Genesis 21:1-16 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is Genesis 21:1-16. Let’s go!
Genesis 21:1-2 (NIV)
1 Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised.
2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.
On verses 1-2: Just as God promised, Sarah becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son at the very time God promised. God is faithful to His Word. He does what He says when He says He will do it. You can trust God and His timing completely.
Genesis 21:3-7 (NIV)
3 Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him.
4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him.
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 about this will laugh with me.”
7 And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
On verses 3-7: Previously Sarah laughed in unbelief that God could possibly give her a son in her old age (Genesis 18:10-15). Now Sarah laughs for joy because God did the impossible in her life (v6). Pursuant to God’s command in Genesis 17:19, Abraham and Sarah even name their baby Isaac, which means “he laughs” (v3). God can take our most faithless moments – the times when we were at our weakest and acted without faith – and turn them into stories of God’s strength and power in our lives.
Genesis 21:8-10 (NIV)
8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast.
9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking,
10 and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”
On verses 8-10: On one hand Sarah is overjoyed by the birth of her own son. On the other hand, she is distraught and upset that she feels mocked by Ishmael the son of Sarah’s maidservant. Sarah has such a dislike for Hagar and Ishmael that there is no record of Sarah ever even saying their names; instead she refers to them as “that slave woman and her son” (v10). Sarah demands that Abraham send them away so that Ishmael would not take any part of Isaac’s inheritance. Sarah’s behaviour toward Hagar, Ishmael and Abraham is symptomatic of the kind of complications that can arise when a man is married to, and has children with, more than one woman.
Genesis 21:11-16 (NIV)
11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son.
12 But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.
13 I will make the son of the maidservant into a nation also, because he is your offspring.”
14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the desert of Beersheba.
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes.
16 Then she went off and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there nearby, she began to sob.
On verses 11-16: What a heartbreaking and difficult time for Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael as these verses describe their forced separation. This would be the last time Ishmael would ever see his father Abraham. Perhaps like Ishmael you grew up without a father, or perhaps like Hagar you’ve had to learn to live without a husband and without a father for your children. You need to know that though fathers and husbands may leave, you have a Heavenly Father who will never leave you, and you have a husband – Jesus Christ – who will always be faithful to you. When you feel like all hope is gone, God will be there to raise your hope from the dead.
Heavenly Father, thank You that You specialize in taking our shame and failure and turning them into stories of Your glory. Thank You that though others may leave me, You will never leave me. You are forever faithful. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
