“Genesis 21:15-21”

Saturday, December 21, 2019

“When the water in the skin was used up, she left the boy under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, ‘Do not let me see the boy die.’ And she sat opposite him, and lifted up her voice and wept. God heard the lad crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, ‘What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.’ Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the lad a drink. God was with the lad, and he grew; and he lived in the wilderness and became an archer. He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.”

---End of Scripture verses---

“When the water in the skin was used up…” (verse 15) Had Hagar not lost her way and wandered around aimlessly in the wilderness, she would not have exhausted her provisions. But as it was, she felt like she and her son were dying from thirst, and she had given up all hope. “She left the boy under one of the bushes.” “The act was one of despair. Ishmael, though seventeen years of age, had not yet come to his strength, and at a time when human life was so prolonged that forty was the usual age for marriage, was probably not as capable of bearing fatigue as a young man nearly grown up would be in our days. He thus became exhausted, and apparently fainted; and his mother, after trying in vain to support him, cast him down in anguish, and abandoned herself to her grief.” (Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers)

“Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away…” “About as far off from him as an arrow can be shot, or is usually shot out of a bow; according to the Jews this was about half a mile, for they say two bowshots make a mile; here she sat waiting what would be the issue, whether life or death, which last she expected.” (Gill’s Exposition of the entire Bible) Hagar’s strength had held out longer than Ishmael’s, and the distraught mother simply could not bear to watch her young son die. “Do not let me see the boy die.” It seems obvious that Hagar was not simply speaking her words into the air but was pleading with the Lord to save her boy’s life. “And she sat opposite him, and lifted up her voice and wept.” In her grief-stricken despair, Hagar lifted up her voice in loud lamentation.

“God heard the lad crying…” (verse 17) It was not Hagar’s intense mourning that grabbed the Lord’s attention but Ishmael’s pitiable puling. “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18) The Lord had mercy on the pathetic cries and the deplorable condition of these two exiles. And God undoubtedly interceded as much for righteous Abraham’s sake as He did for their own, and heard his intercessory pleas as the patriarch prayed for the safety of his loved ones night and day. “The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and His ears are open to their cry. The face of the Lord is against evildoers, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. The righteous cry, and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.” (Psalm 34:15-17)

“The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven…” (verse 17) “Both the sons of Abraham are saved at a critical moment by an angelic 'voice from heaven' (cf. 22:11) Nahum Sarna) “What is the matter with you, Hagar?” These were meant to be words of comfort and not a query about her condition, about which the angel of the Lord knew far too well. “Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is.” “The voice God heard was that of the lad. He had pity on the anguish, and gave ear to the cry, of the child. Once more we have a play upon the name of Ishmael with its meaning of ‘God heareth.’ Cf. Genesis 16:11.” (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges)

“Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him by the hand…” (verse 18) “As Jerome remarks, the boy thus going hand in hand with his mother must have been her companion in her journey, and not a burden upon her shoulder. We must add that the words do not refer to what she was to do immediately, but to the future. She was not simply to lead him to the water, but to be his brave and faithful protector, such as we learn that she really became.” (Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers) “for I will make a great nation of him.” “Which is a renewal of a promise before made both to her and to Abraham, Genesis 16:10: and by this Hagar is assured that he would recover and live, and become a man and the father of children, who in time would become a great nation… this shows that the Angel of God here speaking is God himself...since none but he could make him a great nation.” (Gill’s Exposition of the entire Bible)

“Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the lad a drink.” (verse 19) Sometimes the best place to hide something from me is to place it right before my eyes. Hagar was finally made aware of that which she had not previously been able to see. So often when we are frantically searching for something dear to us, we do not realize that it has always been near to us. This is especially true in the spiritual realm: “And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’” (Acts 17:26-29)

"He lived in the wilderness and became an archer." (verse 20) “The tradition that the Ishmaelites were professional marksmen is preserved in Isaiah 21:17, which speaks of the bows of Kedar’s warriors. Kedar is a son of Ishmael in the list of Genesis 25:13.” (Nahum Sarna) "His mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt." (verse 21) "On a father's death, the mother looks out for a wife for her son, however young; and as Ishmael was now virtually deprived of his father, his mother set about forming a marriage connection for him, it would seem, among her relatives." (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary)

Please read Genesis 21:22-26 for tomorrow.

Have a great day!

- Louie Taylor

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