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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Genesis 21:8 - 21:8
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Expulsion of Ishmael. - The weaning of the child, which was celebrated with a feast, furnished the outward occasion for this. Sarah saw Ishmael mocking, making ridicule on the occasion. “Isaac, the object of holy laughter, was made the butt of unholy wit or profane sport. He did not laugh (צחק), but he made fun (מְצַחֵק). The little helpless Isaac a father of nations! Unbelief, envy, pride of carnal superiority, were the causes of his conduct. Because he did not understand the sentiment, 'Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?' it seemed to him absurd to link so great a thing to one so small” (Hengstenberg). Paul calls this the persecution of him that was after the Spirit by him that was begotten after the flesh (Gal 4:29), and discerns in this a prediction of the persecution, which the Church of those who are born after the spirit of faith endures from those who are in bondage to the righteousness of the law.
Gen 21:9-13
Sarah therefore asked that the maid and her son might be sent away, saying, the latter “shall not be heir with Isaac.” The demand, which apparently proceeded from maternal jealousy, displeased Abraham greatly “because of his son,” - partly because in Ishmael he loved his own flesh and blood, and partly on account of the promise received for him (Gen 17:18 and Gen 17:20). But God (Elohim, since there is no appearance mentioned, but the divine will was made known to him inwardly) commanded him to comply with Sarah's demand: “for in Isaac shall seed (posterity) be called to thee.” This expression cannot mean “thy descendants will call themselves after Isaac,” for in that case, at all events, זַרְעֲךָ would be used; for “in (through) Isaac shall seed be called into existence to thee,” for קרא does not mean to call into existence; but, “in the person of Isaac shall there be posterity to thee, which shall pass as such,” for נִקְרָא includes existence and the recognition of existence. Though the noun is not defined by any article, the seed intended must be that to which all the promises of God referred, and with which God would establish His covenant (Gen 17:21, cf. Rom 9:7-8; Heb 11:18). To make the dismissal of Ishmael easier to the paternal heart, God repeated to Abraham (Gen 21:13) the promise already given him with regard to this son (Gen 17:20).
Gen 21:14-16
The next morning Abraham sent Hagar away with Ishmael. The words, “he took bread and a bottle of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it (שָׂם participle, not perfect) upon her shoulder, and the boy, and sent her away,” do not state the Abraham gave her Ishmael also to carry. For וְאֶת־הַיֶּלֶד does not depend upon שָׂם and וַיִּתֵּן because of the copula ו, but upon יִקַּח, the leading verb of the sentence, although it is separated from it by the parenthesis “putting it upon her shoulder.” It does not follow from these words, therefore, that Ishmael is represented as a little child. Nor is this implied in the statement which follows, that Hagar, when wandering about in the desert, “cast the boy under one of the shrubs,” because the water in the bottle was gone. For יֶלֶד like נַעַר does not mean an infant, but a boy, and also a young man (Gen 4:23); - Ishmael must have been 15 or 16 years old, as he was 14 before Isaac was born (cf. Gen 21:5, and Gen 16:16); - and הִשְׁלִיךְ, “to throw,” signifies that she suddenly left hold of the boy, when he fell exhausted from thirst, just as in Mat 15:30 ῥίπτειν is used for laying hastily down. Though despairing of his life, the mother took care that at least he should breathe out his life in the shade, and she sat over against him weeping, “in the distance as archers,” i.e., according to a concise simile very common in Hebrew, as far off as archers are accustomed to place the target. Her maternal love could not bear to see him die, and yet she would not lose sight of him.
Gen 21:17-19
Then God heard the voice (the weeping and crying) of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, “What aileth thee, Hagar? Fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the boy, where he is” (באשר for אֲשֶׁר בִּמְקֹום, 2Sa 15:21), i.e., in his helpless condition: “arise, lift up the lad,” etc. It was Elohim, not Jehovah, who heard the voice of the boy, and appeared as the angel of Elohim, not of Jehovah (as in Gen 16:7), because, when Ishmael and Hagar had been dismissed from Abraham's house, they were removed from the superintendence and care of the covenant God to the guidance and providence of God the ruler of all nations. God then opened her eyes, and she saw what she had not seen before, a well of water, from which she filled the bottle and gave her son to drink.
Gen 21:20-21
Having been miraculously saved from perishing by the angel of God, Ishmael grew up under the protection of God, settled in the wilderness of Paran, and “became as he grew up an archer.” Although preceded by יִגְדַּל, the רֹבֶה is not tautological; and there is no reason for attributing to it the meaning of “archer,” in which sense רָבַב alone occurs in the one passage Gen 49:23. The desert of Paran is the present large desert of et-Tih, which stretches along the southern border of Canaan, from the western fringe of the Arabah, towards the east to the desert of Shur (Jifar), on the frontier of Egypt, and extends southwards to the promontories of the mountains of Horeb (vid., Num 10:12). On the northern edge of this desert was Beersheba (proleptically so called in Gen 21:14), to which Abraham had removed from Gerar; so that in all probability Hagar and Ishmael were sent away from his abode there, and wandered about in the surrounding desert, till Hagar was afraid that they should perish with thirst. Lastly, in preparation for Gen 25:12-18, it is mentioned in Gen 21:21 that Ishmael married a wife out of Egypt.