Genesis 21
Butler1. And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD 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 3 had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom 4 Sarah bare to him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days 5 old, as God had commanded him. And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac 6 was born unto him. And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh; every one that heareth 7 will laugh with me. 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. 8 And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast on the day that 9 Isaac was weaned. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had borne unto 10 Abraham, mocking. Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her 11 son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And the 12 thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight on account of his son. 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 saith unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. 13 And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed. And 14 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 15 wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. And the water in the bottle was spent, and she 16 cast the child under one of the shrubs. And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bow-shot: for she said, Let me not look upon the death of the child. 17 And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept. And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth 18 thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up
19 the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for 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
20 gave the lad drink. And God was with the lad, and he grew; and he dwelt in the wilderness,
21 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.
22. And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phicol the captain of his host spake
23 unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest: now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt 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
24 land wherein thou hast sojourned. And Abraham said, I will swear. And Abraham reproved
25. Abimelech because of the well of water, which Abimelech’s servants had violently taken away.
26. And Abimelech said, I know not who hath done this thing: neither didst thou tell me,
27 neither yet heard I of it, but to-day. And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto
28. Abimelech; and they two made a covenant. And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock
29 by themselves. And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What mean these seven ewe lambs which
30 thou hast set by themselves? And he said, These seven ewe lambs shall thou take of my hand,
31 that it may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well. Wherefore he called that
32 place Beer-sheba; because there they swore both of them. So they made a covenant at Beer-
33 sheba; and Abimelech rose up, and Phicol the captain of his host, and they returned into the
34 land of the Philistines. And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and called there
35 on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God. And Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days.
Isaac, the son of promise, he who was begotten through the Spirit,—i.e., by the power of the word of God and of faith—is now born. Ishmael, the son born after the flesh, in a natural way, grew up with him, but as a scoffer at God’s word. In order that Abraham’s natural affection might not be a hindrance to the fulfilment of His own purposes, God does not allow him “that was born after the flesh,” from a bondwoman, to be “heir together with the son of the free-woman.” In all this the great truth is taught us, which runs through the whole of Scripture, that the claims of the flesh are of no worth in God’s sight, but that all is of His free grace alone. This history, therefore, is a type of higher spiritual relations (Gal. 4 : 22). But at the same time Ishmael is an example how God extends His guidance and blessing to those whom yet He does not receive into covenant. He vouchsafes a portion even of the spiritual blessing of Abraham to Ishmael’s posterity. Gerl.
1,2. In the book of Genesis, covering more than two thousand years at the lowest computation, there is not a single miracle wrought by human agency. Even Abraham works no miracle. How different from the old mythologies. Even when God himself is represented as doing things out of the general course of nature, it is only at long intervals and very rarely, as in the translation of Enoch, the judgment of the flood, the confusion of tongues, the birth of Isaac. Remember that these events were centuries apart from each other. Even if there had been a miracle for every century, which there is not, you could scarcely say that they were “very plentiful.” If you look at the history perspectively, you will learn first, that all through Bible times miracles were not the rule but the exception; and more particularly that the miracles cluster around particular epochs when there was special need for such signs of divine presence and power, as at the time of the Exodus after the long dark interval of Egyptian bondage; at the time of Israel’s declension, when the prophets Elisha and Elijah were called in a special way to witness for the Lord; and above all, in the founding of the Church, after the long and silent interval from the Restoration to the Advent. Does not this way of looking at the sacred history put the Bible miracles in a very different and altogether reasonable light? Gibson.
3. Isaac.** From the Hebrew word meaning to laugh. 9. Mocking. “Mocking laughter.” As Abraham had laughed for joy concerning Isaac, and Sarah had laughed incredulously, so now Ishmael laughed in derision, and probably in a persecuting spirit (see Gal. 4 : 29).
12. In Isaac shall thy seed be called.** Here is the distinct limitation of the great promises of God to the descendants of Abraham in the line of Isaac. God’s promises gradually developed themselves in fulness, and yet were gradually restricted in extent: to Adam first; then to Noah; to Abraham; then to one race or seed of Abraham, viz. Isaac; to one of Isaac’s children, viz. Jacob; to one of the twelve patriarchs, viz. Judah; then to his descendant David; and lastly to the great Son of David, the true promised Seed; but as all centred in Him, so too from Him they have spread out to all redeemed by Him, though more especially taking effect in those who are “the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3: 26). E. H. B.—In Isaac shall seed be called to thee. This is explained by the Apostle (Rom. 9: 7, 8), “Neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called; that is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise, these are counted for the seed.” It is, therefore, a limitation of Abraham’s seed, emphatically so called, to the line of Isaac and his descendants, to the exclusion of Ishmael. The Scriptures affirm, in reference to this very history, that “as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.” The same things are grounds of offence to the carnal man in this day, as were in the days of Ishmael; and this our Lord has expressly confirmed by saying, “because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” It appears, moreover, from the Apostle’s interpretation that we must be children of promise in order to belong to the church of Christ. The mere circumstance of having descended from Christian parents, or having received the seal of the Christian covenant, or making a profession of the Christian faith, will not constitute us Christians, nor give us a title to share in the heavenly inheritance. “The son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman;” which is in effect a sentence of expulsion passed not only on the unbelieving Jewish church, but on the whole collective body of natural and unconverted men, while it is an exclusive grant of heaven and happiness to the children of promise. Others may enjoy church privileges and make religious professions, but they only who in this world rested on the promises as their one ground of hope and joy, shall experience their accomplishment in the world to come. Bush.
12, 13. Cast out this bondwoman is quoted (Gal. 4: 30) as if it had been spoken by a spirit of prophecy; and it is the sentence passed on all hypocrites and carnal people, though they have a place and name in the visible church; all that are born after the flesh and not born again, that rest in the law and reject the Gospel-promise, shall certainly be cast out. It is made to point particularly at the rejection of the unbelieving Jews, who, though they were the seed of Abraham, yet because they submitted not to the Gospel-covenant, were unchurched and disfranchised; and that which, above anything, provoked God to cast them off, was, their mocking and persecuting of the Gospel-church, God’s Isaac, in its infancy. . . . God shows Abraham, 1. That the casting out of Ishmael was necessary to the establishment of Isaac in the rights and privileges of the covenant. In Isaac shall thy seed be called: both Christ and the church must descend from Abraham through the loins of Isaac; this is the entail of the promise upon Isaac, and is quoted by the apostle to show that not all who came from Abraham’s loins were the heirs of Abraham’s covenant. 2. That the casting out of Ishmael should not be his ruin. He shall be a nation, because he is thy seed. 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 God’s covenant are therefore excluded from all his mercies: those may be saved who are not thus honored. H.
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 God’s house, and with this legal mode cast out all the self-seeking, the servile fear of God, the self-righteousness, and the hard-heartedness it engenders. Cast out wholly from yourself the spirit of the slave, and cherish the spirit of the son and heir. 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. Dods.
The expulsion of Ishmael was necessary, not only from his unfitness, and in order to keep the heir of the promise unmixed with others, but also for the sake of Abraham himself, whose faith must be trained to renounce, in obedience to the Divine call, everything,—even his natural paternal affection. And in His tender mercy God once more made the trial easier, by bestowing the special promise that Ishmael should become “a nation.” Therefore, although Hagar and her son were literally cast forth, with only the barest necessities for the journey—water and bread,—this was intended chiefly in trial of Abraham’s faith, and their poverty was only temporary. For, soon afterward we read in Scripture, that, before his death, Abraham had enriched his sons (by
Hagar and Keturah) with “gifts;” and at his burying Ishmael appears, as an acknowledged son, by the side of Isaac, to perform the last rites of love to their father. A. E.
14. The position of the words shows beyond controversy that the writer only meant that the bread and the water were put on her shoulder, and not the child. K.—The leathern bottle, as may be seen to this day in the East, and indeed in the South of Europe, is made of the whole skin of an animal (in this case of course of a small one, such as a goat or kid), the fore leg serving as the tap, and the neck as the mouth of the bottle. A’f.—The child. The sacred writer has been charged with an anachronism here, both from his use of the word “child,” when Ishmael must have been from fifteen to seventeen years old. The word for “child” (geled), however, is used for boys of adolescent age, as in Gen. 42:22, of Joseph, when he was seventeen. 15. The growing lad would easily be exhausted with the heat and wandering; while the hardy habits of the Egyptian handmaid would enable her to endure much greater fatigue. She had hitherto led the boy by the hand, now she left him fainting and prostrate under the shelter of a tree. E. H. B.
16. Wept. What a proof of the Divine tenderness is there in the human heart itself, which is the organ and receptacle of so many sympathies! When we consider how exquisite are those conditions by which it is even made capable of so much suffering—the capabilities of a child’s heart, of a mother’s heart—what must be the nature of him who fashioned its depths and strung its chords? Dawson.—17. Jehovah is represented as himself having emotions of pity for the mother and her reckless boy as he hears her plaintive cry of nature as a mother, and as compassionately lending her aid. How beautiful the words, “God heard the voice of the lad, and the angel of God called to Hagar, What aileth thee, Hagar? Fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.” So Jesus himself was affected by the natural sorrow of the poor widow at Nain. The cry of nature can enter into the ears of the Son of God; and it will enter into the ears of his true disciples. There is no gospel spirit in that sort of Christian sternness that hardens its heart and arrests the flow of its natural sensibility toward human misery and wretchedness, because forsooth that misery comes from the wickedness and recklessness of those who suffer it. That is a mistaken sort of sternness, in a world full of sin and therefore full of suffering, that withholds the aid of sympathy and compassion from them as very sinful men, women and children. If we desire to have the word of God reach them and move them, we must learn to say to the wretched, “What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; there may be help for thee and hope for thee yet.” S. R.
Angel of God. Maleach Elohim, elsewhere Maleach Jehovah. Supposed but wrongly to be a creature angel (Augustine, Origen, Jerome, Hofmann, Baumgarten, Tholuck, Delitzsch, Kurtz), for the reasons chiefly (1) that the term angel commonly designates a class of spiritual beings (ch. 19:1; 32:1; Job 4:18; Ps. 91:11; Matt. 13:41; John 20:12, et passim); (2) that the ἀγγελος κυρίως of the New Testament (Matt. 1:20; Luke 2:9; Acts 12:7) is always a created angel; (3) that the meaning of the term לְבָבֶךָ, one sent, from לֹא, to depute (Gesenius), one through whom work is executed from לֹא, to work (Keil), implies a certain degree of subordination, which is afterward more distinctly recognized (1 Chron 21:27; Zech. 1:12); (4) that the distinction between the unrevealed and the revealed God was not then developed as in later times, and particularly since the advent of Christ—to every one of which arguments, however, it is comparatively easy to reply (cf. Keil and Lange in loco). With more force of reason believed to have been the Divine Being himself, who already as Jehovah had appeared to Abram (the Fathers, the Reformers, Hengstenberg, Keil, Lange, Hävernick, Nitzsch, Ebrard, Steir, Kalisch, Ainsworth, Bush, Wordsworth, Candlish), since—1. The Maleach Jehovah explicitly identifies himself with Jehovah (ver. 10) and Elohim (ch. 22:12). 2. Those to whom he makes his presence known recognize him as Divine (ch. 16:13; 18:23-33; 28:16-22; Exod. 3:6; Judges 6:15, 20-23; 13:22). 3. The Biblical writers constantly speak of him as Divine, calling him Jehovah without the least reserve (ch. 16:13; 18:1; 22:16; Exod. 3:2; Judges 6:12). 4. The doctrine here implied of a plurality of persons in the Godhead is in complete accordance with earlier foreshadowings (ch. 1:26; 11:7) and later revelations of the same truth. 5. The organic unity of Scripture would be broken if it could be proved that the central point in the Old Testament revelation was a creature angel, while that of the New is the incarnation of the God-Man. T. W.
18. I will make him a great nation. Very properly denominated Ishmaelites and Hagarenes by others, they affectedly called themselves Saracens; thus rejecting their descent from the concubine and challenging it from the wife of Abraham; till at last they became noticed under that appellation by Dioscorides, by Ptolemy, and the Jerusalem Targum itself. Whitaker.—20. Became an archer. A skilful hunter and warrior also, with bow and arrow. The Saracens, who were of the posterity of Ishmael, never set their hands to the plough, but got their living for the most part by their bow; supporting themselves on wild flesh and venison and such wild fowl as the wilderness afforded, with herbs and milk. Patrick.—21. In the wilderness of Paran. Probably the great desert, now called the desert El-Tih, i.e. “the wanderings,” extending from the Wady-el-Arabah on the east, to the gulf of Suez on the west, and from the Sinaitic range on the south to the borders of Palestine on the north. E. H. B.
It only needs a glance beneath the surface to see that the future course of these two great branches of the Abrahamic blood was destined to be so divergent, that their currents could no longer mingle with advantage to either. So far as Ishmael was concerned, the archer and huntsman whose home was to be the desert, with his bow for his best inheritance, it was well that he should be early trained to the hardships of a nomadic chieftain. For his own comfort, he could not be too soon compelled to forego all idle dreams of one day succeeding to his father’s estate. Too soon he could not be withdrawn from the presence of a brother whose priority would only inflame his envy. It was the kindest thing for the youth to send him away from his father’s tents. Let it be remembered that he was not sent away from his father’s God. The mercies of God are not limited to the area of His covenant. This most touching incident of the angel’s reappearance to Hagar when she despaired of her boy’s life in the thirsty wastes of El-Tih, to the south of Beersheba, taught this precious truth, that God in heaven does care for those outside the circle of exceptional privilege, and reserves a blessing also for such as are not of the “seed” whom He has “blessed.” It was in Isaac that the line of sacred descent was to flow. To his race were to belong “the adoption and the glory,” the “law” and the “promises.” Of them was to come the Christ. The highest religious advantages and the hope of the human family required to be narrowed to a single stem only, out of the various nationalities which call Abraham their progenitor. Yet God heard the cry of the lad, where he lay under a desert bush, to remind the world that the selections of His grace never mean any limitation of His love, and never spring from a partial or hard-hearted favoritism. Providence, indeed, moved in the line of Sarah’s counsel, rather than of Abraham’s; but it is the spirit of Abraham, and not that of Sarah, which best interprets for us the heart of God.
For Isaac’s sake, on the other hand, it was scarcely less advisable to “cast out” the bondmaid’s son. His yielding disposition was ill-fitted to withstand the influence or endure the hostility of his older and more impetuous brother. Besides, the people of the covenant needed to be from the outset a separated people, kept clear of Gentile alliances. Ishmael’s mother was a pagan slave; out of her Egyptian home he married a pagan wife. From all such close contact with heathendom it was requisite to guard the selected family through which a purer faith was to be transmitted. Perhaps we may add a further consideration. No single home can long hold with safety the child of nature and the child of grace. This early family history was meant to be full of significance for the Church of God. And it had to be made clear that in God’s spiritual family circle, or within their eternal home, no place can be found for such as are His only after the flesh, bearing on their body, indeed, the seal of His covenant, yet not born again of His Holy Spirit. Paul’s use of this ancient household is admitted by himself to be an allegorical use of it (Gal. 4:21). By his supernatural conception and birth from parents who only received power to give him being at all through their faith in the promise of God, Isaac was of all men most fit to symbolize that spiritual seed who are born of God, and who display, in virtue of their heavenly birth, a faith like Abraham’s. With such an origin his personal character corresponded. He not merely inherited his father’s blood; he shared his father’s piety. In him, therefore, was appropriately prefigured all the moral family of God, who in every age have walked in the steps of Abraham, and who are summed up in Isaac’s antitype—Jesus Christ. No less conspicuously did the wayward boy, who owed his birth to Sarah’s wilful scheme and Abraham’s weakness and Hagar’s servitude, typify, both by outward position and spiritual character, all such as stand nominally inside the household of faith, yet have not been born of the Spirit into the free trust and love of sons, but serve God only under a bondman’s constraint or with a bondman’s fear. Dykes.
Covenant between Abraham and Abimelech (vs. 22–32).
23. Swear unto me by God.** From this circumstance we may see the original purpose, design, and spirit of an oath, viz. Let God prosper or curse me in all that I do, as I prove true or false to my engagements! This is still the spirit of all oaths, where God is called to witness. A. C.
22-30. In order to show that what he coveted was not simply personal friendship, but a public tribal alliance such as might outlast their individual lives and secure enduring peace betwixt their tribesmen, the prince brought with him his chief officer or second in command. This official was distinguished by a title, Phichol, which, like his master’s, tells of their Semitic speech. [Its recurrence in Isaac’s days (Gen. 26 : 26) seems to show that, like Pharaoh, Abimelech, and others, Phichol was purely an official title worn by successive holders of the dignity. It means “the mouth of all”—that is, the vizier or minister, who alone has immediate access to the sovereign, and through whom, therefore, the case of all suitors must pass.] The primitive ceremony of treaty-making comprised an exchange of valuable presents, as well as a mutual oath of fidelity to the terms of contract. While these preliminaries to the final ratification of the alliance were going forward, Abraham was observed to set apart seven ewe lambs from the flocks which constituted his present. On his side he had a grievance to complain of, against the recurrence of which he desired to secure himself by a separate and precise understanding. This grievance concerned the well which with immense labor his servants had dug. On the free use of that water supply depended the value of the grazing grounds around. To Abraham’s occupation of the district it was simply essential; yet he had to complain that it had been “violently taken away” by the Philistine herdsmen. Abimelech protested his ignorance of the injury; and his acceptance of the separated ewe lambs was a symbolical acknowledgment of Abraham’s exclusive right to the possession of the well. On this understanding the league of amity was sworn, to be renewed a generation later between their successors. The centre of the pastoral life, then as now, was the well-mouth. Around its mouth stood a series of stone troughs for the watering of his cattle. Toward it, in the cool of the evening, trooped the young women with their pitchers. The permanent encampment required to be set up in convenient proximity to it. From it, at the dry season, no flock dared wander far away. Beside it every traveller halted his camels. The poetry of life, its pastimes and its business, all clustered round the well.
31. Beersheba means the “well of seven,”
or “of the oath,” two significations which in Hebrew are very closely related. To swear, in primitive Hebrew usage, meant literally to bind one’s self, as Abraham did on this occasion, by seven things, seven being from the very origin of history the divine or perfect number. When this interesting site was rediscovered by Dr. Robinson in the year 1838, the name was found adhering to it nearly unchanged in form—Bir-es-seba. Two grand wells of ancient masonry, the larger of which measures twelve feet and a half across, remain to tell of the shepherd chiefs whose flocks browsed on the surrounding hills in the gray morning of time. To this day are still set round about them stone troughs for the watering of cattle. Worn deep into their stone margins are the marks of ropes. Few monuments so venerable as these remain to transport the traveller back to patriarchal scenes. Even should the existing masonry which protects them prove to be of more recent date, there is no reason to doubt that the wells themselves are the very same as were dug by Abraham and his son. On the slope above lie scattered the remains of a town which subsequently grew up. Dykes.
33. Beersheba may have been as destitute of trees then as to-day; for there Abram planted a grove or a tree,—an act which as clearly distinguishes him from the Arab Sheik, as did the wells which he and Abimelech dug at Beersheba. S. C. B.
34. The years which immediately followed these transactions were probably among the happiest in Abraham’s life. Secure in the friendship of his neighbors, with his rights to water and pasture guaranteed by treaty, the shepherd chieftain dwelt at peace beside his flocks. The region around Beersheba is one of quiet beauty, and may have recalled to his remembrance the plains of his former Mesopotamian home more vividly than either Ai or Mamre. His wealth was ample. Above all, his home had now been blessed with the crown of his earthly hopes. The visible prospect which opened before the old man’s eyes was at least one of a long and happy posterity. Into distant ages, pregnant with the blessings of Jehovah’s covenant, he could now look forward; and the prospect appears to have suggested to his mind a new name for God. Beneath his young tamarisk-tree by the well of the oath, Abraham proclaimed Jehovah to be El-‘Olam, the Everlasting One, the God of an endless hidden future. Dykes.
The church was organized in Abraham, its ordinances confined to his family, and he was the appointed head of an organization in which all the families of the earth were to be blessed. The work and the responsibility of the Church under the Patriarchs and during their era was to cherish and nurture the little germ of a mighty tree. There was no king, and the Patriarch must be the ruler; no priest, and he must be priest to instruct and offer sacrifices and prayer; no church edifice, and he must erect an altar under the open heavens, wherever he was; no city of habitation, and he must wander in tents,—the heir of the world, and yet have no “inheritance, no, not so much as to set his foot on.” He must live and die in the tent. How careful must he be to keep the germ alive,—to prevent the heathen from treading it under foot! There was no Bible in the world, and he must go directly to God himself to know his will. He had no staff on which to lean but that of faith, and no hope of the increase of the church but in a distant future. The wealth of the patriarchs was in their cattle; their mansions were tents made of skins; their food, the plainest. They wandered for water, and were often driven to distress by famine. They had no responsibility but to keep the organization alive. That was all that they could do. It was the planting time, and the time for the little germ to take root. Todd.