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Genesis 21:1–21 (ESV)
To borrow from Dickens this morning:
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, Book the First, Chapter I).
For Abraham and his sons, this Chapter describes a momentous, world-changing occasion. Depending on which son of Abraham you were descended from, this event in human history had very different outcomes. For one son, this was the best of times; for the other, this was in a sense the worst of times.
We are a little over two thirds through our series called “Right from the Start” in which we examine some of the earliest events in world history as written by Moses through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and then consider their significance and ongoing effects even to this day.
We have acknowledged that all that exists came into being through the creation account in Chapter 1. We have seen that the sanctity of human life connects back to the special creation of Adam and Eve in God’s own image. We know that all the brokenness in the world finds its inception in the fall into sin in the Garden. We have witnessed God’s judgment and his mercy through the Flood.
From the very beginning there has been a narrowing of human history to tell the story of God’s history of salvation. God’s promise to Eve in Genesis 3:15 is traced down through Seth (not Cain); through Noah, not the rest of mankind; through Shem (not Ham or Japheth); through Abraham.
As we will see today, this promise comes through Isaac and not through Ishmael.
As we have followed this “narrowing” of God’s blessing through the generations, we are introduced to a widening hope for the rest of the world through Abraham. To Abraham, God promises:
Genesis 12:3 (ESV) — I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
For our text to make sense today, it is important that we remember we are not simply reading about one man’s immediate family. We are reading about God’s plan of salvation for God’s elect for all time across the entire world.
However, we must not see these events as only having allegorical or symbolic meanings either. These were real historical events that significantly affected world history.
In fact, some of the significant newsworthy events in the world today in the Middle East can trace back in some way to our text today. The Israeli / Arab conflict, as complicated as it is and has been for centuries, can be traced in some way back to Genesis 21.
Daniel used the example in a sermon a few weeks ago of the headwaters of the Chattahoochee river in Georgia (and I’ve actually been to the exact spot on the Appalachian Trail in GA). In some way today, we are reading about the headwaters—the very beginning—of so many of the distinctions of religions, cultures, peoples, and identities that have had significant impacts on human history for the last 4,000 years.
Our passage begins with a fulfilled promise. We are accustomed to bringing to mind many fulfilled promises in scripture. After all, we have a lot of biblical revelation—the entire Bible—which is full of God keeping his promises over and over again.
But in biblical history to this moment there had not been tons of examples of fulfilled promises. God promised to Eve that her seed would crush the serpent’s head—hasn’t happened yet. God delivered Noah’s family through the flood and promised not to destroy the entire world with a flood again—so far so good. God told Abraham that he would not destroy Sodom for the sake of ten righteous. He rescued Lot, though he did destroy the city.
God had made a promise to Abram over twenty five years earlier, but until this very moment, it had not been fulfilled.
Let’s trace the promise one more time.
Abram is 75 years old when God calls him to leave his country and extended family and go to a land that God will show him.
Then God visits him in a vision to remind him of the promise. But, Abram has questions—mainly, how will the promise be fulfilled if there is no offspring?
The LORD reiterates his promise, expands on it (your offspring shall be like the stars of heaven), and seals it with a covenant. Abram believes God, and it is counted to him as righteousness.
It’s been a while now. Still no child. Ten years of waiting. Ten years of barrenness. Still in faith.
Hagar is given to Abram and Ishmael is conceived and born. His, however, is NOT God’s promised son.
Then between chapters 16-17 we get a skip of 13 years. Just… like… that… Abram has a 13 year old son. He has now had 13 years to think, just perhaps this son, Ishmael, is how the promise will be fulfilled.
Nope. God appears to Abram again when he is 99 years old. God explains the covenant in more detail. He gives Abram a new name, the sign of circumcision, and clearer instructions that the covenant promise will be fulfilled through the miraculous birth of a son through Sarah.
It’s now been 24 years since Abraham left his country with the promise of being made into a nation.
Waiting can be complicated…and hard.
It’s worthwhile to remember that Abraham was commended by God for his faith. What did Abraham do to remember God and his word?
He built altars to remember. And he called on the name of the LORD.
With Abram’s initial call to move to Canaan:
When he moved:
When he returned from Egypt:
When he separated from Lot:
Now, after all the waiting…Isaac is born, the promised son.
Our text calls attention to the fact that this came about “just as the Lord said.” Moses, in his account of Isaac’s birth, refuses to let us believe that this child was born by chance or apart from the direct working of God. Look back at verses 1-2.
Genesis 21:1–2 (ESV)
Remember that in Genesis 17:21 God predicted when Sarah would give birth.
Genesis 17:21 (ESV) — But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”
Or again in Chapter 18:14
Genesis 18:14 (ESV) — Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.”
Remember that we’ve encountered turning points in several of the Genesis narratives so far.
This is such a turning point in the life of Abraham.
The author is reminding us that God did just as he had promised, but also that apart from God this would have been impossible. This son was born to Abraham “in his old age” when he was a “hundred years old.”
The birth of Isaac in fulfillment of God’s promise is one of the great moments in Bible history. Here, we see yet another proof that the Lord is true to his word.
- Richard D. Phillips, Genesis, Reformed Expository Commentary, 18.
We should notice that Abraham responds in faithful obedience.
Genesis 21:3–5 (ESV)
Abraham calls him Isaac just as the Lord told him to do in Genesis 17:19.
Abraham also circumcises Isaac on the eighth day. This is the first example of circumcision on the 8th day. Abraham was 99 and Ishmael was thirteen when he was circumcised. Abraham is obedient to do what God commanded. His great faith is followed by obedience to God’s commands.
We remember that Sarah laughed when she heard that God would give her a child. Now that they’ve named their son “He Laughs” Sarah expresses her great joy.
Genesis 21:6–7 (ESV)
The answer to Sarah’s question is, “no one.” This is a miracle from God. God reminded Abraham and Sarah that there was nothing too hard for the Lord.
Now that God has brought this great joy and laughter to Sarah, Abraham also has his opportunity to celebrate God’s promised son.
Genesis 21:8 (ESV)
Sarah celebrates at Isaac’s birth, but Abraham’s great celebration came a little later. Why would Abraham wait until Isaac was weaned to have a feast?
It was customary in this culture to wean a child at the age of two or three. Many children died in infancy. It’s as if Abraham is continuing to express his faith that Isaac is the promised son. Once Isaac is weaned, Abraham publicly celebrates this promised son.
“It was the best of times.”
The rest of our text does not feel like the best of times. It might even feel cold, harsh, or cruel. I hope that you will see even in this difficult Providence the faithfulness of God.
Things begin to go wrong at the feast which Abraham gave for Isaac. At some point in this celebration, Sarah sees something she doesn’t like and makes a significant demand of Abraham.
Genesis 21:8–10 (ESV)
It’s not entirely clear what exactly Ishmael was doing that was displeasing to Sarah. The range of meaning is fairly wide for the term. But, here again we have “laughing.” The range of Isaac’s name has gone from sarcasm or unbelief when Isaac’s birth was announced to joy and celebration when Isaac was born. The word can also point to mockery (seen in the ESV footnote).
Paul perhaps gives us more insight in Galatians.
Galatians 4:29 (ESV) — But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.
Bible scholars address Ishmael’s behavior in several different ways. First, as Galatians indicates, Ishmael could have been doing something that was clearly not positive behavior toward Isaac. Remember, at this time Isaac would have been 2-3 years old, and Ishmael would have been around 15-16.
Other commentators simply think Ishmael was playing innocently with Isaac, but perhaps forgot his station (as the child of the slave-woman). Sarah might have seen the potential for Ishmael to attempt to usurp the place of Isaac as the promised child. Sarah’s language certainly points to this. She repeatedly calls Hagar the “slave-woman” or the “Egyptian.” The name, “Ishmael” is not used in this entire passage. We’re simply left with the “son of the slave woman.” She does not even acknowledge that Ishmael is Abraham’s son. It’s likely that there is still bitterness from the episode in Chapter 16 when Sarah was so bad toward Hagar that she fled, and an angel had to tell her to go back.
I lean toward the first explanation that Sarah recognized something improper in Ishmael’s behavior toward Isaac. But the second point is well-taken, and part of Sarah’s and the Lord’s justification for expelling Hagar and Ishmael from the family.
Sarah’s demand is that Hagar and Ishmael are cast out. This is very strong language. It’s not just “sent away” as in Gen 21:14.
And we can’t help hearing some emphasis in “the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.”
Though we may sense some wrong attitude in Sarah’s response, the underlying truth, as we will see, is in line with God’s promises and plans for Isaac.
Genesis 21:11 (ESV)
More strong language here. This was VERY displeasing to Abraham. This was a detestable solution to Abraham. Remember that Ishmael is Abraham’s son—his only son for thirteen years before the birth of Isaac.
Abraham had already reacted to God’s word that he would have another son through Sarah. He appealed for God to work out his covenant plans through Ishmael.
Genesis 17:18 (ESV) — And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”
Abraham was not eager to cast Ishmael aside.
But, the Lord intervenes and supports the word of Sarah.
Genesis 21:12–13 (ESV)
There are two things we need to notice here. First, from God’s perspective, this is not simply about a family dispute or the painful jealous consequences of polygamy. We are talking about God’s history of salvation for the world. The promised seed to Eve in the garden, passed down through Noah and Shem to Abraham will pass through Isaac many generations into the future into another miraculous birth—the birth of Jesus to the Virgin Mary. In order for all of the families of the earth to be blessed through Abraham, the promise must come through the child of promise.
Second, we should notice that though Ishmael is to be cast out from the inheritance, God has already made promises regarding Ishmael and his own posterity. Ishmael is a son of Abraham and will be blessed through him. God had already spoken to Hagar through an Angel in Chapter 16, giving Ishmael his name and making prophecies concerning his descendants, which will not be able to be numbered for multitude (16:10).
Here in the Lord’s response to Abraham, he assures Abraham that a nation will come from Ishmael as well. Even as Abraham sends Ishmael and Hagar away reluctantly, he must be believing again that God will keep his promises. Abraham is releasing Hagar and Ishmael from servitude, perhaps in exchange for any claim they would have for a future inheritance.
The scene is a bit difficult to follow. Hagar and the “child” who could be 16 years old at this point soon get lost in the wilderness. The Hebrew for “child” can refer to a young man as it does here. The same word is used to describe the 17 year old Joseph in Genesis 37:2.
Don’t imagine Hagar carrying Ishmael. She’s carrying as much water as she could, but it runs out. Survival becomes desperate.
Here we have the first hint of Ishmael’s name in the entire chapter. His name means “he hears” because God heard her cries in her first journey into the wilderness in Chapter 16.
God hears again, and remembers his promises to make a nation from Ishmael.
The Lord sends an angel to Hagar again and encourages her not to lose heart. He opens her eyes to see a well of water. They are revived. And lest we read this narrative as God abandoning Ishmael, that’s simply not the case.
Ishmael is blessed through Abraham. He receives circumcision. The Lord is with him. He ends up having 12 princes as sons (Genesis 25).
The end for Ishmael is not exactly, “the worst of days,” though being cast out into the wilderness and put outside the biblical narrative of the history of redemption. We do have some ideas of what became of Ishmael and his descendants. Let’s turn to that now.
We will consider two types of effects felt today from the separation of Isaac and Ishmael. The first effects are historical and geo-political.
This aspect of my study was surprising to me. I expected to find immediate animosity between Isaac and Ishmael that explains the present-day warring in the Middle East. It is clearly not that simple.
I’ve barely scratched the surface of this topic, but I’ll share with you a few thoughts I’ve encountered. Here are some of the questions I was asking:
There is not an abundance of biblical references to the Ishmaelites after this narrative. They do not have a prominent place in the rest of the Bible.
We find the descendants of Ishmael in Genesis 25:12-18. He does have twelve sons. We have a few other small details.
One thing to note is that we don’t immediately find animosity between these two families. Once Hagar and Ishmael are separated out from Abraham’s inheritance, God forms them into their own people, and they are not obviously antagonistic toward one another.
The Ishmaelites are not specified in the lists of Israel’s enemies during the conquest of Canaan.
There is evidence that the descendants of Ishmael grew and prospered alongside the Israelites during biblical times.
There certainly are connections between the descendants of Ishmael and the Arab peoples. God did bless and multiply the descendants of Ishmael, and they grew and populated in the Arabian peninsula. It seems clear that many Arab peoples are in part descended from Ishmael.
Muhammad famously claimed to be descended from Ishmael. And, Islam claims connection to Ishmael as a prophet, whom they claim was the blessed son of Abraham. The Qur’an even indicates that Ishmael was the son that Abraham nearly sacrificed in Genesis 22 (though there is some debate on this interpretation of the Qur’an).
We have mentioned some of Paul’s spiritual analogies regarding Isaac and Ishmael several times in our series.
Here are a couple of examples:
Romans 9:7–8 (ESV) — and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
Here is another from Galatians 4.
Galatians 4:21–26 (ESV) — Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
Paul quotes directly from our passage a few verses later.
Galatians 4:30 (ESV) — But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.”
It’s interesting that the correlations in these analogies do not fit exactly like you might expect. Paul is using Hagar/Ishmael to point to the legalistic, human-righteousness approach to God as exemplified by the Jews.
For Paul, the all-important point is that Isaac was born following God’s promise and in that respect anticipates the gentile believers in God’s plan, while Ishmael, born through human contrivance, is a forerunner of the Jews who sought salvation through works of the law.
- Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 16–50, vol. 2, Word Biblical Commentary, p. 88.
There is a blessing for Ishmael and his descendants. If we are not careful, we can read back into the Genesis account the spiritual antagonism of Galatians.
Even though Ishmael and Hagar were cast out by Abraham and not in the promised lineage of the Messiah, Ishmael and his descendants were actually blessed by God.
They are both descended from Abraham and are recipients of the blessings promised to Abraham. Hagar is met by an Angel of the Lord in the wilderness and given promises on two different occasions. Ishmael receives the covenant of circumcision. God promises to make a multitude out of Ishmael’s descendants. Hagar actually even gives a name to the God who sees (Gen 16:13). When Abraham sent them away, God promised to make a great nation of Ishmael because he is Abraham’s offspring.
In other words, rather than reading the narrative of Ishmael in a completely negative light because he is not a part of the history of salvation through Isaac is not quite fair. We should at least acknowledge the hand of God’s blessing even through the line of Ishmael.
This does not mean that we accept all of the claims about Ishmael from other sources such as the Qur’an. But, it does mean we should remember that the true blessing which we should focus on is not the physical lineage, but the lineage of faith.
Theologically, the Ishmaelite line is designed by God as a reminder for Israel that the Abrahamic blessings have to be enjoyed by faith alone. Mere blood relationship is not enough; Ishmael is the firstborn of Abraham. Circumcision in the flesh is also not enough; Ishmael is circumcised (17:23–25). Only faith can make Isaac and his descendants as well as Ishmael and his descendants enjoy the blessings of Abraham since “in him” (12:3) and “in his Seed” (Gal. 3:16) all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 22:18).
- Tony Maalouf, Ishmael in the Shadow of Israel: God’s Prophetic Plan for Abraham’s Firstborn, 76.
Whether you are in Abraham’s position, waiting for the promise, or in Ishmael’s, receiving a hard providence, we can learn from our passage.
Like Abraham and Sarah, we are waiting for the fulfillment of some of God’s promises. We can learn some lessons from how Abraham waited. He built altars and remembered the Lord.
We have a significant advantage over Abraham in that we have God’s promises and words written down. What do we do as we are waiting?
We remember what God has said:
Psalm 130:5 (ESV) — I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
The birth of Isaac was a significant milestone in God’s plan of salvation. The son of promise was necessary, but this birth serves largely to point to the birth of another by promise.
If Abraham gave a feast to celebrate the birth of his son, Isaac. How much more should we celebrate the birth of the Messiah through Mary! His coming was so significant that we celebrate his coming every Sunday when we get together.
Romans 4:5 (ESV) — And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,
Salvation history has repeated the hope through a promised child. Isaac. The Son of David. The Christ Child.
We should not limit God’s faithfulness to the first section of Chapter 21 about the birth of Isaac.
As a story on its own, this narrative, like many other parts of Genesis, illuminates the mixture of faith and doubt, joy and jealousy, love and hatred that characterizes the human predicament. But above all, in it “God proves himself dependable and gracious. He is ‘faithful’ in performing his promises to each person. Not only does he give Isaac to Abraham and Sarah as their own child, but he hears Hagar and saves Ishmael also, making him—for Abraham’s sake (21:13)—into a great nation, headed by his sons as twelve princes (16:10; 17:20; 21:13, 18; 25:16)” (L. Hicks, IDB 2:748).
- Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 16–50, vol. 2, Word Biblical Commentary, 88–89.
Abraham believed God…over many years…in a way that magnifies the power, grace, and purposes of God.
Let’s pray that God would help us do the same.
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