Genesis 21 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Genesis 21

The Birth of Isaac

21:1 The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had promised. 2 And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac.¹ 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” 7 And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

God Protects Hagar and Ishmael

8 And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing.² 10 So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” 11 And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named. 13 And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.” 14 So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Let me not look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. 20 And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

A Treaty with Abimelech

22 At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do. 23 Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned.” 24 And Abraham said, “I will swear.”

25 When Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech’s servants had seized, 26 Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today.” 27 So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant. 28 Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock apart. 29 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?” 30 He said, “These seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand, that this³ may be a witness for me that I dug this well.” 31 Therefore that place was called Beersheba,⁴ because there both of them swore an oath. 32 So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines. 33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God. 34 And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines.

Footnotes

[1] 21:3 Isaac means he laughs
[2] 21:9 Possibly laughing in mockery
[3] 21:30 Or you
[4] 21:31 Beersheba means well of seven or well of the oath

Commentary

v1-3: God's faithfulness; the birth of Isaac. Abraham's "only begotten son," born of the will of God (John 1.13; Heb 11.17 (RAV)). This points us forward to Christ's miraculous birth, and to the experience of being "born again." All emphasise God's grace and initiative and power. Sarah and Mary both experienced normally pregnancies; God's miraculous intervention did not remove that experience.

v4-5: Like Jesus, Isaac is circumcised on the eighth day; he is the first of Abraham's family to be circumcised so soon (see 17.23-25). For us the eighth day speaks of resurrection and new life, when the flesh is defeated.

v6-7: Laughter of joy instead of mockery; Christ brings such joy into our lives.

It is important to note that the promises to Abraham will be fulfilled through Isaac, 15.4; 17.18, 21.

v8-12: See Gal 4.28-31; Hagar the bondwoman, the servant girl, picturing the law. Isaac is the child of promise, the child born of faith, bringing joy to his father.

There are key principles here;

the mocking and persecution of the people of God, for the unbelieving world is antagonistic towards men and women who have faith in the true God;
first the natural (Ishmael) and then the spiritual (Isaac), see 1 Cor 15;
the necessity of separation between true religion and false religion, something Abraham learned through leaving Ur, and something Isaac now has to learn.

The promises of God are to be fulfilled in Isaac, and this time Abraham, instructed by God, does heed Sarah's advice in sending Ishmael away.

v13: God's faithfulness to Abraham is manifest also in the blessings upon Ishmael. Since he is a son of Abraham, he will father a nation, 17.18-20.

v14: Abraham provides for Hagar and Ishmael. Even though they are cast out, he has a responsibility to provide for them. Later, it is the Lord who provides directly for them.

v5-16: Hagar is not confident in God's promises, yet she still benefits from them.

v17-18: God hears his voice, Ishmael about 14 years old. God's promises to him cannot fail, and his life is preserved.

v19: Once God opened Hagar's eyes, she sees His provision. She then took of what He provided. It is one thing to know that God has the answer, it is another thing to reach out and avail yourself of it.

v20: Ishmael the hunter, like Nimrod (10.9) and Esau (27.3). God is with him; this does not imply that Ishmael has any real faith in God, but rather it is simply God's faithfulness to His own promises.

v21: The wife for Ishmael, by whom the promises of God will be fulfilled.

v22-24: Abimelech is clearly impressed by Abraham's life; he has seen, "God is with you in everything you do." His response is a mixture of faith and fear; if he were to bless Abraham, then he will find blessing; confirming the promises of 12.3.

v25-34: Abraham enters into treaty with Abimelech.

A dispute between Abraham's servants and Abimelech's is settled by an offering; later Isaac has a similar dispute, see 26.19-25.

Abraham's tamarisk tree, an evergreen, lasting for many year, picturing the everlasting God.