Gen 21:1-21 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
At the tent door at Mamre, the LORD had said, “At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes around, and Sarah will have a son” (Gen 18:14).
Since Abraham left Haran, the passage has recorded his age at seventy-five (Gen 12:4), eighty-six (Gen 16:16), and ninety-nine (Gen 17:1). In this lesson, that son is born.
1The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had spoken.
2Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
3Abraham called his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.
4Abraham circumcised his son, Isaac, when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.
5Abraham was one hundred years old when his son, Isaac, was born to him.
6Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me.”
7She said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.”
8The child grew and was weaned. Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.
9Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking.
10Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this servant and her son! For the son of this servant will not be heir with my son, Isaac.”
11The thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight on account of his son.
12God said to Abraham, “Don’t let it be grievous in your sight because of the boy, and because of your servant. In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice. For your offspring will be named through Isaac.
13I will also make a nation of the son of the servant, because he is your child.”
14Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a container of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder; and gave her the child, and sent her away. She departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
15The water in the container was spent, and she put the child under one of the shrubs.
16She went and sat down opposite him, a good way off, about a bow shot away. For she said, “Don’t let me see the death of the child.” She sat opposite him, and lifted up her voice, and wept.
17God heard the voice of the boy. The angel of God called to Hagar out of the sky, and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Don’t be afraid. For God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.
18Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him with your hand. For I will make him a great nation.”
19God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, filled the container with water, and gave the boy a drink.
20God was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the wilderness, and as he grew up, he became an archer.
21He lived in the wilderness of Paran. His mother got a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.
As he had said. “The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had spoken” (v. 1). “Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him” (v. 2). The passage records Abraham’s age too: “Abraham was one hundred years old when his son, Isaac, was born to him” (v. 5).
God has made me laugh. Abraham named his son Isaac (v. 3). Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me” (v. 6). And: “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children?” (v. 7). In the last lesson but one, she “laughed within herself” at the tent door (Gen 18:12); in this lesson, she says God has made her laugh.
A great feast. “Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned” (v. 8). That same day, Sarah saw Hagar’s son ‘mocking’ (v. 9); the passage gives that one word and says nothing more. Sarah said, “Cast out this servant and her son!” (v. 10).
Very grievous. “The thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight on account of his son” (v. 11). The ‘son’ here is Ishmael. God said to him, “Don’t let it be grievous in your sight because of the boy, and because of your servant” (v. 12), and, “I will also make a nation of the son of the servant, because he is your child” (v. 13).
Early in the morning. “Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a container of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder; and gave her the child, and sent her away” (v. 14). Hagar “wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba” (v. 14). The water ran out; she said, “Don’t let me see the death of the child,” and she “lifted up her voice, and wept” (v. 16).
God heard. “God heard the voice of the boy” (v. 17). The angel of God called to Hagar out of the sky: “Don’t be afraid. For God has heard the voice of the boy where he is” (v. 17). “God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water” (v. 19). This is the second time Hagar met God in the wilderness. The first time, the angel said, “the LORD has heard your affliction” (Gen 16:11).
God was with the boy. This passage ends: “God was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the wilderness, and as he grew up, he became an archer” (v. 20).
God had told Abraham, “As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He will become the father of twelve princes” (Gen 17:20). Later the passage lists the sons of Ishmael: “twelve princes, according to their nations” (Gen 25:16).
When Abraham died, “Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, buried him in the cave of Machpelah” (Gen 25:9).
Readers can see this: God did not forget the boy who was sent away; and it was both sons together who buried their father.
Perhaps you are like Sarah right now: God has made you laugh, and you want others to laugh with you.
Perhaps you are like Hagar right now: sent away, wandering in the wilderness, the water gone. This lesson takes no one’s side in this household. What it shows you is this: God heard the voice of a boy in the wilderness, and opened Hagar’s eyes to see a well. A psalm says: “The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart” (Ps 34:18).
This week: If you are in a season of laughter, think of someone who is in a ‘wilderness’ right now; this week, go and see them, or bring them a little ‘bread and water.’ If you yourself are in the wilderness, write down ‘God heard’ and put it where you will see it.
Scripture: World English Bible.