The birth of Isaac
1 Yahweh was kind to Sarah as he had said, and fulfilled his promise to her.
2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time Yahweh had promised.
3 Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son that Sarah bore him
4 and circumcised him when he was eight days old, as Yahweh had commanded.
5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me.”
7 She added, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have given birth to a son for him in his old age.”
Abraham dismisses Hagar
8 The child grew and on the day Isaac was weaned, Abraham held a great feast.
9 Sarah saw the child that Hagar, the Egyptian had borne to Abraham, mocking her son
10 and she said to Abraham, “Send this slave girl and her son away; the child of this slave must not share the inheritance with my son, Isaac.”
11 This matter distressed Abraham be cause it concerned his son,
12 but God said to him, “Don’t be worried about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to Sarah and do whatever she says, because the race which is called by your name will spring from Isaac.
13 But from the son of your servant I will also form a nation, for he too is your offspring.”
14 Abraham rose early next morning and gave bread and a skin bag of water to Hagar. He put the child on her back and sent her away. She went off and wandered in the desert of Beersheba.
15 When there was no more water in the skin, she pushed the boy under one of the bushes, 16 and then went and sat down about a hundred yards away, for she thought, “I cannot bear to see my son die.”
16 But as she sat there, the child began to wail.
17 God heard him and the Angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said, “What is the matter, Hagar? Don’t be afraid. God has heard the boy crying.
18 Get up, pick the boy up and hold him safely, for I will make him into a great nation.”
19 God then opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the skin and gave the boy a drink.
20 God was with the boy. He grew up and made his home in the wilder ness and became an expert archer.
21 He lived in the desert of Paran and his mother chose a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
22 At that time Abimelech came with Phi col, the commander of his army, to speak to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do;
23 swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my descendants, but instead you will show to me and the country where you are living the same kindness that I have shown to you.”
24 And Abraham said, “Yes, this I swear.”
25 Then Abraham complained to Abi melech about a well that Abimelech’s servants had seized.
26 Abimelech said, “I don’t know who has done this; you did not tell me and I only heard about it today.”
27 Abraham then took sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech and the two men made a treaty.
28 Abraham set aside seven ewe lambs from the flock.
29 Abimelech said to him, “Why have you put aside these seven ewe lambs?
30 Abraham replied, “Accept these seven lambs from my hand as evidence that I dug this well.”
31 So the place was called Beer sheba because the two men took an oath there.
32 After making the treaty at Beersheba, Abimelech went away with Phicol, the commander of his army, and returned to the land of the Philistines.
33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beer sheba and there he called on Yah weh, the everlasting God.
34 And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time.
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Comments Genesis, Chapter 21
• 21.1 Yahweh was kind to Sarah as he had said. And so, after some years, God fulfills his promise to Abraham (see chapter 18). Isaac is the son of the promise be cause he was born contrary to all human hope and to fulfill God’s promise (see Gal 4:22 and Rom 9:7).
Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age. In the Bible we find some births which occur outside of the normal laws of nature: Samuel, Samson, John the Bap tist… all are saviors. These births an nounce and prefigure the virginal birth of the Savior, Jesus.
• 8. It is easy to guess that this account is a different version of what is given in chapter 16. But in chapter 16 God is given the name Yahweh, and a well in the southern desert is mentioned which suggests that the story has come from the tribes of the south (territory of Judah) whereas the one in chapter 21 comes from the tribes of Israel, in the north.
There are problems in Abraham’s family as in any other family, and God uses them to carry out his plan. It is good for Hagar to leave with her son so that Isaac may receive all of his father’s care. Isaac will inherit, not something material for himself, but God’s promises to his children. God stead fastly realizes his plans, but does not trample on anyone: see how compassionate he is with Hagar.
Abraham had several wives, as important men in his community usually did. The Is ra elites kept on considering this custom as normal for many years. It was only gradually that God led them to discover the demands marriage.
“The son of the slave girl will not inherit with the son of the free woman” (Gal 4:28; 2 Cor 6:14).