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Genesis 21 |
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| 21:1
And the LORD visited
Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. |
"The Lord visited Sarah" and he "did unto Sarah as he had spoken." And "Sarah conceived and bare
Abraham a son." (God-assisted conceptions never result in daughters.) It is strange that the 100 year old Abraham
required God's help in fathering Isaac (See Rom.4:19 and
Heb.11:12), yet later (Gen.25:1-2) he marries again
and has six more children without any help from God.
Isaac and Ishmael
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| 21:2
For Sarah conceived,
and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which
God had spoken to him.
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| 21:3
And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah
bare to him, Isaac.
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| 21:4
And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had
commanded him.
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| 21:5
And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto
him.
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| 21:6
And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will
laugh with me. |
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| 21:7
And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have
given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age. |
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| 21:8
And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the
same day that Isaac was weaned. |
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| 21:9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the
Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. |
"Sarah saw the son of Hagar mocking."
What did Sarah see?
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| 21:10
Wherefore she said
unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this
bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. |
 (21:10-14) "And God said unto Abraham ...
hearken unto her voice."
Sarah, after giving birth to Isaac, gets
angry again at Hagar (see Gen.16:5-6) and tells Abraham
to "cast out this bondwoman and her son." God commands Abraham to
"hearken unto her voice." So Abraham abandons Hagar and Ishmael,
casting them out into the wilderness to die.
What the Bible says about fathers
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| 21:11
And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son.
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| 21:12
And God said unto
Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and
because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice;
for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
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| 21:13
And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is
thy seed. |
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| 21:14
And Abraham rose
up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting
it on her shoulder, and the child and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness
of Beersheba. |
(21:14-18)
"She cast the child under one of the shrubs."
These verses suggest that Ishmael was an infant when his father abandoned him, yet
according to Gen.17:25 and Gen.21:5-8
he was about 16 years old. It must have been tough for poor Hagar to carry Ishmael
on her shoulder and to then "cast him under one of the shrubs."
How old was Ismael when he was abandoned?
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| 21:15
And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.
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| 21:16
And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were
a bow shot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat
over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept. |
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| 21:17
And 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. |
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| 21:18
Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great
nation. |
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| 21:19
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. |
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| 21:20
And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and
became an archer. |
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| 21:21
And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife
out of the land of Egypt. |
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| 21:22
And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phichol the chief
captain of his host spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that
thou doest: |
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| 21:23
Now therefore swear
unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my
son, nor with my son's son: but according to the kindness that I have done
unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast
sojourned. |
"Swear unto me here by God."
Is it OK to swear?
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| 21:24
And Abraham said, I will swear. |
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| 21:25
And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which
Abimelech's servants had violently taken away. |
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| 21:26
And Abimelech said, I wot not who hath done this thing; neither didst thou
tell me, neither yet heard I of it, but to day. |
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| 21:27
And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and both of
them made a covenant. |
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| 21:28
And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. |
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| 21:29
And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What mean these seven ewe lambs which
thou hast set by themselves? |
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| 21:30
And he said, For these seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that
they may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well. |
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| 21:31
Wherefore he called
that place Beersheba; because there they sware both of them. |
"Wherefore he called that place Beersheba."
Who named Beersheba?
"They returned to the land of the Philistines."
But the Philistines didn't arrive in the region of Canaan until around 1200 BCE --
800 years after Abraham's supposed migration from Ur.
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21:32
Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba: then Abimelech rose up, and
Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of
the Philistines.
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And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of
the LORD, the everlasting God.
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And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many days.
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