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21
1 Adonai visited Sarah [Princess] as he had said, and Adonai did to Sarah [Princess] as he had spoken. 2 Sarah [Princess] conceived, and bore Abraham [Father of a multitude] a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham [Father of a multitude] called his son who was born to him, whom Sarah [Princess] bore to him, Isaac [Laughter]. 4 Abraham [Father of a multitude] circumcised his son, Isaac [Laughter], when he was eight days old, as God had enjoined him. (5) 5 Abraham [Father of a multitude] was one hundred years old when his son, Isaac [Laughter], was born to him. 6 Sarah [Princess] said, “God has made me laugh. Everyone who sh'ma ·hears obeys· will laugh with me.” 7 She said, “Who would have said to Abraham [Father of a multitude], that Sarah [Princess] would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.”
8 The child grew, and was cameled. * Idiom: Cameled: Meaning Issac was able to fend for himself by walking on his own and thinking on his own; Issac was ready to engage God and life with his own decisions, independence but not leaving the family. The camel is an independent creature that can cross vast distances of dry desert. Its independence comes from consuming voluminous quantities of water. The idiom for water in Scripture represents the entire Bible (that is divine wisdom). This is like the figure of speech, “thirst for knowledge”. Abraham [Father of a multitude] made a great feast on the day that Isaac [Laughter] was cameled. 9 Sarah [Princess] saw the son of Hagar [Flight] the Egyptian [person from Abode of slavery], whom she had borne to Abraham [Father of a multitude], metzahek ·lewd and irreverent jokes·. † Note: The word used has multiple meanings, in this context it can mean exposing the younger brother to crude humor about sex, worship, prayer, and death. This can be seen in the word usage context (Gen 19:14, 26:8; Ex 32:6). The older brother is exposing the younger brother to ideas that would impede his moral behavior growth, to be like Abraham and Sarah. This is why it is recorded and Sarah was so angry. 10 Therefore she said to Abraham [Father of a multitude], “Divorce and cast out this servant and her son! For the son of this servant will not be heir with my son, Isaac [Laughter].” ‡ Quoted in Gal 4:30
11 The thing was very grievous in Abraham [Father of a multitude]’s sight on account of his son. 12 God said to Abraham [Father of a multitude], “Don’t let it be grievous in your sight because of the boy, and because of your servant. In all that Sarah [Princess] says to you, sh'ma ·hear obey· her voice. For your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac [Laughter]. § Quoted in Rom 9:7; Heb 11:18 13 I will also make a nation of the son of the servant, because he is your child.” 14 Abraham [Father of a multitude] rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar [Flight], putting it on her shoulder; and gave her the child, and sent her away. She departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Be'er-Sheva [Well of Seven, Well of an Oath]. 15 The water in the bottle was spent, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. 16 She went and sat down opposite him, a good way off, about a bow shot away. For she said, “Don’t let me see the death of the child.” She sat over against him, and lifted up her voice, and wept. 17 God sh'ma ·heard obeyed· the voice of the boy.
Ha mal'ak Elohim [The Angel of God] called to Hagar [Flight] out of the sky, and said to her, “What ails you, Hagar [Flight]? Don’t be afraid. For God has sh'ma ·hear obey· the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him in your hand. For I will make him a great nation.”
19 God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, filled the bottle with water, and gave the boy drink. 20 God was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the wilderness, and became, as he grew up, an archer. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran. His mother took a wife for him out of the land of Egypt [Abode of slavery].
(6) 22 At that time, Abimelech [My father king] and Phicol the captain of his army spoke to Abraham [Father of a multitude], saying, “God is with you in all that you do. 23 Now, therefore, swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son’s son. But according to the cheshed ·loving-kindness· that I have done to you, you shall do to me, and to the land in which you have lived as a foreigner.”
24 Abraham [Father of a multitude] said, “I will swear.” 25 Abraham [Father of a multitude] complained to Abimelech [My father king] because of a water well, which Abimelech [My father king]’s servants had violently taken away. 26 Abimelech [My father king] said, “I don’t know who has done this thing. You didn’t tell me, and I didn’t sh'ma ·heard obeyed· of it until today.”
27 Abraham [Father of a multitude] took sheep and cattle, and gave them to Abimelech [My father king]. Those two made a covenant ·binding contract between two or more parties·. 28 Abraham [Father of a multitude] set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. 29 Abimelech [My father king] said to Abraham [Father of a multitude], “What do these seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves mean?”
30 He said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that it may be a witness to me, that I have dug this well.” 31 Therefore he called that place Be'er-Sheva [Well of Seven, Well of an Oath], because they both swore there. 32 So they made a covenant at Be'er-Sheva [Well of Seven, Well of an Oath]. Abimelech [My father king] rose up with Phicol, the captain of his army, and they returned into the land of the Philistines [To roll in dust (As an insult)]. 33 Abraham [Father of a multitude] planted a tamarisk tree in Be'er-Sheva [Well of Seven, Well of an Oath], and called there on the name of Adonai , the El 'Olam [God Everlasting]. 34 Abraham [Father of a multitude] lived as a foreigner in the land of the Philistines [To roll in dust (As an insult)] many days.

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*21:8 Idiom: Cameled: Meaning Issac was able to fend for himself by walking on his own and thinking on his own; Issac was ready to engage God and life with his own decisions, independence but not leaving the family. The camel is an independent creature that can cross vast distances of dry desert. Its independence comes from consuming voluminous quantities of water. The idiom for water in Scripture represents the entire Bible (that is divine wisdom). This is like the figure of speech, “thirst for knowledge”.

†21:9 Note: The word used has multiple meanings, in this context it can mean exposing the younger brother to crude humor about sex, worship, prayer, and death. This can be seen in the word usage context (Gen 19:14, 26:8; Ex 32:6). The older brother is exposing the younger brother to ideas that would impede his moral behavior growth, to be like Abraham and Sarah. This is why it is recorded and Sarah was so angry.

‡21:10 Quoted in Gal 4:30

§21:12 Quoted in Rom 9:7; Heb 11:18

© 2016 Thomas Robinson