of Jesus Christ, who derives his flesh and blood from Isaac, out of Israel, and in whom Abraham is a blessing to all the nations, the birthday of Isaac, spiritually viewed, thus becomes the door or entrance of the day of Christ, and the day of Christ the background of the birthday of Isaac. Delitzsch. Calvin dwells especially upon the circumstance that Sarah nursed her child. Whom he counts worthy of the honor of being a mother he at the same time makes nurse; and those who feel themselves burdened through the nursing of their children, rend, as far as in them lies, the sacred bonds of nature, unless weakness, or some infirmities, form their excuse. It is remarkable that a century after the Genevan Calvin, the Genevan Rousseau should again hold up the sacredness of this law of nature, that mothers should nurse their own children, against the unnatural custom at his time of using wet-nurses, although, indeed, he himself had fundamentally no right to plead it.
8. Abraham rose up early in the morning, especially when a command of the Lord is to be fulfilled or a sacrifice is to be brought (Genesis 22).
13. Abraham gives to Abimelech upon his desire the oath of the covenant, as he had earlier sworn to the king of Sodom. I will swear, the sign of the condescension of the believer, in the relations and necessities of human society. Bearing upon the doctrine of the oath.
14. Abraham learns the character of Jehovah in a living experience of faith, according to his varied revelations, and with this experience the knowledge of the attributes of God rises into prominence. As Elohim proves himself to be Jehovah to him, so Jehovah again proves himself to be Elohim in a higher sense. God the Exalted is the Covenant God for him; God the Almighty performs wonders for him; God the Eternal busies himself for him in the eternal truth of the Covenant.
15. Abraham calls upon and proclaims the name of the Lord. The one is in truth not to be separated from the other. The living prayer must yield its fruit in the declaration, the living declaration must have its root in prayer. The faith of Abraham in Jehovah develops itself into a faith in the eternal truth of his covenant, and in the ever green and vigorous life of the promise. [He calls upon the name of the Lord with the significant surname of the God of perpetuity, the eternal, unchangeable God. This marks him as the sure and able performer of his promise, as the everlasting vindicator of the faith of treaties, and as the infallible source of the believers rest and peace. Murphy.A. G.] For the tamarisk (see Dictionaries of the Bible) and for the meaning of the desert of Beersheba and the city of the same name (see Concordances).
1. Isaacs birth (Gen 21:1-8). Gen 21:1. In the providence of God we first experience that he himself visits us, that he gives us himself; then that he visits us with his deeds of salvation. Noble natures regard what they are as one with what they do. It is true of God above all others, that we come to know him in his gifts, and his gifts in his visitation.The section affords appropriate texts for baptismal discourses. Starke: the repetition (as he had spoken, of which he had spoken) has the utmost emphasis. The promises of God must at last pass into fulfilment, even when all hope has been lost by men. His promises are yea and amen.Luther: Moses abounds in words, and repeats his words twice, in order to bring before our minds the unutterable joy of the patriarch. This joy would be increased also (if it is true, as some say, that the Son of God in human form appeared to Sarah in the sixth week, and wished her joy of her young son, Gen 18:10).H. C. Rambach: Isaacs birth in many respects resembles greatly the birth of Christ: 1. Both births were announced long before; 2. both occur at the time fixed by God; 3. both persons were named before they were born; 4. both were supernaturally (miraculously) conceived; 5. both births occasioned great joy: 6. the law of circumcision begins (as to its principle) with Isaac, and ceases in (through) Christ. Gen 21:7. In her joy Sarah speaks of many (several) children, when she had borne only one son, who, however, was better to her than ten sons.She will say: Not only has my dead body received strength from God, to bring a child into the world, but I am conscious of such strength that I can supply its food which sometimes fails much younger and more vigorous mothers.Sarah did this (nursed her child) although she was a princess (Gen 23:6) and of noble blood, for the law of nature itself requires this from all, since, with this very end in view, God has given breasts to all and filled them with milk. The Scriptures united these two functions, the bearing of children and nursing them, as belonging to the mother (Luk 11:27; Luk 23:29 : Psa 22:10). Thus these two things were reckoned among the blessings and kindness of the Great God (Gen 49:25), while an unfruitful body and dry breasts are a punishment from him (Hos 9:11-14).
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Mackintosh’s Notes on the Pentateuch
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary