Genesis 21

God keeps His promise and Sarah bears Isaac, filling the household with laughter. Then the rivalry between Isaac and Ishmael forces Hagar and her son out, yet God meets them in the desert and saves them. The chapter closes with Abraham making peace with Abimelech at Beersheba and worshiping the Everlasting God.

Genesis 21:1-2

After years of waiting, God does exactly what He said. Sarah conceives and bears a son when both she and Abraham are old, and at the very time God had named. The birth rests on God’s faithfulness, not on human strength.

BSA: attended to (“visited”): God personally steps in to care for Sarah, not merely noticing her from afar. time (“the set time, appointed season”): The birth comes on God’s own schedule, not a day early or late.

Hebrew: פָּקַד (pāqad, H6485) — “to visit, to attend to.” This Hebrew word is often used when God steps in to rescue or bless His people. It shows a God who comes personally and acts.

See also: Genesis 18:10-14; Hebrews 11:11.

Genesis 21:3-5

Abraham names the boy Isaac, as God had told him. He circumcises Isaac on the eighth day, obeying the covenant command. The text stresses that Abraham was a hundred years old, so the child is plainly a gift of God.

BSA: Isaac (“he laughs”): The name keeps alive the laughter of unbelief and then of joy that surrounded his birth.

Genesis 21:6-7

Sarah once laughed in doubt. Now she laughs for joy, and she expects others to laugh with her. She marvels that she is nursing a baby at her age. God turned her disbelief into delight.

BSA: laugh (“rejoice, be happy”): Her laughter has changed from doubt to happy joy that she wants to share.

See also: Genesis 18:12; Psalm 126:2.

Genesis 21:8

In that world a child was weaned at about two or three, after the risky early years. Abraham marks the day with a great feast. It is a family celebration of life and of God’s goodness, but trouble follows soon.

BSA: feast (“celebration, banquet”): This was a proper public celebration of the child’s survival and growth.

Genesis 21:9

At the feast Sarah sees Ishmael mocking Isaac. The word is related to the name Isaac, so it can mean laughing at him or playing in a way that belittled him. Sarah sees contempt for the child of promise.

BSA: mocking (“laughing, playing, making fun of”): The same root as Isaac’s name is used, as if Ishmael turned the laughter of promise into ridicule.

Hebrew: מְצַחֵק (metsachēq, H6711) — “laughing, playing, mocking.” It sounds like Isaac (Yitschaq). The word can be innocent play or unkind mockery, and Sarah heard the second.

See also: Galatians 4:29.

Genesis 21:10

Sarah demands that Hagar and Ishmael be sent away. She fears Ishmael will share the inheritance with Isaac. Her words are harsh. They also reflect a real conflict created years earlier, when Hagar was given to Abraham.

BSA: Expel (“drive out, cast away”): It is a strong word for forcing someone out, showing how severe the break is. inheritance (“heritage, possession”): The issue is who carries the family’s promised future.

See also: Genesis 16:1-4.

Genesis 21:11

Abraham is deeply troubled, because Ishmael is truly his son and he loves him. The promise of Isaac does not make Abraham stop caring about Ishmael. Obedience here costs him real grief.

BSA: distressed (“was very wrong, felt very bad”): Abraham felt it as a heavy hurt and a wrong, not just an inconvenience.

Genesis 21:12-13

God tells Abraham to listen to Sarah. The promised line will come through Isaac. God also promises to make a nation of Ishmael, because he is Abraham’s child. God’s choice does not erase His kindness to the one not chosen for that line.

BSA: offspring (“seed, descendants”): The word ‘seed’ points to the line through which God’s promise would reach the world. reckoned (“called, named”): Abraham’s true family line will be named and counted through Isaac.

See also: Romans 9:7; Hebrews 11:18.

Genesis 21:14

Abraham rises early and obeys. He gives Hagar only bread and a skin of water and sends her off with the boy. Hagar wanders in the desert south of Canaan. It is a bleak picture of a mother and son with very little.

BSA: wandered (“strayed, went astray”): She loses her way in the empty land, which prepares for the crisis that follows.

Genesis 21:15-16

The water runs out. Hagar lays the boy under a bush and sits a bowshot away, unable to watch him die. She weeps aloud. This is the lowest point of the story: human help is gone.

BSA: bowshot (“as far as someone can shoot an arrow”): She sits far enough away not to see him die, yet close enough to remain nearby.

Genesis 21:17

God hears the boy’s cry, and the angel speaks to Hagar from heaven. He asks what is wrong and tells her not to fear. God notices the weak and abandoned. Ishmael’s name means God hears, and here God lives up to it.

BSA: heard (“listened with attention and obedience”): God’s hearing is not passive. He listens and then acts.

Hebrew: שָׁמַע (shāmaʿ, H8085) — “to hear, to listen.” This is the root of the name Ishmael, ‘God hears.’ The boy’s very name is answered here.

See also: Genesis 16:11; Psalm 34:6.

Genesis 21:18

God gives Hagar a task: get up, lift the boy, hold his hand. He repeats the promise that Ishmael will become a great nation. Hagar is called out of despair into action, with a future promised.

BSA: great (“large, powerful”): God’s promise for Ishmael is of real strength and size, not a small mercy.

See also: Genesis 17:20.

Genesis 21:19

God opens Hagar’s eyes and she sees a well. The water was likely there all along. She had only needed to see it. She fills the skin and gives the boy a drink, and the crisis is over.

BSA: opened her eyes (“to see spiritually, to understand”): God gives her the sight to notice the provision He has already supplied.

See also: 2 Kings 6:17; Luke 24:31.

Genesis 21:20-21

God stays with Ishmael as he grows. He lives in the wilderness and becomes a skilled archer. His mother finds him a wife from Egypt, her own homeland. God keeps His word to Hagar’s son.

BSA: archer (“bowman, warrior”): He becomes a skilled hunter and fighter, fitting the desert life he settled into.

See also: Genesis 25:12-18.

Genesis 21:22-24

Abimelech, the local king, and his army commander see that God is with Abraham. They ask for an oath that Abraham will deal honestly with them and their descendants. Abraham agrees. Even outsiders can see God’s blessing on a faithful life.

BSA: swear (“to make an oath, give my word”): An oath before God made the promise binding, not merely polite. kindness (“mercy, loving-kindness”): Abimelech asks for faithful goodwill, not just a cold treaty.

See also: Genesis 20:1-18; Genesis 26:28.

Genesis 21:25-26

Abraham raises a complaint: Abimelech’s servants have seized a well. Abimelech says he knew nothing about it. In dry country a well meant survival, so this was serious. Abraham speaks openly and the matter is settled by honest talk.

BSA: seized (“plundered, taken by force”): The servants took the well by force, which is why Abraham protested.

Genesis 21:27

Abraham gives Abimelech sheep and cattle, and the two men make a covenant. The gifts seal the agreement and show goodwill. Peace is built between two very different peoples.

BSA: covenant (“a promise, an agreement, a treaty”): It is a solemn, binding agreement between the two parties.

Genesis 21:28-30

Abraham sets apart seven ewe lambs, and Abimelech asks why. Abraham asks him to accept them as proof that Abraham dug the well. Taking the gift means Abimelech accepts Abraham’s claim to it.

BSA: witness (“testimony, evidence”): The lambs serve as lasting evidence that the well belongs to Abraham.

Genesis 21:31-32

The place is named Beersheba, which can mean well of the oath, or well of seven. Both fit the story. After the covenant Abimelech and Phicol return to Philistine country, leaving Abraham in peace.

BSA: Beersheba (“well of the sevenfold oath, a city in Palestine”): The name keeps the memory of the oath and the seven lambs at the well.

See also: Genesis 26:32-33.

Genesis 21:33-34

Abraham plants a tree and worships the LORD as the Eternal God. He is a stranger in the land for a long time, yet he treats it as a place to worship. His trust rests on the God who does not pass away.

BSA: Eternal (“Everlasting, forever”): Abraham trusts the God who outlasts all changes, treaties and wanderings. called (“invoked, worshiped”): Calling on God’s name means prayer and worship, not just speaking.

Hebrew: אֵל עוֹלָם (El ʿOlam, H413) — “God of eternity, the Everlasting God.” This title points to a God without beginning or end. Abraham plants a tree meant to last, and he worships the One who lasts longer.

See also: Psalm 90:2; Isaiah 40:28.