Old Testament - Genesis 21 - February 17, 2022

 2/17/2022 – Genesis 21

V 1 assures us that the Lord’s promises were completed, for “Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age…” (v 1) Then v 5 gives us some very important information: “And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him.” This birth occurred 10 years after the angels, or holy men, said that Sarah would conceive [this information came from my favorite institute class]. What a lesson that is for us to have faith enough to “wait upon the Lord”! God always keeps His promises to the faithful according to His timetable.)

Trouble in the family began after Isaac was weaned, as “Sarah saw the son of Hagar…mocking”. She went to Abraham, saying that Hagar and Ishmael should be cast out. (v 10)  “And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son.” (v 11) But in the very next verse “…God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman…and also of the son of the bond-woman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.” (v’s 12-13)

Abraham gave Hagar food and water and “sent her away” (v14). She wandered in the wilderness, and when they had used all their water and their food, she laid down some distance from Ishmael, so that she would not have to see him die. Their help came from God as Ismael prayed: “for God hath heard the voice of the lad…And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water and gave the lad drink. And God was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.” Ishmael married an Egyptian woman. 

At the end of this chapter, Abimelech comes back into the picture. There had been trouble between him and Abraham, as some of Abimelech servants had “violently taken away” a well from Abraham. Abimelech and Abraham spoke to each other—and heard each other, and worked out the problem while remaining friends – an important pattern for me to follow.


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