Genesis 21

Ge 21:1-13.

BIRTH OF

ISAAC.

1. the Lord visited Sarah--The language of the historian seems

designedly chosen to magnify the power of God as well as His

faithfulness to His promise. It was God's grace that brought about that

event, as well as the raising of spiritual children to Abraham, of

which the birth of this son was typical [CALVIN].

3, 4. Abraham called the name of his son . . . Isaac

. . . and circumcised--God was acknowledged in the name

which, by divine command, was given for a memorial (compare

Ge 17:19),

and also in the dedication of the child by administering the seal of

the covenant (compare

Ge 17:10-12).

8. the child grew, and was weaned--children are suckled longer

in the East than in the Occident--boys usually for two or three years.

Abraham made a great feast, &c.--In Eastern countries this is

always a season of domestic festivity, and the newly weaned child is

formally brought, in presence of the assembled relatives and friends,

to partake of some simple viands. Isaac, attired in the symbolic robe,

the badge of birthright, was then admitted heir of the tribe

[ROSENMULLER].

9. Sarah saw the son of Hagar . . . mocking--Ishmael

was aware of the great change in his prospects, and under the impulse

of irritated or resentful feelings, in which he was probably joined by

his mother, treated the young heir with derision and probably some

violence

(Ga 4:29).

10. Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this

bondwoman--Nothing but the expulsion of both could now preserve

harmony in the household. Abraham's perplexity was relieved by an

announcement of the divine will, which in everything, however painful

to flesh and blood, all who fear God and are walking in His ways will,

like him, promptly obey. This story, as the apostle tells us, in "an

allegory"

[Ga 4:24],

and the "persecution" by the son of the Egyptian was the

commencement of the four hundred years' affliction of Abraham's seed by

the Egyptians.

12. in all that Sarah hath said--it is called the Scripture

(Ga 4:30).

13. also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation--Thus

Providence overruled a family brawl to give rise to two great and

extraordinary peoples.

Ge 21:14-21.

EXPULSION OF

ISHMAEL.

14. Abraham rose up early, &c.--early, that the wanderers might

reach an asylum before noon. Bread includes all sorts of

victuals--bottle, a leathern vessel, formed of the entire skin of a

lamb or kid sewed up, with the legs for handles, usually carried over

the shoulder. Ishmael was a lad of seventeen years, and it is quite

customary for Arab chiefs to send out their sons at such an age to do

for themselves: often with nothing but a few days' provisions in a bag.

wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba--in the southern border

of Palestine, but out of the common direction, a wide extending desert,

where they lost their way.

15. the water was spent, &c.--Ishmael sank exhausted from

fatigue and thirst--his mother laid his head under one of the bushes to

smell the damp while she herself, unable to witness his distress, sat

down at a little distance in hopeless sorrow.

19. God opened her eyes--Had she forgotten the promise

(Ge 16:11)?

Whether she looked to God or not, He regarded her and directed her to a

fountain close beside her, but probably hid amid brushwood, by the

waters of which her almost expiring son was revived.

20, 21. God was with the lad, &c.--Paran (that is, Arabia), where

his posterity has ever dwelt (compare

Ge 16:12;

also

Isa 48:19;

1Pe 1:25).

his mother took him a wife--On a father's death, the mother

looks out for a wife for her son, however young; and as Ishmael was now

virtually deprived of his father, his mother set about forming a

marriage connection for him, it would seem, among her relatives.

Ge 21:22-34.

COVENANT.

22. Abimelech and Phichol--Here a proof of the promise

(Ge 12:2)

being fulfilled, in a native prince wishing to form a solemn league

with Abraham. The proposal was reasonable, and agreed to

[Ge 21:24].

25-31. And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well--Wells

were of great importance to a pastoral chief and on the successful

operation of sinking a new one, the owner was solemnly informed in

person. If, however, they were allowed to get out of repair, the

restorer acquired a right to them. In unoccupied lands the possession

of wells gave a right of property in the land, and dread of this had

caused the offense for which Abraham reproved Abimelech. Some describe

four, others five, wells in Beer-sheba.

33. Abraham planted a grove--Hebrew, "of tamarisks," in

which sacrificial worship was offered, as in a roofless temple.

34. Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land--a picture of

pastoral and an emblem of Christian life.