Hagar and Ishmael, Not Forgotten
Study Scripture: Genesis 21: 8 – 21
Background Scripture: Genesis 21: 8 – 21
Lesson 6 January 8, 2022
Key Verse
God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation. Genesis 21:17–18
INTRODUCTION
A faulty foundation inevitably leads to collapse, failure, loss and other related, negative consequences. This is true in any field of human endeavor including the spiritual realm. In this area, a firm and lasting foundation would be what is set on the word of God, the promises of God and trust in God. The opposite is, all that men attempt and do without God!
One very obvious and prominent lesson in Abraham’s (Abram) early experiences with Jehovah (Genesis 12-15) was that all the ‘good’ that came his way, was solely on account of God’s gracious actions and from nothing on Abraham’s part. This fact is confirmed to Abraham in Genesis 14:19-20 and 21:22. It would appear Abraham should have been such a man who waits on God and one who relies on God to carry-out His own plans, rather than one to acquis to expediency.
It is most important therefore to look at the context of the call of Abraham. He has been called by God to leave the bright lights of his civilized and famous home country Ur of the Chaldees and go to a land that God would show him. Ur was the New York of Abram’s day so leaving it for an unknown barbaric place was no easy feat. He did leave to the land the way he was directed by God but took his pagan father with him and he stopped on the way for some years in a town called Haran until his father died. Abram had taken a detour from God’s command but at age 75 he and his wife Sarah then left Haran armed with the promise that God would make Abram a great nation despite the fact that they had no children,
God had to reiterate to Abraham that His promises were going to be fulfilled. God was his shield and his exceeding great reward and therefore the very specific promises to Abraham would come true.
We are told that Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him for righteousness (Genesis 15:6). Then God had to ratify this covenant as one writer notes
“by the most remarkable ceremony of the ratification of the Abraham covenant by the symbolic picture of the Lord God through the smoking oven and flaming torch passing between the pieces of the sacrificial animals. Abraham was not invited to follow which of course is designed to indicate that this was an unconditional covenant, that is, it is a covenant that God himself has determined to carry out, a unilateral agreement.
Thus with strong belief, though he was lifted up, we see the manifestation of the weaknesses in human nature in both Abram and his wife Sarah.
Several things about the Lord God and about human beings are shown to be very important. We will see that the Lord God is not only a God of those that you consider to be “the chosen ones” to whom God made specific promises by the Abraham covenant, but He is also a God of people that you might consider to be outcasts. We learn that God sends His rain on the just and on the unjust, but He also blesses those that do not specifically accept His leading over the value of His covenants though they are associated with the people of God who inherited the fundamental salvation promises.
We are warned by the Apostle that therefore if someone is married to an unbeliever God treats the children from that union in a special way.
We also learn that despite instructions of the Lord God to believers it is not easy to let go of some of our prized possessions. It is almost impossible for us to imagine that God would try to separate us from our prized possessions, which includes of course children. But we hopefully will learn that our grief at God’s direction must not be so powerful a grief that human instincts is preeminent, for God will not abandon those that belong with us even though God does not necessarily want them to be with us throughout our life.
We must also note that the believing Abram and Sarah had a special agreement between them designed to protect Abraham when they encountered pagan kings. They were to pretend that the marriage bond between them was not quite as it should be for Abram fears that these powerful kings and rulers would kill him and take away from him the beautiful Sarah.
Note that this was despite the fact that God told Abraham that He God was their exceeding great reward and their shield.
It therefore gives us pause as we consider who we really are and how we think and how we plan in order to achieve what we think is in our best interest. This is how we behave despite God’s specific instructions, His testimonies, His rules, His guarantees and Covenants, our life history, His encouragements, and His commandments. We are not as solid as we think and therefore we must regard with amusement attempts by people when they examine the events of this chapter to say that they can do a better job than the Lord God and that they have the ability to show more compassion and more wisdom than the Lord God.
A saga that began with a seemingly harmless decision on Abraham’s part which took him outside of the direction of God (we will leave it up to you to decide what kind of decision this was), to take his family ‘down’ to Egypt in the face of a famine in the ‘Promise Land’ (Genesis 12:10) comes to a dramatic, and embarrassing encounter with a pagan king who coveted Sarah, and finally a sad climax for Abraham in chapter 21, our Study Chapter.
Still, when God’s people go their own way, devise their own plans and schemes and find themselves in dilemmas, even then we can expect our merciful God’s intervention.
When God called Abraham (then Abram) to leave his home in Ur, He promised among other things, to give him a Land and to make Abraham’s family a great nation (Genesis 12:1–3). Abraham was seventy-five years old when he entered Canaan and he was told that this was the Land that God promised to give him and his descendants (12:7). After an ill-advised sojourn and misadventure in Egypt, Abraham and family returned to Canaan where the Promise was repeated, expanded and ratified in a Covenant.
One seemingly ‘apparent obstacle’ to God’s plan was the fact that Sarah was unable to conceive a child
(Genesis 11:30) and thus bring about God’s plan. Abram raised this point with God explicitly in Genesis 15:1–3. He observed that it would be impossible for the plan to work since he had no male heir and at death all his assets would go to his oldest male servant, Eliezer, who was not related to him by blood (15:2). In response, God reaffirmed the promise (15:4, 5).
Yet more time passed and the couple remained childless. Sarah seeing the window for children closing devised a way around this ‘difficulty’ which she ‘sold’ to her husband. Note that in her words God had prevented her from having children. This was a rather incredible position but it was the typical incredible human position with respect to the words of God.
Abraham was to ‘sleep’ with her slave (16:2–3) and hopefully produce a son, who then would become the son of Abraham and Sarah. This was a culturally acceptable practice at the time and slaves were essentially chattel. The logic of this practice went along the lines of: “if my slave produces a child, that child will be mine, just like his mother is my property.” Sarah thought she could have a son in this secondary way and thus please her husband and facilitate God’s promise. Note this was not the one wife one husband dictum of God laid out in the Garden of Eden. As one would expect therefore, the result turned out to be very different from what Sarah had imagined.
We should know that our wills will never work the way we expect. Decisions made outside of God’s will and specific instructions will always lead to disaster for you personally, your family, your tribe, your nation, and most likely in some cases the entire world. Sometimes what seems to be trivial decisions have ripples which go out from you and affect the entire world.
So, in desperation elderly Abram and Sarai decided to take matters into their own hands. They ‘produced’ through human effort what God had promised A child was born through Sarai’s maid but not the Child of Promise. Just remember that you the believer has “children of promise”, which might not be physical children, but which are designated promises which are very important and should be close to you.
This was another low point in Abraham’s life and so far as the Bible informs us, it would be thirteen years until God again spoke to him.
The slave in question was an Egyptian named Hagar (Genesis 16:3). She presumably came into their household when the family sojourned in Egypt (12:16). Hagar was Sarah’s personal attendant. This attempt to run ahead of God turned out to be a bad idea, (Genesis 16:4–6).
Are you surprised that it was a bad idea?
Hagar conceived and it created a rift between the two women. Hagar looked down on Sarah
(Genesis 16:4) and Sarah retaliated with harsh treatment. Hagar fled into the wilderness where God comforted her and encouraged her to return to Abraham and Sarah, with the promise that He would bless her offspring (16:9–12). The baby born to Abraham and Hagar was named Ishmael (16:11).
Expediency appears to have won the day but eventually God made it clear to Abraham that Sarah would bear him a son (Genesis 17:15-22; 18:1–15). Isaac, the child of this miraculous conception, would become the heir to God’s promise to Abraham. Yet with Ishmael still in the mix as Abraham’s firstborn son, the situation was ripe for more conflict which brings us to today’s passage.
We must never when the angel of God spoke to Hagar when she ran away from Abram and Sarah, the angel comforted her but told her something important about Ishmael which affects how he behaves. She was told, “And he will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him; and he will live to the east of all his brothers’.
This latter expression really means that he would live in “the face of” or “in defiance of” all his brothers.
His mother Hagar obviously understood what the angel was saying and she reacted to everything around her saying that God was the God who sees and so He kept her alive. Chapter 16. She knew something very important about God which we often forget. But that does not mean that she was a firm believer in everything about the Lord God of Israel as we later see is in the chapter when she found a wife for Ishmael among the Egyptians.
In Genesis 21 Abraham experienced the joy and the pain of the life of faith. Isaac is finally born in fulfillment of the promise and Abraham and Sarah laughed for joy.
Consider however that no wife who believes in the promises of God and who have faith should encourage her husband in making that kind of slip.
Sarah deserves credit for her faith in the promises but we know that this was still a selfish decision on her part in some ways.
But we also know that Abram capitulated to female pressure and we can sympathize with that while knowing that that sort of capitulation is not acceptable to God. The expression that was used “Abraham listened to the voice of Sarah” was the precise expression that was used of Adam in the Garden of Eden when he listened to the voice of Eve which of course led to him and her and the entire human race falling into trouble with a capital T.
Depending on human effort and human reasoning is never a good thing. The Apostle Paul in Romans 9, 10, 11 and Galatians uses this experience to point out that those of us who seek to gain acceptance before God in such things and it such ways shall not inherit the blessing of God. Ishmael was born according to the flesh and the Apostle tells us that the son of the bondwoman shall not inherit with the son of the free. Human works are of no value in themselves before God. God would fulfill His word in His own way, not in our way and so He rejects our schemes. We must depend on the divine miracles that can be traced to the will of God and to God’s power. These divine miracles occur in our lives day by day.
However, the birth of Isaac threatens Ishmael, Abraham’s son by Hagar. For thirteen years, he was the sole heir, the focus of his father’s love, attention and the hope of his father’s dreams. But now he is set aside in favor of this newcomer. There is mounting tension in Abraham’s family and it climaxes at the feast held for the weaning of Isaac, probably when he was about two or three years old. Ishmael mocks Isaac and Sarah lays down an ultimatum:
“Drive out this maid and her son [Sarah won’t even use their names], for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son Isaac” (21:10). Abraham is plunged from the heights of joy to the depths of grief because of his love for his son.
At times, the life of faith requires God’s people to make very tough choices, sometimes these seem beyond our ability nonetheless, God must have the final say in these matters.
A keen awareness of His faithfulness will help our obedience in those testing times. The Study Text pointedly mentions God faithful actions to Sarah and Abraham; something to which Christians often attest in their testimonies. God was also faithful to Hagar and Ishmael.
The Bible throughout reveals a faithful God who keeps promises. Like Abraham, Christians must choose to believe God, trust His promise and obey in the most trying trials.
We often hear Christians say, “God helps those who help themselves”.
But that kind of voice is contrary to the Word of God for the rule is from Scripture, “God helps those who cannot help themselves but who turns to Him for help”.
God will not and so He does not help those who help themselves. So just learn this most important fact, lean on the Holy Spirit and let Him guide you. Learn that you must go to God for help even in what seems to be trivial matters.
Sarah well knew about the sovereignty of God and she knew that polygamy was not correct. But like all or most of us we think that God has to bless what we do and when He doesn’t we play the hypocrite, be forced as one writer says, to become:
“The mother of envy, the mother of jealousy, the mother of strife, and now that polygamy has reared its head, all kinds of evil consequences shall come. The baser elements in man are unleashed by this act and you can see them in Sarah and Hagar and also in Abraham.
Evidently, Sarah is a hypocrite. She acts as if she knows this God, but she does not because he is punishing her by not giving her children. And so the creation of false pride in the heart of Hagar by this incident is illustrated. There was sorrow in Sarah because she had to drink the dregs of this bitter cup of gall that this maid is now the mother of the child, or to be the mother of the child of her husband, and so she breaks into irrational blame of Abraham. “May the wrong done me be upon you; I gave my maid into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her sight”.
So let us look at our lives so we can learn what Scripture is teaching us. When we disobey God we have to, like Sarah and Abram and Hagar, drink the dregs of this bitter cup of gall created by the consequences of our actions.
The only thing to help assist us is to rest on the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ whose mercies never fail.
THE TEXT
Verses 1 – 2. Sarah was now ninety years old; past child-bearing age and some might have thought that God had somehow forgotten His promise but here we read: Then the Lord took note of Sarah
(visited -niv)… Note God’s gracious actions here; He took the initiative.
God took note (‘visited’) … is a common Old Testament metaphor that describes God’s intervention in nature and human affairs. The Hebrew word translated “visited” (paqad) also appears when God intervened to save the Israelites from Egyptian bondage (50:24-25; Exod. 4:31), and when He ended a famine (Ruth 1:6). It also occurs when He caused Hannah to conceive (1 Sam. 2:21) and when He brought the Jewish exiles home from the Babylonian captivity (Jer. 29:10). Thus, the use of this word here highlights the major significance of Isaac’s birth. These phrases preface God’s intervention to bless.
…at the appointed time… (Gen. 18:14) that is, when Sarah and Abraham were too old to procreate. This child was a miracle; God’s work! Here we have a picture of the salvation of every believer!
…But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, 13. who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God. (John 1:12-13).
These verses highlight God’s grace and faithfulness to His promises in the terms Moses employs: ‘the Lord took note of Sarah’, ‘as He had said’; ‘as He had promised’; ‘at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him’. God does what is right at the right time!
Verses 3 – 4. These verses highlight Abraham’s response of gratitude and obedience.
Isaac means laughter which is what the first mention of this improbable birth evoked in both Abraham and Sarah. First, they laughed in unbelief: Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man a hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth to a child?” (Gen. 17:17).
Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing. 12. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have become old, am I to have pleasure, my lord being old also?” (Gen. 18:11-12).
Isaac’s name (laughter) was appropriate for at least two reasons:
1. Isaac would be a source of joy to his parents as the fulfillment of God’s promised seed.
2. Both Abraham and Sarah laughed in delight and disbelief respectively when told that God had chosen to bless them by giving them a son so late in life (17:17; 18:12)
… Abraham circumcised his son Isaac … circumcision marked one as belonging to the covenant community. Abraham acted in obedience and this is fast becoming his practice. God’s faithfulness should evoke obedience in His people.
Verse 5. Now Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Underlines divine intervention in the conception and birth of Isaac. It was a long wait for Abraham and Sarah and it was a purposeful wait. This birth could now only be attributed to divine intervention.
Verse 6. God has made laughter for me… Sarah’s joy echoes the psalmist: When the Lord brought back the captives of Zion, We were like those who dream. 2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter… (Psalm 126:1-2).
God asked Is anything too difficult for the Lord? in Genesis 18 in Sarah’s hearing and in her mind the answer was yes: me having a child. The very thought, even now evoked laughter; her friends would lovingly tease her!
Who would have said to Abraham … no one! This is a miracle!
I have given birth to a son in his old age… an indication of Sarah’s love and devotion to her husband. Yes, it was evident with the birth of Ishmael that barreness was not an issue with Abraham; nonetheless, he longed for a child from the love of his life.
Verse 8. We are not told when exactly a baby was expected to be weaned. Much later in Israel, Hannah (another barren woman whom God enabled to conceive) entrusted her son Samuel into the care of Eli to be raised as a priest after he was weaned (1 Samuel 1:22–24). This likely did not occur before Samuel was three years old, perhaps closer to four. The practice then was two to three years old.
Isaac’s weaning was an event to be celebrated and Abraham had the means to throw a ‘great feast’. The child no longer depended on his mother’s breastmilk for sustenance, which allowed him to spend more time with his father and the other men. This important rite of passage for any young boy was especially important for the child of promise, born in miraculous circumstances. It appears to be joy all-around but it marked a seismic shift in succession rights in Abraham’s clan.
Verse 9. … the son of Hagar the Egyptian … referring to Ishmael as the son of Hagar the Egyptian emphasized his relationship to his slave mother rather than to his father. Ishmael was fourteen years older than his half-brother Isaac (Gen. 16:16; 17:25; 21:5), making Ishmael about age sixteen / seventeen when this event took place. (vs.8).
… mocking…. We are not told exactly what Ishmael said and/or did to draw the accusation of mocking. The Hebrew word is the same behind the name Isaac, which means “laughter.” The word can imply simple amusement, but other contexts reveal darker possibilities. The same word was used when Lot’s sons-in-law thought he was kidding around about the imminent destruction of Sodom (Genesis 19:14). The word also described the frivolity of the idolatrous Israelites with their golden calf (Exodus 32:6). The term further characterized how a husband and wife enjoyed romantic time together (Genesis 26:8), appropriate within a marriage but sinful in other contexts. However, the ‘intensive’ form of the word here has negative connotations and thus becomes ‘mocking’.
Some scholars however when they look at the Hebrew language and Sarah’s extreme reaction think that there was some sexual misconduct between the teenage Ishmael and the pre-school-aged Isaac. But in any case, Sarah saw Ishmael as a competitor for the promises of God and she did not like that.
Sarah’s, Abraham’s and Ishmael’s behavior here should be seen as more than a human-interest story and rather, in the light of the divine purpose. Isaac’s conception and birth must have already heightened tension in the camp and given the history, Ishmael’s derisive behavior would not have gone un-noticed especially by Sarah. We can assume that those on ‘the inside’ if not all in the clan were aware of God’s edict that the ‘covenant line’ would go through Isaac. Ishmael was in effect ‘mocking’ God’s will and purpose and not just throwing a fit of jealousy.
Verse 10. Sarah’s sensitivity to anything to do with Hagar or Ishmael may lead us to assume that she overreacted to a teasing insult. Whatever was happening, it provoked Sarah to act decisively. Given her history with Hagar, Sarah was the worst person to witness Ishmael’s derision.
Cast out this bondwoman and her son… we might be giving Sarah more credit than due here but her demand for the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael seem to go beyond mere jealousy and protecting one’s interest. Abraham was a very rich man and surely there was more than enough for two sons and she must have anticipated that Abraham would not agree to her demand.
Sarah’s demand might appear unduly harsh and there is a lesson here for believers. It is a lot easier to fall into sin than to extricate one’s self from such situations. Sin typically entangles the believer and what at first might have seemed to be a ‘one of’ soon becomes an entrenched habit and compounded situation. What first seemed a ‘reasonable’ suggestion has mushroomed into a very serious problem with no easy fix.
As God cast the first couple out of Eden (Genesis 3:24) and later drove Cain from the soil (4:14), so Sarah called Abraham to expel Hagar and Ishmael from their camp. We should hesitate to evaluate this action in a moral sense, given the fact of God’s approval (21:12). We might keep in mind as well that God also promised to bless Ishmael and make a great nation of him.
… bondwoman and her son… the repeated use of this term would remind Abraham that Hagar and Ishmael were ‘outsiders’ and foreshadowed the Biblical principle that the ‘flesh’ and the ‘Spirit’ will not coexist in peace. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness. And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? (2 Cor. 6:14-15).
For the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. Whether or not Sarah was consciously aligning herself with the divine will, the fact is, there was only room for one heir in God’s plan. Later when the Law is given at Sinai, it will be mandatory for the firstborn son to inherit a double portion of his father’s estate at the father’s death (Deut. 21:15–17). Sarah was unwilling to see Ishmael even as an heir equal to her own son.
The theological significance of Sarah’s demand will later be highlighted by the Apostle Paul when he makes reference to this incident in Galatians 4:22-31 “…For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and one by the free woman. 23. But the son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise. 24. This is speaking allegorically, for these women are two covenants: one coming from Mount Sinai giving birth to children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar. 25. Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is enslaved with her children. 26. But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother… 28. And you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29. But as at that time the son who was born according to the flesh persecuted the one who was born according to the Spirit, so it is even now. 30. But what does the Scripture say?
“Drive out the slave woman and her son, For the son of the slave woman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman.”
31. So then, brothers and sisters, we are not children of a slave woman, but of the free woman.
And, speaking to God’s sovereignty in election, Paul recalls this incident in Romans 9:6-8 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; 7 nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s [a]descendants, but: through Isaac your descendants shall be named.” 8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.
Conversely, we could reasonably argue that jealousy, pride, fear, all played a part in Sarah’s disregard for Ishmael and yet God worked through Sarah, Abraham, Isaac, Hagar, and Ishmael for His purposes.
What appears to be a family quarrel, God used to protect the Messianic line. Sarah was absolutely correct. That which was the work of the ‘flesh’ had to go. It was in Isaac that this seed of promise was.
Note the dreadful warning contained in the fact that even though Ishmael was the son of Abraham, he was not the child of promise. His expulsion serves as a warning that though one might be part of a certain group or family, that does not automatically separate us to be part of the chosen. Many of us come from the same beginnings and as such even though some may reject the word of God, they are familiar with and conversant with the children of God in this world. Ishmael was the son of Abraham, however, it is clearly mentioned that he would not be considered a joint heir with Isaac and would not inherit the promises of God. Salvation is a supernatural gift. Jesus is the only one who can provide the spring of water which wells up in us to eternal life. (John 4:14).
Verse 11. It is very understandable that Sarah’s demand distressed Abraham greatly because of his son Ishmael. Abraham rightly loved his son Ishmael and must have grown attached to him over thirteen or more years.
At this point Abraham perspective on the matter was purely natural. Surely there had to be some kind of compromise everyone could live with; after all, he was a very rich man with a lot of assets.
Perhaps Abraham thought both sons would share his inheritance. When God first mentioned that Abraham’s heir would be his own flesh and blood, Sarah was not mentioned (Genesis 15:4). And if Abraham understood that God intended for only one nation to descend from him, then that man could be excused for thinking that his two sons would both contribute to that one people. Ishmael’s banishment would throw all these assumptions into disarray. What about his right as a father to have his son around?
It is pointed out that the Law of Deuteronomy 22 stated that the firstborn, and Ishmael certainly was the firstborn, had rights and he should have been given a double portion of everything that his father had. It made no difference that Hagar was a slave woman for Ishmael was Abram’s legitimate son. So it would be an additional complication for Sarah would see that Ishmael had double the amount of inheritance and Isaac would only receive one third, a bitter pill for Sarah to swallow since Ishmael was enriched at Isaac’s expense. Whether or not this law in Deuteronomy was known and accepted in the days of Abraham is something we do not know.
Abraham also knew that if he sent Hagar and Ishmael away, since they had been living in slavery, this will automatically set them free and Hagar and Ishmael would be free to live their lives in any way they wished no longer dependent on Abraham or under his influence.
Then on top of that that Hagar had been a faithful maid and was a resident alien, and on top of that was a surrogate mother who had borne his child.
One writer says that Hagar represents the women of society who were and are rejected, scorned or looked down upon. The thrust therefore is this is not right and is not pleasing to God.
Even if Abraham entertained these thought for a minute, he was not naïve about the dangers that the boy and his mother would face if sent away. Abraham was a family man; he risked his life to rescue his nephew Lot and now to ‘voluntarily’ put his son in harm’s way!
Notice the predicament that one bad decision can initiate, (Gen. 16:1-3). His bad decision led to tense relationships. Now he has a blended family, which often causes conflict. Ishmael is as much a son of Abraham as Isaac is, but not so for Sarah. Abraham is caught in the middle between Sarah and Isaac on one hand and Hagar and Ishmael on the other; between what is legal and illegal; between what is right and what is hard; between his love for Ishmael and his love for Sarah. What Abraham thought was long past comes back to haunt him.
A caution for Christians here: bad decisions sometimes produce lifetime scars. Many of us experience the results of past sins (either our own or the impact on us of others’ sins). Sins committed in haste and self-will often continue to haunt us. Though every act of sin is forgivable, the effects of some are not erasable such as drug abuse, promiscuity, criminal acts. Nonetheless, if we repent, God eases the burden and brings relief. He turns the darkness of our lives into the dawn of his deliverance.
We know that letting go is never easy, especially if we are called to let go of our prized possessions whether they are material or immaterial. Abram had to make a painful decision and a devastating choice for he knew what God wanted and he knew what Sarah wanted.
Verse 12. Abraham was on the horns of a dilemma; this was worse than being between ‘a rock and a hard place’.
It was at this juncture that God intervened to help his beleaguered servants, Abraham and Sarah. Wittingly or not, Sarah was working within God’s plan and purpose and God gave Abraham two commands; 1. “Do not be distressed,” and 2. “Listen to her”.
… whatever Sarah tells you… implied in this is that God accepted Sarah’s assessment of the situation. While there is much speculation about Sarah’s attitude, the Text only tells us she saw her two / three- year-old, the ‘son of promise’ being mocked, (Paul uses the term persecuted, Gal. 4: 29). She saw a threat to the promised descendant and acted for his protection and estate.
…for through Isaac your descendants shall be named… God also gave Abraham, His friend, a reason Ishmael had to leave. Sarah was right, maybe for the wrong reason but Abraham was to banish Hagar and Ishmael not because Ishmael has done anything to deserve disinheritance, nor because of Sarah’s resentment, but because of God’s sovereign decree that his promise to Abraham will take place through Isaac. So long as Hagar and Ishmael lived in Abraham’s house there would be no peace, nor would Abraham be able to focus on raising Isaac, the child of promise.
For some fourteen years, Abraham might have been or was under a false impression that Ishmael was the promised child (15:5; 16:10; 17:18). Now he knows otherwise. Nonetheless, it’s still hard to let Ishmael go. Undoubtedly, Abraham must have thought: He’s still my son. Hagar is my second wife. And they have nowhere to go. How can I do this?
At this point we are not sure of Abraham’s grasp of the enormity of God’s promise and covenant to and with him. What we know is that once God’s commands were clear to him, he acted promptly in obedience.
We cannot be sure how much of the plan of God Abraham knew or understood but one writer illuminates our understanding of what was in the mind of God, for God knew that Abraham had some things in his way of thinking that had to be changed. Abraham had now to be tested to see whether he knew what having this child of promise meant. We are told by one scholar:
“Now if you have been following carefully the life of Abraham, you will have noted how God has been tearing idols away from him and in the preceding chapter, he tore one final idol or one of the last of the idols that was part of the life of Abraham and Sarah, for from the time that they were in Ur of the Chaldees, they had made this little agreement that whenever they got into difficulty going into a new place, Abraham would say that she is my sister wife and Sarah would say he is my brother. So that that was not simply one incident in their life, but evidently something that they had harbored from the time of the leaving of Ur of the Chaldees, and so their secret agreement was an agreement of the flesh designed to prevent them from having to suffer because of their connection with the Lord.
There is one last thing now that must be dealt with before Abraham is asked to offer up Isaac and that is the connection with Hagar. Ishmael must be dealt with. Abraham evidently is still clinging to her and still clinging to her son Ishmael for as a father he loved Ishmael. He desires that Ishmael be blessed and when Ishmael is finally sent out, the matter distresses Abraham greatly, but you can see this would have been a possible stumbling block for the test of Genesis chapter 22 because if Abraham is able to lean upon Ishmael, then the test in the offering of Isaac would be that much easier. It’s easier to give up Isaac if one still has Ishmael at home, and so consequently God must wean Abraham from Ishmael and Ishmael must be sent off in order that when the test comes in Genesis chapter 22, it’s the kind of test which, by the grace of God, Abraham manages to succeed in, then it is true.
Abraham is the friend of God. So what we are dealing with is a chapter in which God is tearing and stripping idols away from the heart of Abraham and Sarah to bring them both to a naked helpless trust in God reminding them, in a sense, that this world is not their home. That’s a very important principle. The world is not our home either. So the pruning of our great husbandman goes on constantly and may I suggest to you in your own Christiane life that part of your growth in grace is response to the pruning that God the husbandman does in your life.”
Verse 13. I will make a nation also…. God did not ignore Hagar or become indifferent to Ishmael. Although God was always going to fulfill His promises through Sarah’s child, He chose to also make Ishmael a nation because he too was Abraham’s son (Genesis 21:18).
Abraham would not have to live the rest of his life under this burden of guilt. God provided relief by giving him a promise about Ishmael: God, not Abraham, would take care of Hagar and Ishmael. Ishmael would lose his family rights as a son but he would gain a national right as the father of the Arab people. Ishmael would lose his inheritance of property but gain an inheritance of a nation. Ishmael would be cut off from what was his by legal right but be connected to what is his only by God’s promise.
Why? “Because he is your offspring.” Such is the grace of God to Abraham. Despite Abraham’s failure to live up to his responsibilities last time, God will fulfill His promises to him concerning both his sons.
No matter what the consequences of our past sins, God can bring relief. If we repent, accept the consequences of those sins and wait on God, He provides the needed wherewithal in all spheres of life, to allow His people to live in His will.
God will bless Ishmael because of his father, Abraham. His life is described in prophecy in 16:11-12. Ishmael’s relationship to Abraham was the source of his blessing as Lot’s was in 19:29. Likewise, believers are blessed for Jesus’ sake.
Verse 14. In this instance, as in the story of Isaac’s near sacrifice, Abraham’s obedience to the Lord was seen in his immediate action early in the morning (Genesis 22:3). The only record we have of Abraham and Ishmael together after this is when Ishmael returned to help Isaac bury their father (25:9); whether Ishmael spent time with his dying father is unknown. There is no record of Hagar ever returning to see Abraham.
All Abraham gave them was some bread and a bottle of water. From what we know of Abraham, he was not selfish or stingy about what gifts he gave to people. So perhaps these were part of the instructions issued to him by God. They too would have to learn to depend on God for sustenance. This was their first lesson.
After the provisions were given, they were ushered towards the wilderness to their final destination which was not mentioned at this point.
Abraham knew that God would provide for Hagar and Ishmael. God promised that Ishmael would be the father of a great nation. So, there would be no question in Abraham’s mind that Ishmael would survive and do very well. Abraham might have even given these assurances to Ishmael.
…wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba… Beersheba was in southern Canaan, west of Gerar, where Abraham had settled (Genesis 20:1). Later, the entire Promised Land could be measured from Dan in the north to Beersheba. Indeed, the phrase “from Dan even to Beersheba” became a catchphrase in that regard (Judges 20:1; 1 Samuel 3:20; 2 Samuel 3:10; 17:11; 24:2, 15; 1 Kings 4:25). Hagar likely intended to return to Egypt and eventually did so (Genesis 21:21). Later Abraham would designate a well in the area by the name Beersheba (Genesis 21:31). Isaac and Jacob both had significant spiritual experiences in the area (26:23–25; 46:1–4).
Verse 15. We are not told how long Hagar wandered in the wilderness before running out of provisions, though we would expect that Abraham had sent her and the child away with as much as they could carry. But we would not expect that the water would last for more than three or four days.
Hagar must have learned something of the God of Abraham over the years but as we see next, His promise to her appears to have been long forgotten (Gen.16), as she awaited the death of her son and herself.
Verse 16. Genesis 16 records a prior encounter with the angel of the Lord when Hagar had a run-in with Sarah and fled from Sarah’s harsh treatment. On that occasion, the angel told her that she would have a son who would survive a difficult life and be a leader. As a matter of fact, she had responded by giving us one of the most beautiful names for God. Genesis 16:13 records her statement after the angel spoke to her. “ Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You are a God who sees”; for she said, “Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi;.”
Let me not see the death of the child… as noted, the last time Hagar ran away, pregnant with Ishmael, God met her by a spring of water and promised that Ishmael would grow into manhood (Gen. 16:7–12). At that time, she called the Lord “a God who sees” (16:13). It must have seemed to her that God was breaking this promise and refusing to see their current plight. Not giving a thought to her own likely death, she wept for her child.
We too are given promises from God. Even when we are sinful and disobedient, there are provisions made for us. God was looking out for Hagar and Ishmael, that was His promise and once again, God is not slack concerning His promises to anyone.
God heard the cries of the child. He is always there even when we do not believe He is watching and waiting for us to repent. Needless to say, at times of great distress we should try to remember God’s promises, for that will surely assist us in our situation.
The second admonition is that we call on God and ask Him for mercy. Who else is full of mercy and grace, who will help us out of our distress?
Verse 17. The angel of God opened a conversation with Hagar as he had done previously: with a question about her status (Genesis 16:7–8). But this time the angel did not wait for an answer. Instead, the unanswered question is immediately followed by the command to fear not. Throughout the Bible, this command shows up dozens of times, often when humans encounter God or angelic beings
(Joshua 8:1; Matthew 28:5; Luke 1:13, 30).
God cared for both Hagar and Ishmael, this should quieten the mother’s fears. When God calls His people to fear not, He calls them to love Him and trust in His plans for them.
…For God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is… we may wonder why the angel told Hagar that God heard … the lad, even though Hagar was the one weeping audibly in the previous verse. Nowhere in Genesis 21 is Ishmael referred to by name, which is a combination of the Hebrew words that mean “God hears” (Genesis 16:11).
By emphasizing that He heard the teenager, God showed Hagar that He was looking after her son personally. He proved her son’s name to be reassuringly true, even when it seemed that not even the boy’s mother had the capacity to listen to him any longer.
Verse 18. God had already promised that Ishmael would become a great nation (Genesis 17:20) and God planned to keep His promise. The only other person to whom God made such a promise was Abraham (12:1–2). Ishmael would have twelve sons (25:12–18) as would Isaac’s son Jacob (49:1–28). These Ishmaelites show up in Joseph’s story (37:25–28). They were a nomadic people, generally living in northern Arabia.
Verse 19. And, and she saw a well of water; why Hagar could not see the well before is not clear but we are told: God opened her eyes. Perhaps her exhaustion and dehydration prevented her from seeing what was right before her eyes. This water was enough to revive Ishmael and keep her hope alive. The God whom she previously declared to be “the God who sees ” (Genesis 16:13) had opened her own eyes.
God not only makes promises but also provision. His provision of what He has promised results in great joy, and should lead to separation from whatever might hinder His program of blessing.
Verse 20. God kept His promise to Hagar. His presence with the lad serves as a reminder that though God looks after His chosen people in a special way, He also cares for people beyond that group (Matthew 5:45). Indeed, God set apart Abraham’s family through Isaac precisely to bless all nations (Genesis 12:3). How great to serve a God who has always loved the ‘whole world’ and chose to demonstrate it through His Son (John 3:16–18)!
…And he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. Ishmael’s becoming an archer completes the play on words from verse sixteen. More importantly, it also fills out some of God’s original declaration about the boy’s future. The last time God spoke with Hagar, He told her that Ishmael would become a wild man at odds with others (Genesis 16:12), a characteristic one might expect from a boy growing to maturity in the wilderness without a father to guide him or a community to mold him. Bows were the weapon of choice in Ishmael’s time—for hunting (27:3) and waging war (1 Samuel 31:3). These skills undoubtedly contributed much to his survival and eventual prosperity.
Verse 21. He lived in the wilderness of Paran … the picture of Ishmael as the rejected son is complete: he is the son of a slave woman, married to an Egyptian, lives outside normal social bounds and is remembered for his hostilities. As Cain suffered both banishment from the divine and protection by the divine, so Ishmael is both loser and winner, cut off from what should be his but promised a significant lineage.
… his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt… in this respect she does not display the wisdom used by Abraham in choosing, as he did, a god-fearing wife for his son.
CONCLUSION
We should note the significant change from looking at the history of the chosen ones to following the outcast ones. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is also the God of all the tribes and peoples on earth. God is concerned therefore about people as individuals and we need to know that God looked at the tears of this outcast woman and the abandoned child and know that God hears us even when we feel forsaken by God.
Sometimes we have to be cast out or to leave where we are so that we can become free and move forward. But this only helps us if God is with us when we move forward.
There is always a bigger picture that we cannot see for though Abraham grieved over the situation he acted in faith and set Ishmael free. This area in which Hagar and Ishmael found themselves was rugged country but we know that since God was with the boy as promised we know that God insured his survival.
Isaac represents that which only God can do. Sarah had always been barren. Now, due to age, Abraham and Sarah were physically unable to produce a child. So, Isaac was the result of God’s power, apart from human ability. Ishmael represents what man can do without God. Abraham and Hagar produced Ishmael by natural means. In Galatians 4:21-31, Paul says that this story has a spiritual lesson. Ishmael was born according to the ‘flesh’, but Isaac was born according to the ‘Spirit’ (Gal. 4:23, 29). Abraham and Sarah could not boast in Isaac, but could only glorify God for him. But Abraham could boast in Ishmael, because he produced him.
God chose Isaac so that we would know that the life of faith requires total dependence on God, so that all the fruit comes from Him. That which stems from our flesh, which we can do apart from God, can never please Him. It exalts human pride and robs God of His glory. That which the Spirit produces in and through us brings God the glory due His name. So even though it seems unfair that Hagar and Ishmael be expelled, it was necessary for God’s purpose and glory.
A popular song says “giving up is hard to do …” and so it might be but giving up for God makes it easier to ‘give up’ for God going further. It was very hard to give-up Ishmael but Abraham knew it was more important to obey God. Later, he had little reservations about giving-up Isaac the promised seed; he had done it before and he knew God is faithful. Let us learn and give-up those things that are not in His will.
So the sufficiency of the Lord God leads us to trust in Him. It also leads us to realize that this world is not really our home.
There are many songs written based on this event in Scripture but one stands out quite clearly and the name is GIVE TO THE WINDS THY FEARS.
John Wesley is the translator. It reads:
- Give to the winds thy fears,
Hope and be undismayed.
God hears thy sighs and counts thy tears,
God will lift up,
God will lift up
God will lift up thy head
- Leave to His sovereign sway
To choose and to command,
Then shalt thou, wandering, own His way,
How wise, how strong,
How wise, how strong
How wise, how strong His hand.
- Far, far above thy thought,
His counsel shall appear
When fully He the work hath wrought
That caused thy need.
CThat caused by needless fear.
- Through waves and clouds and storms,
He gently clears the way;
Wait thou His time; so shall this night
Soon end in joy,
Soon end in joy,
Soon end in joyous day.
We also know the words of God will take care of you, a song with similar sentiments to the above.
Another relevant and beautiful song is All My Hope Is Firmly Grounded and the verses reads:
All my hope is firmly grounded
In our great and living Lord;
Who, whenever I most need him,
Never fails to keep His word.
Him I must
Wholly trust.
God the ever good and just.
Tell me, how can trust our nature
Human, weak, and insecure?
Which of all the airy castles
Can the hurricane endure?
Built on sand,
Nought can stand,
By our earthly wisdom planned.
But in every time and season,
Out of love’s abundant store,
God sustains his whole creation,
Fount of life forevermore.
We who share
Earth and air
Count on his unfailing care.
Thanks, O thank, our great Creator,
Through his only Son this day;
He alone, the heavenly Potter,
Made us out of earth and clay,
Quick to heed
Strong the deed,
He shall feed all his people