Genesis 21

The birth of Isaac (vs. 1-7)—God keeps His promises. He doesn’t always keep them within the time frame that we would prefer, but He does what is best. Abraham, as commanded by God, circumcised Isaac on the 8th day (v. 4). And Sarah’s “laugh” this time was fully justified—laughing from joy (vs. 6-7).

Hagar expelled again (vs. 8-21)—Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned (probably around 2 years old). Ishmael, who would have been about 15 now, was “scoffing,” or “mocking” (v. 9); what exactly that entails we don’t know, but it upset Sarah and she demanded that Ishmael and Hagar be banished from the camp (v. 10). This distressed Abraham, because Ishmael was his son, too. Of course, he wasn’t Sarah’s so she didn’t have the same feelings. Ishmael mocked HER son, and that angered her. God, however, told Abraham to do as Sarah demanded, but that He would make “a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed” (v. 13). So, the next morning, Abraham provisioned Hagar and Ishmael, and they departed for the Wilderness of Beersheba. Of course, the wilderness was a hot, dry place and they soon ran out of water (v. 15). Hagar thought the boy would die, but an angel came to their assistance and showed her where to find more water. “So God was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer,” (v. 20). We’ll hear more from Ishmael soon.

The covenant with Abimelech (vs. 25-34)—Abimelech’s servants seized a well that Abraham had dug (v. 25). The patriarch complained to the king about it, who protested his innocence, which from prior indications of his conduct, was probably true. Abraham then gave Abimelech some livestock as a sign of a covenant between the two men—that the well was indeed Abraham’s. He named the place Beersheba, literally, “the well of swearing, or of the oath.” The chapter ends by stating that Abraham “stayed in the land of the Philistines many days,” (v. 34), which indicates an amiable relationship between himself and those people. It will be just about the last time in the Bible a Hebrew and a Philistine got along well.